ENV 101: Introduction to Environmental Science

Environmental Problems, Their

Causes, and Sustainability

Section # 1, Lecture # 1
September 02
Autumn 2015

Lecture Outline

Basic Concepts
Three Goals of Environmental Science
Three Principles of Sustainability
Key Components of Sustainability
Resources
Pollution and its Impacts
Ecological Footprint
IPAT
Environmental Problems
Environmentally Sustainable Society

Basic Concepts
Environment (from the French environner) can be defined
as (1) everything around us, or (2) the living and non-living
things with which we interact in a complex web of
relationships.
Environmental Science is the interdisciplinary study of how
humans interact with the living and non-living parts of their
environment.
Ecology the biological science how organisms (living things)
interact with one another and with their environment.

 Ecosystem is a set of organisms within a defined area

that interact with one another and with their environment.
Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to
protecting the Earths life-support systems for all forms of
life.

Three Goals
To learn how life on the Earth has survived and thrived.
To understand how we interact with the environment.
To find ways to deal with environmental problems and
live more sustainably.

Three Principles of Sustainability

 Solar energy: The sun warms the planet and provides

energy that plants use to produce nutrients (chemicals
necessary for life) for themselves, for us and most other
animals.
The energy contained in the Suns radiation is called
solar energy.
Biodiversity: the variety of organisms, the natural
systems in which they exist and interact, and the natural
services that are provided free of charge.

 Chemical cycling: Also known as nutrient cycling, is the

circulation of chemicals from the environment (mostly
from soil and water) through organisms and back to the
environment is necessary for life.

Key Components of Sustainability

 Natural Capital: The natural resources and natural

services that keep us and other forms of life alive and
support human economies.
Natural Resources: Materials and energy in nature that
are essential or useful to humans.
Natural Services: Processes in nature such as
purification of water and air, and renewal of topsoil,
which support life and human economies.

Resource is anything obtained from the

environment to meet human needs and
wants.
Solar energy, fresh air, plants.

Petroleum, iron, cultivated crops.

Resources are of 3 types:
Perpetual -

Supply is continuous

e.g. Solar energy

Renewable -

Supply is renewable

e.g. Forests, grasslands

Non-renewable - Supply is fixed

e.g. Coal, oil

Recycling and Reuse

Recycling involves collecting and processing into
new products.
Glass bottles can be crushed and melted to make new
bottles or other glass items.
Paper can be recycled into paper or paper-based products
such notebooks and calendars.

Reuse involves using a resource over and over in

the same form.
Glass bottles can be collected, washed and refilled many
times.
Printing on both sides of paper.

Pollution and its Impacts

 Pollution: Contamination of the environment by a

chemical or another agent such as noise or heat, to a
level harmful to the health, survival and activities of
humans and other organisms.
Pollutants enter the environment naturally (e.g. volcanic
eruptions) and through human activities (e.g. burning of
coal and gas, dumping of chemicals into rivers and
oceans).

 Point sources: Single, identifiable sources. (e.g.

industrial plants, factories, motor vehicles)
Nonpoint sources: Dispersed, difficult to identify. (e.g.
pesticides blown from land into the air)
Pollution cleanup: Cleaning or diluting pollutants after
production.
Pollution prevention: Reduces or eliminates the
production of pollutants.

Ecological Footprint
Impact of resource consumption
on the environment.
To sustain the worlds current
population and resource use per
person, and to control pollution,
we need the equivalent of 1.3
Earths.

IPAT
I = P X AX T
Impact = Population X Affluence X Technology

Environmental Problems
Population growth.
Wasteful and unsustainable resource use.
Poverty.
Failure to include in their market prices the harmful
environmental costs of goods and services.

Environmentally Sustainable
Society
One that meets the current and future basic needs of its
people in a manner which does not compromise the
ability of future generations to meet their basic needs.
Rely more on renewable energy.
Protect biodiversity.
Sustain the Earths natural chemical cycles.

Next Class (Lecture 2)

Science, Matter and Energy

We cannot command nature except by obeying her

SIR FRANCIS BACON