ECOLOGY, CULTURE AND

DEVELOPMENT

Dr Suma S (Life Science)

Dr Aneesh Kumar P (Psychology)
Prof Girish S (Commerce)

Mission Vision Core Values

Christ University is a nurturing ground for an Excellence and Service Faith in God | Moral Uprightness
individuals holistic development to make effective Love of Fellow Beings | Social
contribution to the society in a dynamic environment Responsibility | Pursuit of Excellence
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Session 1
Session 1

To create awareness about biodiversity and ecology

To sensitize about the adverse effects on the

environment and how it impacts us

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THE BIG QUESTION?

What can we do to make

this earth a livable planet for
the future generations?

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Ecology
Biological science that studies the relationships
between living organisms and their environment.

Biodiversity
Variety of life forms on the Earth.

Environmental Science
An interdisciplinary study that uses information from
physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the
earth works, how we interact with the earth and how to
deal with environmental problems.

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Significance of biodiversity
* Result of 3.5 billion years of evolution.

* The United Nations designated 20112020

as the "United Nations Decade on
Biodiversity"

* An ecosystem decreases in stability as its

species are made extinct.

* Each species, no matter how small, have

an important role to play.

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What is an environmentally sustainable

society?
Meets the basic needs of its people indefinitely
without compromising future generations ability to meet
those same needs.

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Major Ecological issues

Overpopulation
Malnutrition
Poverty
Disease
Water Shortages
Climate Changes
Biodiversity Loss

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Reasons for biodiversity reduction

Edward O. Wilson put forth the acronym HIPPO,

Habitat destruction
Invasive species
Pollution
Human Over Population
Overharvesting.

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Habitat Destruction
eg: In the name of development forests are destroyed leading to destruction of
habitats of wild animals and thereby increasing man animal conflicts

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Invasive species
Non-native to one ecosystem and whose introduction causes or is likely to
cause harm.
eg: Aquatic weed - water hyacinth - was introduced into India.
Smothered many ponds and lakes
Cause obstacles in water transportation and affects aquatic life.

Lake free of water hyacinth Lake smothered with water hyacinth

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Pollution

Air pollution Land pollution Water pollution

Factory - toxic gases Domestic waste Industrial effluents
like Sulphur dioxide

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Overpopulation
Existing human population exceeding the carrying capacity of Earth.
Human population may reach almost 11 billion by the year 2100.
-Colin Sullivan, Scientific American, June 2013)

Source: http://www.evidenceunseen.com/articles/prophecy/overpopulation/

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Overharvesting

Over harvesting especially applies to marine life forms.

Indiscriminate fishing will soon crash all marine life

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Bottom trawling

* Most harmful fishing methods.

* Enormous nets as wide as a football field are dragged through

the water or across the seafloor, capturing almost everything in
their path while damaging vulnerable habitat. Eg: corals

* Average of six million square miles worldwide

* Impacts area equivalent to twice the size of USA

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Bottom trawling

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SOME CONSEQUENCES OF
THREATS TO ECOLOGY..

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ENDOSULPHAN POISONING IN KASARGOD

Pesticide sprayed in cashew plantations
Aerial spray in Kasargod since 1976
Contaminated water bodies

Carcinogenic cause cancer

Terratogenic cause foetal deformities

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Ill effects of Endosulphan child victims

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Adult victims

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BELLANDUR LAKE POLLUTION - FROTHING

Thickly populated area surrounding Frothing in the lake

Bellandur lake

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CAUSES
1. Improper sewage system due to which untreated sewage
water overflows and joins storm water drains, mixes with rain
water, which in turn flows to Bellandur lake via Koramangala
and Challaghatta Valley.

2. Lack of effluent treatment plants to treat industrial wastes

from small factories which also get into the storm water drains.

CAN AFFECT GROUND WATER IN THE LOCALITY more

heavy metals, toxins, pathogens etc.

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NEAR EXTINCTION OF VULTURES IN INDIA

*White rumped vulture- 80 million in 1980s (most numerous species

of raptor in the world), now, only few thousands.

*In 12 years, population crashed by 97% - Reported by BMA News

(British Medical Association)

Role in sanitation in India by scavenging dead carcasses

* Result - Explosion of rats and wild dogs and the spread of diseases
resulting in an estimated costs of up to 1,700 billion.

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080503/images/03vulture.

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THE CAUSE?

The anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac (similar to ibuprofen)

was used by cattle farmers as a popular cure-all for all
diseases.

* Vultures feeding on carcasses of cows treated with the drug died

of kidney failure.

WHY the careless and casual use of the drug?

Big pharma MNCs had only one goal - widest usage of their
drug.

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Kedarnath Floods of 2013

By illegally constructing a multitude of tourist centres in
the hills, the fragile Himalayan ecosystem was tampered
resulting in flash floods and large scale destruction.

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VIDEO 1
KEDAR NATH FLOODS
video 1.mp4

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 Decline in shark population
Millions of sharks are killed each year from overfishing and
trade, caught for their meat or just for their fins.
The Great White Shark is the largest predatory fish
 Story of sharks

Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in China. So much

money can be obtained just from the fin that fishermen
hunting sharks will simply catch sharks and cut off their fins
while they are alive, tossing the wriggling shark back into
the ocean (to die, as it cannot swim without its fin).

Sharks are known as the apex predator of the seas. That

is because in general sharks are at the top of the food
chain. Without sufficient shark numbers the balance they
provide to the ecosystem is threatened because nature
evolved this balance through many millennia.
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SPREAD OF NEW DISEASES
Change of climate and habitats

Eg Encroachment of forests - Ebola, HIV

.
Stagnant water mosquito breeding - Dengue,
Chikenguiniya

Globalization more travel to distant countries- rapid spread of

diseases. H1N1, SARS etc

Change of food habits More incidence of cancer, diabetes, heart

diseases. (more processed food, pesticide laden food, less exercise etc)

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EXHAUSTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

1. Fossil fuels (overuse)

2. Marine life (bad practices bottom trawling)
3. Drinking water (dumping of wastes in water bodies)
4. Pure air (toxic gases in air)

Ocean floor before and after trawling A beautiful coral reef formation

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The Earth has already become a dangerous

place for the animals and birds to live

Soon it might be our turn!!!!!!!!!!

CAN WE SAVE OUR PLANET ?

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Session 2 Ecology, Culture and Development

1. Ecological self 2. Sustainable development

The objective of this session is to think about how we relate ourselves or our
identity to our culture and ecological environment

How we can look at sustainable development and work towards it achieving it.

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Ecological self - Connecting self and planet

Connectedness to nature, values and behaviours

NATURE
BEHAVIOUR

CULTURE &
VALUES COMMUNITY

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The Sense of Self

i Self-Concept: The individual's belief about himself or herself, including
the person's attributes and who and what the self is (Baumeister, 1999).

i Interpersonal Self- the self in connection to others, culture &

community

i Ecological Self- is the self as perceived with respect to the physical

environment (John, 2004).

You identify yourself with your natural ecology, any destruction of that natural
ecology has an impact on you/ your self.

Example- your values, beliefs and behaviours are connected to environment

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Activity 1- My SELF IDENTITY CHART

1. Construct an identity chart for yourselves in the present.

2. Discuss the following questions:

What are things that are part of my identity?

What role do other people and culture have in

Shaping our identities?

What experiences do you have

(remember/memory/think) specific to the aspects
of nature such as water, sky, plants or animals?
What makes you say so, relate various instances
from life.
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LETS PREPARE THE IDENTITY CHART

Stage 1- Preparation - Before creating identity charts, you might have the class
brainstorm categories we consider when thinking about the question, Who am I? such as our
role in a family (e.g., daughter, sister, mother, etc), our hobbies and interests (e.g., guitar player,
football fan, etc), our background (e.g., religion, race, nationality, hometown, or place of birth),
and our physical characteristics.

Stage 2- Identify things that are

connected to your culture &
ecological world

Stage 3- Use the chart to track

behaviours, values and scope for
change
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ECOLOGICAL IDENTITY
- Connecting ourselves to Culture & Community
For human survival, mental health and fulfillment, we need the natural setting in
which the human mind almost certainly evolved and in which culture has developed
over these millions of years of evolution (Wilson: 1990)

Our identity is in our environment and culture, We feel

connected to the people, animals and other things in our
environment.

Their absence would affect us

When we do something for
them we feel good

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ECOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE
How knowing the hidden impacts of what we buy can change ever
everything!!- Daniel Goleman, 2009

We think about our planet, we think how our behaviours impacts and we
behave in more collaborative way

When it comes to our collective

ecological goals, the rules might be:
Know your impacts.
Favor improvements.
Share what you learn.

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Activity - 2

Lets understand ourselves better

Try self administering the scale

A 32 item scale - Assessing Peoples General Ecological

Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Measure
(Kaiser, & Wilson, 2000).

Online version-
https://
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1cxWoh9byhKf
ZHLi-sV7SS_dXkdlwZDRwAtFA6quNXbmfmw/viewform?c=
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Activity 3- Your Carbon Footprint: Calculating,

Reducing and Offsetting Your Impact

An analysis that gauges our impact on the planet's biological systems, the
ecological footprint measures human consumption of natural resources in
comparison to Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate them. Individually, each of
us has "a footprint," and, collectively, they aggregate across geographical zones
and other means of classification.

video 2.mp4

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Moving towards Sustainable

Development
Activity 4- Lets think about the Planet
and How to make it a better place
Video 4.mp4

The student will work in groups to select an ecological issue, discuss the issue to
determine its causes and effects then develop solutions for the issue based on the
discussions in class like biodiversity,
ecological intelligence and so on.

They would consider self, behaviours,

values and culture in understanding the issue
and developing a solution.
(Suggestions- ethical buying)

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THANK YOU

The difference between today and tomorrow could be

YOU..

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