PEE

• This module presents an introduction to the course on People and the Earth's Ecosystems
• Ecology


  The study of interrelationship of different organisms with each other and with their environment
• Oikos


  House, habitat, or place of living
• Logos


  To study
• Biodiversity


  The variety of life on Earth and the essential interdependence of all living things
• Components of biodiversity


  • Diversity of genes
  • Diversity of number of species
  • Variety of ecosystems
• Ecosystem


  The system resulting from the interaction of all the living and nonliving factors of the environment
• Climate


  An area's long-term pattern of weather
• Population


  All the individuals of a species that live in an area
• Key features of population

  • Size
  • Density
  • Dispersion
• Size


  Number of individuals in an area, determined by growth rate
• Density


  Measurement of population per unit area or unit volume
• Factors affecting density


  • Immigration
  • Emigration
  • Density-dependent factors
  • Density-independent factors
• Dispersion


  The spatial pattern of individuals in a population relative to one another
• The most significant factor impacting the health of the Earth's environment is a large and growing human population
• The world population may stabilize toward the end of the 21st century, given the family planning efforts that are currently under way
• Poverty


  A condition in which people are unable to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, education, or health
• Consumption


  The human use of material and energy
• Economic growth


  The expansion in output of a nation's goods and services
• Levels of country development

  • Highly developed countries
  • Moderately developed countries
  • Less developed countries
• Nonrenewable resources


  Natural resources that are present in limited supplies and are depleted as they are used
• Renewable resources


  Resources that are replaced by natural processes and that can be used forever, provided that they are not overexploited in the short term
• Highly developed countries account for the lion's share of total resources consumed and generate 75% of the world's pollution and waste
• Sustainability


  Achieved when the environment can function indefinitely without going into a decline from the stresses that human society imposes on natural system
• Environmental science


  The study of our environment, either globally or locally, and its living and non-living components
• Fields contributing to environmental science

  • Natural sciences
  • Social sciences
  • Other sciences
• Earth Charter, 1992: 'Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life'
• Sustainable development


  Economic growth that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
• Lifestyle


  Include all goods and services bought for food, clothing, housing, travel, recreation, and entertainment
• Sustainable consumption


  The use of goods and services that satisfy basic human needs and improve the quality of life but also minimize resource use
• Voluntary simplicity


  Individual happiness and quality of life are not necessarily linked to the accumulation of material goods
• Environmental ethics


  A field of applied ethics that considers the moral basis of environmental responsibility
• Values


  The principles that an individual or a society considers important or worthwhile
• Environmental worldviews


  • Western worldview (expansionist worldview)
  • Deep ecology overview
• Anthropocentric


  Emphasizes the importance of humans as the overriding concern
• Biocentric


  Views humans as one species among others, with both human and nonhuman life having intrinsic value
• The world could support only a fraction of the existing human population under the deep ecology worldview
• Worldview


  Perspective on the relationship between humans and nature
• Frontier attitude


  • Desire to conquer and exploit nature as quickly as possible
• Deep ecology


  Based on harmony with nature, a spiritual respect for life, and the belief that humans and all other species have an equal worth