Environmental Science and Sustainability Chapter 1 PDF

Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery Chapter 1: Environmental Science and Sustainability: What’s the Big Idea? CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction A. We all face a series of choices in our daily lives th...

Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery Chapter 1: Environmental Science and Sustainability: What’s the Big Idea? CHAPTER OUTLINE Introduction A. We all face a series of choices in our daily lives that affect the environment. 1. These choices involve what we eat, wear, and drive and the chemicals that go into making our consumer goods. B. Environmental scientists study the ways humans transform the world. 1. Scientific inquiry explores the consequences of and evaluates ways to address our environmental effects, protecting the environment, and saving resources and money. C. Reducing environmental effects involves more than science. 1. It involves both consumers and producers of goods and services. 1.1 What Is the Environment, and What Is an Ecosystem? A. The environment is the multitude of living and nonliving things on Earth that sustain life, including our own. 1. Components of the environment interact with one another to produce conditions favorable to sustaining life. B. What Are Systems? 1. A system is a collection of components interacting with each other to produce outcomes that each component could not achieve on its own. 2. Ecosystems are communities of life and the physical environments with which they interact. a. Relationships in ecosystems are complex: Each living thing responds to the environment, draws on environmental resources to survive, and modifies the environment. 3. Ecosystem services refer to a concept that assigns a value to the human benefits derived from naturally functioning ecosystems. a. Ecosystem services also capture the many ways natural systems provide the conditions on which our well-being depends by assimilating wastes, cycling nutrients, and providing a climate and conditions favorable for our survival. C. Where Do Humans Fit in the Environment? What’s Our Impact? 1. We are in the Anthropocene Epoch, which is marked by conspicuous human effects on the planet, so that few places on Earth are unaffected by humans. a. Cities and farms have replaced forests, wetlands, free-flowing rivers, prairies, and homes for other species. 1.2 What Is Sustainability?  Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery A. The environmental effects of humans may be the most important factor now affecting life on Earth, raising concerns about the future. B. Protecting Earth’s resources is not a new idea. 1. For example, Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest established rules to prevent overfishing. C. Defining Sustainability 1. Sustainability is the management of natural resources in ways that do not diminish or degrade Earth’s ability to provide them in the future. 2. Sustainability requires thinking ahead to a specific goal and how to reach that goal. a. How do we use a resource? How much should we leave? How do we manage other uses of a resource? b. The Global Reporting Initiative creates standards so businesses, governments, and citizens can track the impacts of their practices. 3. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. a. It considers the 3Es (environment, economy, and equity), a framework that considers the environmental effects as well as the economic and social effects of human actions. 4. In 2016, the UN released 17 sustainable development goals that cover the 3Es for nations to use as guidelines. a. Included are environmental (i.e., combating climate change, stopping the loss of biodiversity), economic (i.e., providing decent jobs and economic growth), and equity (i.e., eliminating poverty and promoting gender equality) objectives. Also addressed are efforts to combat adverse effects of climate change, or the long-term change in climate conditions, such as temperature and precipitation. b. Specific indicators (i.e., amount of pollution, protected areas, etc.) measure progress over time. c. Each country’s government decides the manner and extent to which it will pursue these goals. D. Ecological Resilience 1. Despite the best planning, damaging events can occur naturally (i.e., hurricanes) or through human actions (i.e., overfishing). 2. A sustainably developed environment absorbs the damage more easily and recovers more quickly. 3. Ecological resilience measures how well an environment or entity can resist degradation and recover after it is disrupted, stressed, or adversely affected. 1. Planning for sustainability and resilience are forward-thinking processes (e.g., planning for floods in cities including design of new construction and preservation of wetlands to buffer storms). 1.3 What Is Science?  Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery A. Science is our way of asking and answering questions and testing ideas about the natural world by using evidence gathered from the natural world. B. The Scientific Method a. The scientific method is a formal process of inquiry designed to test problems and ideas. b. Once a problem is identified, a hypothesis or statement that attempts to explain the phenomenon or answer a scientific question is proposed. c. The process continues by conducting experiments and gathering data, evaluating data, and refining, altering, expanding, or rejecting the hypothesis. C. Ways of Observing and Testing 1. The main point of research is to determine whether observations meet, or fail to meet, expectations (the hypothesis), while providing evidence to support it. 2. A controlled experiment is a test in which researchers intentionally manipulate some specific aspect of a system to see how this change affects the outcome. a. The test group contains the parts or participants that are subject to this change. b. The control group contains the parts or participants that are not changed. 3. Natural (observational) studies can be done in situations where it is too difficult, impossible, wrong, or potentially harmful to research subjects. D. Models 1. Models are simplified concepts or representations of a complex process that are designed to help understand interactions among different factors. 2. They are not simple; some (e.g., weather models) are run on the world’s most powerful computers and contain millions of lines of code. 3. Hindcasting (i.e., in climate models) allows the initial conditions from a known starting point in the past to be plugged into an improved model to see how closely the model results match what actually happened. 1.4 What Are Challenges to Good Science? A. Scientific inquiry is a cautious and skeptical approach. B. Fraud and Pseudoscience 1. Fraud is an attempt to deceive people by communicating false findings. a. A single observation is not enough; science must be reproduceable and open to revision. 2. Pseudoscience is based on claims that are not the result of scientific inquiry or are derived by a process that is not open to scientific scrutiny. C. Bias and Misinformation 1. Bias, or an unreasonable weighting, inclination, or prejudice of one’s thinking that leads to misunderstandings, may come from personal experience or from others with whom one interacts. 2. Misinformation is false or incorrect information that may be spread intentionally or unintentionally. D. The Function of Peer Review  Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery 1. Peer review is a process for refining research design and ensuring that conclusions can be drawn from the evidence by subjecting work to assessment by experts in the field of study in question. a. Scientists submit an article to an academic journal, which sends it out to experts. b. The experts review it, submit feedback, criticisms, identify errors, and suggest additional related research. c. Publication in a journal often takes over a year and provides a measure of confidence that the procedures and conclusions meet the standards of science. 1.5 What Shapes Our Decisions on the Environment? A. Sustainability involves making decisions and taking actions in response to environmental issues. 1. Science can help us understand the natural world, but it cannot tell us what to do about the issues. 2. Values are reflections of our understanding of how we want things to be—what we desire, aim for, or demand. a. We use values to assign relative worth, merit, or importance to different things and inform our actions. b. We use a wide range of factors in making decisions, including what we think is “good” or “bad.” B. Factors Influencing Individual Decisions 1. The choices we make are influenced by a variety of factors: a. Common biases in our thinking b. The way we prioritize needs and desires c. The pressure to conform to those around us C. Trade-Offs and Incentives 1. Values can compete with each other, so we must prioritize among them to make up our minds. 2. Trade-offs are the pros and cons, benefits and costs of alternate courses of action. 3. Public strategies can be used that alter the trade-offs we consider and influence our decisions. a. Communication strategies (e.g., public campaigns) are verbal or nonverbal ways of connecting with others to influence or inform. b. Incentives (e.g., taxes, subsidies) are positive or negative signals that pull us toward or push us away from a certain choice or behavior. D. Making Sense of Our Environmental Effects 1. Our choices and actions can have a significant environmental impact. 2. Footprint analysis is a method to understand the magnitude of the impact of choices and actions individuals make, both over time and collectively. a. Ecological footprint analysis translates an individual’s (and a country’s) energy use, food consumption, and material use into the acres of land (its resources) needed to support these actions 1. The United States, China, and India have the largest footprints.  Environmental Science and Sustainability By Daniel J. Sherman and David R. Montgomery b. Carbon footprints estimate greenhouse gas emissions from driving, eating certain foods, and other activities. E. Groups and Organizations 1. We have the capacity to influence each other. 2. Individuals gain influence through collaborations within social networks. a. Social networks include people and connections that allow certain things (money, goods, information, influence, values, behaviors) to flow between people. 3. Organizations (e.g., colleges) can link networks of individuals for shared purposes. 4. The work of an organization can be more powerful than individuals working alone. F. What Are Some of the Big Decisions We Will Explore in This Book? 1. This book discusses: a. Earth’s processes that provide environmental conditions for life. b. How our choices and actions affect environmental conditions in ways that jeopardize (or enhance) our survival. c. How our individual choices accumulate to produce action across societies. d. How governments, social organizations, and economics set the context in which we make our choices about population, food and agriculture, energy, consumption, urbanization, and land use. 1.6 What Can I Do? A. Consider Sustainability When You Make Purchases 1. Some companies have missions that allocate resources toward sustainability, provide footprint analysis for their products, or release sustainability reports. 2. Sell or donate used clothing and other items. B. Research and If Possible Participate in Sustainability Groups, Offices, or Plans on Your Campus 1. Get involved in your college’s or university’s environmental or sustainability organizations. C. Consider the Role and Opportunities That Technology Might Play in Sustainable Development 1. Internet-connected devices will have a tremendous impact on sustainability. 2. Consider technology-related business, career, and entrepreneurial opportunities for your future.