Environmental

problems, their causes,

& sustainability
Chapter 1
 Learning objectives:

In this chapter, students will be able to:

• understand the three principles of sustainability

• reflect on how our ecological footprints affect
the earth
• apply your learnings for an environmentally
sustainable society
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

studies how the earth

works, our interaction
with the earth, and ways
to deal with environment
problems and live more
sustainably.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE is the study of
connections in nature
Why do you think life on earth has sustained
itself for atleast 3.5 billion years?
 How did the incredible variety of life on the earth sustain itself for at least
3.5 billion years in the face of catastrophic changes in environmental conditions?
three principles of sustainability

Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising

the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
 SOLAR ENERGY
● warms the planet
● supports photosynthesis
● can be used to produce
electricity

“without the sun, there would be

no plants, no animals, and no food”
biodiversity
“variety of organisms, the natural
systems they exist and the natural
services they provide”

“biodiversity provides services

for us, free of charge”
Chemical cycling
“circulation of chemicals from the
environment through organisms
and back to the environment”

Without chemical cycling, there

would be no air, no water, no soil,
no food, and no life.
three principles of sustainability

Solar Energy Biodiversity Chemical Cycling

Sustainability has certain key components
1 Natural capital
2 Degradation of natural capital

3 solutions
 Natural capital
“natural resources and natural services
that keep us and other forms of life
alive”
“We degrade natural
capital by using
renewable resources
faster than nature can
restore them.”

Pollution
1 Point sources

2 Nonpoint sources
 Why do you think there
is pollution?
Why do you think humans
degrade natural capital?
“tragedy of the commons”
overexploiting commonly
shared renewable resources

3 types of property or resource rights

“If I do not use this resource,

1 private property
someone else will. The little
bit that I use or pollute is
not enough to matter, and
2 Common property
anyway, it’s a renewable
resource.”
3 Open-access property
solutions
A scientific solution to the problem of pollution
might be to prevent the dumping of wastes but to
implement such solutions, governments would
probably have to enact and enforce environmental
laws and regulations
How are our ecological footprints
affecting the earth?
Ecological footprint
the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to
provide the people in a particular country with an indefinite
supply of renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the
wastes produced by such resource use

“How many planets

do we need if
everyone else lives
Ecological deficit
like you?”
Ecological footprint
ACTIVITY:

Calculate your ecological footprint

www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Visit the site.
2. Let your representative take the quiz.
3. Download the activity form in USTeP and answer the
questions based on the results of the quiz taken by
your representative.
THANK YOU!
That ends the first part of Chapter 1.
For questions and other concerns, please send
me a message via email/messenger.
 Learning objectives:

In this chapter, students will be able to:

• understand the three principles of sustainability

• reflect on how our ecological footprints affect
the earth
• apply your learnings for an environmentally
sustainable society
 IPAT IS ANOTHER
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT MODEL
 ipat
IMPACT (I) =
Population (P) x Affluence (A) x Technology (T)
Impact = p a t
WHY DO WE HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS?
Causes of environmental problems:
1 Population growth
2 Unsustainable resource use
3 poverty
4 Excluding environmental costs
from market prices
Population growth

Collectively, these people

consume vast amounts of
food, water, raw materials,
and energy, producing huge
amounts of pollution and Each year, we add
more than 80 million
wastes in the process. people to the earth’s
population
Unsustainable resource use

The lifestyles of many

consumers are built upon
growing affluence, which
results in high levels of
affluence: [noun]
consumption and unnecessary abundance of property :
waste of resources. wealth. an abundant flow
or supply : profusion.
 poverty

occurs when people are

unable to fulfill their
basic needs for adequate
food, water, shelter, One of every five people on
the planet live in extreme

health, and education poverty.

“five times the population

of United States”
Excluding environmental
costs from market prices

Companies using resources

to provide goods for
consumers generally are not
required to pay for the
harmful environmental costs
The primary goal of
these companies is to
maximize profits for their

of supplying such goods. owners or stockholders,

which is how capitalism
works
 People have different views
about the environmental problems
 Environmental worldviews
Planetary Environmental
stewardship
management wisdom
“we can and should “we are part of, and
manage the earth for dependent on, nature
“mostly for our benefit, our benefit but and that nature exists
indefinitely” encourages for all species, not just
environmentally for us.
beneficial economic
growth discourage “our success depends
harm to the on learning how life on
environment.” earth sustains itself”
 What is an
Environmentally sustainable society?
three principles of sustainability

Solar Energy Biodiversity Chemical Cycling

Environmentally sustainable:
1 Rely more on renewable energy
2 Protect biodiversity
3 Reduce production of wastes
and pollutions
THANK YOU! That ends Chapter 1.
For questions and other concerns, please send
me a message via email/messenger.