1.1 PEE

• Natural resources and services that keep us alive are known as natural capital
• Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are useful to humans
• Inexhaustible resources are those that can last for 6 billion years, such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy
• Renewable resources can be replenished and include air, trees, soil, and freshwater
• Non-renewable resources exist in a fixed quantity and include fossil fuels
• Ecosystem services are processes that support human life without cost
• Supporting services include primary production, atmospheric oxygen, nutrient cycling, water cycling, and pollination
• Provisioning services are obtained from ecosystems and include food, fiber, fuel, freshwater, natural medicine, and pharmaceuticals
• Regulating services include air quality, water regulation, erosion control, and storm protection
• Cultural services provide non-material benefits like recreation and aesthetic experiences
• Natural capital degradation refers to the waste, depletion, or destruction of the earth's natural capital
• Pollution can be from point sources, which are identifiable, or non-point sources, which are difficult to identify
• Ecological deficit occurs when the ecological footprint is greater than the biological capacity to replenish
• Ecological reserve exists when the ecological footprint is less than the capacity to replenish
• The IPAT model:

  <|>I - Environmental impact of human activity

  P - Population size

  A - Affluence, rate of consumption per person

  T - Environmental effect of technology
• Causes of environmental problems:

  <|>Poverty can lead to degradation of forests, topsoil, grasslands, and depletion of fisheries and wildlife
• Population growth

  <|>Unsustainable resource use due to the world's lifestyle

  <|>Avoidance of full-cost pricing

  <|>Increasing isolation from nature
• Human well-being includes:

  <|>Basic needs being met, having a sense of purpose, and participating in society

  <|>Having enough material resources, health, freedom, security, and good social relations
• Environmental worldview can be:

  <|>Human-centered

  <|>Life-centered

  <|>Earth-centered

  <|>Life-centered view values all species and recognizes humans as part of and dependent on the earth's life support system
• Sustainability is the capacity of the earth's natural system and human cultural system to survive
• Scientific principles of sustainability include dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling
• Social science principles of sustainability include economics, political science, and ethics
• Key components of sustainability:

  <|>Natural capital

  <|>Natural capital degradation

  <|>Solutions

  <|>Trade-offs

  <|>Individuals matter in living sustainably by meeting current and future basic resource needs without compromising future generations