ENV 101: Introduction to Environmental

Science
 Environment: the total of our
surroundings
• All the things around us with which
we interact:
• Living things (biotic)
• animals, plants, forests, fungi, etc.
• Nonliving things (abiotic)
• continents, oceans, clouds, soil, rocks
• Our built environment
• buildings, human-created living centers
 Humans and the world around us
• We depend completely on the environment for
survival
• wealth, health, mobility, leisure time

– but natural systems have been degraded

• i.e., pollution, erosion and species extinction

• Environmental science and Management is the

study of:
– how the natural world works
– how the environment affects humans and vice-versa
Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic interplay of socio-
economic, institutional and technological activities.
Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic
growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification of agriculture,
rising energy use and transportation.

 Population Growth
 Increasing Resource Use
 Global Climate Change
 Premature extinction of plants and animals
 Pollution
 Poverty
Environmental Problems
A variety of environmental problems now affect our entire world. As
globalization continues, the earth's natural processes transform local
problems into international issues. Some of the largest problems now affecting
the world are Acid Rain, Air Pollution, Global Warming, Hazardous Waste,
Ozone Depletion, Smog, Water Pollution and Rain Forest Destruction.

This is a list of environmental issues that are due to human activities:

• Climate change — Global warming, Fossil fuels, Sea level rise, Greenhouse
gas, Ocean acidification
• Conservation — Species extinction, Coral bleaching, Endangered species
• Dams — Environmental impacts of dams
• Energy — Energy consumption
• Environmental degradation — Eutrophication, Habitat destruction
• Genetic engineering — Genetic pollution
• Intensive farming — Overgrazing, Irrigation, Monoculture
• Land degradation — Land pollution, Desertification
• Soil —Soil erosion, Soil contamination, Soil salination
• Land use — Urban sprawl ( unplanned, uncontrolled spreading of urban
development), Habitat fragmentation, Habitat destruction
• Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout, Radioactive waste, Nanotoxic,
Nanopollution
• Ozone depletion — CFC
Pollution —
• Water pollution — Acid rain, Marine pollution, Ocean dumping, Oil
spills, Thermal pollution, Urban runoff, Water crisis, Marine debris,
Ocean acidification, Ship pollution, Wastewater
• Air pollution — Smog, Tropospheric ozone, Indoor air quality, Volatile
organic compound, Particulate matter, Sulphur oxide
• Resource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources
• Fishing, Mining, Toxins, Waste
 The role of the environment as a global
resource and support system
 Environmental, political and social change
 Globalisation (economic, cultural)
 Development of environmental awareness
Imbalance
of wealth
 Unequal natural resources distribution
 Scarcity of resources
 Changes in social and cultural patterns
 Hedonism & consumerism
- Quality of life
- ‘life styles’
 Ethical values
 Equilibrium and the need for sustainable
development strategies
 The Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro 1992)
 The Precautionary Principle

 Human population growth

 Carrying capacity
 The Ecological Challenge

 The development of the science of ecology

 Ecosystem context
 ‘Environmentalists’
Environmental Science &
Management
Ecology, Ecosystems & Biodiversity

 Ecology & Ecosystems

 Trophic chains and webs
 Ecological pyramids
 Biomass - numbers, energy flow
 Biology
• The intersections
Chemistry of the natural
Physics world with the
social and cultural
worlds encompass
our environment.
Engineering
Many disciplines
Mathematics Nature contribute to
environmental
science and help
us to understand
how our worlds
Law intertwine as well
Religion as our role in
Human
them.
Environment
• Reference:
William P.
Culture Sociology Cunningham
Sociology (1999):
Art Environmental
Science. Saiwood
Publications (ed.
5). University of
Literature
Minnesota. NY.
Political

History Science
Global human population growth
• More than 7 billion
humans
• Why so many?
– agricultural revolution
• stable food supplies
– Industrial revolution
• urbanized society
powered by fossil fuels
• sanitation and
medicines
• more food
 Thomas Malthus and human population

•Thomas Malthus
• population growth
must be restricted…or
it will outstrip food
production
• starvation, war, disease
 Tragedy of the Commons
•Unregulated exploitation leads to
resource depletion
• soil, air, water
•Users are tempted to increase use until
the resource is gone
•Solutions:
• private ownership?
• voluntary organization?
• governmental regulations?
 Earth’s Resources
Resource
– Anything we obtain from the environment to meet
our needs
– Some directly available for use: sunlight
– Some not directly available for use: petroleum

Perpetual resource
– Solar energy
Some Sources Are Renewable….
Renewable resource
– Several days to several hundred years to renew
– E.g., forests, grasslands, fresh air, fertile soil

Sustainable yield
– Highest rate at which we can use a renewable
resource without reducing available supply
 ….. and Some Are Not
Nonrenewable resources
– Energy resources
– Metallic mineral resources
– Nonmetallic mineral resources
• Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary science
that uses concepts and information from natural
sciences such as ecology, biology, chemistry, and
geology and social sciences such as economics, politics,
and ethics to help us understand
• How the Earth works
• How we are affecting the Earth’s life support systems
• How to deal with the environmental problems we face
• What is an environmentally sustainable
society?
• How rapidly is the human population
growing?
• What is economic growth?
• What is economic development?
Economic growth: An increase in countries
capacity to provide people with goods
and services.

Economic Development: Economic

development is the improvement of
living standards by economic growth.
 Countries Differ in Levels of
Unsustainability
• Economic growth: increase in output of a nation’s
goods and services
HOW IS IT MEASURED?
• Gross domestic product (GDP): annual market
value of all goods and services produced by all
businesses, foreign and domestic, operating
within a country
CHANGES IN COUNTRY’S GROWTH PER PERSON
• Per capita GDP: one measure of economic
development
 Countries Differ in Levels of
Unsustainability (2)
• Economic development: using economic
growth to raise living standards

• More-developed countries (MDC): North

America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, most
of Europe

• Less-developed countries (LDC): most

countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America
Countries by Gross National Income per Capita

Supplement 8, Fig 2
GLOBAL OUTLOOK:
What are the world’s trends?
 How Are Our Ecological Footprints
Affecting the Earth?
• Concept As our ecological footprints grow,
we are depleting and degrading more of the
earth’s natural capital.
 We Are Living Unsustainably
• Environmental degradation: wasting,
depleting, and degrading the earth’s natural
capital
– Happening at an accelerating rate
– Also called natural capital degradation
Natural Capital Degradation

Fig. 1-9, p. 13
 Pollution:
Sources and Types
Sources of pollution
– Point sources
• E.g., smokestack
– Nonpoint sources
• E.g., pesticides blown into
the air

Main type of pollutants

– Biodegradable
• break down over time
– Nondegradable
• can’t be broken down

• Unwanted effects of
pollution
Point-Source Air Pollution

Fig. 1-10, p. 14
Nonpoint Source Water Pollution

Fig. 1-11, p. 14
UNwanted Effects of Pollution
• disrupt/degrade life support system for
animals
• damage wildlife, human health and
property
• create nuisances, e.g. noise, unpleasant
smells, tastes, sights
 SOLUTIONS:
How do we control pollution?
Pollution cleanup (output pollution control)
• cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we have
produced them

Pollution prevention (input pollution control)

• reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants
Overexploiting Shared Renewable Resources:
Tragedy of the Commons
• Three types of property or resource rights
– Private property
– Common property
– Open access renewable resources

• Tragedy of the commons

– Common property and open-access renewable
resources degraded from overuse
– Solutions
“Worldwide interpenetration
and interdependence of all
sectors—economic, political,
social, cultural, and military”
(Barkat et.el 2002).

Encompasses “diffusion of
practices, values and technology
that have an influence on
people’s lives worldwide”
(Albrow 1997).
 EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH
• Since 1950s, the number of species and infectious disease organisms
(microbes) transported across international borders by trade and travel has
increased significantly.
• Since 1950s, many long lived pollutants have been transferred across the
globe by wind, rainfall patterns, ocean currents and rivers.
• Nations now face the global threats of
1. widespread ocean pollution,
2. depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere,
3. global and regional climate change caused by chemicals released into the
environment by human activities
• Many types of global environmental health risks are linked to increasing water
demands of commercial agriculture & industry that are depleting and/or
polluting world’s finite fresh water supplies.
Resource is anything obtained from
the environment to meet human needs
and wants

Food, water, shelter, manufactured

goods, transportation,
communication, recreation

Are things getting better or

worse?
• Progress in improving the human
condition and dealing with environmental
problems

• Learning a great deal about how nature

works and sustains itself

• Have numerous scientific, technological

and economical solutions available
 Ecological Footprints: A Model of
Unsustainable Use of Resources
• Ecological footprint: the amount of biologically
productive land and water needed to provide the
people in a region with indefinite supply of
renewable resources, and to absorb and recycle
wastes and pollution

• Per capita ecological footprint: per person

• Unsustainable: footprint is larger than biological

capacity for replenishment
Patterns of Natural Resource Consumption

Fig. 1-12a, p. 15
Patterns of Natural Resource Consumption

Fig. 1-12b, p. 15
Natural Capital Use and Degradation

Fig. 1-13, p. 16
 Environmental science and management ≠ environmentalism

•Environmental science…
• pursuit of knowledge about
the natural world
• scientists try to remain
objective
•Environmentalism…
• social movement dedicated to
protecting the natural world
 Sustainability and Environment

Environmental sustainability is the ability to

maintain the qualities that are valued in the
physical environment.

An environmentally sustainable society satisfies the

basic needs of its people for food, clean water,
clean air and shelter into the indefinite future
without
• depleting or regarding the earths natural
resources and
• thereby preventing current and future
generations of human and other species from
meeting there basic needs
Living sustainability means

• living off the natural income

replenished by soils, plants, air and
water and

• not depleting the earths endowment of

natural capital that supplies this income
 Ecological footprints are not all equal
• The ecological footprints
of countries vary greatly
– the U.S. footprint almost 5
times greater than world’s
average

– developing countries have

much smaller footprints
than developed countries
 Environmental Movement
• environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and
green movements, is a diverse scientific, social, and political
movement for addressing environmental issues.
• Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources
of the environment through changes in public policy and individual
behavior. The environmental movement is represented by a range of
organizations, from the large to grassroots.
• Due to its large membership, varying and strong beliefs, and
occasionally speculative nature, the environmental movement is not
always united in its goals. At its broadest, the movement includes
private citizens, professionals, religious devotees, politicians, and
extremists.
• The roots of the modern environmental movement can be traced to
attempts in nineteenth-century Europe and North America to expose
the costs of environmental negligence, notably disease, as well as
widespread air and water pollution, but only after the Second World
War did a wider awareness begin to emerge.
 Important Events
• 1962- ‘Silent Spring’ by Dr. Rachel Carson. The publication of the book
‘Silent Spring’ drew attention to the impact of chemicals on the natural
environment.

• 1970- Environment Protection Act Air Quality Act.

Environment Conservation Act Air Quality Act.

• 1972- “United Nations Conference on the Human Environment” held in

Stockholm, Sweden. Known as “Stockholm Convention”.

Two important decisions were taken in this conference:

• Creation of United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) with head
quarter at Nairobi, Kenya.
Objectives: UNEP was charged with promotion of worldwide
environmental responsibility and awareness creation.
• Creation of World Commission on Environment and Development
(WCED)
In 1979 the WCED convened conference in Geneva, Switzerland
under the name “Our Common Future”. The conference
published a report under the name “Brandt land Report”.
• For the first time the term “Sustainable Development” is
defined in this report. It was defined as a form of progress
which meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generation to meet their own needs.
• In addition the report calls for industry to develop effective
environmental management system.

In 1987 a worldwide meeting was held in Montreal, Canada and

known as “Montreal Protocol”. Title of the meeting substances
that deplete ozone layer.
Decision: Banning of production of substances (CFC’s) that
depletes the ozone layer and phasing out of their uses.
In 1989 a world convention was held in Basel, Switzerland
on “Control of Trans boundary movement of hazardous
wastes and their disposal”.
• The convention is generally known as “Basel Convention”
Decision taken:
• States should take necessary measures to ensure that the
management of hazardous wastes and other waste
including their Tran’s boundary movement and disposal is
consistent with the protection of human health and the
environment what ever the place of their disposal.
• Any state has the sovereign right to ban the entry or
disposal of foreign hazardous wastes and other wastes in
its territory.
• In 1991 with their fellow organization International Electrochemical Commission
(IEC) has established the “Strategic Advisory Group for the Environment” (SAGE)
Objective:
• To make recommendation regarding international standards.
• They form a technical committee TC176. The committee seriously studied BS5750,
remodeled it into ISO 9000 for quality management and assurance standard.

• In 1992, WCED has convened the international conference generally know as

“Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Principal Objectives
• Patterns of production — particularly the production of toxic components, such as
lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste — are being scrutinized in a systematic
manner by the UN and Governments alike;
• Alternative sources of energy are being sought to replace the use of fossil fuels
which are linked to global climate change;
• New reliance on public transportation systems is being emphasized in order to
reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by
polluted air and smog;
•
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Convention on Biological Diversity is an international
treaty that was adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992. The Convention has three main goals:
– conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
– sustainable use of its components; and
– fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic
resources.
• In other words, its objective is to develop national strategies
for the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity. It is often seen as the key document regarding
sustainable development.
• It was opened for signature on 5 June 1992 and entered into
force on 29 December 1993.
 Kyoto Protocol
• In 1997 a world wide convention was
held in Kyoto, Japan. It is known as
“Kyoto Protocol”
• Decision taken: Limitation of emission of
greenhouse gases, particularly emission
of CO2 by transportation vehicles and
chemical industries.
 Cartagena Protocol for bio-safety
• The Biosafety Protocol makes clear that products from
new technologies must be based on the precautionary
principle and allow developing nations to balance
public health against economic benefits.
• It will for example let countries ban imports of a
genetically modified organism if they feel there is not
enough scientific evidence the product is safe and
requires exporters to label shipments containing
genetically altered commodities such as corn or cotton.
• The required number of 50 instruments of
ratification/accession/approval/acceptance by States
was reached in May 2003. In accordance with the
provisions of its Article 37, the Protocol entered into
force on 11 September 2003.