Environmental Ethics: Tragedy and Reciprocity

Learning Objective 1.1: Tragedy of the Commons

• The tragedy of the commons occurs when individuals prioritize self-interest, depleting shared resources and harming the entire group.
• Real-life examples include: overfishing, deforestation, water pollution, traffic congestion, and overgrazing.
• Solutions include: regulations, privatization, community management (using Elinor Ostrom's principles), and incentives.

Learning Objective: Braiding Sweetgrass

• A wider ecological consciousness can be fostered through acknowledging and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with nature.
• Reciprocity: Mutual exchange between humans and nature, with balanced giving and taking.
• Gratitude: Appreciating nature's gifts, acknowledging natural resources as gifts.
• Native knowledge: Indigenous wisdom emphasizing respect, connection, and sustainability (e.g., Three Sisters planting).
• Human impact: Negative consequences of human actions on the environment (i.e. pollution and destruction).

Learning Objective 1.2: Ecosystem Services

• Ecosystem services are the benefits humans derive from natural processes sustaining life.
• Regulating services: Processes regulating environmental conditions (e.g., wetlands filtering water).
• Provisioning services: Products obtained from ecosystems (e.g., food, water, timber).
• Cultural services: Non-material benefits like recreation and spirituality (e.g., ecotourism, spiritual sites).
• Supporting services: Services necessary for all other services (e.g., photosynthesis, nutrient cycling).

Learning Objective 1.3: Carbon Cycle

• Carbon cycles through various fluxes (photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, combustion, consumption) and reservoirs (atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, oceans).
• Photosynthesis removes CO₂ and respiration releases it, creating a balance.
• Human impacts: Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes increase atmospheric CO₂.
• Short-term carbon cycle: Carbon moves through living organisms and the atmosphere.
• Long-term carbon cycle: Carbon is stored in fossil fuels, rocks, and sediments for millions of years.

Learning Objective 1.4: Solid Waste Disposal

• Landfills: Have liner systems preventing leachate contamination.
• Methane Creation: Decomposition of organic waste releases methane (a potent greenhouse gas).
• Incineration: Reduces waste volume but releases toxic emissions.
• Waste Reduction: Increasing composting, mandatory recycling programs, and public awareness can reduce solid waste.

Learning Objective 1.5: Ocean Acidification

• Mitigation involves reducing emissions (like using renewable energy).
• Adaptation involves adjusting to impacts (like altering aquaculture practices).

Learning Objective 1.6: Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles

• Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen fixation, ammonification, nitrification, assimilation, and denitrification are crucial.
• Nitrogen Importance: Essential for proteins and DNA. Nitrogen gas (N₂) is unusable. Usable nitrogen compounds are produced by nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
• Haber-Bosch Process: Increases food production but contributes to greenhouse gases and pollution.
• Dead Zones: Excess nutrients lead to algae blooms, oxygen depletion harming aquatic life. Associated with human impacts on the nitrogen cycle.

Learning Objective 2.1: Anthropocene

• Evidence for the Anthropocene includes geological layers, biodiversity changes, atmospheric changes, and human impacts.
• Suggested start dates include:
  • Agricultural Revolution (~10,000 years ago): Large-scale agriculture impacted environments.
  • Industrial Revolution (~1750-1800 CE): Fossil fuel burning increased atmospheric carbon dioxide.
  • Great Acceleration (~1950 CE): Post-WWII period marked by increased industrialization and population growth.

Learning Objective 2.2: Plate Boundaries and Climate History

• Climate change involves long-term shifts in global climate patterns, influenced by natural (e.g., volcanic eruptions, orbital changes) and human (e.g., greenhouse gasses) factors.
• Milankovitch Cycles: Eccentricity (orbit shape), axial tilt, and precession affect solar radiation and climate.
• Plate tectonics: Continental drift alters ocean currents, volcanic activity, and carbon emissions, influencing long-term climate changes.
• Positive Feedback: Initial warming releases greenhouse gases, trapping more heat, causing further warming.

Learning Objective 2.3: Paleoclimate Data

• Incoming solar radiation, reflected radiation (albedo), trapped radiation, and greenhouse gases are components to consider.

Learning Objective 2.4: Climate Change Consequences

• Mitigation: Actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., using renewable energy).
• Adaptation: Adjusting to the impacts of climate change (e.g., building sea walls).

Learning Objective 3.1: Biodiversity

• Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, including genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity.
• HIPPO (habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, population growth, and overexploitation) are key threats to biodiversity.
• Solutions include habitat restoration, sustainable resource use, and pollution reduction.

Learning Objective 3.2: Ecosystem Disturbance

• Trophic Levels: The energy transfer in a simple food chain (producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers).
• Rule of 10: Only 10% of energy is transferred to the next trophic level.
• Trophic Cascades: Removing a predator disrupts energy flow, leading to unchecked prey populations.

Learning Objective 3.3: Food Webs and Species Interactions

• Bioaccumulation: Accumulation of pollutants within an organism.
• Biomagnification: Increased pollutant concentration across trophic levels. The concentration is higher in apex predators.