Environmental Science - Chapter 1 Notes - Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1
Case Study
Living in an Exponential Age
• Exponential growth – concept in which a quantity increases at a constant rate per unit of time
• Global economic output is a rough measure of the human use of the earth’s resources
• Poverty affects environmental quality, from the poor depleting and degrading forests, grasslands, and wildlife
• Exponential growth plays a key role in five important and interconnected environmental issues: population growth, resource use and waste, poverty, loss of biological diversity, and global climate change
Questions
• What keeps us alive? What is an environmentally sustainable society?
• How fast is the human population increasing? What are economic growth, economic development, and globalization?
• What are the earth’s main types of resources? How can they be depleted or degraded?
• What are the principal types of pollution? What can we do about pollution?
• What are the basic causes of today’s environmental problems? How are these causes connected?
• Is our current course sustainable? What is environmentally sustainable development?
Living More Sustainably
1-1
What Is the Difference between Environment, Ecology, and Environmental Science? Defining Some Basic Terms
• Environmental science is a study of how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems.
• Environment – everything that affects a living organism (any unique form of life)
• Ecology – a biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment
• Environmental science – study that uses information from the physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems; it involves integrating ideas from the natural world and our cultural world
• Environmentalism – social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life
Chapter 1
Case Study
Living in an Exponential Age
• Exponential growth – concept in which a quantity increases at a constant rate per unit of time
• Global economic output is a rough measure of the human use of the earth’s resources
• Poverty affects environmental quality, from the poor depleting and degrading forests, grasslands, and wildlife
• Exponential growth plays a key role in five important and interconnected environmental issues: population growth, resource use and waste, poverty, loss of biological diversity, and global climate change
Questions
• What keeps us alive? What is an environmentally sustainable society?
• How fast is the human population increasing? What are economic growth, economic development, and globalization?
• What are the earth’s main types of resources? How can they be depleted or degraded?
• What are the principal types of pollution? What can we do about pollution?
• What are the basic causes of today’s environmental problems? How are these causes connected?
• Is our current course sustainable? What is environmentally sustainable development?
Living More Sustainably
1-1
What Is the Difference between Environment, Ecology, and Environmental Science? Defining Some Basic Terms
• Environmental science is a study of how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems.
• Environment – everything that affects a living organism (any unique form of life)
• Ecology – a biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment
• Environmental science – study that uses information from the physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems; it involves integrating ideas from the natural world and our cultural world
• Environmentalism – social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life