People and Earth System Interactions PDF

www.dpreview.com GEC Elect 21.2 PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM PEOPLE AND EARTH SYSTEM INTERACTIONS Human Use of the Earth 1.1 Natural Capital Use & Degradation Human Wellbeing & Environmental Worldviews Principles of Sustainability...

www.dpreview.com GEC Elect 21.2 PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM PEOPLE AND EARTH SYSTEM INTERACTIONS Human Use of the Earth 1.1 Natural Capital Use & Degradation Human Wellbeing & Environmental Worldviews Principles of Sustainability 1  As we have expanded into and dominated almost all of the earth’s ecosystems in a short time, we have seriously degraded the natural systems that support all species, including our own and our economies. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Natural Capital The natural resources and ecosystem services that keep us and other species alive and support human economies. Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Ecosystem Services Natural Resources - materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans Ecosystem Services – processes provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to humans 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Natural Resources Inexhaustible resources Renewable resources Nonrenewable (depletable or exhaustible) resources supply is continuous or expected to can be replenished by natural exist in a fixed quantity, or stock, in the last for a very long time―at least 6 processes within hours to centuries, earth’s crust billion years in the case of our sun as long as we do not use it up faster than natural processes can renew it e.g., solar, wind, geothermal energy e.g., air, trees, topsoil, freshwater e.g., fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Ecosystem Services Supporting services Regulating services those necessary for all other the benefits obtained from the ecosystem services, and their regulation of ecosystem impacts on people are either processes, including air quality indirect or occur over a very long maintenance, climate regulation, time period such as primary water regulation, erosion control, production, atmospheric oxygen water purification and waste production, nutrient and water treatment, regulation of disease, cycling, and pollination and storm protection Provisioning services Cultural services the products obtained from the nonmaterial benefits people ecosystems, including food and obtain from ecosystems through fiber, fuel, freshwater, genetic spiritual enrichment, cognitive resources, biochemicals, natural development, reflection, medicine, and pharmaceuticals recreation, and aesthetic experiences 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Natural Capital Degradation The waste, depletion, or destruction of any of the earth’s natural capital. Human activities have degraded or overused about 60% of the earth’s ecosystem services, mostly since 1950. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Pollution contamination of the environment by any chemical or other agent such as noise or heat to a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms Point sources – single, identifiable sources Dealing with pollution: Pollution cleanup involves cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we have produced them Nonpoint sources – dispersed and often Pollution prevention difficult to identify efforts focused on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation The Tragedy of the Commons Degradation of such shared or open- access renewable resources occurs because each user reasons, “The little bit that I use or pollute is not enough to matter, and anyway, it’s a renewable resource.” When the number of users is small, this logic works. Eventually, however, the cumulative effect of large numbers of people trying to exploit a widely available or shared resource can degrade it and eventually exhaust or ruin it. Watch this video on YouTube: Then no one can benefit from it. What is the tragedy of the commons? - Nicholas That is the tragedy. Amendolare - YouTube 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Growing Ecological Footprint We can think of the harmful environmental impact as an ecological footprint. That is the amount of land and water needed to supply a population or an area with renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use. The average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area is called per capita ecological footprint. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Growing Ecological Footprint The human ecological footprint has an impact on about 83% of the earth’s total land surface. Globally we are running up a huge ecological deficit. We would need 1.5 planet Earths to indefinitely sustain the world’s 2012 rate of total resource use. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Growing Ecological Footprint Ecological footprint > Biological capacity to replenish resources ECOLOGICAL DEFICIT Ecological footprint < Biological capacity to replenish resources ECOLOGICAL RESERVE/CREDIT Example: The Philippines (2008) Per capita biological capacity = 0.6 gha/person ― Per capita ecological footprint = 1.3 gha/person –0.7 gha/person ECOLOGICAL DEFICIT 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation The IPAT Model Developed in the early 1970s by scientists Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren. Impact (I) = Population (P) × Affluence (A) × Technology (T) where: I = environmental impact of human activities P = population size A = affluence or wealth, as measured by rates of resource consumption per person T = the beneficial and harmful environmental effects of technologies, or the resources needed and wastes produced of the technologies used to obtain and consume the resources Example: To determine the environmental impact (I) of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles, multiply the population (P) by the number of cars per person (A) by the average annual CO2 emissions per year (T). 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation The IPAT Model 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems 01 Population Growth 02 Unsustainable Resource Use 03 Poverty 04 Avoidance of Full-cost Pricing 05 Increasing Isolation from Nature 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems 01 The population’s level of consumption―the Population human use of material and energy―is Growth increasing. 02 The lifestyles of the world’s expanding Unsustainable population of consumers are built on growing Resource Use affluence as more people achieve higher incomes. This results in higher levels of total 03 Poverty and per capita resource consumption along with more environmental degradation, 04 waste, and pollution. Avoidance of Full-cost The average American consumes ~30 times Pricing the amount of resources an average Indian consumes and 100 times the amount 05 consumed by the average person in the Increasing world’s poorest countries. We would need 5 Isolation from planet Earths to indefinitely sustain the rate of Nature resource use of the average American. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems 01 Population Growth 02 Unsustainable Resource Use 03 Poverty 04 Avoidance of Full-cost Pricing 05 Increasing Isolation from Nature 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems Poverty is a condition in which people are 01 unable to fulfill their basic needs for Population Growth adequate food, water, shelter, health care, and education. 02 Unsustainable About 900 million people live in extreme Resource Use poverty, struggling to live on the equivalent of less than $1.25 a day. About one of every 03 Poverty three, or 2.6 billion, of the world’s people struggles to live on less than $2.25 a day. 04 Avoidance of Desperate for short-term survival, these Full-cost individuals do not have the luxury of worrying Pricing about long-term environmental quality or 05 sustainability. Collectively, they can degrade Increasing forests, topsoil, and grasslands, and deplete Isolation from fisheries and wildlife populations in order to Nature stay alive. 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems Companies using resources to provide goods for consumers generally are 01 not required to pay for most of the harmful environmental and health costs Population of supplying such goods. Growth For example, timber companies pay the cost of clear-cutting forests but do 02 not pay for the resulting environmental degradation and loss of wildlife Unsustainable habitat. The primary goal of a company is to maximize profits for its owners Resource Use or stockholders, so it is not inclined to add these costs to its prices voluntarily. 03 Poverty Because the prices of goods and services do not include most of their 04 harmful environmental and health costs, consumers and decision-makers Avoidance of have no effective way to evaluate these harmful effects. Full-cost Pricing Another problem can arise when governments (taxpayers) give companies subsidies such as tax breaks and payments to assist them with using 05 resources to run their businesses. This helps to create jobs and stimulate Increasing economies, but environmentally harmful subsidies encourage the depletion Isolation from and degradation of natural capital. Nature 1.1.1 Natural Capital Use and Degradation Causes of Environmental Problems Today, more than half of the world’s 01 people (and three out of four people in the Population more developed countries) live in urban Growth areas, and this shift from rural to urban living is continuing at a rapid pace. 02 Unsustainable Artificial urban environments and the Resource Use increasing use of cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices are isolating 03 Poverty more and more people, especially children, from the natural world. 04 Avoidance of Many people do not know the full story of Full-cost where their food, water, and other goods Pricing come from. Similarly, many people are unaware of the amounts of wastes and 05 pollutants they produce, where these wastes Increasing and pollutants go, and how they affect the Isolation from environment. Nature 1.1.2 Human Wellbeing and Environmental Worldviews Human Wellbeing Wellbeing describes what is ultimately good for a person: basic needs are met, individuals have a sense of purpose, they feel able to achieve important personal goals, and participate in society. Enough material Health Freedom Security Good social resources relations enough basic length and quality liberty of action and secure access to social cohesion, necessities and of a person’s life autonomy resources, safety, mutual respect, good enough income and predictable gender and family and wealth and controllable relations environment and the ability to help others 1.1.2 Human Wellbeing and Environmental Worldviews Environmental Worldview your set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what you think your role in the world should be Human-centered Life-centered Earth-centered the natural world is primarily a all species have value as humans are part of, and support system for human life participating members of the dependent on, nature and that the biosphere, regardless of their earth’s life-support system exists potential or actual use to humans for all species, not just for us 1.1.2 Human Wellbeing and Environmental Worldviews Environmental Worldview 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Sustainability the capacity of the earth’s natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Scientific Principles Dependence on solar energy Solar energy warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients necessary for their own life processes and for most animals, including humans. Biodiversity (short for biological diversity) This refers to the variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems. The interactions among species provide vital ecosystem services and keep any population from growing too large. It also provides countless ways for life to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Chemical cycling (or nutrient cycling) This is the circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment. 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Social Science Principles ECONOMICS Full-cost pricing The inclusion of the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices. POLITICAL SCIENCE Win-win solutions Learning to work together in dealing with environmental problems by recognizing our interdependent connections ETHICS A responsibility to future generations Leaving the planet’s life-support systems in at least as good a condition as that which we now enjoy, if not better, for future generations. 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Key Components of Sustainability Natural capital – this is what keep us and other species alive and support our economies Natural capital degradation – many human activities can degrade natural capital by using normally renewable resources faster than nature can restore them and by overloading the earth’s normally renewable air and water systems with pollution and wastes Solutions – scientific, economic, and political solutions to these problems Trade-offs – compromises when dealing with conflicts Individuals matter – the daily actions of each and every individual are important 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Living Sustainably Our ultimate goal should be to achieve an environmentally sustainable society—one that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic resource needs. The lesson here is an old one: Protect your capital and live on the income it provides. Deplete or waste your capital and you will move from a sustainable to an unsustainable lifestyle. The same lesson applies to our use of the earth’s natural capital—the global trust fund of free natural resources and ecosystem services that nature has provided for us, for future generations, and for the earth’s other species. Living sustainably means living on natural income, the renewable resources such as plants, animals, soil, clean air, and clean water, provided by the earth’s natural capital. 1.1.3 Principles of Sustainability Our Hope First, research by social scientists suggests that it takes only 5–10% of the population of a community, a country, or the world to bring about major social and environmental change. Second, such research also shows that such change can occur in a much shorter time than most people think. You and all of your fellow students have the good fortune to be members of the 21st century’s transition generation that will play a major role in deciding whether humanity creates a more sustainable future or continues on a path toward further environmental degradation and disruption. This means confronting the urgent challenges presented by the major environmental problems. It is an incredibly exciting and challenging time to be alive as we struggle to develop a more sustainable relationship with this planet that is our only home.  www.dpreview.com GEC Elect 21.2 PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM END OF THE LESSON. GOD BLESS YOU! Jhunell A. Regala AFFILIATE FACULTY Department of Biology, College of Science [email protected]