Understanding Our Environment

Chapter 1 Lecture Outline

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Overview

• In this chapter and throughout this book, you will read about many cases in which humans have caused serious environmental problems. You will also read about promising, exciting solutions to many of these problems. • Your task as a student of environmental science is to gain an idea of what some of the larger current problems are, what some solutions might be, and how you might use knowledge from a variety of disciplines —from biology and chemistry to economics —to develop tomorrow ’s strategies for more sustainable living on our planet.

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Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system.

–Wangari Maathai, winner of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize

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1.1 Understanding Our Environment

– Environment is the circumstances and conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms.

– It is also social and cultural conditions that affect an individual or community.

The life sustaining

ecosystems on which we all depend are unique in the universe, as far as we know.

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What is environmental science?

• Environmental science is the systematic study of our environment and our place in it.

• Because environmental problems are complex, environmental science draws on many fields of knowledge (fig 1.4). • Please read case study on Apo Island (page 2 of your text) 1 5

What is environmental science?

• Sciences such as biology, chemistry, earth science, and geography provide important information. • Social sciences and humanities, from political science and economics to art and literature, help us understand how society responds to environmental crises and opportunities. • Environmental science is also mission oriented, we all have a responsibility to try to do something about the problems we have created.

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Environmental Science

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1.2 Environmental Problems and Opportunities

• Polluted water contributes to the death of more than 15 million people every year, most of them children under age 5.

• Food supplies : currently more than 850 million people are chronically undernourished.

– at least 60 million face acute food shortages due to bad weather or politics • Energy resources : Fossil fuel supplies are diminishing. There are many problems associated with them. Cleaner, renewable energy resources —solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass power —together with conservation could give us cleaner, less destructive options 1 8

Environmental Problems

•

Climate change

called : Burning fossil fuels, making cement, cultivating rice paddies, clearing forests, and other human activities release carbon dioxide and other so-

greenhouse gases

, which trap heat in the atmosphere.

• Over the past 200 years, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased about 30 percent.

• Climatologists warn that by 2100, if current trends continue, mean global temperatures will probably warm between 1.5 and 6C 1 9

Environmental Problems

• • – Air quality : Air quality has worsened dramatically in many areas. Over southern Asia, for example, satellite images recently revealed a 3-km (2-mile)-thick toxic haze of ash, acids, aerosols, dust, and photochemical products, which regularly covers the entire Indian subcontinent for much of the year Biodiversity loss : Biologists report that the some environmental factors are eliminating species at a rate comparable to the great extinction that marked the end of the age of dinosaurs. These are: a) habitat destruction, b) overexploitation, c) pollution, d) introduction of exotic organisms

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Environmental Problems continued ….

• Marine resources : More than a billion people in developing countries depend on seafood for their main source of animal protein, but most commercial fisheries around the world are in steep decline • The ocean is an irreplaceable food resource for many people. 1 11

Environmental Opportunities

•

Marine resources

: Around the world, people who depend on seafood for their livelihood and sustenance are finding that setting aside marine reserves can restore fish populations as well as promote human development .

• Showing that these projects can be ecologically sound, economically sustainable, and socially acceptable on the local scale can lead to wider applications. • Marine reserves are being established to protect reproductive areas in California, Hawaii, New Zealand, Great Britain, and many other areas, in addition to the Philippines.

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Environmental Opportunities

• Population has stabilized in most industrialized countries and even in some very poor countries where social security and democracy have been established. – Over the past 25 years, the average number of children born per woman worldwide has decreased from 6.1 to 2.6

• By 2050, the UN Population Division predicts, all developed countries and 75 percent of the developing world will experience a below replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman. – This suggests that the world population will stabilize at about 8.9 billion, rather than the 9.3 billion 1.11

Environmental Opportunities continued …

• Health: The incidence of life-threatening infectious diseases has been reduced sharply in most countries during the past century, – Life expectancies have nearly doubled, on average.

• Conservation of forests and nature preserves: Deforestation has slowed in Asia , from more than 8 percent during the 1980s to less than 1 percent in the 1990s.

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Environmental Opportunities

• Renewable energy: Encouraging progress is being made in a transition to renewable energy sources.

– The European Union has announced a goal of obtaining 22 percent of its electricity and 12 percent of all energy from renewable sources by 2010.

• Information: The increased speed at which information and technology now flow around the world holds promise that we can continue to find solutions to our environmental dilemmas.

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1.3 Human Dimensions of Environmental Science

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Affluence also has environmental costs

• The affluent lifestyle that many of people in the richer countries enjoy consumes an inordinate share of the world ’s natural resources and produces a shockingly high proportion of pollutants and wastes. • Less than 5% of the total population of the World living in the US consume about one quarter of most commercially traded commodities, such as oil, and produces a quarter to half of most industrial wastes, such as greenhouse gases, pesticides, and other persistent pollutants.

Sustainability is a central theme

• • • Neither ecological systems nor human institutions can continue forever

Sustainability

is ecological stability and human progress that can last over the long term.

Sustainable development is

“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

” (World Health Organization) 1 18

Sustainability in the UAE

• Think in the following: 1.Is the grazing system in the rangelands of the UAE sustainable? No. Grazing systems in UAE are damaging the native plant and animal life, resulting in loss of biodiversity 2.Are the use of water resources in the UAE, especially groundwater, sustainable? No. Water consumption and wastage is above the capacity available in different resources (e.g. in groundwater). Shortages are predicted in the future.

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Indigenous peoples are guardians of much of the world ’s biodiversity

• In both rich and poor countries, native or

indigenous people are

generally the least powerful, most neglected groups in the world. Typically descendants of the original inhabitants of an area taken over by more powerful outsiders, they are distinct from their country ’s dominant language, culture, religion, and racial communities.

• the cheapest and most effective way to preserve species is to protect the natural ecosystems in which they now live.

• Cultural diversity and biodiversity often go hand in hand. Seven of the countries with the highest cultural diversity in the world are also on the list of “megadiversity” countries with the highest number of unique biological organisms (listed in decreasing order of importance). 1-20

Indigenous peoples are guardians of much of the world ’s biodiversity

• In many places, indigenous people in traditional homelands guard undisturbed habitats and rare species.

– Recognizing native land rights may safeguard ecological processes • About 500 million indigenous people remain in traditional homelands 1 21

Indigenous Peoples in the UAE

• Traditionally the people of UAE were from three areas: – Coastal area (Hadhar) – Desert ( Bedouin) – Mountain (Bedah) • Their role in conserving biodiversity in the UAE is crucial.  They have valuable ecological wisdom and remain the guardians of little-disturbed habitats that are refuges for rare and endangered species.  In order to conserve the natural resources of the UAE deserts (rangelands, wildlife, biodiversity, etc), What can government do for Bedouins? 22

1.4 Science Helps Us Understand Our Environment

What is science?

•Science (from scire, “to know” in Latin) is a process for producing empirical knowledge by observing natural • phenomena.

Science ” also refers to the cumulative body of knowledge produced by many scientists. • Science is valuable because it helps us understand the world and meet practical needs, such as finding new medicines, new energy sources, or new foods. In this section, we ’ll investigate how and why science follows standard methods.

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Steps of Scientific Method

• The scientific method has developed over many centuries and has now come to be described in terms of a well-recognized and well-defined series of steps 1 24

Steps of the Scientific Method

 All scientific investigation begins with an observation of the natural world.

 This also includes examining any previous information that is published in the scientific literature .  On the basis of this observation, the scientist asks a

question.

 The scientist then formulates a hypothesis.  The hypothesis is tentative and may be changed based on the outcome of rigorous testing 25

Steps of the Scientific Method

– – – – Test hypothesis

through observation and experimentation that tries to simulate natural events under controlled conditions and

: this is usually by

collection of data predict the outcome .



Examines the results (usually statistical tests are used)

 

Forms a conclusion necessary.

and repeats the process, if

The results of such testing either confirm or contradict the hypothesis.

Interpretation of the results conclusions. and then reach to If the result is contradicted, the hypothesis is discarded and a new one is generated.

The last step is to publish your findings 26

Practice the Scientific Method

– While you are going along the eastern coast of the UAE, you noticed some dead fish and other marine organisms. – As an environmentalist, you might like to study this phenomena. Apply the steps of the scientific methods to study this phenomena.

– Suggested hypothesis: 1.Some pollutants could be responsible 2.Oxygen deficiency 3.Red tides 27

Deductive and inductive reasoning are both useful

• Logical reasoning from general to specific is known as

deductive reasoning.

• Reasoning from many observations to produce a general rule is

inductive reasoning.

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Experimental Design

• • A

natural experiment , is one that involves

observation of events that have already happened.

Manipulative experiments have

conditions deliberately altered, and all other variables are held constant • Please read the following section from your text: Exploring Science: What are statistics, and why are they important?

•

Blind experiments

are often used, in which the researcher doesn ’t know which group is treated until after the data have been analyzed. • In health studies, such as tests of new drugs,

double blind experiments are used, in

which neither the subject (who receives a drug) nor the researcher knows who is in the treatment group and who is in the

control

group.

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1.6 A Brief History of Conservation and Environmental Thought

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History of Conservation and Environmentalism

• Four Distinct Stages : – Pragmatic Resource Conservation – Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation – Modern Environmentalism – Global Environmental Citizenship 31

Pragmatic Resource Conservation

• President Theodore Roosevelt and his chief conservation advisor, Gifford Pinchot, believed in utilitarian conservation .

– They believe in: forests should be saved so they can be used to provide homes and jobs .

• This means that forests should be used for “ the greatest good for the greatest number, for the longest time .

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Moral and Aesthetic Nature Preservation • John Muir, first president of the Sierra Club, opposed Pinchot ’s utilitarian policies.

–He believed in

Preservation ” “ Biocentric • He emphasizes the fundamental right of all organisms to pursue their own interests

.

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Modern Environmentalism • Modern environmentalism extends concerns to include both natural resources and environmental pollution.

– The tremendous expansion of chemical industries during and after World War II added a new set of concerns to the environmental agenda. –

Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson (fig. 1.24a) and

published in 1962, awakened the public to the threats of pollution and toxic chemicals to humans as well as other species. 34

Global Environmental Citizenship • Highlights that we are all part of an interconnected whole

– Increased technology has helped in increasing the exchange of information globally – increased awareness of environmental concerns amongst people around the world – Increased environmental action (by governments or NGOs) to help reduce environmental problems (through the use of international treaties and conventions, e.g. UN conventions) 35

Practice Quiz

1. Describe how fishing has changed at Apo Island, and the direct and indirect effects on people ’s lives.

2. What are some basic assumptions of science?

3. Distinguish between a hypothesis and a theory.

4. Describe the steps in the scientific method.

5. What is probability? Give an example.

6. What does

significance mean in statistics?

7. What ’s the first step in critical thinking according to table 1.4?

8. Distinguish between utilitarian conservation and biocentric preservation. Name two environmental leaders associated with each of these philosophies.

9. Why do some experts regard water as the most critical natural resource for the twenty-first century?

10. Where in figure 1.7 do the largest areas of persistence of greening occur? What is persistence of greening?

11. Describe some signs of hope in overcoming global environmental problems.

12. What is the link between poverty and environmental quality?

13. Define

sustainability and sustainable development.

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