ESS Unit 1

• Environmental value system (EVS)

  A worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people, perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political contexts
• EVS


  Can be considered a system because it has inputs and outputs
• Inputs of EVSs


  • Family
  • Peers
  • Media
  • Religion
  • Education
  • Politics
  • Science
• Outputs of EVSs


  • Course of action
  • Perspectives
  • Decisions
• Ecocentrism


  • Integrates social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions into a holistic ideal
  • Puts ecology and nature as central to humanity
  • Emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies
• Beliefs of Ecocentrism


  • Environmental conservation is central to decision-making
  • Humans are part of nature
  • Individual responsibility and accountability
  • All life has inherent value
  • Against causing extinction of other species
  • Protection of habitats and ecosystems
  • Humans are not more important than other species
• Anthropocentrism


  • Argues that humans must sustainably manage the global system
  • Could be done through taxes, environmental regulation and legislation
  • Debate is encouraged to reach a consensual, pragmatic approach to solving environmental problems
• Beliefs of Anthropocentrism


  • The environment is a resource for humans to use as needed
  • Human health and well-being as central to decision-making
  • People are environmental managers
  • Government regulation towards environment: taxes, legislation
  • Population control is as important as resource use
  • Humans are the most important species
• Technocentrism


  • Argues that technological developments can provide solutions to environmental problems
  • Optimistic view of the role humans can play in improving humanity
  • Scientific research is encouraged in order to form policies and understand how systems can be controlled, manipulated and exchanged to solve resource depletion/other problems
• Beliefs of Technocentrism


  • Nature is a model, but can be replaced by technology when needed
  • Human health and well-being are central to decision-making
  • Technology can keep pace with an provide solutions to environmental problems
  • We must understand natural processes to manage and control resources
  • We can solve any problem we cause
  • Economic growth is good and necessary
• Deep Ecologists


  • Believe that nature is of more value than humanity
  • Believe that humans are not more important than other living things
  • Not all natural resources are for human use, humans should consume less
  • Seek a more holistic view of the world we live in
  • Believe everyone should be involved in making decisions about the environment
• Self-reliance/Soft Ecologists


  • Small-scale, local community action
  • Individuals can make a difference
  • Self-sufficiency in resource management
  • Against large-scale profits, prefer small-scale local markets
• Environmental Managers


  • The Earth needs tending or stewardship
  • Governments legislate and protect the environment
  • No radical political agenda, promote working to create change within existing social and political structures
  • Current economic growth can be sustained if environmental issues are managed by legal means or political agreement
  • Believe that the environment can be used if managed properly
• Cornucopians


  • The world has infinite resources
  • They do not see environmental issues as problems because humans have always found a way out of difficulties in the past
  • New resources and technologies will solve any environmental problems as they are encountered
  • There is no need for a radical agenda, socio-economic or political reform
  • Growth and capitalism are the best ways to manage the free-market economy
• The modern environmental movement was catalysed by Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, published in 1962
• Silent Spring


  Warned of the effects of pesticides on insects, both pests and others, and how this was being passed along the food chain to kill other animals, including birds
• Chemical industries tried to ban the book but many scientists shared her concerns and when an investigation, ordered by US president John F. Kennedy, confirmed her fears, DDT was banned
• The banning of DDT may have caused more harm than good by allowing the mosquitoes that carry malaria to survive and so spread the disease causing millions of deaths
• Al Gore's documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' raised awareness on climate change, then called global warming, and clearly stated that global climate change was a result of greenhouse gases released by human activities and that we had to act as this is a moral issue
• The Minamata Disaster in Japan was caused by the Chisso Corporation's chemicals factory releasing methylmercury as a by-product, which bioaccumulated in the bodies of humans, causing mercury poisoning
• The Bhopal Disaster in India was the world's worst industrial disaster, where a Union Carbide pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, immediately killing nearly 3,000 people and ultimately causing at least 15,000-22,000 total deaths
• The Chernobyl Disaster in Ukraine was the worst nuclear disaster ever, where an explosion and fire resulted in a level 7 event, releasing a cloud of highly radioactive material that drifted over much of Russia and Europe
• The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster in Japan was caused by an earthquake and tsunami, resulting in meltdown of 3 reactors and a radiation leak, though only about 30% of that of Chernobyl
• System


  An organised collection of interdependent parts that perform a function and which are connected through the transfer of energy and/or matter
• Systems approach


  A way of visualising a complex set of interaction which may be ecological or societal
• System


  Composed of storages and flows
• Flows


  Provide inputs and outputs of energy and matter
• Processes


  May be transfers or transformations
• Model


  A simplified version of reality and can be used to understand how a system works and predict how it will respond to change
• Types of systems


  • Open system - exchanges both matter and energy with its surroundings
  • Closed system - exchanges energy but not matter with its surroundings
  • Isolated system - exchanges neither matter nor energy with its surroundings
• Types of flows


  • Transfers - matter and energy move through a system without changing form or state
  • Transformations - matter or energy change form when travelling through a system
• Strengths of models


  • Simplify complex systems and allow predictions to be made
  • Inputs can be changed to see the effects and outputs, without having to wait for real events to occur
  • Results can be shown to other scientists and the public, easier to understand than detailed information
• Weaknesses of models


  • May not be accurate and can be too simple
  • Rely on the level of expertise of the people making them
  • Different people can interpret the information in different ways
  • Depend on the quality of the data that go into the inputs
  • Can be manipulated for political or financial gain
  • Different models can show different results even when given the same inputs
• First law of thermodynamics

  Energy is neither created nor destroyed, the total energy in any system is constant
• Second law of thermodynamics

  The entropy in an isolated system that is not in equilibrium increases over time
• Entropy


  The measure of disorder in a system, refers to the dispersal of energy
• Equilibrium


  The tendency of a system to return to its original state following a disturbance, a state of balance exists among the components of the system
• An show different results even when given the same inputs
• Energy in all systems

  Subject to the laws of thermodynamics
• First law of thermodynamics

  Energy is neither created nor destroyed. The total energy in any system is constant. This law is called the principle of conservation of energy