31/03/2022

ENVIRONMENTAL
TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK (WEEK 2)

STUDIES
GLS 684 What is
Environmental
Studies

What is an
“environmental
problem”?

Environmental
science is not
environmentalism

Welcome to GLS 684!

What is Environmental Studies? Environmental science: how does

The study of how humans interact with the natural world work?
their environment Environment  impacts
 Humans
• Our environment is everything
• It has an applied goal:
that surrounds us, both natural developing solutions to
and man-made. environmental
• Living things problems
• Animals, plants, forests, fungi, etc.
• Nonliving things • An interdisciplinary field
• Continents, oceans, clouds, soil, rocks • Natural sciences:
• Our built environment information about the
• Buildings, human-created living centers world
• Social relationships and institutions • Social sciences: values
and human behavior,
politics, economy, etc.

STUDIES VS SCIENCE?
What is an “environmental problem”?

• The perception of what constitutes a problem

varies between individuals and societies
• Ex.: DDT, a pesticide
• In developing countries: welcome because it kills
malaria-carrying mosquitoes
• In developed countries: not welcome, due to health
risks

• Basic scientific knowledge about A quantitative interdisciplinary

environmental processes is used to inform
different social goals.
• To develop a set of key competencies in
earth systems science, environmental social
science, human-natural systems and
sustainability science to be able to solve
specific environmental problems
on ecology, geology, meteorology, biolo
gy, chemistry, engineering,
and physics to study environmental
problems and human impacts on GLOBAL VS LOCAL?
the environment and has been influential
in informing the policies of governments
around the world

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GLOBAL VS LOCAL – POLLUTION GLOBAL VS LOCAL – DEGRADATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

GLOBAL VS LOCAL – CHANGING AND CONFLICTING LAND USE Environmental science is not
environmentalism

•Environmental science
• The pursuit of knowledge about the natural world
• Scientists try to remain objective

•Environmentalism
• A social movement dedicated to protecting the
natural world

TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK (WEEK 4)

LETS TEST OUR KNOWLEDGE! Renewable

Natural – NON Global
Resources Renewable Population
Resources

Ecological
Footprint

Sustainability: a goal for

the future

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Resources are
Earth’s Natural Resources? limited and are
• Mineral Resources either
• Energy Resources Renewable or
• Living Resources
Non
renewable
• Air
• Water
• Sunlight
• Soil

What are Renewable Resources?

What are examples of

Renewable Resources?
• Vegetation
(Crops & Forests)
• Sunlight
Renewable Resources can be • Air
replaced by nature at a rate close to
the rate at which they are used. • Soil
• Geothermal
• Water
• Ice

Mineral Resources
Nonrenewable Resources
• Resources that exist in a fixed
amount
• Nonrenewable are renewed very
slowly or not at all.

• Coal • Graphite
• Oil • Sulphur
• Gypsum
• Natural Gas
• Uranium
• Petroleum • Phosphate
• Sand, Stone, & Rock, Potash,
Gravel & Nitrates
• Salt • And other
Minerals
• Talc

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Nonrenewable Energy Renewable Energy

Resources
Resources
• A. Fossil Fuels are nonrenewable and may
cause pollution • Water
Have less of an impact on the
• Wind
• They are relatively cheap and easy to extract environment and promote
and use. (Examples include: Coal, Oil, • Sun
sustainability (the ability for
Petroleum, and Natural Gas) • Geothermal Energy
future generations to have the
same resources that we do)
• B. Nuclear power: energy is created by atomic
fission. It produces very little air pollution,
but it does produce toxic waste that takes
millions of years to decompose. It uses the
radioactive mineral Uranium, which is
nonrenewable.

Consuming Energy

How does the way in which some

resources are extracted and used Malaysia :
https://www.worl
affect the Earth’s environment? ddata.info/asia/
malaysia/energy-
• Can lead to pollution of land, water, and consumption.php
air
• May contribute to global warming
• Destruction of landscape may occur

Compendium of Environment Statistics Malaysia 2020

Conserving natural
resources
• To conserve natural resources, you
should try to use them only when
necessary.

• 3 R’s
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle

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TOPIC FOR NEST WEEK (WEEK 5) The “ecological footprint”

Better
health Global
service and
education
Population • The Ecological Footprint is the only metric
that measures how much nature we have
and how much nature we use.

Ecological
Footprint

We are using 30% more of the planet’s

Sustainability: a goal for the future resources than are available on a sustainable
basis!

How the Footprint Works:

 Ecological Footprint accounting
measures the dem and on
and supply of nature .
 On the demand side, the Ecological
Footprint measures the ecological
assets that a given population requires
to produce the natural resources it
consumes. and to absorb its waste,
especially carbon emissions
 On the supply side, a city, state or
nation’s biocapacity represents the
productivity of its ecological assets,
also absorb much of the waste we
generate
 Ecological Overshoot: humans have
surpassed the Earth’s capacity : called:
ecological deficit
 If a region’s biocapacity exceeds its
Ecological Footprint, it has
an ecological reserve .
Ecological footprints are not all equal
• Both the Ecological Footprint and
biocapacity are expressed
in global hectares
• The ecological footprints of
countries vary greatly
• The U.S. footprint is almost 5
times greater than the world’s
average
• Developing countries have
much smaller footprints than
developed countries

Ecological Overshoot Day: campaign,

which attracts media attention around the world.
What are the challenges we face?
• What are the environmental issues we are facing today?

• Come up with at least 10!

http://www.overshootday.org/

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We face challenges in agriculture We face challenges in pollution

•Expanded food production led to

increased population and
consumption
• Wasteproducts and artificial chemicals used in farms, industries,
•It’sone of humanity’s greatest and households
achievements, but at an enormous
environmental cost
•Nearly half of the planet’s land Each year, millions of people die from pollution
surface is used for agriculture
• Chemical fertilizers
• Pesticides
• Erosion
• Changed natural systems

We face challenges in climate

•Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution Effect:
of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period
of time.
1. Climate change has disrupted the fruit seasons in Malaysia. Fruit
seasons, even in the trees in the wild, have changed due to the
• Scientists have firmly concluded that
humans are changing the
changes in rain and heat patterns. Even the pattern of flowering in
composition of the atmosphere.
plants and trees has changed.
• The Earth’s surface is warming
2. In Ulu Muda Forest Complex, the plain pouched hornbill which is a
• Melting glaciers
migratory bird that comes from Thailand to Ulu Muda and would go on
• Rising sea levels
to Belum Temengor, noticed that its migration pattern has changed.
• Impacted wildlife and crops
3. Change in water quantities: Water excess (extreme rainfall, flows)
• Increasingly destructive weather
and Increase in severity of floods such as Flood in Johor River during
January 2007
4. River flow and groundwater recharge will decrease, water quality
Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide
decrease due to less dilution of pollutants, Higher concentration of
concentrations have risen by 37%, to the highest level in 650,000
pollutants in the water bodies such as water crisis at Selangor in year
years
2012.

We face challenges in biodiversity Biodiversity :

• Human actions have driven many species extinct, and biodiversity is
declining dramatically
The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity. The number of
species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous
diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the
planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a
biologically diverse Earth.

Type of diversity:

i. Species diversity : the different types of living organisms on

Biodiversity loss may be our biggest environmental
problem; once a species is extinct, it is gone forever
Earth
ii. Genetic diversity : the variations between individuals of a
species — characteristics passed down from parents to
their offspring.
iii. Ecosystem diversity : the great variety of environments
produced by the interplay of the biotic (living animals and
plants) and the abiotic (non-living world; earth forms, soil,
rocks, air and water).
* Biodiversity underpins ecosystem function and the provision of ecosystem
services. Biodiversity loss therefore threatens the provision of goods and
services provided by ecosystems.

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Our energy choices will affect our Sustainable solutions exist

future
• The lives we live today are due to fossil fuels
•
•
Machines
Chemicals • We must develop solutions that protect both
•
•
Transportation
Products our quality of life and the environment
•Fossil fuels
are a one-time bonanza; • Organic agriculture
supplies will certainly decline • Technology
Reduces pollution
We have used up ½ of the world’s oil
•

supplies; how will we handle this • Biodiversity

imminent fossil fuel shortage? • Protect species

• Waste disposal
• Recycling

• Alternative fuels

Are things getting better or worse? Sustainability: a goal for the future

• Howcan humans live within the

planet’s means?
• Many people think environmental conditions are better (Human • Sustainability
ingenuity will solve any problem) • Leaves future generations with a
• Some think things are much worse in the world (predict doom and rich and full Earth
disaster) • Conserves the Earth’s natural
• How can you decide who is correct?
resources
• Are the impacts limited to humans, or are other • Maintains fully functioning
organisms or systems involved? ecological systems
• Are the proponents thinking in the long or short
term? • Sustainable development: the
• Are they considering all costs and benefits?
use of resources to satisfy current
needs without compromising future
availability of resources

Will we develop in a sustainable way? Conclusion

• Environmental science helps us understand our
• The triple bottom line: relationship with the environment and informs
sustainable solutions that our attempts to solve and prevent problems.
meet
• Environmental goals • Solving environmental problems can move us
• Economic goals towards health, longevity, peace and prosperity
• Social goals
• Environmental science can help us find
• Requires that humans balanced solutions to environmental problems
apply knowledge from the
sciences to
• Limit environmental impacts
• Maintain functioning
ecological systems