Environmental Value Systems (EVSs)

Topic 1: Foundations of environmental systems and societies

• Historical events, among other influences, affect the development of environmental value systems (EVSs) and environmental movements.
• There is a wide spectrum of EVSs, each with its own premises and implications.

Knowledge and Understanding

• Literature, the media, major environmental disasters, international agreements, and technological developments are significant historical influences on the development of the environmental movement.
• An EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual or group perceives and evaluates environmental issues.
• Cultural, religious, economic, and socio-political contexts influence an EVS.
• An EVS is a system that may be influenced by education, experience, culture, and media (inputs).
• It also involves a set of interrelated premises, values, and arguments that can generate consistent decisions and evaluations (outputs).
• There's a spectrum of EVSs, ranging from ecocentric to anthropocentric to technocentric value systems.
• An ecocentric viewpoint integrates social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions into a holistic ideal.
• It emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies, prioritizing biorights.
• Importance is given to education, and encourages self-restraint in human behaviour.
• An anthropocentric viewpoint argues that humans must sustainably manage the global system.
• This management might be achieved through taxes, environmental regulation, and legislation.
• Debate would foster a consensual, pragmatic approach to solving environmental problems.

Guidance

• A society shares common characteristics like geographical location, cultural background, historical timeframe, and religious perspective.
• Historical influences include James Lovelock's development of the Gaia hypothesis and the Minamata disaster.
• Also Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring (1962), Davis Guggenheim's documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006), and the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
• Other events include the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011, whaling, the Bhopal disaster of 1984, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010.
• Further examples include the Chipko movement, Rio Earth Summit 2012 (Rio+20), Earth Day, and the Green Revolution.
• Both local and global examples are beneficial in the selected historical influences.
• EVSs are individual, and there is no "wrong" EVS.
• Students should develop their own EVS and justify decisions on environmental issues based on that.

International-Mindedness

• Ecosystems may cross national boundaries and conflict may arise from the clash of different value systems about resources exploitation.

Theory of knowledge

• EVSs shape the way we perceive the environment; other value systems also shape how we view the world.

Connections

• Conservation of biodiversity, soil degradation and conservation, photochemical smog, acid deposition, climate change causes and impacts, and resource use in society are connected topics.

Topics 1.2: Systems and models

• A systems approach can help in the study of complex environmental issues.
• The use of systems and models simplifies interactions but can also enhance a holistic view without reducing issues.

Knowledge and Understanding

• A systems approach is a way of visualizing a complex set of interactions, whether ecological or societal.
• These interactions produce the emergent properties of the system.
• The concept of a system can be applied at a range of scales.
• A system is comprised of storages and flows.
• The flows provide inputs and outputs of both energy and matter.
• Transfers (change in location) or transformations are the flows and processes.
• In system diagrams, storages are rectangular boxes, and arrows signify flows.
• The size of the boxes and arrows indicates the storage or flow's magnitude.
• An open system exchanges both energy and matter across its boundary.
• A closed system exchanges only energy across its boundary.
• The isolated system is a hypothetical concept where neither energy nor matter is exchanged.
• Ecosystems are open systems, while closed systems exist experimentally.
• A model is a simplified version of reality used to comprehend system operation and predict responses to change.
• All models involve some degree of approximation, which introduces a loss of accuracy.

Guidance

• A systems approach should be taken for all Environmental Systems and Societies topics.
• The biosphere is the portion of Earth inhabited by organisms extending from the upper atmosphere to within the Earth's crust.
• Students should interpret given system diagrams and produce their own with examples like carbon cycling, food production, and soil systems.
• Students are not required to know specific system diagram symbols.

Internationl-Mindedness

• Models facilitate international collaboration in science by removing language barriers.

Theory Of Knowlege

• Models simplify reality, so how do we know which aspects to include or ignore during their construction?

Topics 1.3: Energy and Equilibria

• The laws of thermodynamics govern the flow of energy in a system and the ability to do work.
• Systems can exist in alternative stable states or equilibria between which there are tipping points.

Knowledge and Understanding

• Destabilizing positive feedback mechanisms will drive systems toward tipping points, but stabilizing negative feedback mechanisms resist changes.
• The first law of thermodynamics is the principle of energy conservation.
• Energy in an isolated system can be transformed, not created or destroyed.
• The principle of conservation of energy can be modeled by the energy transformations along food chains and energy systems.
• The second law of thermodynamics states that a system's entropy increases over time.
• Entropy measures the amount of disorder.
• Entropy's increase from energy transformations reduces the energy available to do work.
• The second law of thermodynamics explains the inefficiency and decrease in available energy along a food chain.
• An ecosystem functions as an open system, typically existing in a stable equilibrium.
• It remains either in a steady-state equilibrium or develops over time, like succession, and maintained by stabilizing negative feedback loops.
• Negative feedback loops stabilize occurrences when the output inhibits or reverses the process to reduce change.
• Positive feedback loops amplify changes moving the system towards a new equilibrium.
• A system's resilience is its tendency to avoid tipping points and maintain stability.
• Storage diversity and size contribute to resilience and affect response speed with time lags.
• Humans affect storing capacity and diversity by reducing it.
• Time lags involved in feedback loops make points difficult to predict.

Guidance

• The use of examples in this sub-topic is important to understanding the abstract concepts given.
• Emphasis should be placed on the relationships between resilience, stability, equilibria, and diversity.
• A stable equilibrium is when a system returns to its previous state after disturbance.
• A steady-state equilibrium is when an open system has no long-term changes, but short-term oscillations may exist.
• The minimum change that destabilizes a system is its tipping point.
• Examples of possible human impacts and tipping points should be explored.

Nationl-Mindedness

• Energy use can cause a tipping point affecting ecological equilibrium.

Theories of knowledge

• Laws of thermodynamics are scientific laws; their difference with economics differs.

Topics 1.4: Sustainability

• All systems can be viewed through the lens of sustainability.
• Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs.
• To assess sustainability, environmental indicators and ecological footprints may be used.
• Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) play an important role in sustainable development.

Sustanability - Knowledge and Understanding

• Sustainability ensures full resource replacement and ecosystem recovery.
• Natural capital provides sustainable natural income.
• Natural income is yield from natural resources.
• Ecosystems offer life support (water replenishment, flood and erosion control) and goods (timber and crops.)
• Environmental indicators include biodiversity, pollution, population, and climate used to measure sustainability.
• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) uses indicators to assess and conserve ecosystems.

Guidance

• Use a sustainability lens. Focus on small impacts early rather than large EIAs later.

International-Mindedness

• Global agreements made at international summits are important, but EIAs vary.

Theory of Knowledge

• EIAs use before a development project begins. How should environmental concerns affect knowledge?

Topics 1.5: Humans and Pollution

• Pollution involves the many forms of human caused disturbance in ecisystems
• Pollution management strategies apply everywhere.

Knowledge and Understanding

• Human addition of substances or agents to the environment occurs too quickly.
• Organic pollutants can be inorganic, or be in light, sound, heat, biological waste, or invasive species
• Pollutant release can be isolated or general, chronic or biodegradable, primary or secondary.

Pollution - Guidance

• Pollutant" and "contaminant" terms are equal. Non Point comes is numerous dispersed origins while point comes from sources. Capable of natural breakdown is "biodegradable"

Pollution - INtl. MIindedness

• Pollution crosses borders, locally, regionally, and globally.

Pollution :Theory of Knowledge

• Experts sometimes disagree about pollutant management approaches.

Topic 2: Ecosystems and ecology (25 hours)

Topic 2.1: Species and populations

• A species interacts with its abiotic and biotic environments; its niche is described by these interactions.
• Populations respond to the environment over time.
• Environments have limited carrying capacities.

Knowledge and Understanding

• A species shares genetics by interbreeding and by producing.
• A habitat provides a location.
• Conditions and resources for niches are abiotic/biotic
• The full range species live and reproduced.
• Biotic interactions determines life in a species in time.

Guidance

• Be species specific as much as possible. Habitats for organisms often shift over time and data is analyzed.

Intl. Mindedness

• Impact by others determined their numbers in the ecosystem

Topic 2.2: Communities and Ecosystems

• Interactions of environments impact the energy and nutrian flow.
• Energy flows by interactions between photsynthisis and resperation
• Feeding relationship can be expressed to model.

Knowledge and Understanding

• A community of population lives together in a habitat
• A community has ecosystems through physical environment
• Can expressed through inputs and output of matter/ energy
• Respiration/conversion to release Aerobic energy through glucose.
• Inversely, the loss of heat is large to the ecosystem to continue
• Light can transform with photosynthesis through chemical energy.
• Also referred as a description with words
• Biomass is used with matter while Productivity is referred as flow in the form of energy.
• Numbers of models of the ecosystem is pyramid, those models shows the decrease in pyramid as energy transferred.
• Toxins increase and the pyramid decreases.

Guidance

• Diagrms can show relationships with others with Storages and flows for emphisis.
• Energy and matter can link using prior knowledge.
• Use Biomass with units for grams and productive measurements.

Intl-mindedness

• Ecosystems have borders like lakes and forest.

Theory of knowledge

• Model determines to decide when to use

Topic 2.3: Flows of Energy and Matter

• Ecosystems have the same linked flows for sustainability
• The drive for these flows comes from solar energy and over global and global impacts

Knowledge and Understanding

• Solar energy reflects or is absorbed through some
• Pathway comes from the ecosystem by transforming the chemical
• The conversion through productivty determined at conversion through productivy
• Net primary productivity (NPP) by sum of these

Guidance

• Oppprtuntites to design experiences
• Storage in flow diagrams
• Links sustainable yields
• Comparisions betweem biomes and assmilaitoin through productivity
• Impacts of matter come with international mindfulnes

Topic 2.4: Biomes, zonation and succession

• Regional climate, abiotic, and biotic factors determine the region.
• Patterns depend on stability of the alternative states.
• The stability is correlated

Knowledge and understanding

• With same climate are grouped through classification
• Precipitation, insulation from climate also distributes the flow of that
• Circulation effects the productivity
• Climate effects distrubtion
• Communities adjust in zonation
• Patterns in min cycles exist.
• More diverse and genetic also have adaptations

Topic 2.5: Investigating ecosystems

• Descriptions of different ecosystems can track with time, modell, monitored.
• It's best described when can be understand

Description with understanding.

Named location is required. Specimen identified using Keys to compare. Sampling help describe. Must increase repetions to data. Method includes. The impact on human and toxins are a factor

Topic 3: Biodiversity and conservation

• Understanding is valuable for protection.

Knowledge and Understanding

• The diversy is the result
• The product with number has relations.

Guidance

• Diversity presents in unpolled sites

Theory of knowledge:

• Diversity doesn change

Explore how historical events, literature, media, and disasters shape environmental value systems. Understand cultural, religious, and socio-political influences on EVS development, impacting environmental perception and evaluation within a spectrum of worldviews.