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L1 Introduction

The document provides an overview of an environmental studies course, including its objectives, key terms and concepts, and environmental issues. It discusses understanding how ecosystems function and human impacts, as well as proposing solutions to environmental problems. Key topics covered include worldviews like cornucopianism and environmentalism, sustainability, pollution, natural resources, and environmental agencies. The goal is to help students analyze humanity's relationship with the environment.

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Nadia White
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views

L1 Introduction

The document provides an overview of an environmental studies course, including its objectives, key terms and concepts, and environmental issues. It discusses understanding how ecosystems function and human impacts, as well as proposing solutions to environmental problems. Key topics covered include worldviews like cornucopianism and environmentalism, sustainability, pollution, natural resources, and environmental agencies. The goal is to help students analyze humanity's relationship with the environment.

Uploaded by

Nadia White
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Environmental Studies

.
Environmental Studies
General Objectives
1. Understand the way natural ecosystems
function.
2. Appreciate the ways in which human
populations disrupt the functioning of the natural
ecosystem and thus cause environmental problems.
3. Propose and evaluate solutions to current
environmental dilemmas.
Lecture 1: Key Environmental Terms & Concepts
Worldviews

Components of the Environment

Environmental Issues

Sustainable Development
What is the Environment?
• Environment
- all living & non-living external factors
that affect an organism
What is Environmental Science?
• Environmental Science
- interdisciplinary study of humanity’s
relationship with other organisms and the
non-living environment

- integrates knowledge from many


disciplines, e.g., :

• engineering • politics • technology


Why Study Environmental Science?

• Humans are facing a basic problem


worldwide.

• We are degrading Earth and depleting its


natural resources.

• This current behaviour is unsustainable.


Studying Environmental Science
Helps Us to Understand:
1. How Earth works

2. How we affect Earth’s life support


systems

3. How we can help solve current


environmental problems
Main Causes of the
“Crisis of Unsustainability” :

1. Overpopulation

2. Over-consumption

3. Under-consumption

4. Inefficiency
Main Causes of the
“Crisis of Unsustainability” cont’d :

5. Addiction to fossil fuels

6. Oversimplification of Earth’s life


support systems
Environmental Sustainability
- ability of the environment to function
indefinitely
Why is environmental
sustainability important?

• It means meeting the needs of humans at


present without endangering the welfare of
future generations of people

• Therefore it is relevant at the individual,


community, national, regional & global
levels
Current Unsustainable Human
Behaviours Include:
• Unchecked use of non-renewable
resources

• Renewable resources being used faster


than nature can replenish them

• Pollution of the environment

• Human population growth


Conservation Biology vs. Conservation

• Conservation Biology
- multidisciplinary science that
investigates human impacts on biological
diversity

- attempts to prevent species extinction

- develops compromises between


species protection and human needs
Conservation Biology vs. Conservation cont’d

• Conservation
- careful use of natural resources

• Natural Resources
- anything produced by Earth’s natural
processes

- e.g., fuelwood, wild meat, wild plants


Natural Resources
The 2 main types of natural resources are:

• Renewable

• Non-renewable
Natural Resources cont’d
• Non-renewable Resource
- exists in fixed amount in various

 
places in Earth’s crust
                              

- exhaustible

- e.g., copper, bauxite, coal, oil


Natural Resources cont’d
• Renewable Resource
- also called potentially renewable
resource

- theoretically lasts indefinitely without


reducing available supply

- e.g., trees, air, water, soil, animals


Pollution
- an undesirable change that can adversely
affect humans or other living organisms

Persistence: how long a pollutant stays in


air, water, soil or an
organism
Pollution cont’d
The 2 main types of pollutants are:

• Degradable

• Non-degradable
Pollution cont’d
• Degradable Pollutant
– also called a non-persistent pollutant

– breaks down completely or is reduced to


acceptable levels by natural processes

Biodegradable Pollutants:
- degradable pollutants broken down by
living organisms
- e.g., human sewage
Pollution cont’d
• Non-degradable Pollutant

 
- cannot be broken down by natural
processes
                          
- e.g., lead, mercury
Environmental Ethics
- a discipline that studies moral conviction
about or commitment to, one type of
behaviour over another as it relates to the
environment
Worldviews
There are two major environmental
worldviews.

These are:
•cornucopianism
•environmentalism
Cornucopianism
• stems from a Judeo-Christian western
tradition

• anthropocentric (people-centred)
environmental philosophy

• man has dominion over the earth

• Earth’s supplies infinite


Environmentalism
• a response to the threat to the natural
environment

• ecocentric (the environment has intrinsic


value apart from its value to human ends)

• addresses environmental problems and


methods that can be employed to solve
them
Sustainable Development
• also called environmentally sustainable
economic development

• encourages economic growth in a way that


meets the needs of current and future
generations

• discourages environmentally harmful or


unsustainable economic growth
Environmental Law
• enactments that ensure that the
environment is protected

• provides legal basis for protecting


endangered species, critical habitat, other
natural resources and humans
National Environment & Planning Agency

- established as a legal entity in 1991 with


powers and responsibilities for:

- pollution
- waste management
- coastal zone management
- environmental education
- national parks
- watershed management
- environmental legal services
National Environment & Planning Agency cont’d

- provides broad policy framework for


environmental management for other
specific environmental agencies, e.g.,
Forestry Department
National Environment & Planning Agency cont’d

Some NEPA activities are:

- environmental education programmes


- coastal surveys island-wide
- sewage monitoring

http://www.nepa.gov.jm
Environmental Issues
The following are some environmental issues facing Earth.
Species endangerment
Land Degradation
and extinction

Global Warming Water Pollution

Acid Deposition Ozone Depletion

Urbanisation Solid Waste

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