I. General Introduction

I. General Introduction

1. Nuclear Arsenals
2. Suppression of Human Rights
3. Global Poverty and Hunger
4. Assault on the Environment

He suggests that:
1 and 2 were attributed to the Cold War and are in retreat today.
3 and 4 still remain and have not been effectively dealt with.

Main Questions (Topics)

1. What are the trends in the Human Population?

2. What are the relationships between Human Population, Resource Use, Technology, Environmental Depletion, and Pollution?

Environment
All external factors, living and non-living (chemical and energy), that affect you or any other organism.

Environmental Science
The study of how life forms interact with each other and with the non-living environment of matter and energy.

Goals of Environmental Science
To learn how the earth works and how to sustain it and the living organisms (including us) that live on it.

II. Population

J-shaped curve of exponential world population growth.

Why do these numbers cause us concern?

Calvin and Hobbies observe human population growth.

We will look at an example of Population overlaid onto a specific example.

How do we group populations?
by Country

How do we group or classify Countries?
as:

MDCs - More Developed Countries

LDCs - Less Developed Countries

RICs - Rapidly Industrializing Countries

The GNP - Gross National Product or GNP per capita is usually used to determine classification.

Some characteristics of MDC's and LDC's.

Total Population Demographics

All countries want to be MDCs

For LDCs to all achieve MDCs wealth level, must increase by 7 times.

This is why the Rio Environmental Conference "United Nations Conference on Environment and Development" (UNCED) focused on Economics, Population, Economic Develop, Environment, and Sustainability.

What is the trend in population with relation to MDCs and LDCs?

Where will the growth occur?

Past and projected population size for MDCs, LDCs, and the world.

The wealth gap.

III. Sustainability

Define Sustainability in the context of Environmental Issues related to growth and viability.

Sustainable - From the New American Heritage Dictionary

1. To keep in existence or effect; maintain.
2. To supply with necessities or nourishment.
3. To keep from falling or sinking.
4. To support the spirits or resolution of.
5. To endure or withstand: sustain hardships.
6. To experience or suffer (loss or injury).
7. To affirm the validity or justice of: Sustain an objection.
8. To prove or corroborate; confirm.

[Latin sustinere, to hold up.]

IV. Resources

They have two classifications:

Major types of material resources.

Note: Nonrenewable Resources may be recyclable.

Note: The planet is not a closed system. Solar Energy enters every day and drives many systems.

Solar energy input on a clear day (~ average)
1.0 kW € m^(-2) € 12 h^(-1) (per day)

Renewable and potentially Renewable Resources can be lost.

Examples:

Eliminating a species terminates the ability to propagate it in the future. They are gone forever!

Jurassic Park is a fictional concept

Polluting or changing the chemistry of a renewable such as air, water or soil, as with Pb in soil, Chlorinated Hydrocarbons or Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in air (catalytic lifetime of one molecule is > 100 yrs.) cause Ozone depletion. (We will look at this reaction in specific)

Average world crude oil prices, 1973-1992.

Percentage of U.S. oil imported.

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Resources - The effect of "Tragedy of the Commons"

V. Pollution

What is a pollutant?

"Any undesirable change in the characteristics of the air, water, soil, or food that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms"

Calvin and Hobbies observe pollution.

Sources of pollution:

• Natural
  - Volcanoes, Natural Erosion, etc.

• Anthropogenic
  - Burning of fossil fuels, fertilizer runoff, Dumping of toxic waste, etc.

Pollutants originate from;

• Point Source
  - Smoke Stack, Discharge Pipe, Volcano Cone, etc.

• Nonpoint Source
  - Radon Ground Emissions, Pesticide Runoff, etc.

Persistence of pollutants:

• Degradable
  By living organisms (usually bacteria) - "biodegradable"

• Nondegradable
  Anthropogenic Problem - man has introduced new substances that did not exist in nature previously.

Examples:

• C - Cl bonds and C - F bonds are man made. The bond energy is too high to be broken by normal bacterial action (enzyme action)

• C - F is essentially Inert in the environment.

• C - Cl bonds are very slow to be degraded thus the long lifetime of DDT in the environment.

• Plutonium - Pu is made by man in nuclear reactors and is the most poisonous element on the planet. Half-life of thousands of years.

• Al cans form an oxide coating that resists normal oxidation in the environment.

• Concentrated sources of elements refined by man such as Cd (Ni-Cd batteries), Pb (car batteries) and Hg (thermometers) do not normally occur in nature. They exist ~ forever in poisonous concentrations if thrown away in metallic form.

• Example: Kepone (Chlorinated pesticide); Hopewell VA, James River.

Note:
Natural degradation mechanisms can be overcome by population and quantity. Thus population can grow beyond natural abilities to handle waste. Artificial pollution controls become necessary.

Pollution Prevention

Two methods of attack:

• Remedial
  Superfund (CERCLA)

• Prevention
  RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) - "cradle to grave"

Prevention is always less expensive and exposes less people to hazard. It does require cooperation.

Pollution Horror Stories are Abundant

Example:

USSR Nuclear Submarines Being Scuttled in A Fishing Grounds off of Norway in Seas that empty into the Arctic Ocean.

VI. World Models

• Simplified Model.

• Simplified Model of Calculating Environmental Impact.

Viewpoints / Models:

Planetary Management World View

• Throwaway world
  There will always be more

• Spaceship-Earth
  We can understand and then control and change the earth -
  We can engineer our world to suite our needs

  Earth Wisdom World View

• Sustainability
  Balance -
  What you do matters -
  How you do it must be compatible

Which world model do you feel is most correct?

Environment, resource, and social problems.

Notes Table of Contents

Introduction to Environmental Science Home Page

Duquesne University Home Page

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Created and maintained by
Jim Ferguson
Revised 9/6/95.