Environmental Psychology PDF

Day 1 What is environmental psychology? - The study of interrelationships between the physical environment and human behaviors - Deals with behaviors in relation to the physical environment - The physical environment includes materials, objects, plants, animals and human beings....

Day 1 What is environmental psychology? - The study of interrelationships between the physical environment and human behaviors - Deals with behaviors in relation to the physical environment - The physical environment includes materials, objects, plants, animals and human beings. - Follows the system approach which has become the modern approach in several branches of science. - Is holistic and naturalistic and studies the adaptation of organisms to their setting - Organisms are studied as part of the ecosystem, stressing the balance and interdependence of organisms and the environment - Field of study to shape in 1960s Environmental Psychology in Architecture - The arrangement of furniture in a room influences the ways in which people in the room interact. Eg. types of chairs soft and recline or hard and upright - Chairs facing away or towards each other can influence behavior in terms of whether it will be a more relaxing atmosphere or rigid one. - Sociopetal - settings which encourage interaction - Sociofugal - settings which discourage interaction - For instance - people behave a certain way in church because its function has been defined in social terms - It has been shown that the incident of mental illness increases with urbanization How does environmental Psychology influence architecture? - Reach has proven that locating a sink within the visible stretch of a hospital increases the amount of hand washing - this happens because it appeals to one's self conscience - Installing operable windows in a classroom improves sleepiness - (room should have a light source)  - An open plan is a plan of a house with few walls to divide rooms while a closed plan is a plan with walls to divide up the rooms - Ergonomics - the design and arrangement of things that people use, so that people and things interact most efficiently and safely eg keyboards, chairs etc - design things to be more comfortably used - Natural vs Artificial light - Sound reflects off of hard surfaces and is absorbed by softer surfaces - Color influences how we feel in a space: (Research color theory) - Sidwals and urban layouts have all been throughout and designed intentionally. - We follow sidewalks because we are influenced by design to behave a certain way. Although we are greatly influenced by our environment, sometimes we are creative enough to influence the environment ourselves eg. creating a path or shortcut - Each building type has a different function for each there is an imperative to use the building to help create an optimal mood, desire or sense of coherence, security or meaning - Advantages of knowing EP enables architects to shape solutions for clients and users with foreseeable measurable results - For commercial projects, this can lead to improvements in employment productivity. - Human factors and ergonomic research help define the relationship between the physical work space , productivity and the organizational culture. - For retail it may mean higher sales, and health care accelerated patient recovery times. - The architectural design of a housing complex eg. can exert a subtle but substantial impact on the friendship patterns that develop among residents - It is in the best interest of architects, clients and building users to better understand the psychology and social dimensions of the designed environment and how design decisions influence human well being and performance. The cafeteria - Rene Cassin Canteens / Brule Architectes Associes - using EP TO EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING Day 2 Human Behaviour & The environment In a play - The stage and scenery provided context about what is going on - Descriptions of the room, how it looks, feel etc - The amount and nature of its furnishings help to interpret what is happening - Provides meaning for the actors’ actions and determine what and where they can interact with - The stage and scenery are the environment where the story happens - The meaning of behavior on stage and what can be done is enabled and limited by the environment In real life our behaviors occur in the context of an environment that is always changing and rich in info. Different to the stage environment it gives more than meaning. Our environment provides basic needs for life such as Food, water, Air, natural and built environment. Our mood and behavior have meaning only when they can be understood in their context. The environment determines which behaviors are possible, how difficult or stressful they may be etc. You can’t sit unless there is a chair. Environmental Perception & cognition Perception - presents a “picture” or best guess to the present state of the environment around us. - Sometimes, the specific form of perceptual input varies. - It may be the visual image of a landscape vista, the smells and sounds of city streets, or even a textbook. Cognition - the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding thought, experiences and senses - Humans change the environment intentionally and unintentional, ways and then changed by places we inhabit - Often our actions are informed by clues, about state of interaction - clues gathered from our senses and information from prior experiences - Sometimes we focus on vision, the modality through which some humans acquire a lot of knowledge about the environment. We should recognize that other senses may influence powerfully. Example - Perception - Attention, - Memory retrieval, - Problem solving - Decision making - Judgment formation - Imagery visualization - Language comprehension - Inductive reasoning Recognition of the role of information is not unique to environmental psychology. - History - psychologists have made distinction between 2 processes which gather and interpret environmental stim. - Sensation - has been applied to the straightforward activity of human sensory systems in reacting to simple stimuli like, sound and flash of light. - UR awarenessand evaluation of striking architecture, sublime landscapes or dumps are probably found on sensations created by an array of photons stimulating receptor cells in the eyes. Cognitive processes, our feelings about the environment influence our perception of it and our perceptions influence our feelings. (deforestation or job creation). When there is some ambiguity in the visual array, the viewer will perceive the simplest shapes consistent with the information. Though these buildings are different ages, the use of similar columns creates coherence on the davidson college campus. Spatial cognition - The ability to capitalize on a rich and varied environment is at least partially dependent upon the human propensity to store geographical information. Useful as maps and charts may be, however people typically travel through a familiar space without these aids. How accomplished? - All humans carry an organized mental representation of their environment commonly referred to as a cognitive map. - Psychologists A cognitive map, - a mental framework that holds some representation for the spatial arrangement of the physical environment, Depending on the scale of the particular cognitive map we are consulting, a place maybe: a room, building, town, nation, planet - Reflect partial characteristics like - distance, direction between places and inclusion of one place within another your room inside a building, which is within the boundaries of a town and so on) - Features could be used to describe and analyze cognitive maps : paths, edges, districts, nodes ( a point at which lines or pathways intersect or branch; a central connecting point) or landmarks. Paths - shared travel corridors (streets, walkways, or riverways) Edges - limiting or enclosing features that tend to be linear but not functioning as paths (seashore, wall In some instances some people's paths or other’s edges (rail line dividing town) Districts - larger spaces of cognitive maps that have common character such as “fraternity row’ or “china town” nODES - major points where behavior is focused - associated with intersections of major paths or were paths are broken/ terminated (downtown square, traffic circle, or two freeways (interchange Landmarks - distinctive features that help people to place areas in a country Theories of human environment & behaviors Integration theories - come in and have a particular behavior Five major elements work in harmony or iterate  Global - environment - generalize characteristics (normal things in an environment) Instigators - stimuli that trigger a particular behavior (eg, slot machines in casino) goals , objects and noxients - situations that cause satisfaction or unpleasing feeling Supports and constraints - aspects that facilitate or restrict behavior (rules) Directors - features that tell us where to go and what to do (signs, arrows etc) Control theories - sense of control over our world and our place i its crucial to our well being - Suggests that we have 3 types - Behavior control - ability to change the environment events - Some people have the ability to adapt to various levels of stimulation, and have more actual control in certain settings than in others. Eg. at home as opposed to at work, and attempt to establish personal control using the psychological mechanism behavior control (eg covid 19) Behavior setting theories - Some behaviors are considered appropriate in certain environments but not in others (eg. its socially acceptable to dress and act provocatively at the nightclub but not church - roger barker - made the behavior setting theory - he defined it as public places or occasions that. - Operant condition - the act of reinforcing desired behaviors, we learn at an early age what is expected of us in any given environment. Stimulation theories Every Living thing reacts to sensory stimulation. - Serve to conceptualize and explain the environment as a source of sensory information from sight, sound taste etc Factory effex all 5 senses. Most environments stimulate only sight, sound and smell. Examining different levels of sensory information from an environment allows us to assess that environment level of stimulation. Adaptation level theory - State that a person becomes accustomed to component or variable within an environment it influences will reduced - The survival mechanism of the human psych can adapt to the wide variety of stimulation levels But there are both positive and negative implication A person's optimal level of stimulation is high when we trust into average levels of of stimulation he or she will experience the negative effects of under Berlyne Collative properties Daniel berlyn - one of the first psychologist to develop a model of aesthetics - His theory - we respond to aesthetics based on their collative stimulus properties - that is is properties like novelty, complexity, incongruity novelty - anything new and innovative, not normal Incongruity - design features that seem out of place or out of context. Architects violate neighborhood congruity by incorporating modern buildings into neighborhoods dominated by earlier style (20th cent). Designers often confuse incongruity, which is perceived negatively, with novelty, which is pierced positively. Complexity -the variety of items in an environment. Eg, washington has dense forests, lots of plants and animals, but also deserts Surprise - unexpected such as a home built around a large tree or a bathtub in a great room These properties are sometimes called collative properties - they create chaos Hedonic - design elements that serve no purpose other than to provide beauty and pleasure (gold plated things) Uncertainty arousal - uncertainty (subjective) simultaneous feelings of excitement and discomfort evoked by environments that seem both complex and simple or order and chaotic. Arouses uncertainty Kaplan and kaplan preference framework - The idea that people prefer scenes that are engaging rather than simple or boring. Stephen and Rachel Kaplan devised a theory framework to organize environmental preference according to 4 elements ; coherence, legibility, complexity and mystery. Coherence - the way that objects in a scene come together to form some sort of understandable context. The room must make sense. An incoherent space has furniture Legibility - promise of making sense - the level at which an individual is able to undertake scenes and objects within. Can be affected by items that serve or obscure purposes. Complexity - the number of elements in a scene. The perception of complexity is highly variable; for example, minimalist design can provide the ideal level of complexity for some yet appear sterile or stark to others Mystery - the promise of involvement - the degree to which a scene contains hidden information or begs exploration. Victorian architecture was bursting with features designed to pique a viewer’s curiosity and invite investigation, most homes incorporated cravings and ironwork. -le corbusier Frank loyd wrightman Day 3 Humans and Society - Individual have many needs: physical, emotional, social, and intellectual needs  - Physical Needs Abraham Maslow - Hierarchy of needs Below are traditional and alternative theories Some theories span across more than one category, Abraham maslow hierarchy of needs - eg of physical needs individuals experience NB - Start from bottom (often in shape of pyramid) Self actualization - morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts Esteem - self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of other, respect by other Love/belonging - friendship, family, sexual intimacy Safety - security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family Psychological (Bascs to survive) - breathing, food, water, sex, homeostasis, excretion Each layer - takes precedent over the layer above - The layer above can't be meet until the layer below is - His theory states that needs don’t have to be relevant until the needs below are met - He outlines about 14 of these values - including beauty, meaning, truth, wholeness, justice, order, simplicity, richness - When needs are fulfilled, they don’t go away - Needs beyond the d tier are growth needs “being values” or B needs - Need beyond physiological don’t go away - Start from bottom - You do not feel lack of safety and security until your physiological needs are met In each stage the person confronts and tries to master new challenges. - Each stage builds on the successful completion of the previous - The stages not completed may be expected to appear as problem in the future Emotional & Social needs Erik erikson - 8 stages of development focuses around emotional and social needs individuals have at points in their lives Trust vs Mistrust - 0-1 yr - Infant shows uncertainty, - looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and care - If care is consistent and reliable = development of a sense of trust (carries them through life) - They feel secure even when threatened - Success = Basic Virtue: Hope Autonomy vs Shame - 1-3 yr - At this stage children are focused on developing personal control over physical skills and independence - Success = leads to the Virtue: Will - If children are encouraged and support in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in world survival skills - If children is criticized & overly controlled = child begins to feel inadequate in their ability to survive - Result - overly dependent on others, lack of self - esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt their abilities Initiative vs Guilt 3-6 yr - At this stage children assert themselves more frequently through directing play and other social interactions - Particularly lively, and fast developing years in life - Primary feature involves the child regularly interacting with others - Central to this stage is play = provide opportunity to explore interpersonal skills through initiating activities  - Children begin to plan activities, make up games and initiate activities with others - Given this opportunity = development of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions - If discouraged = children develop sense of guilt - Child often oversteps the mark in his forcefulness , and danger is that the parents will tend to punish the child and restrict his initiatives too much. - Success = Virtue: Leadership Industry vs Inferiority 6-12 yr - At this stage children learn to read write, and do things on their own - Teachers take important roles in child’s life as they teach specific skills - Peer group will gain greater significance and will be the source of child’s self esteem - Child finds need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies valued by society - Developed of sense of pride in accomplishments - Encouragement and reinforced initiative they feel competent and confident in abilities - Discouraged (initiative discouraged, if restricted by parents and teachers) = child begins to feel inferior, doubt skill and own abilities and therefore may not reach their potential - Success = Virtue: Competence and Confidence Identity vs Role confusion 12-17 yr - At this stage adolescence search for sense of self and personal identity through intense exploration of personal values, beliefs and goals - Transition from childhood to adulthood is most important - Children become more independent, and start looking at future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc - Individuals want = belong to society and fit in - Major stage = child has to learn the roles they’ll occupy as adult - Adolescents reexamine their identity and try to decipher who they are. - Success = Virtue: Fidelity & Identity Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood)  - At this stage, major conflict centers on forming intimate, loving relationships with others. - We begin to share ourselves more intimately with others - We explore relationships leading towards long term commitment with other (besides family) - Success - Virtue: Love, Happiness, Commitment - Results in safety and care in relationship - Avoidance of intimacy = fearing commitment, and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression - Generativity vs Stagnation (middle adulthood) - At this stage we give back to society through raising children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities - Genereativitity = development of a sense of being apart of the bigger picture - Success: = feelings of usefulness and accomplishments, Care - Failure results in shallow involvement in the world. Failing to find a way to contribute, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Ego Integrity vs Despair (older adulthood) - At this stage, we contemplate our accomplishments and can develop integrity, if we see ourselves as leading a successful life - As we grow older 65 yr + we tend to slow down our productivity and explore life as a retired person - Erik Erikson believes - if we see our life as unproductive, we feel guilt about the past or feel we didn’t accomplish our goals - We become dissatisfied with life and develop despair leading to depression and hopelessness - Success = Virtue - Wisdom In each stage the person confronts and tries to master new challenges. - Each stage builds on the successful completion of the previous - The stages not completed may be expected to appear as problem in the future Intellectual Needs Jean Piaget - theory of cognitive development covers intellectual needs of an individual. The theory can be broken down into a series of 4 stages that span from infancy to childhood to adulthood. These 4 stages are - Sensorimotor stage (occurs from birth - 2) children experience through their senses, - Preoperational stage (occurs yr 2-7), motor skills required - Concrete Operational stage (occurs yrs 7-11), children think logically about concrete events, thing that have definite definition/ outcomes eg math problems - Formal Operational stage (occurs after 11) abstract reasoning is developed here Spiritual Need One other need that individuals can have is a spiritual need. A sense that there is a greater power or being To have a sense of spirituality can provide individuals with a meaning and purpose in life. Few psychologists incorporate piece of spirituality into their theories, eg, Carl Jung & Abraham Maslow Society Individual = basic component of society Interaction between individuals with each other gives birth to group Social groups interact with each other and develop relationships with each other = society Human societies as systems System as a term = used in conjunction with sociocultural an appears frequently in sociological analysis is a simple world with profound meaning Refers to entity made of interrelated part/ a group of relations More than the sum of it parts, System = sum of its parts + all the relations among them  Set of things working together - in culture Societies vary in the degree to which the functions of the parts are coordinated with one another and with the functioning of the system as a whole Human societies are as much defined by conflicting element as they are by harmonious elements Conflict vs Harmony 5 basic components of human societies Population - Genetic constants of a population = characteristics that affect our species common genetic heritage - Specifying traits = difficult cuz scientists can’t examine genotype w/o cultural influences and complexity of genetics itself - However, people and their societies are very influenced by their genetic heritage of our species and cultures - Unattractive aspects of human life , no less than attractive ones, inevitably reflect ancient evolutionary heritage and seem destined to remain a part of human scene for a long time Genetic Variables - in addition to core traits, each of us has 1000s of genes that are absent or occur in different forms. Cuz these genes are not distributed equally among societies and population, there are variable aspects to the genetic heritage of society A race is a part of the human population that some combination of variable (visible) traits occurs with frequency. Demographic Variables - a population include such things like sza, density, migration, composition, birth, death rates. These characters vary among societies but, have direct, demonstrable and far consequences for human societies Demographic environment - Age structure - Gender - Income distribution  - Family size - Family life cycle - Occupation - Education - Social classes Culture Symbol systems = basic systems in any society are spoken languages (these are the ones its members use in basic thought processes, transmit info. Body language - supplementing its spoken language, every society uses conventional gestures and expressions - message evident to group - not confused with instinctive reaction, body language = symbolic for the form and meaning of the gestures and expressions are determined by those who use them. Written language - a relatively recent development in human history, written language has expanded our ability to communicate info. - over history the importance of 3 basic types of language has altered considerably. Body language may well have been the dominant form of expression among our early ancestors, declining only when speech evolved. Only recently spoken symbols remained the primary means of transmitting info. Culture = the costumes, arts, social institutions of a particular nation, people and other social groups - Cultural information = knowledge acquired through experience and conveyed through symbols. - A society's information = a product of its experiences: its experiences in the remote and recent past and its experience with its environment and itself. Cuz every society has a unique past, every culture is unique eg African, european & barbadian culture Ideology - - Most information in culture is ideological - Ideology - information used to interpret experience and help order societal life - 3 basic elements that comprise every ideology - A system of beliefs about the kind of world we live in - A system of normal moral values that emanate from/ justified by, those - A system of norms - apply those general values to specific situations and spell out how the group is to act in different contexts. - 2 kinds of norms in every society - Laws, regulations and rules - official legal code - Customs - the informal and unofficial norms that define acceptable and unacceptable behavior Technology - Information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires - Material products - consist of things that human society gets through trade. These products of technology range from perishable food to architecture. Energy is the most vital product of societal activity. (cars, vegetables, houses, logs) Social organization - The network of relationships between society members. - Makes it possible for members to satisfy individual needs and societal needs. - We must think of it as a product of interaction of culture and people itself - Consist of 5 elements: - Individuals - Every society must cope with a constant process where people die and people are born Socialization - the means where society copes with turnover of membership  - It is a complex process that begins at infancy (when they master independent thought, emotions and reaction) and that some interactions are positive and negative. - It is never entirely successful. Most of the time many individuals conform to their society’s standards because of their desire to get the reward and avoid penalties and partly because they have internalized society’s standards. - Social positions, roles & statuses - Individuals who occupy positions in a social structure are expected to fulfill a number of social roles. - These rolls come in response to recurring needs and societal problems - Roles have distinctive behavioral expectations and requirements attached to them. The behavior requirements and expectations attached to real life roles are the norms discussed earlier - It is important to recognize that roles differ greatly with respect to the prestige or social accorded them. - - Groups - In most societies individuals are organized into many units called groups - These range from small family groups - giant corporations - Limit the term group to an aggregation - members cooperate to satisfy common or complementary needs, shared norms, sense of common identity - Types - Primary - small, set of tight, long lasting, direct intimate relationships - Secondary - gathered to achieve a specific and shared goal or common interest and sense of belonging - Egs, family (primary), class group (sec), social clubs (sec), church community (prime), political parties (sec)  - Classes - Inequality - fact of life - Some individuals control more of society's resources than others - Human societies differ greatly, however in the amount of inequality present among their members - Class or stratum is defined on the basis of some important attribute that is the same for all members of the class and that influences their access to power, privilege and prestige. - Stratification - All the statuses and class systems of a society constitute its system of stratification. Stratification systems vary in a number of important ways like, wealth, power, prestige and race. - It is one of the major sources of conflict within societies. No system of distribution can satisfy everyone cuz there is no obviously right or fair way to distribute resources. - (Classes top to bottom) The 1% class > the salary elite > the precariat > the working poor > people receiving social benefits like a citizen salary Social Institutions & Institutional Systems - The last of the 5 components of human societies. - Differ from other components we have considered in that: they are a combination of the other components - They bring together populations, culture, the material products of culture, and social organizations. - Institutions are durable and persisting elements of sociocultural systems. The Worlds System of Societies - Every human society is part of a larger and more inclusive sociocultural system that sociologists call the world system of societies. - The world systems theory, developed by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein is an approach to world history and social change that suggests there is a world economic system in which some countries share characteristics of both core and peripheral Day 4 Environment & Ecosystems The environment - surroundings or conditions that a person, animal, or plant live/operates - The natural world as a whole or in a particular geographical area (affected by human activity Term - widely used - some people say “simply nature”, In other words , the natural landscape together with all of its non-human features, characteristics and processes. The environment is often closely related to notions of wilderness and pristine landscapes that haven’t been influenced. Others say it includes human elements. Regard to agricultural and pastoral landscapes as part of envon - Others say its more inclusive an regard all elementz of the earth’s surface - include urban areas - as constituting envons - The notion of environment is associated with diverse images and is boun up with various assumptions an beliefs that are often unspoken - yet may be strongly held - These usages however have underlying assumptions; that the environment exists in some kind of relation to humans - Environment - the backdrop to the unfolding narrative of human history - Habitats and resources that humans exploit, “the hinterland’ that surrounds human settlement, ‘/ wilderness” undomesticated  - Literal sense - environment - surroundings (environs) hence - Environment of an individual object, element or system includes the other entities surrounding. - iN reality, individuals, objects, elements and systems rarely exist in isolation. - But they interact in varying extents with surrounding entities - May be regarde as “space” or field which networks of relationships, interconnections and interactionsbetween entities occur. - Ecologist are concern with biotic (l) and abiotic (nl) components in envon - The term - is often used interchanged with ecosystems - may be defined as -community of interacting organisms with ther physical surroundings - Disturbances, Categories Natural vs built environment Natural - encompasses all living and non livingthings occurring naturally. Some parts of the earth. Encompasses the interaction of all living things, climate, whether , and natural resources that affect humn survival. Built - Human made evon that provides setting for human activity. - Includes homes, buildings,, zoning, streets, sidewalks - Defined - human made space where ppl live, work and recreate - Human develop advance tools to change components of envon to meet needs - Human tech is widely distributed around world affecting aspects of envon. Chemical environment - Builing blocks that make up all living things on earth. - Chemicals occur naturally in envon and air, water, foo, and homes - Used in meds, computers, fabrics fuels - Air made of - nitrogen, oxygen, water vap, argon, & carbon dioxide - Some Can undermine human health - such as arsenic, lead, mercury - Naturally occurring chemical like asbestos have raise concerns cuz they are used and products in ways that increase human exposure and can lead to health issues like cancer Physical envon - natural environ - Includes - land areas, elevations, natural drainage , flood plains an slopes, water features,soils, vegetation - Exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, troposphere, biosphere( combined portions of planet which all life exists - land - Biosphere - litho, atmo, hydro, - Hydrosphere - - all waters on earth's surface - Lithosphere - rigid outer part of earth( crust , upper mantel - Atmosphere - mixture of gasses - shielding from uv radiation - 4 physical systems - The sun - almost all earth’s energy comes from the sun Synchronized earth-sun relationships are essential for planet to be habitable - Earth’s position relative to sun affects events, buildings, and conditions - Amount of solar energy received depends on cyclically changing angles of sun’s rays - Seasons result from the tilt of earth and its revolution around the sun. - Understanding how physical systems can work, influences people's choices. Where live, types of buildings an travel networks - Given uncertain trajectory and effect of global climate change, knowledge about the factors that affect Effects of humans on envons - One key concept of sustainable development is interdependence of society, economy, and the natural environ - Early human culture knew that - their existence was dependent on using envon resources but knowing their limits - Recently, biography and ecology has revealed that all living things depend on each other and are interconnected through natural cycles. - Cycles = naturally and continually subjected to change that can harm or enhance the ability to different species - Unsustainability patterns are epreciting resources - Human activities - industry, energy production, transport, agriculture, recreation - Envon - water, air, soil minerals, plants animals - Wastes -air pollutant, water poll, soil poll, radioactive waste, Climate change - number of gasses in atmosphere aka greenhouse gasses cause the trap heat from son that is normally reflected Types of greenhouse gas -methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gas Concern that increase of greenhouse gasses and global climate change or warming are part associated with each other - could be detrimental because of rising sea level - Earth warmed up by 0.6 degrees in last 100 yrs Co2 - slowly increasing in air - Cuzz of burning of fossil fuels - Reducing this is an important part of the U N sustainable development programme - Betterment through cleaner tech and substitution of gas for coal in electricity generation. - Natural gas gives off less co2 - gives lower sulfur dioxide which results in less acid rain Ozone layer - form of oxygen - In stratosphere , around 25 km above the earth’s surface, there is a layer of ozone that absorbed uv light from the sun - Uv light is known to cause skin cancer in human - 1970 - scientists realize hole in ozone layer over antarctica - Build up of CFS (Chloro - Chemicals used in aerosol sprays, packaging and air conditioning systems - 1 molecule of cfc can remove 100000 ozone molecules, and the widespread use of CFC Effects of climate change - 90% of natural disaster - The cryosphere - frozen water on earth is melting -a warmer atmos causes the planet snowpack glaciers and sea fresh water ice to melt rapidly - Melting Whether extreme - heat waves are more frequent worldwide - Increased evaporation Rising sea levels, storm surges capable of much greater damage Ocean getting hotter = water more acidic, Ocean = hotter absorb more heat Shift causes the oceans to expand, contributing to higher sea levels Trigg Human life and prosperity surfer as climate shifts What is air pollution - 13th century when coal was first used in london. - Smoke + fog = smog What is acid rain? How transport increases air pollution How is infrastructure at risk because of climate change How are arctic animal need vanishing How are coral and shellfish Forests = deadly infestations Types of noise pollution Light pollution Light clutter Sky glow Day 5 (Ecosystem continued) Man acts as the dominant systems Direction and extent of progress are considerable measures dictated by his physical environment. In some parts of the world - = environment has been transformed so that few elements of its original nature are detectable. - The tsundra (hot deserts) = only sparsely populated by man are often the most sensitive to the slightest interference - - Many apparently natural systems are control systems that man acts as a regulator (consciously or unconsciously) - At best , except for large scale weather phenomena, natural systems are mostly modified systems. - Consider which climate, landforms, soils, and ecosystems have been inadvertently altered by man. Some landforms include: - Quarrying - process of removing rock, sand or other materials from ground to use them to produce materials for construction or other uses. - Mining - the extraction (removal) of minerals and metals from the earth - Deforestation - the purposeful clearing of forested land - The introduction of exotic plants and animals, the use of agricultural machinery (new species can impact the environment both negatively or positively. - The use of tracks and roads - Overgrazing of pastures These things can profoundly alter landforms and caused accelerated erosion and deposition - Where man excavate or pile up materials = he is a direct agent of change (manual alterations to the environment.)  - Where he causes natural landform processes like - wind and water action (to accelerate or diminish,, he is acting as an indirect agent of change. (natural reactions to that causes a reaction) - This influence occurs accidentally or secondarily to some other purposes : conscious attempts to influence landform processes - eg. by building coastal groyne or reafforestation - are inevitably expensive and limited in extent. Man has a direct effect on the shape of landforms by excavation and piling up earth, reclaiming land from the sea, and causing subsidence through mining - These activities have greatly increased since the industrial revolution with the development of enormous mechanical power and explosives for moving materials. Railway and motorway construction provides many familiar examples of man created slopes, embankments and cuttings. Land scarification - when land is cut away and it can’t come back and it is forever scarred - Sometimes used as a general term for disturbances created by the extraction of mineral resources: open pit mine, quarries sand and gravel pits = among the forms of scarification - Strip mining = one of most devastating eg of landform alteration of this kind. Although common in the US, it doesn’t occur widely in the UK. except as a method of mining Jurassic ironstone in Northamptonshire, - The effect = of - subsidence = common in most of the older coal mining areas of Britain. - Switchback roads - perched canal fractured buildings and flooded depressions or flashes are all visible manifestations of recent changes in the surface form of the ground. Subsidence = sinking of an area of land In 1966 (Aberfan in Wales), = major disaster occurred on a spring saturated coal waste heap which moved as an earthflow, destroying part of the village below, including a school and many of its children - Similar problems may arise on other constructed slopes: the large no. of earthflows triggered during the building of the Panama Canal is a well known eg. Indirect effects: Slopes & rivers Most important of man effects on landforms = those connected to interference with the natural vegetation, in particular with the clearing of the forest for agriculture purposes - Close relationship between amount of vegetation cover and erosion rates on hillslopes, and hence with the amount of sediment in streams. - A stable vegetation cover acts as an effective regulator of natural erosion, protecting the ground from direct raindrop impact, absorbing some of the runoff, and making the slope more cohesive. With removal of vegetation the surface loses its plant litter = causing a loss of soil structure cohesion and porosity Overgrazing has similar effects and the introduction of animal pests such as the rabbit into Australia has also had a detrimental effect on slope stability. Multiple shot syringe rills and gullies on hillsides are often a typical manifestation of man’s direct effect on slopes. - Presently found worldwide , (in semiarid regions susceptible to tropical downpours) - Areas like South Australia, recent date of a great deal of gully and sheet erosion on slopes is testified by burial of fence posts and other man made debris. - Evidence that some long settled areas, like west europe, where gullies are not now a prevalent feature of the landscape, - They were more widespread in past times when the natural vegetation cover wast first remove Rills - gullies - valley Eg - in mediterranean area - during the latter part of roman period, there was and increasing loss of soil fertility, hill slopes became eroded and valley bottoms were heavily silted, - This may have been a direct result of a tendency towards greater aridity (deficiency of moisture) but many experts believe that human overpopulation and overgrazing by goats were important contributory factors. High rates of hillslope erosion by over land slopes are a natural state in some localities, creating Badlands as in South Dakota where much of the area is underlain by almost impervious clay formationS. - Badland can be artificially produced = accelerated erosion proceeds unchecked. - Instances of this extreme form of slope degradation became common in poorly farmed areas of the south. - - Appalachachians in the US in the 1920s and did much to bring the whole problem of soil erosion and soil conservation to public attention. The alteration of infiltration and runoff slopes by modification the vegetation inevitably has profound effect on adjacent rivers i at least two respects by increasing both the discharge and also the sediment supply - Seems to be little doubt that many floods in midlatitude rivers would not occur if vegetation in the drainage basin were in its natural state. - Evidence = increase frequency of floods in recent decades in river Severn at Shrewsbury = related to improvements in land technique in land drainage in catchment areas. - Effect of this = prevent files from retaining a large proportion of normal precipitation and from releasing it slowly. At times of flood, discharge levels became higher and achieve there max more quickly, -Another way discharge levels can be affecting similarly = through urbanization : ground surface is rendered impervious (impenetrable) by buildings, path and roads Precipitation is channeled directly to rivers through drains and sewers. Its difficult to quantitatively assess the importance of man induced slope erosion on the sediment load of major rivers since we have few pre- interference data. - Investigators are generally agreed that cultivation has greatly increased the sediment load of rivers of southEast asia , europe and north America, maybe by a factor of 2 -3 above the geological norm for the world. - - Sediment builds up in the Mississippi river. The effect of this increase is important in construction of dams and canals. In severe cases, large amounts of sediment supply may also cave valley aggregation, destroying destroying productive land capacity, Specific operations of man which lead to local cases of river silting and aggregation include mining operations, urbanization and highway construction: all these are sources of excessive sediment. - But much can be done to reduce effects of building operations - Eg - keeping to a minimum the periods during which bare areas are exposed, and by using sediment basins to trap coarser sediment. Day 6 Environmental Psychology and Sociology Social Impact Assessment ( Environmental Impact Assessment - a process of evaluating the likely environmental impact of a proposed project or development - Taking into account inter- related socioeconomic, cultural and human health impacts UNEP = SDefines, EIA as a tool to identify environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to decision making. - Aims to predict environmental impacts at early stage in project planning and design - Find ways to to reduce impacts - Shape projects to suit local environment and prese Stages of EIA Stage 1 - Screening - Process resulting in a key EIA decision eg, to either conduct the assessment (based on the likely significant impacts or not (in anticipated absence impact - It needs to follow specific processes described in legislation s all the projects follow the same process Stage 2 - Scoping - Critical step in preparation of EIA cuz it identifies the issues that are likely to be most important during the EIA. - A systematic exercise which establishes the boundaries of EIA and sets basis of analysis to be conducted at each stage - Quality scoping = reduces risks eg inappropriate components or excluding components that should be addressed - Involves: - Identifying all relevant issues and factors : including : cumulative effects, social impacts and health risks - Facilitating meaningful public engagement - Determining appropriate time and space boundary for eia - Identifying important issues to be considered in EIA like setting the baseline and identifying alternatives - Stage 3 -Impact Assessment & mitigation - Core part of an EIA - Refers to the detailed evaluation of environmental and social impacts of planned project and identified alternative compared to baseline conditions - This Includes: qualitative description like measuring high, medium, low impacts eg. indicating cubic meters of water withdrawn, sewage produced, and pollutants released - This is Done for planned project and the identified alternative allowing comparisons - Once the detailed assessment is complete, mitigation measures to reduce or avoid impacts identified Stage 4 - Impact management - The creation of a series of plans and protocols aiming to manage and monitor the identified mitigation measures and risks that may occur over time - Like tech failure and nauru disasters - Some plans are compulsory, like and environment Management Plan (emp) - Require as part of eia - Other plans = content specific &/ depend on guidance from national legislation  - Eg, if a project takes place in close proximity to a community, a resettlement plan my e needed, if not communities close by, a resettlement plan wouldn’t be necessary. - Impact management begins during the project’s planning phase and continues after project implementation - - Stage 5 -Eia report - A compilation of several important project components Including : project description, assessment of its environment and social impacts, mitigation measures, and related management and monitoring plans - During this steep = all info gathered in previous steps are compiled into a comprehensive report that analyzes and synthesizes the data, structuring it as stipulated in the terms of reference (TOF) Stage 6 - Reviewing and licensing in the final check on the quality of EIA report submitted, designated authorities will usually go through it thoroughly, weighing the methods used, data, interpretation, measures and conclusions to assess impacts of planned development Review will determine if project adequately addresses major environmental risks And whether to grant licenses to the project proponents or to request project changes. Stage 7 - Monitoring provides data on environmental and social impacts of project for whole project lifecycle Part of their operations = mos development projects involve regular monitoring of indicators -Information collected during monitoring activities help ensure priorities list in EMP, mitigation measure, contingency plans r properly implemented and these plans are effective What should EIA contain - Describe in detail your proposed activity on public conversation land and waters - Detail physical and social conservation values affected by proposal - Identify potential effects both positive and adverse (+ & -) - Describe measures to avoid remedy or mitigate adverse effects - Identify alternate locations time, designs that would mitigate adverse effects of proposal - Prescribe a programmes to monitor any ongoing effects Conducting EIA Questions to ask when conducting an EIA Natural Resources - Will construction, operation or decommissioning of project involves ati0ns which will cause physical change in typography of area - Will construction use natural resources above and below ground like land, soil, water etc which are non renewable and short supply - - Are there any areas around/on location that contain important high quality or scarce resources which could be affected by the project eg. forestry, agriculture, water/costa Waste Will the project product solid wastes during construction or operation or decommissioning Pollution and Nuances Will project release pollution or any hazard, toxic substances to air Will project cause noise and vibration or release of light, heat, energy or electromagnetic radiation Will the project lead to risks of contamination of land, water etc from pollutants released onto ground or surface waters, ground waters, coastal waters or the sea. Are there any areas on /around location which are already subject to pollution or environmental damage e.g., where existing legal environmental standards are exceeded which could be affected by the project? Population and human health Will there be any risk of major accidents ( including those caused by climate change, in accordance with scientific knowledge during construction, operation or decommissions - The project presents risk in population(having regard to population density) and their human health during constructions, operation or decommissioning. eg due to water contamination or air pollution Water resources - Are there any water resources including surface waters eg, rivers,lakes ponds, costal or underground waters on or around the location which could be be affected by the project, particular in terms of their volume and flood risks Bio diversities (species & habitats) - Are there any protected areas that are designated or classified for their terrestrial, avian, and marine ecological value, or any no designated/ non classified areas that are important or sensitive for the reason of their terrestrial, avian and marine ecology value by tee project. Eg wetlands, watercourses or other water bodies, the coastal zone, mountains, forests or woodlands, undesignated nature reserves or parks. (where designated indicate level of designation (international, national, regional, or local) - Could any protected important or sensitive species of flora or fauna which use areas on or around the site eg. for breeding, nesting, foraging, resting, overwintering, or mitigation, be affected by the project Landscape and visual - Are there any areas or features on a location that are protected for their landscape and scenic value, and or n0n designated/ non classified areas or features of high landscape or scenic value on or around the location which could be affected by the project? Where designated indicates level of designation, (international, national, regional or local.  - Is the project in a location where it is likely to be highly visual to any people? (if so, from where, what direction, and what distance?) Cultural Heritage & Archaeology - Are there any areas or features that are protected for their cultural heritage or archaeological value,or any non - designated/ classified areas and/ or feature of cultural heritage or archeological importance on or around the location which could be affected by the project(including potential impacts on setting, and views to, from within? - Where designated indicates level of designated (international, national, regional,or local. Transport and Access Are there any route on or around location which are used by the public for access to recreation or other facilities (which could be affected by the project - Are there any transport routes on or around the location which are susceptible to congestion to which cause environmental problems which could be affected by the project. Land use - Are there existing land uses or community facilities on or around the location which could be affected by the project? - Eg. housing, densely populated areas, industry/ commerce, farm,/agricultural holdings, forestry, tourism, mining, quarrying, facilities relating to health, education, places of wor Are there any plans for future land uses on or around the location which could be affected by the project Land stability & climate - Is the location susceptible to earthquakes? Subsidence, landslides, erosions, or extreme/ adverse climate conditions - Eg, temperature, inversions, fogs, severe winds, which could cause the project to present environmental problems. Social Impact Assessment a process of research, planning and the management socia chang or consequences, positiw and negative - Arising from policies, plans, developements and impacts (unep 2007. - Cor focus = important impacts of projects and develoements beyon dthe impacts on natural resources eg. social impacts (vanclay 2003 People’s way of life - how the live, work, play interact with one another Their culture - tier shared beliefs, customs, values, language & dialect Their community - cohesion, stability, character services and facilities Their political systems - the extent to which people are able to participate in decisions that affect their lives, the level of democratization that is taking place, and the resources provided for this purpose Their health and well being - health is a state of complete physical, metal, social and spiritual well being and not merely the absence of disease. The SIA looks not only at social issues but also at the environmental impacts and their interactions - Eg, if planned project impacts This usually covers the following specific area to identify impacts and mitigation measures - Community and stakeholder engagement - Workforce management - Housing and accommodation - Local business and industry content - Health and community well being Parts of SIA Indicators - Population, demographics, size, age, ethnic groups, gender Employment & Unemployment rates Median income - according to sectors (are people being paid well) (if not, is the project worth it?) % of population with access to social services (health, education, recreation, social support % of population with access to adequate water, sanitation, electricity Number of community organizations and community groups Housing quality and quantity - will increase in people have an impact on the quality of houses  State of public safety (fire, police- Location & Quantity of farm lands Local land use patterns Attitudes towards the project- Assignments - do the assessment based on all of the question Make suggestion on how to mitigate Research information - recycling plants Doing it based on stage 3 Why not to put How recycling plants work