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COURSE CODE (CC 88-167)

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Part I: Introduction

Chapter 1: The state of our planet

After class
via SOUL platform
via Letter on KEC reception desk
via email for consultation/any enquiry

Syllabus

Outlines

Module 1
Introduction

Introduction
Global trends
1. Increasing population growth and its detrimental
effects on human well-being
2. A decline of vital ecosystem services
3. The negative impacts of global climate change
4. A loss of biodiversity

Module 2
Energy and Essential Resources

Module 3
Environmental Pollution and Prevention

 There is cause for concern about the health

of our planet today -

Easter Island
Dutch sailors named a
remote South Pacific
island on Easter Sunday,
1722
Small, isolated, dry, cold,
nutrient-poor fragile island
but abundantly forested.

Do we learn from the past?

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Primitive Inhabitants

The Sad Story

Polynesians cut trees

Degraded soil, depleted forest & water resources

To clear land for agriculture & provide structural

materials
Move the stone heads from the quarries to the sites
at which they would be erected

By 1650, all the trees were gone

The soil washed into the sea
The eroded soil baked, decreasing agriculture

Existence became harder

Workers revolted against the ruling religious elites
Workers fought among themselves

By 1722, the population was down to a few

thousand
Starvation & disease became epidemic
Without trees, no one could leave the island by boat

1. World population explosion

75 million people are added/
year
By 2050, there could be 9.1
billion
people

6.8 billion people

grew by 2 billion in the last 25

years

The past culture & civilization had vanished.

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Done by United Nations Population Division

Most population increases will be in developing countries

Extreme poverty ($1 a day) & malnourished
Preschoolers die each year of hunger & malnutrition
Stabilizing population growth in these countries is important
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2. Ecosystems

Maximum Sustainable Yield

It is an interactive complex of communities &

the abiotic (nonliving, chemical & physical)
environment affecting them within a particular
area
Natural & managed ecosystems
Support human life & economies with a range of
goods & services

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Goods

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Fresh water
All of our food
Much of our fuel
Wood for lumber & paper
Leather & furs
Raw materials for fabrics, oils, alcohols & etc.

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Services

Breakdown of waste
Regulation of the climate
Erosion control
Pest management
Maintenance of crucial nutrient cycles & etc.

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Ecosystem Capital

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Economic Activity

Goods & services = Part of natural capital

3 Sectors
Agriculture, forestry & fishing

A major form of the wealth of the nation

Stock of ecosystem capital
Income-generating capacity
(Natural resources)
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3. Global Temperature & CO2

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

A natural component of the atmosphere
Plants required for photosynthesis
Important to the Earths atmosphere energy system

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The Greenhouse Effect

Accumulation of greenhouse gases, e.g. CO2
A by-product of burning fossil fuels
It absorbs infrared
(heat) energy radiated
from Earths surface,
which warms the
lower atmosphere

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Defined as The variability among living

organisms and the ecological complexes of
which they are part by The Millennium
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Ecosystem Assessment

Loss of Biodivesity

Critical?

Earth is rapidly losing many of its species

Due to our growing appetite for food
Acceleration of converting forests, grasslands
& wetlands to agriculture & urban development
Pollution degrades habitats, e.g. marine
Massive exploit of hundreds of species for their
commercial value, e.g. hunted, killed &
marketed illegally
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Biodiversity is mainstay of agricultural

crops & of many medicines
Maintains the stability of natural systems &
enabling them to recover after disturbances, e.g.
fires/volcanic eruptions

Consequence: Threaten our own well-being

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