LESSON 1 : INTRODUCTION
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
ENVIRONMENT: THE TOTAL OF OUR
SURROUNDINGS
Living things - Animals, plants, forests, fungi,
etc.
Non-living things - Continents, oceans, clouds,
soil, rocks.
Our Built Environment - Buildings, human-
created living centers.
Social relationships and institutions.
Humans exist within the environment and are
part of nature. Our survival depends on a
healthy, functioning planet.
Humans depend completely on the environment
for survival. But natural systems have been
degraded.
Environmental science is the study of:
- How the natural world works
- How the environment affects humans and vice
versa.
- With environmental problems come
opportunities for solutions.
GOALS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
To develop a sustainable world, a world in which
the supply of food water, building materials,
clean air, and other resources can sustain
human population to continue to exist indefinitely
with a high standard of living and health. To
study environmental problems and issues,
priorities regarding acceptable environmental
preservation of natural species and habitats,
freedom of nations to do as they please, within
their own potential boundaries and issues on the
quality of life, fairness and ethics.
NATURAL RESOURCES = Substances and
Energy Sources needed for survival.
Renewable resources:
TO Perpetually available: sunlight, wind, wave
energy. Renew themselves over short periods of
time: timber, water, soil. These can be destroyed.
Non-renewable resources:
can be depleted - Oil, coal, minerals.
The world’s human population has tripled in the
twentieth century, but supplies of food and other
resources do not grow. Hence, more people
suffer from shortage or scarcity of resources
needed for life. Both renewable and non-
renewable can be created or replaced.
Replacement costs more than what can be
created. Conservation and recycling, therefore,
are the most economical ways to prevent the
depletion of our resources.
Environmental Education is the process by which
people develop awareness, knowledge, and
concern of the environment and its diverse
values and processes, and learn to use this
understanding to preserve, conserve and utilize
the environment in a sustainable manner for the
benefits of present and future generations.
GLOBAL HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH -
More than 7 billion humans.
Agricultural revolution - Stable food supplies
Industrial revolution - Urbanized society
powered by fossil fuels, Sanitation and
Medicines, More food.
Thomas Malthus
• Population growth must be controlled, or it will
outstrip food production. Starvation, war,
disease.
Neo-Malthusians
• Population growth has disastrous effects.
Agricultural advances have only postponed
crises.
Garret Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons” (1968)
Unregulated exploitation causes resource
depletion. Everyone takes what he or she can
until the resource is depleted.
Solutions:
 Private ownership - Anything not providing benefit to people has no
 Voluntary organization to enforce value
responsible use Biocentrism: certain living things also have value
 Governmental regulations - All life has ethical standing
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT - Development is opposed if it destroys life, even
The environmental impact of a person or if it creates jobs
population Ecocentrism: whole ecological systems have
- Amount of biologically productive land + water value
- For resources and to dispose/recycle waste - Values the well-being of species, communities,
Overshoot: humans have surpassed the Earth’s or ecosystems
capacity to support us. - Holistic perspective, stresses preserving
connections.
We are using 30% more of the planet’s
resources than are available on a sustainable PRESERVATION ETHICS - Unspoiled nature
basis! The human footprint measures energy should be protected for its own inherent value.
quantities, resources, and products consumed by CONSERVATION ETHICS - Use natural
a human during his/her lifetime and includes, for resources wisely for the greatest good for the
example, the number of food “pieces,” the most people.
volumes of fuel and water, and the mass of LAND ETHICS - Healthy ecological systems
waste. depend on protecting all parts.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE IS NOT ECOFEMINISM - In the 1960s and 1970s,

ENVIRONMENTALISM
Ethics: the study of good and bad, right and
wrong. The set of moral principles or values held
by a person or society that tells us how we ought
to behave.
Relativists: ethics vary with social context.
Universalists: right and wrong remains the same
across cultures and situations.
Ethical standards: criteria that help differentiate
right from wrong
- Classical standard = virtue
- The golden rule: treat others as you want to be
treated
Utility: something right produces the most
benefits for the most people
Environmental ethics: application of
standards to relationships between human and
non-human entities
feminist scholars saw parallels in how people
treated nature and how men treated women.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (EJ) - Involves the
fair treatment of all people with respect to the
environment, regardless of race, income, or
ethnicity. The poor and minorities are exposed to
more pollution, hazards, and environmental
degradation.
SUSTAINABILITY - A guiding principle of
environmental science.
Natural capital: the accumulated wealth of Earth
Sustainable development: using resources to
satisfy current needs without compromising
future availability of resources.
Sustainable solutions must meet:
ethical - Environmental goals
- Economic goals
- Social goals

Anthropocentrism: only humans have rights

- Costs and benefits are measured only
according to their impact on people