Environmental Value Systems Overview

Environmental Value Systems (EVS)

• Significant historical influences on the development of the environmental movement include literature, media, environmental disasters, international agreements, and technological advancements.
• An EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes how individuals or groups perceive and evaluate environmental issues, based on cultural, religious, economic, and socioeconomic contexts.
• An EVS can be considered a system with inputs (education, experience, culture, media), generating consistent decisions (outputs).
• EVSs exist on a spectrum, ranging from ecocentric to anthropocentric to technocentric.
• Ecocentric viewpoints emphasize a holistic ideal, integrating social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions with an emphasis on ecology and nature, less materialism, and self-sufficiency.
• Anthropocentric viewpoints emphasize the need to sustainably manage the global system through taxes, environmental regulations, and legislation.
• Technocentric viewpoints suggest technological solutions are key and have an optimistic outlook on human ability to manage global problems and encourage scientific research, policy formation, and manipulation of systems.
• EVSs vary greatly across cultures and time periods, rarely fitting neatly into categories.

Systems and Models

• A systems approach visualizes complex interactions, be they ecological or societal.
• Emergent properties result from interactions.
• Systems are considered at various scales, consisting of storages and flows.
• Flows are processes of transfer or transformation of energy and matter.
• System diagrams use boxes to represent storages and arrows to represent energy & matter transfer.
• Open systems exchange energy and matter with their surroundings, while closed systems only exchange energy.
• Isolated systems exchange neither energy nor matter.
• Ecosystems are open systems.

Energy and Equilibrium

• The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.
• Energy transformations occur in food chains and energy production systems.
• The second law of thermodynamics indicates entropy (disorder) increases over time, reducing available energy.
• Ecosystems usually exist in stable equilibria, either steady-state or developing over time.
• Negative feedback loops counteract deviations and maintain stability.
• Positive feedback loops amplify deviations and drive systems towards tipping points.
• System resilience encompasses its tendency to avoid tipping points and maintain stability.
• Diversity and storage size can contribute to a system's resilience.
• Time lags in feedback loops complicate system modeling and prediction of tipping points.

Sustainability

• Sustainability involves using resources such that natural replacements are guaranteed and ecosystems recover.
• Natural capital describes natural resources providing sustainable natural income (goods and services).
• Ecosystems offer essential services: water replenishment, flood protection, erosion control, timber, fisheries, and agriculture.
• Environmental indicators measure factors such as biodiversity, pollution, population, and climate to assess sustainability.
• Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) evaluate environmental, social, and economic impacts of projects, suggesting mitigation strategies, and are subject to varying requirements per region.
• Criticisms of EIAs include lack of standardized practices, unclear boundaries, and underestimation of indirect impacts.
• An ecological footprint measures the land and water area to sustainably provide resources at the rate of consumption, indicating sustainability status.

Humans and Pollution

• Pollution occurs when substances or agents are introduced into an environment faster than their natural breakdown, affecting organisms.
• Pollutants include substances in various forms (e.g., organic, inorganic, biological), and can be primary (released directly) or secondary (formed from existing pollutants).
• Pollution can be managed at various levels (e.g., altering human activity, emission control, restoration).
• Management strategies include campaigns, education, community involvement, government legislation, and economic incentives/disincentives.

Species, Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems

• A species is a group of interbreeding organisms with shared characteristics.
• A habitat describes the typical environment of a species.
• A niche encompasses conditions and resources a species requires.
• The realized niche describes the actual conditions occupied by a species.
• Biotic factors encompass interactions between organisms, while abiotic factors include non-living conditions (climate, pH, etc).
• Populations are groups of the same species in the same area/time.
• Communities are groups of populations interacting in a common habitat.
• Ecosystems include the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of an area.

Biomes, Zonation, and Succession

• Biomes are collections of ecosystems with similar climates.
• Key factors influencing biome distribution include insolation (solar radiation), precipitation, and temperature.
• Zonation describes community changes along environmental gradients (e.g., altitude).
• Succession is the directional change over time in an ecosystem.

Pyramid Structures

• Productivity/energy flow through trophic levels can be represented by pyramids depicting the standing biomass/productivity of a given period.
• Pathways of energy in ecosystems include the conversion of light energy to chemical energy, transfer between trophic levels, and release of energy as heat.