370 33 Powerpoint-Slides 1-Global-Environmental-crisis Chap 01 EVS2e Final

The Global
Environmental Crisis
CHAPTER 1
Environmental Studies, 2e
EnvironmentalStudies,
Environmental Studies,2e
2e
©©Oxford
OxfordUniversity
UniversityPress
Press2011
2011 All rights
All reserved
rights reserved
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, the reader should be able

to:
• Appreciate the fact that the world is facing an
environmental crisis
• Describe the global environmental crisis through examples
and statistics
• Describe exponential growth, the spikes and their
implications
• Trace the origins of the environmental crisis to the Idea of
Progress and the change in our attitude towards nature
© Oxford University Press 2011 All rights reserved
Chapter Objectives (Contd)
• Explain the concept of ecological footprint

• Recall the major international agreements on
environment
• Define terms like environment, ecology, and
environmental studies
• Appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of
environmental studies.
The Story of Kalahandi
• Kalahandi District in Orissa some decades ago:
• Full of forests
• 1000s of water sources controlled by community
• Abundant diversity of crops
• Kalahandi today:
• Extreme poverty and deprivation
• Often drought and famine
• Reasons for decline:
• Forests cut down
• Water sources taken over by govt., but not maintained
• Focus on large irrigation projects
The story of Kalahandi: From forests to famine
State of the Planet:
Sources of Reports
• United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP)
• Worldwatch Institute, US
• WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature
• Centre for Science and Environment
(CSE), New Delhi
Global Environmental Crisis
• Population
• Water and sanitation
• Biodiversity
• Forests
• Land
• Pollution
• Coastal zone and the ocean
• Natural disasters
• Energy, global warming, climate change
• Urbanization
Pollution
More than 60,000 Indian villages lack sources
of drinking water
Global warming:
Melting glacier
Urbanisation
Our Unsustainable Way of Living
• We are consuming natural resources at a rate

much higher than that at which nature can
regenerate them.
• We are creating waste and pollution much
faster than the rate at which nature can
absorb them.
This unsustainable way of living can only lead to

an environmental and social catastrophe.
Exponential Growth
and the Spikes
Figure 1.1: Curve showing exponential growth
Human population (Figure 1.2)
Consumption of goods and services (Figure
1.3)
Carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere
(Figure 1.4)
Biological species becoming extinct every
year (Figure 1.5)
Reasons for the Spikes
• Scientific and Industrial Revolutions

• Idea of Progress
• ‘Man is the supreme species.’
• ‘We can exploit nature endlessly.’
Ecological Footprint
• Area required to sustain indefinitely a person, a city,

a country, etc.
• Accounts for the energy, food, water, and materials
that are consumed and the wastes created.
• Humanity’s Footprint is now more than 1.4. That is, we
require 40% more than the earth’s area to sustain our
consumption!
• This Footprint is also increasing steadily.
Sustainable Development
Development
that meets the needs of the present
without compromising
the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.
Related, interdisciplinary subjects
• Environmental Studies
• Environmental Science
• Ecology
Keywords & Phrases of Chap. 1
• Ecological Footprint
• ecology
• environment
• environmental studies
• exponential growth
• Idea of Progress
• sustainable development
Key Points of Chap. 1
• The world is facing a global environmental crisis.

• We are consuming natural resources at an ever-
increasing rate.
• We are also greatly polluting the world.
• Our unsustainable way of living can only lead to a
catastrophe.
• The environmental crisis is a consequence of:
• the Idea of Progress.
• our attitude of domination and exploitation of nature
Key Points of Chap. 1 (Contd)
• Many phenomena have been growing exponentially.

• Ecological Footprint expresses the area needed to
sustain the lifestyle of an entity.
• We now require 40% more than the earth’s area to
sustain our consumption.
• There are complex interconnections in nature.
• Implementation of international agreements over
environment has been poor.

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The Global

After studying this chapter, the reader should be able

• Explain the concept of ecological footprint

• We are consuming natural resources at a rate

This unsustainable way of living can only lead to

• Scientific and Industrial Revolutions

• Area required to sustain indefinitely a person, a city,

• The world is facing a global environmental crisis.

• Many phenomena have been growing exponentially.

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