CHAPTER 1:

ENVIRONMENTAL
INTERRELATIONSHIPS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE IS…

2
 1-3

The Nature of Environmental Science

Environmental science is
interdisciplinary, and includes
scientific and social aspects of
human impact on the world.
Environment is everything that
affects an organism during its
lifetime.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

Its beginnings
I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness,
as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil…To regard man
as inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of
society.
Henry David Thoreau
Interrelationship
The study of environmental science is so interesting, frustrating, and
challenging because of the interrelatedness among seeming
unrelated factors.
 1-6

Interrelatedness Is a Core Concept

The initial introduction of 31 wolves in 1995 and 1996 has
resulted in a current population of about 100 wolves.
The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has
resulted in many changes:

Truly Yellowstone National Park is a story that illustrates the point made by
the early naturalist John Muir (1838—1914): -Tug on anything at all and
you’ll find it connected to everything else in the universe.
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.
 1-7

An Ecosystem Approach
An ecosystem is a region in which the organisms and the physical environment form an
interacting unit.
The task of an environmental scientist is to:
• Recognize and understand the natural interactions that take place, and
• Integrate these natural interactions with the uses humans must make of the natural
world.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 1-8

Political and Economic Issues

• Environmental problems do not necessarily coincide with these artificial
human made political boundaries.
• Air pollution generated in China affects air quality in western coastal states
in the United States and in British Columbia, Canada.
• Air pollution generated in Juarez, Mexico, causes problems in the
neighboring city of El Paso, Texas.
• What are most Social and political decisions made with respect to?
• Environmental problems do not coincide
**Mexico Forest fires….air quality in Texas
**U.S. Air pollutants ….acid rain in Canada
**Chernobyl fallout…. reindeer in artic circle

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 1-9

SUSTAINABILITY

“Humanity has the

ability to make
development
sustainable.”
— World Commission on
Environment and
Development
(Brundtland
Commission)

An important contribution of the report was a concise definition of

sustainability.
sustainability © 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.
 Sustainable Development
• Sustainable development, a term first used in 1987 in a UN-sponsored document called
the Brundtland Report, is often defined as “meeting the needs of current generations
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.”
• Like conservationism, sustainable development is a middle ground that seeks to promote
appropriate development in order to alleviate poverty while still preserving the ecological
health of the landscape.
• Sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. The United
Nations 2005 World Summit Document refers to the “interdependent and mutually
reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development as economic development, social
development, and environmental protection.
In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on the principle
of “leaving no one behind”, the new Agenda emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving
sustainable development for all.
1.3 Human Welfare Issues
• Population Growth:
• Most of the increase in population is occurring in poor countries.
• Human population growth puts pressure on resources and leads
to the degrading of the environment and often locks people in a
cycle of poverty.
Food Security
• It is the measure of availability of food and an individual's ability to access it.
More specifically, it is that all people are capable of accessing safe and
nutritious food that meet their dietary needs for an active healthy life.
• The poor of the world rely on the food they grow to feed their families.
• Floods or outbreaks of disease in animals or crops often result in a lack of
food and malnutrition.
• There is enough food but it must be transported to where it is needed, and
those that need it cannot pay for it.
 1-14

Environment and Health

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

Environment and Health 1

• Air Pollution

• ©Grant Faint/Pholodtsc/Getty Images R F

Environment and Health 2

• Water Pollution
WHO
• Environmental hazards are responsible for about a quarter of the total
burden of disease worldwide, and as much as 30% in regions such as
sub-Saharan Africa. As many as 13 million deaths can be prevented
every year by making our environments healthier.
• http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/environmental_health/environm
ental_health_facts/en/index2.html

• Water is an essential resource for life and good health. A lack of water
to meet daily needs is a reality today for one in three people around
the world.
• Globally, the problem is getting worse as cities and populations grow,
and the needs for water increase in agriculture, industry and
households
• http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/water/water_facts/en/index.html
•
Environment and Health
• Malaria still results in over
435,00 deaths per year.
• Accidents in the home,
workplace, and traffic cause
about 3.5 million deaths per
year.
• Cancer and Coronary Heart
Disease cause about 25
million deaths per year.
• Emerging Diseases result
from new organisms or those
that become a problem
because of environmental
changes.
Personal Security 1

• (b) Fire destroys homes and lives

• (a) Flooding makes lives less secure • (c) Pollution causes disease

• Access the text alternative for slide images.

• ©StockbyteiGetty Images R F, Source: Andrea Booher/FEMA News Photo, ©ZoonarS Gibson/age fotostock R F
Personal Security 2

• Security means having stable and reliable access to resources

and the ability to be secure from natural and human disasters.
• When a person’s access to natural resources and ecosystem
services is threatened, conflict and social instability are
common.
1.4 Maintaining Functional Ecosystems
• Much of the Earth’s surface
has been converted to
agricultural use.
• The accompanying loss of
biodiversity and functional
ecosystems has profound
economic consequences.

• ©Martin Ruegner/Photodlsc/Gelly Images R F

Functional Ecosystems
Biodiversity loss
•The world is in the middle of a mass extinction caused by human
activity.
Ecosystem Services
•Provisioning.
•Regulating.
•Cultural.
•Supporting.

Climate Change
•It is global.
•It is the result of human use of fossil fuels.
1.5 Resource Management Issues
• Energy.
• Water.
• Land and Soil.
• Waste.
1.5 Urbanization and Globalization
• Urbanization is the general trend throughout the world for
people to move from rural areas to cities
• Currently about 55% of world’s people live in urban settings. The % will
continue to increase.
• Rapid urbanization often leads to poor living conditions.

• Globalization is the worldwide exchange of ideas, goods, and

cultural views.
Globalization

• FIGURE 1.9 World Exchange of Oil

• Access the text alternative for slide images.

1.7 Environmental Governance Issues
• Many governments do not understand or ignore consequences
of environmental degradation.
• Often several units of governments must act in a coordinated
fashion.
• Many environmental issues are international.
• The United Nations seeks to have countries cooperate to
address global environmental issues.
 1-27

Environmental Governance
• Environmental governance is a concept in political ecology and environmental
policy that advocates sustainability (sustainable development) as the supreme
consideration for managing all human activities—political, social and economic

• Real progress toward sustainable development has been slow.

• Strategies for economic development often ignore the need to

maintain the ecosystem on which long-term development goals
depend.

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

 1-28

© 2019 McGraw-Hill Education.

10 Things You Can Do to Protect Your
Environment
1. Reduce driving. 6. Eat locally.
2. Save electricity. 7. Donate reusable items.
3. Recycle. 8. Buy in bulk.
4. Conserve water. 9. Read product labels.
5. Safely dispose of 10. Become an informed,
hazardous waste. active citizen.
 IMPORTANT
CONFERENCES
Activity : Lets discuss some of the major conferences discussing
Environmental Issues
Environment and Globalization
• Earth Summit:
• The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as
the Earth Summit was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3
to June 14, 1992.
• It is a conference of 100 or more earth leaders debating global environmental and
development issues.
• The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles,
and Agenda 21 were all produced at the 1992 Earth Summit. The Earth Summit also led to
the establishment of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Kyoto Protocol
• In 1997, representatives from 125 nations met in Kyoto, Japan for the Third Conference of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• The Kyoto Protocol is viewed as one of the most important steps to date in environmental
protection and international diplomacy.

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was completed in 2005.

• As the human population grows, it puts pressure on the natural ecosystems of the world.
• Most ecosystems are being negatively affected.
• Food production has increased at the expense of soil loss due to erosion, conversion of
natural ecosystems to managed systems, and overconsumption of water.
GLOBAL CONCERNS
What are some important concerns in your home country?
Global Concerns
“Issues before the United Nations, such as the
environment, drugs, pandemics, sustainable
development, are issues that cut across frontiers. This is
the message we are trying to send to the world. Yet too
many people are still thinking in purely local terms,
constrained by boundaries. This is where we need to be
sensitive to the concerns of others, to think in much
broader terms than our own narrow confines. This is
where we need to rely on the power of education, of
communication, of information. The challenges of our age
are problems without passports; to address them we need
blueprints without borders.”
--Kofi Annan