Chapter 1

Understanding
Our
Environment

1
 Outline
• Introduction
• Historical Perspective
 Pragmatic Resource Conservation

 Ethical and Aesthetic Nature Conservation

 Modern Environmental Movement

 Global Interconnections

• Current Conditions
• A Divided World
• Sustainable Development
• Indigenous People
2
 Introduction

• Humans have always inhabited both the natural

world (plants, animals, soil, air) and the social world
(buildings, technologies, politics).

• Environment:
 Physical circumstances or conditions that
surround an organism or groups of organisms
 The complex of social or cultural conditions
that affect an individual or community

3
• Introduction
Environmental Science: Systematic study
of our environment and our proper place in it
 Interdisciplinary

 Integrates Natural Science, Social Science and

the Humanities
 Mission oriented – trying to not only understand

the problems but finding solutions as well. The

difficulty in problem solving is to find balance
between what is socially, economically and
politically acceptable.

4
Environmental Science is Interdiscipimary

5
 Historical Perspective
• Four Distinct Stages
1. Pragmatic Resource Conservation
2. Ethical/Moral & Aesthetic Nature Preservation
3. Concern about Health and Ecological Damage
4. Global Environmental Citizenship
 Not mutually exclusive; parts of each persist
today in the environmental movement.

6
1. Pragmatic Utilitarian Resource Conservation
• George Perkins Marsh – wrote Man and Nature
published in 1864 re: a warning about
environmental damage in the western states
 Influenced the creation of National Forest

Reserves in 1873
 Influenced Theodore Roosevelt and his

conservation advisor, Gifford Pinchot

 Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation

 “Greatest good for the greatest

number for the longest time”
 Multiple Use Policies of USFS

7
 1. Pragmatic Utilitarian Resource Conservation
• President Theodore Roosevelt & Gifford Pinchot
 Incorporated the Forest Service with the

Department of Agriculture.
 Established framework of nat’l park, forest,

wildlife refuge system, and game protection laws

“Forests should be saved not
because they are beautiful or
because they shelter wild
creatures, but only to provide
homes and jobs for people.

8
 1. Pragmatic Utilitarian Resource Conservation
• Gifford Pinchot
 First head of the Forestry service under

Roosevelt.
 Used utilitarian conservation – “use the forest for

the greatest good for the greatest number of

people for the longest possible time”
(Anthropocentric belief)
 This idea is still used by the

National Forest System (NFS) as the

multiple use sustained yield policy

(see more quotes on pgs 18-19) 9

 2. Ethical & Aesthetic Nature Preservation

• John Muir – 1st President of the Sierra Club

 Nature deserves to exist for its own sake -
regardless of degree of usefulness to humans.
(Biocentric Preservation)

 Emphasizes the fundamental

right of other organisms to
exist and pursue their own
interests

10
 2. Ethical & Aesthetic Nature Preservation

• Stephen Mather – 1st head of the National Park

Service established in 1916
 Follower of John Muir (they were “friends” on Facebook)

11
2. Ethical & Aesthetic Nature Preservation
• Aldo Leopold – Founder: Wilderness Society
• Wrote book: A Sand County Almanac
• “We abuse land because we regard it as a
commodity belonging to us. When we see land
as a community to which we belong, we may
begin to use it with love and respect.”
• His views became known
as the “land ethic”

•Ecocentric Belief

12
 3. Modern Environmental Movement
• Industrial explosion of WW II added new concerns
to the environmental agenda.
 Rachel Carson – wrote Silent Spring (1962)
 awakened the public to the threat of pollution,
pesticides (DDT) and toxic chemicals to humans
and other species.

• Considered one of the founders


of Environmentalism.

13
 3. Modern Environmental Movement

 David Brower - Executive director of the

Sierra Club & founder of the League of
Conservation Voters.
 Introduced the use of litigation, intervention
and mass media for publicity campaigns.

14
 3. Modern Environmental Movement

Barry Commoner – wrote The Closing Circle (1971)

His 4 Laws of Ecology:
1. Everything is connected to everything else. There is one ecosphere for
all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.
2. Everything must go somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and there
is no "away" to which things can be thrown.
3. Nature knows best. Humankind has fashioned
technology to improve upon nature, but such
change in a natural system is, says Commoner,
"likely to be detrimental to that system"
4. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Exploitation of nature will inevitably involve the
conversion of resources from useful to useless
forms.

15
 3. Modern Environmental Movement
 Wangari Maathai -won the Nobel Peace
Prize for Environmental Action (2004).
 1977- Founded the Green Belt Movement in
Kenya to organize women and restore the
environment. Now 600 grassroots organizations
exist in Kenya & 30+ million trees were planted!

“Today we are faced with a

challenge that calls for a shift
in our thinking, so that
humanity stops threatening
its life-support system.”
16
 Environmental Agenda Expands
• The environmental agenda continued to expand
and now includes:
 Human population growth

 Atomic weapons testing/use ANY OTHERS?

 Fossil fuel issues

 Recycling

 Air and water pollution

 Wilderness protection

 Global Warming

 Mass extinction

17
 Global Interconnections
4. Global Environmentalism
• Increased technology has greatly expanded
international communications.
 Daily events now reported worldwide instead of

locally or regionally
 Idea of Earth as a Global Village – we are all

interconnected.
 International cooperation will be necessary

18
 Current Conditions
• Human Population > 7.4+ billion
 Water quantity and quality issues may be the
most critical issues in the 21st century.
 Food is inequitably distributed across the globe
and 2/3 of agricultural lands show signs of
degradation.
 Fossil fuel reserves are diminishing and the
burning of fossil fuels causes pollution and
global warming.
 Air quality has worsened in many areas,
especially southern Asia and India.
 Loss of biodiversity at a rapid rate - Extinctions

19
 Signs of Hope
• Progress has been made on many fronts:
 Population has stabilized in most industrialized
countries.
 Incidence of life-threatening diseases has been
reduced in most countries.
 Deforestation has slowed and habitat protection
has increased in some areas.
 Progress is being made in transition to
renewable energy sources.
 Democracy is spreading, which allows decision
making by local people who know the land rather
than by a centralized bureaucracy.
20
 An Inequitable World
• World Bank estimates more than 1.4 billion people
live in extreme poverty earning < US$1.25 per day.

• The Gap between rich & poor continues to increase.

World’s richest 200 people = $1 trillion
World’s poorest 3 billion = $1 trillion

• Poor are often both victims and agents of

environmental degradation. Cycle of poverty
continues over generations as people who are
malnourished and ill cannot work productively
or raise healthy children.

21
 Quality of Life Indicators
• About 1/5 of the
world’s population
lives in countries
with per capita
income > $25,000
per year (U.S.).
The other 4/5 lives
in middle or low
income countries.
• This gap affects
many quality of life
indicators.
*Chart updated from the 12th edition textbook

22
 Is There Enough for Everyone?
• Rich nations consume an inordinate share of the
world’s resources and produce an unsustainable
amount of pollution.

• The U.S. makes up 4.6% of the world’s population,

but consumes 25% of oil production and generates
25% of all CO2 & 50% of toxic wastes in the world.

• If all the residents of China were to match American

consumption, it would take four extra planet Earths
to support them using current technology.
*China’s economy is expected to surpass the US by 2020!
23
 Economic Progress
• Over the past 50 years, the world’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) increased from $2 trillion to $22
trillion.

• Since WW II, average real income in developing

countries has doubled, malnutrition has decreased
by 30%, and life expectancy has increased by 30%.

BUT
• The worldwide gap between rich and poor has
widened.

24
 Sustainable Development

• “Meeting the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.”

 Benefits must be available to all humans, rather

than to a privileged few.
 Economic growth alone is not enough. Political
stability, democracy, and equitable economic
distribution are needed to ensure that all benefit.

25
 Sustainable Development
Many ecologists view continual growth as impossible in
the long run due to limits imposed by non-renewable
resources and the capacity of the biosphere to absorb
wastes. Others argue that through the use of technology
and social organization, we can manage to meet our
needs and provide long-term (but not infinite) growth.

26
 Role of International Aid
• President John F. Kennedy:
“A rising tide lifts all boats”
The US currently donates 18 cents per citizen
per day to foreign nations.
• Canadian Prime Minister Chretien:
“Aid to developing countries isn't charity; its an
investment, It will make us safer, and when
standards of living increase in those countries,
they’ll become customers who will buy tons of
stuff from us.”

27
 Indigenous People
• Indigenous (native) people are often the least
powerful, most neglected people in the world.
 At least half the world’s 6,000 distinct languages

are dying .
 Indigenous homelands may harbor a vast

percentage of world’s biodiversity.

 Recognizing native land rights and political rights

may often be a solid ecological safeguard as

indigenous people have a rich knowledge of
local habitats.

28
Cultural & Biological Hotspots

Papua

29
 Critical Thinking – Discussion Questions

1. What would it take for human development

to be truly sustainable?

2. Describe anthropocentric, biocentric,

utilitarian and preservationist viewpoints.

3. Could you find the 21 Hotspots listed on

slide 29 if given a map? Try it!!

30
 13
11
7
10 18
6 5 14
1
2 17
20 4 8
9
19 12
15
3
16
21

CULTURAL DIVERSITY BOTH BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

1. NIGERIA 8. INDONESIA 15. MADAGASCAR
2. CAMEROON 9. NEW GUINEA 16. SOUTH AFRICA
3. AUSTRALIA 10. MEXICO 17. MALAYSIA
4. CONGO 11. CHINA 18. CUBA
5. SUDAN 12. BRAZIL 19. PERU
6. CHAD 13. UNITED STATES 20. ECUADOR
7. NEPAL 14. PHILIPPINES 21. NEW ZEALAND 31