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1 - Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability
1 - Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability
UNDIP UNIVERSITAS
DIPONEGORO
becomes an axcellent research university
WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE?
Environmental science is a study of how the earth
works, how we interact with the earth, and how to
deal with environmental problems.
Air
Renewable
Air purification energy (sun,
wind, water
flows)
Climate control
UV protection
(ozone layer)
Life
(biodiversity)
Water Population
control
Water purification
Pest
control
Waste treatment
Natural resources
Natural services Fig. 1-3, p. 9
Nutrient cycling
Organic
matter in
animals
Dead
organic
matter
Organic
matter
in plants
Decomposition
Inorganic
matter in soil
Fig. 1-4, p. 10
Living sustainability
• An environmentally sustainable society meets the basic
resource needs of its people indefinitely without
degrading or depleting the natural capital that supplies
these resources.
Climate Shrinking
change forests
Decreased
Air pollution wildlife
habitats
Species
extinction
Soil erosion
Water
pollution
Declining ocean
Aquifer fisheries
depletion
Fig. 1-5, p. 11
WHY DO WE HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS?
Environmental Problems
The major causes of our environmental problems
are
1. population growth,
2. wasteful resource use,
3. poverty,
4. failure to appreciate the value of the earth’s
natural capital, and ignorance about how
the earth works.
Causes of Environmental Problems
Fig. 1-10, p. 16
13
12
11
10
9
?
Billions of people
8
7
6
5
4
3
Industrial revolution
2
Black Death—the Plague
1
0
2–5 million 8000 6000 4000 2000 2000 2100
years Time B. C. A. D.
Hunting and Agricultural revolution Industrial
gathering revolution
Connections between Environmental
Problems and Their Causes
Environmental quality is affected by interactions between
population size, resource consumption, and technology
Lists some of the shifts involved
in implementing an
environmental, or sustainability,
revolution during this century
based on this concept.