ENVS 102.2 Sustainability Principles - PDF

Chapter 1: The Environment and Sustainability Module 1.1: Sustainability Principles ENVS 102.2 -Sustainability and Human-Environment Relations ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions  The environment is everything around you. It includes:  all the living things (such as plants and...

Chapter 1: The Environment and Sustainability Module 1.1: Sustainability Principles ENVS 102.2 -Sustainability and Human-Environment Relations ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions  The environment is everything around you. It includes:  all the living things (such as plants and animals), and  the nonliving things (such as air, water, soil and sunlight) with which you interact.  You are part of nature and live in the environment,  Our lives depend on sunlight and the earth for clean air and water, food, shelter, energy, fertile soil, a livable climate, and other components of the planet’s life-support system. ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions  Environmental science defined in the previous module:  a study of connections in nature.  It is an interdisciplinary study of (1) how the earth (nature) work, (2) How humans interact with the environment, and (3) how we can live more sustainably.  It strives to answer several questions: What environmental problems do we face? How serious are they? How do they interact? What are their causes? How has nature solved such problems? How can we solve such problems ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions  Ecology  It is key component of environmental science  the branch of biology that focuses on how living organisms interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment  Ecosystem  Is a set of organisms within a defined area of land or volume of water that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.  Example: a forest ecosystem consists of plants, animals, and other organisms that decompose organic materials. These organisms interact with one another, with solar energy, and with the chemicals in the forest’s air, water, and soil. ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions Biodiversity The variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes Short for biological diversity ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Definitions How are Environmental science and ecology different from environmentalism or environmental activism? ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Planet’s Life Support System? Explain why earth supports life?  1. Water:  Earth’s is the only planet in the solar system that has liquid water on its surface  Water is essential for almost all biological processes that support life  Ocean’s pH: the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more is absorbed by the oceans, creating carbonic acid. pH of the ocean surface has fallen from 8.16 to 8.05 since the industrial revolution, Prove that this is equivalent to a 30% [H+]. ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi  Planet’s Life Support System? Explain why earth supports life?  2. Atmosphere:  The ozone and stratosphere protect earth from harmful short wavelength electromagnetic radiation  Water and other important elements, such as carbon are recycled in the atmosphere  Space debris is burnt up in the mesosphere before it hits the earth’s surface; hence protecting life on earth. ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi  Planet’s Life Support System? Explain why earth supports life?  3. Magnetic Field:  Earth is a magnet  Magnetic field protects earth from the charged solar radiation particles  These particles could cause harm or even kill living organisms absent such protection. ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi  Planet’s Life Support System? Explain why earth supports life?  4. Distance from the Sun:  Earth is close enough to get enough sunlight and not too distant to be frozen all around.  5. The Moon:  It contributes to the motion of the earth  Relayed to tides ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi  Planet’s Life Support System? Explain why earth supports life?  6. Earth’s neighbors:  Jupiter attracts meteor rocks ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Earth 101 | National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCDV N7DCzYE&t=63s ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Earth 101 | National Geographic How is the distance of earth from the Sun important for having life on earth? Write down the answer and submit ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Planet’s Life Support System? Useful Videos:  Sun 101 | National Geographic (Slide 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HoTK_Gqi2Q  What are Earth Systems? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZPdlefCNO8  The Four Earth Systems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfa-RcFz9Iw ENVS 102.2 Dr. Issam Miqdadi Six Principles of Sustainability Three Scientific Principles  Dependence on solar energy:  The sun’s energy warms the planet  It provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients, the chemicals that plants and animals need to survive.  Biodiversity:  The variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes are referred to as biodiversity (short for biological diversity).  Interactions among species provide vital ecosystem services  Keep any population from growing too large.  Biodiversity also provides ways for species to adapt to changing environmental conditions Six Scientific Principles of Sustainability Chemical cycling: The circulation of chemicals or nutrients needed to sustain life from the environment through various organisms and back to the environment is called chemical cycling, or nutrient cycling. The earth receives a continuous supply of energy from the sun but it receives no new supplies of life-supporting chemicals. Six Scientific Principles of Sustainability Six Scientific Principles of Sustainability Economics, politics, and ethics: three additional principles of sustainability  Full-cost pricing (from economics):  Include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices.  Win-win solutions (from political science):  Cooperation and compromise that will benefit the largest number of people as well as the environment.  Responsibility to future generations (from ethics):  Ethics is about what is right or wrong.  Environmental ethicists: we should leave the planet’s life- support systems in a condition that is as good as or better than it is now as our responsibility to future generations.  The ASCE code of ethics. Six Scientific Principles of Sustainability Ecological Footprint Ecological Footprint Calculator  CONCEPT 1.2A:  Humans dominate the earth with the power to sustain, add to, or degrade the natural capital that supports all life and human economies.  Natural capital: Natural Resources + Ecosystem Services (see next slide).  CONCEPT 1.2B  As our ecological footprints grow, we deplete and degrade more of the earth’s natural capital that sustains us. Ecosystem services: are natural services provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us. For example, forests help purify air and water, reduce soil erosion, regulate climate, and recycle nutrients Ecological Footprint What is the ‘ecological footprint’? The harmful environmental impact of using renewable resources (although the use of resources may benefit us), including the natural capital degradation, and wastes. Ecological Footprint What is a ‘renewable resource’? It is any resource that can be replenished by natural processes within hours to centuries, as long as people do not use the resource faster than natural processes can replace it. Ecological Footprint Knowledge Check What is an inexhaustible resource? Ecological Footprint and Natural Resources