Envi

• Natural Capital


  Materials and energy in nature
• Ecosystem Services

  • Supporting
  • Provisioning
  • Cultural and Aesthetics
  • Regulating
• Environmentalism

  Social Movement to protect the earth’s life
• Ecological Tipping Point


  The critical threshold at which a relatively small change in external conditions can lead to a significant and often irreversible change in an ecosystem
• Supporting

  • Necessary Production of all other ecosystem services - nutrient cycling by decomposers, soil formation by microorganisms, and pollination by bees
• Natural Capital Degradation

  Rising population and resource use per person results in this
• Gross primary productivity


  Total organic matter produced by autotrophs through photosynthesis
• Aquatic Biomes


  • Freshwater - River and Streams, Lakes and Ponds, Wetlands
  • Marine - Ocean, Estuaries
• 3 Important Lessons from Nature

  • Solar Energy – essential warming of the earth
  • Biodiversity – biological variation of life on earth
  • Chemical Cycling – essential recycling of nutrients or chemicals
• Ecological Deficit

  Larger footprint compared to its renewable resources
• Environmental science

  Interdisciplinary study with how the earth works and our interactions with it
• Natural Services


  • Processes in Nature (pollination, purification)
  • Nutrient Cycling
• Regulating


  • Benefits provided by ecosystems - climate, air quality, and water purification
• Biomes

  • Terrestrial – based on land
  • Aquatic – water based
• Population Trends – growth continues but it’s unevenly distributed. Least developed countries: at least 95% of 2.6 billion people likely to be added in the population
• Ecological Footprint


  Amount of land and resources needed to support a population
• Biomass


  • Total mass of living organisms in an area or the organic material used as a renewable energy source
  • Transferred from one tropic to another
• Cultural and Aesthetics

  • Non-Material Benefits - hiking, sightseeing
• Sustainability


  The use of earth’s resources without compromising the environment and the future generations
• Provisioning


  • Products obtained from ecosystems - fruit from trees, fish from oceans, and fresh water from rivers
• Productivity

  • 1. Producers (autotrophs)
  • 2. Consumers (heterotrophs)
  • 3. Decomposers – release nutrients from dead matter
• Tragedy of the Commons


  When individuals, acting in their self-interest, exploit shared resources, leading to depletion or degradation of the resource and harming the collective interest
• Net primary productivity

  The amount of organic matter remaining after subtracting energy used for respiration
• Natural resources classifications

  • Renewable – Air, Water, Soil, Plants, Wind
  • Nonrenewable – Oil, Copper, Coal
  • Inexhaustible – Solar Energy
• Biocapacity


  Production estimate of a certain biological material
• Factors influencing population growth

  • Child labor in developing countries
  • Costs of raising and educating a child
  • Existence of pensions
  • Urbanization
  • Women’s access to education and jobs
  • Average marriage age
  • Legal abortion access
  • Accessible birth controls
  • Regional and Cultural Norms
• Factors affecting population size

  1. Birth Rate / Natality

  2. Death Rate / Mortality Rate

  3. Total Fertility Rate

  4. Migration

  5. Others
• Demographic Trends leading to Urbanization

  • Cities and Migration
  • Urban Development
  • Sprouting Urban Areas
• Cultural Carrying Capacity


  Maximum number of people that can live indefinitely without decreasing earth’s sustainability for future generations
• Major Obstacles to Urbanization

  • Poor business environment
  • Weak infrastructure, land management and market accessibility
  • Low demand for innovation and skill match
  • Limited financial and business support access
  • Insufficient economic planning
• Affluent countries overconsume, while many poor people in developing countries suffer from not having enough resources
• Least developed countries: at least 95% of 2.6 billion people likely to be added in the population between 2011 and 2050
• Migration types

  • Immigration
  • Emigration
• Urban Sprawl results in resource mismanagement
• Ways to slow population growth

  • Reduction of poverty
  • Elevate the status of women
  • Encouraging family planning and reproductive health care
• Economic Factors affecting death rates


  • Life Expectancy
  • Infant Mortality Rate
• Migration


  Moving with the intent to stay
• IPAT Model / Equation is a widely used simplification of factors causing environmental degradation
• Population Trends – growth continues but it’s unevenly distributed
• Effects of Urban Sprawl

  • Land and Biodiversity
  • Water
  • Energy, Air, Climate
  • Economic Effects