1.2 Global Environmentalism & Environmental Challenges

• Environmental Sciences Main Goals;

  1. Learn how the natural world works
  2. Understand how humans interact with the environment
  3. Determine how we affect the environment
• Environmentalism; concern about and action aimed at protecting the environment
• Environmentalism; movements that seek to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities
• Environmental Science and Environmentalism is NOT THE SAME
• Environmental Protection Historic Roots;

  1. 4th Centruy B.C.
  2. 18th Century
  3. 1764
  4. 1769
• 4th Century B.C.;

  Plato had noticed the adverse effects of deforestation
• 18th Century;

  During this period, the connections between deforestation, soil erosion, and local climate change were already observed and understood by French and British colonial administrators
• Some of the earliest recorded scientific studies of environmental damage were carried out French or British colonial administrators
• 1764;

  During this year, Stephen Hales’ idea of conserving green plants preserves rainfall were put into practice on the Caribbean island, where about 20 percent of the land was marked as “reserved in wood for rains.”
• 1769;

  Pierre Poivre, an early French governor of Mauritius ordered that one-quarter of Mauritius be preserved in forests, particularly on steep mountain slopes and along waterways.
• Poivre was appalled at the environmental and social devastation caused by destruction of wildlife (such as the flightless dodo) and the felling of ebony forests on the island by early European settlers.
• 4 Stages Before Global Environmentalism;

  1. Resource Waste Triggered Pragmatic Resource Conservation
  2. Ethical & Aesthetic Concerns Inspired Preservation Movement
  3. Rising Pollution Levels Led to the Modern Environmentalism
  4. Environmental Quality is Tied to Social Progress
• Persistent Environmental Challenges;

  1. Environmental Quality
  2. Human Population and Well - Being
  3. Natural Resources
• Environmental Quality;

  Climate Change: concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased by nearly fifty percent.
• Environmental Quality;

  Air Quality: more than 2 billion metric tons of air pollutants are released every year (United Nations)
• Environmental Quality;

  Clean Water: at least 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water
• Human Population and Well-Being;

  Population Growth, Hunger, and Food Shortage: nearly two-thirds of all agricultural lands show signs of degradation
• Human Population and Well-Being;

  Population Growth, Hunger, and Food Shortage: more than 850 million people are chronically hungry
• Human Population and Well-Being;

  Population Growth, Hunger, and Food Shortage: at least 60 million people face acute food shortages due to weather, politics, or war
• Natural Resources;

  Biodiversity Loss: 800 species have disappeared and at least 10,000 species are no considered threatened.
• Natural Resources;

  Biodiversity Loss: In 2004, most bird and butterfly populations had declined by 50 to 75 percent over the previous 20 years
• Natural Resources;

  Biodiversity Loss: At least half of the forests existing before the introduction of agriculture have been cleared
• Where and how food is produced is one of the biggest human threats to biodiversity and ecosystems
• Natural Resources;

  Loss of Marine Resources; The ocean is in a state of emergency as increasing eutrophication, acidification, ocean warming and plastic pollution leading to the depletion of over one-third of global fish stocks
• Natural Resources;

  Loss of Marine Resources; 90 percent of all the large predators, including bluefin tuna, marlin, sharks, cod, and swordfish, had been removed from the ocean
• Natural Resources;

  Energy resources: Costs of extracting and burning of fossil fuels are among our most pressing environmental challenges
• Natural Resources;

  Energy resources: prices include of air and water pollution, mining damage, violent conflicts, and climate change
• Garret Hardin stated "Freedom in a commons brings RUIN TO ALL."
• According to Gro Harlem Brundtland "Sustainable development implies progress in human well-being that we can extend or prolong over many generations, rather than just a few years".
• We should know the amount of resources we use and dispose of.
• Three Pillars of Sustainability:

  1. Environment
  2. Social
  3. Economic
• Sub-Pillars of the Three Pillars of Sustainability:

  1. Socio-Eco
  2. Eco-Economic
  3. Socio-Economic
• George Perkins Marsh is the author of Man and Nature
• Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation: Resources should be used " for the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the longest time"
• Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909 and was the one who founded the Forest Service
• Gifford Pinchot was the first chief of the US Forest Service.
• Aldo Leopold stated that "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."
• John Muir was a geologist and an author.
• Rachel Carson is the author of Silent Spring and was the one who prompt the government to ban DDT
• DDT: Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane