ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, THEIR CAUSES, AND SUSTAINABILITY

Environmental Science Is a Study of Our Interactions with the World

Environment - includes the living and the nonliving things (air, water, and
energy) with which we interact in a complex web of relationships that connect
us to one another and to the world we live in.

Environmental Science - an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact

with the living and nonliving parts of their environment.

(1) to learn how life on the earth has survived and thrived,

(2) to understand how we interact with the environment, and

(3) to find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more
sustainably

Ecology - biological science that studies how living things interact with one
another and with their environment

 Species - a group of organisms that has a unique set of

characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms.
Homo sapiens

Ecosystem - is a set of organisms within a defined area of land or volume of

water that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving
matter and energy

What is Sustainability?

- is 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

- Base on a scientific study, there are 3 major natural factors that played a
very important role in the long-term sustainability of life on earth
Three Scientific Principles of Sustainability

Dependence on solar energy: the sun’s input of energy, called solar energy,
warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients, the
chemicals necessary for their own life processes and for those of most other
animals, including humans.

Biodiversity: the variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems in

which organisms exist and interact

Chemical cycling: The circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the
environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the
environment
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
Key Components of Sustainability

1) Natural Capital—the natural resources and ecosystem services that

keep us and other species alive and support human economies

Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are

essential or useful to humans

Classification of Natural Resources

a) inexhaustible resources – continuous supply is expected to last for at least
6 billion years until the sun dies (such as energy from the sun and wind)

b) renewable resources - one that can be replenished by natural processes

within hours to centuries, as long as we do not use it up faster than natural
processes can renew it (e.g. such as Clean air, water, forest Forest topsoil,
plants, and animals)

c) nonrenewable or depletable resources - exist in a fixed quantity, or stock,

in the earth’s crust (e.g. such as copper, aluminum, salt , sand oil,
and coal).

Sustainable yield

- The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely

without reducing its available supply

Ecosystem services - are processes provided by healthy ecosystems that

support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us
 ➢ purification of air and water

➢ renewal of topsoil

➢ nutrient cycling

➢ pollination

➢ pest control

➢ to recognize that many human activities can degrade natural capital

by using normally renewable resources such as trees and topsoil faster
than nature can restore them and by overloading the earth’s normally
renewable air and water systems with pollution and wastes

➢ Solutions

- Environmental scientists search scientific solution to the problem

while social scientists are looking for economic and political solutions
Other Principles of Sustainability Come from the Social Sciences

 Full-cost pricing (from economics): Many economists urge us to find

ways to include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing
and using goods and services in their market prices—a practice called
full-cost pricing.

 Win-win solutions (from political science): We can learn to work together

in dealing with environmental problems by recognizing our
interdependent connections with others and with our life-support
system.

 A responsibility to future generations (from ethics): We should leave

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.

Countries Differ in Resource Use and Environmental Impact

 More developed countries—industrialized nations with high average

income per person—have 17% of the world’s population and include the
United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany, and most other
European countries

 Less-developed countries, most of them in Africa, Asia, and Latin

America (83% of the world’s population)

 Middle income, moderately developed countries such as China, India,

Brazil, Thailand, and Mexico.

 Low-income, least developed countries including Nigeria, Bangladesh,

Congo, and Haiti
 We Are Living Unsustainably

 environmental degradation - wasting, depleting, and degrading the

earth’s natural capital (natural capital degradation)

Pollution and its Sources

 Pollution- which is 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

 Pollutants- Polluting substances that enter the environment naturally,

such as from volcanic eruptions, or through human activities, such as
the burning of coal and gasoline, and the dumping of chemicals into
rivers, lakes, and oceans. At

Pollution Comes from a Number of Sources

2 sources of pollution

Point sources - single, identifiable sources. Examples are the smokestack of a

coal-burning power or industrial plant the drainpipe of a factory, and the
exhaust pipe of an automobile
Nonpoint sources - dispersed and often difficult to identify. Examples are
pesticides and particles of topsoil blown from the land into the air

Two ways in dealing with pollution

 pollution cleanup - involves cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we

have produced them

 pollution prevention, efforts focused on greatly reducing or eliminating

the production of pollutants

We Are Degrading Commonly Shared Renewable Resources: The Tragedy

of the Commons

 open-access renewable resources - not owned by anyone and can be

used by almost anyone

“The little bit that I use or pollute is not enough to matter, and anyway,
it’s a renewable resource.”

Our Ecological Footprints Are Growing

 ecological footprint—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

 per capita ecological footprint - the average ecological footprint of an

individual in a given country or area
IPAT Is Another Environmental Impact Model

 how population size (P), affluence (A), or wealth, as measured by

rates of resource consumption per person, and the beneficial and
harmful environmental effects of technologies (T) help to determine
the environmental impact (I) of human activities

Impact (I) = Population (P) × Affluence (A) × Technology (T)

Experts Have Identified Several Causes of Environmental Problems

The Human Population Is Growing at a Rapid Rate

 Exponential growth occurs when a quantity such as the human

population increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time, such as 0.5%
or 2% per year.

Affluence Has Harmful and Beneficial Environmental Effects

 the WWF projected that we would need 5 planet Earths to indefinitely

sustain the rate of resource use of the average American

 providing such resources contributes to air pollution and water pollution

from factories and motor vehicles and land degradation from the mining
of raw materials used to make the products we consume

 On the other hand, affluence can allow for more widespread and better
education, which can lead people to become more concerned about
environmental quality

Poverty Can Have Harmful Environmental and Health Effects

 Poverty is a condition in which people are unable to fulfill their basic

needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health care, and education

 can degrade forests, topsoil, and grasslands, and deplete fisheries and
wildlife populations in order to stay alive
  learned how to increase their beneficial environmental impact by
planting and nurturing trees and conserving the soils that they depend
on, as a part of their long-term survival strategy

Prices of Goods and Services Rarely Include Their Harmful Environmental

and Health Costs

 timber companies pay the cost of clear-cutting forests but do not pay for
the resulting environmental degradation and loss of wildlife habitat

 governments (taxpayers) give companies subsidies such as tax breaks

and payments to assist them with using resources to run their
businesses

We Are Increasingly Isolated from Nature

 Artificial urban environments and the increasing use of cell phones,

computers, and other electronic devices are isolating more and more
people, especially children, from the natural world

 nature deficit disorder

People Have Different Views about Environmental Problems and Their

Solutions

 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

 Environmental ethics - the study of varying beliefs about what is right

and wrong with how we treat the environment, provides useful tools for
examining worldviews
Three major categories of environmental worldviews:

 human-centered environmental worldview - sees the natural world

primarily as a support system for human life

➢ planetary management worldview - holds that humans are

separate from and in charge of nature and that we can manage the
earth mostly for our benefit, into the distant future

➢ stewardship worldview - which holds that we can and should

manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical
responsibility to be caring and responsible managers, or stewards,
of the ear

 life-centered environmental worldview - all species have value as

participating members of the biosphere, regardless of their potential or
actual use to humans

 earth-centered environmental worldview- holds that we are part of,

and dependent on, nature and that the earth’s life-support system exists
for all species, not just for us.

The Rise of Environmental Conservation and Protection in the United

States

 In 1864, George Perkins Marsh, a scientist and member of Congress from

Vermont, questioned the idea that the country’s resources were
inexhaustible.

 He also used scientific studies and case studies to show how the rise and
fall of past civilizations were linked to the use and misuse of their soils,
water supplies, and other resources. Thus he was one of the founders of
the U.S. conservation movement.
Environmentally Sustainable Societies Protect Natural Capital and Live
Off Its Income

 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

A More Sustainable Future Is Possible

 Given enough time, nature can recover from many of our

environmentally harmful impacts. However, natural recovery can take
hundreds to thousands of years, while harmful human impacts are
expanding exponentially within a time period of 10 to 100 years. Thus, in
learning to live more sustainably, time is our most scarce resource.

 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.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens

can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

-Margaret Mead

CHAPTER 3:
Ecosystems: What Are They and How Do They Work?

Core Case Study:

Tropical Rainforests Are Disappearing (1)

• Found near the equator

• 2% land surface

• ~50% world’s known terrestrial plant and animal species

• ≥50% destroyed or disturbed by humans

– Cutting trees

– Growing crops

– Grazing cattle

– Building settlements

Core Case Study:

Tropical Rainforests Are Disappearing (2)

• Consequences of disappearing tropical rainforests

1. Decreased biodiversity as species become extinct

 2. Accelerated global warming: fewer trees to remove carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere

3. Changes regional weather patterns: can lead to increase in tropical

grasslands

Earth Has Four Major Life-Support Components

❖ Atmosphere

- a thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earth’s surface

Two layers of Atmosphere

1. Troposphere

- inner layer which extends about 17 kilometers above sea level at the
tropics and about 7 kilometers above the earth’s north and south poles

- contains the air we breathe, consisting mostly of nitrogen (78% of the

total volume) and oxygen (21%).

2. Stratosphere

- The next layer, reaching from 17 to 50 kilometers the earth’s surface

 - Its lower portion holds enough ozone (O3) gas to filter out about 95% of
the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, allowing life to exist

❖ Hydrosphere

- made up of all of the water on or near the earth’s surface. It is found as

water vapor in the atmosphere, as liquid water on the surface and
underground, and as ice

❖ Geosphere

- consists of the earth’s intensely hot core, a thick mantle composed

mostly of rock, and a thin outer crust.

❖ Biosphere - consists of the parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and

geosphere where life is found

Vegetation and animals

FIGURE 3.2 Natural capital: The earth consists of a land sphere

(geosphere), an air sphere (atmosphere), a water sphere (hydrosphere), and

a life sphere (biosphere) (Concept 3.1A).
Three Factors Sustain Life on Earth

• One-way flow of high-quality energy from the sun

• Cycling of matter or nutrients through parts of the biosphere

• Gravity

3-2 What Are the Major Components of an Ecosystem?

• Concept 3-2 Some organisms produce the nutrients they need, others get
the nutrients they need by consuming other organisms, and some recycle
nutrients back to producers by decomposing the wastes and remains of
organisms.

Ecology

• The science that focuses on how organisms interact with biotic and
abiotic environment

• Focuses on specific levels of matter:

 – Organisms

– Populations

– Communities

– Ecosystems

– Biosphere

Living and Nonliving Components (1)

• Abiotic
• Biotic
– Water
– Plants
– Air
– Animals
– Nutrients – Microbes
– Solar energy – Dead organisms
– Rocks – Waste products of
dead organisms
– Heat
Trophic Levels/ Feeding levels

❖ Producers

– Also known as autotrophs (Self-feeders)

- Produce the nutrients they need from compounds and

energy obtained from their environment

Example:

Plants

Cyanobacteria
Photosynthesis
Phytoplankton

Algae

Trophic Levels/ Feeding levels

❖ Consumers

- also known as heterotrophs (other-feeders)

- cannot produce the nutrients they need through photosynthesis

or other processes

Types of Consumer

➢ Primary Consumers

– these are herbivores organisms, primarily feed on green

plants

➢ Secondary Consumer

- these are carnivores organisms, primarily feed on the flesh

of other organisms.

➢ Tertiary or Third-level Consumers

- These are omnivores organisms, that feed on the flesh of herbivores and
other carnivores
Trophic Levels/ Feeding levels

• Decomposers

– Release nutrients from the dead bodies of plants and animals and
return those nutrients to the soil, water, and air for reuse by
producers

Example:

Bacteria and Fungi

• Detrivores

– Feed on the waste or dead bodies of organisms

Example:

Earth worms
Vulture

Hyenas
 Figure 3.6: Various detritus feeders and decomposers (mostly fungi and bacteria) can
“feed on” or digest parts of a log and eventually convert its complex organic chemicals
into simpler inorganic nutrients that can be taken up by producers.

Production and Consumption of Energy

Producers, consumers, and decomposers use the chemical energy stored in

glucose and other organic compounds to fuel their life processes:

• Photosynthesis

• Carbon dioxide + water + solar energy →glucose + oxygen

• Aerobic respiration

• Glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy

Energy Flow and Nutrient Recycling

• Ecosystems sustained through:

– One-way energy flow from the sun

– Nutrient recycling
 FIGURE 3.8 Natural capital: The main components of an
ecosystem are energy, chemicals, and organisms. Nutrient cycling
and the flow of energy—first from the sun, then through

organisms, and finally into the environment as low-quality

heat link these components.

3-3 What Happens to Energy in an Ecosystem?

• Concept 3-3 As energy flows through ecosystems in food chains and

webs, the amount of chemical energy available to organisms at each
succeeding feeding level decreases.

Energy Flow in Ecosystems

❖ Chemical energy stored as nutrients in the bodies and wastes of

organisms flows through ecosystems from one trophic (feeding) level to
another

• Food chain

– Sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of food

for the next

• Food web

– Network of interconnected food chains

– More complex than a food chain

Active Figure 3.8: A food chain. The arrows show how chemical energy in
nutrients flows through various trophic levels in energy transfers; most of the
energy is degraded to heat, in accordance with the second law of thermo
dynamics (Concept 2-3B, p. 34).

FIGURE 3.10 This is a greatly simplified

food web found in the southern hemisphere. The shaded middle area shows a
simple food chain that is part of these complex interacting feeding
relationships. Many more participants in the web, including an array of
decomposer and detritus feeder organisms, are not shown here.
Pyramid of energy flow

- illustrates this energy loss for a simple food chain, assuming a 90% energy
loss with each transfer

Two Kinds of Primary Productivity

• Gross primary productivity (GPP)

- is the rate at which an ecosystem’s producers convert solar

energy into chemical energy stored in compounds found in their
tissues

• Net primary productivity (NPP)

- is the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store

chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of this stored chemical
energy through aerobic respiration.

- NPP measures how fast producers can make the chemical energy that is
stored in their tissues and that is potentially available to other organisms
in an ecosystem.
Figure 3.11: Estimated annual average net primary productivity in major life
zones and ecosystems, expressed as kilocalories of energy produced per square
meter per year (kcal/m2/yr).

3-4 What Happens to Matter in an Ecosystem?

• Concept 3-4 Matter, in the form of nutrients, cycles within and among
ecosystems and in the biosphere, and human activities are altering these
chemical cycles.

Biogeochemical Cycles

➢ The natural pathways by which essential elements of living matter are

circulated.

➢ The term is a contraction that refers to the consideration of the

biological, geological, and chemical aspects of each cycle

The Five Biogeochemical Cycles

➢ Hydrologic or Water Cycle

➢ Carbon Cycle

➢ Nitrogen Cycle

➢ Phosphorus Cycle

➢ Sulfur Cycle
Hydrologic or Water Cycle

➢ Collects, purifies, and distributes the earth’s fixed supply of water

➢ Powered by the sun

❖ Evaporation

- Caused by incoming solar energy

- converts water from liquid to vapor

❖ Precipitation
- water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow,
or hail

Transpiration

- is the loss of water from the plant through evaporation at the leaf
surface

Aquifers

- underground layer of rock that holds groundwater.

Figure 3.12: Natural capital: simplified model of the water or hydrologic cycle
with major harmful impacts of human activities shown by red arrows and
boxes.
Three Major Ways Human can Alter Water Cycle

➢ First, we withdraw freshwater from rivers, lakes, and aquifers, sometimes

at rates faster than natural processes can replace it.

➢ Second, we clear vegetation from land for agriculture, mining, road

building, and other activities, and cover much of the land with buildings,
concrete, and asphalt

➢ Third, we drain and fill wetlands for farming and urban development

Carbon Cycle

➢ Circulation of Carbon compounds in the biosphere, the atmosphere,

and parts of the hydrosphere

➢ Key component is Carbon Dioxide plays a major role in determining the

earth’s climate

➢ Cycled through the biosphere by a combination of photosynthesis and

aerobic respiration

➢ Carbon released by decomposers in water can be store as insoluble

carbonate

Ways that alter Carbon Cycle

➢ First, extraction and burning of large quantities of CO2, leading to

the increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere

➢ Second, clearing carbon-absorbing vegetation from many forest

FIGURE 3.15 Natural capital: Simplified model showing the circulation of
various chemical forms of nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle, with major harmful
human impacts shown by the red arrows

Nitrogen Cycle

➢ Cannot be absorbed and used directly as a nutrient by plants or animals,

but as a component of compounds such as ammonia and ammonium
ions

Ways that alters Nitrogen cycle

➢ First, adding large amount of nitric oxide as a product of combustion

➢ Second, adding excess nitrates (NO3−) to bodies of water through

agricultural runoff of fertilizers, animal manure and discharges from
municipal sewage treatment systems.

FIGURE 3.15 Natural capital: Simplified model showing the circulation of various
chemical forms of nitrogen in the nitrogen cycle, with major harmful human
impacts shown by the red arrows.
Phosphorus Cycle

➢ circulate through water, the earth’s crust, and living organisms

➢ does not cycle through the atmosphere and its cycle is slow compared to
other biogeochemical cycle

➢ Phosphate ions in the soil are absorbed by the plant’s root and will be
transferred from producers to the consumer through the food web

➢ can be lost from the cycle for long periods of time when it is washed into
the ocean

Ways that alters Phosphorous cycle

➢ removal of large amounts of phosphate from the earth to make fertilizer

➢ clearing of tropical forests reduces phosphate levels in tropical soils.

Figure 3.15: Natural capital: simplified model of the phosphorus cycle, with major
harmful human impacts shown by red arrows

Sulfur Cycle

➢ Enters the atmosphere from several natural sources such as Hydrogen

Sulfide and Sulfur dioxide coming from volcanoes

➢ Particles of sulfate salts, such as ammonium sulfate, enter the

atmosphere from sea spray, dust storms, and forest fires.
 ➢ Plant roots absorb sulfate ions and incorporate the sulfur as an essential
component of many proteins.

Human activities have affected the sulfur cycle primarily by releasing large
amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere

Three Ways we Release Sulfur into the Atmosphere

➢ First, we burn sulfur-containing coal and oil to produce electric power.

➢ Second, we refine sulfur-containing oil (petroleum) to make gasoline,

heating oil, and other useful products.

➢ Third, we extract metals such as copper, lead, and zinc from sulfur-
containing compounds in rocks that are mined for these metals

FIGURE 3.17 Natural capital: Simplified model showing the circulation of various
chemical forms of sulfur, with major harmful human impacts shown by the red
arrows.