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Chap 1: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS, THEIR CAUSES AND SUSTAINABILITY, Renewable…

- - - - Ecosystem is a set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy
    - - The combination of all thing and factors external to the individual or population of organisms
      - All external conditions and factors, living and nonliving that effect any living organism or other specified system
      - Include living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) things
    - - Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to trying to protect the earth's life-support systems for all forms of life
  - - - Solar energy sustains our energy sources and natural resources
      - 💡 . Since solar energy is renewable and perpetual, it can be pivotal in making our energy sustainable
    - - Biodiversity is the amount of species found in a certain area. The more species in an area, the higher the biodiversity which is important, because it is vital to a healthy environment.
    - - Nutrient cycling replenishes some of earth's natural resources, such as carbon, water, nitrogen, and sulfur. Nutrient cycling is all about the circulation of chemicals from the environment, through organisms (and man-made systems), & then back to the environment.
  - - - Capital = Value/ money / other form of wealth
        Natural capital = Natural resources + Natural services
    - - Natural resources are materials and energy that keeps all forms of life alive and support our economics
    - - Processes in nature (nutrient cycling, water purification)
  - - - Compromise in light of our interdependence
      - Benefit both people and the environment
    - - Planet’s life-support
        systems
        
        At least as good the condition as we now enjoy
    - - Include the harmful environmental and health cost
        
        Give better information about the environmental impacts of their lifestyle
        
        More informed choices
- - - - Unchecked population
      - Ecological footprint growth
    - - Natural capital degradation
  - - - Wildlife populations
      - Grasslands
      - Topsoil
      - Degraded forests
      - Fisheries
    - - Malnutrition
      - Limited access to sanitation/clean drinking water
      - Outdoor and indoor air pollution
- - - - In many parts of the world, renewable forests are shrinking, deserts are expanding, topsoil is eroding.
  - - - Example: chemicals, noise, heat
      - Naturally occurring (volcanoes)
      - Contributed by humans (burning of fossil
        fuels)
    - - Single, identifiable origins
      - Example: Smokestacks
    - - Dispersed and difficult to identify sources
      - Example: pesticides, trash in streams
    - - Post-production
      - Cleanup: dilution/reduction of pollutants
    - - Before pollution occurs
      - Reduces or eliminates the production of
        pollutants
  - - - the amount of the earth's energy (land, water) that someone or something consumes
      - The growth of ecological footprints
        
        degradation of natural capital
        
        pollution and waste
    - - Ecological footprint > Biological capacity to replenish resources -> People living unsustainably
  - - - Impact I = Population P × Affluence A × Technology (T)