GEE 001

People and Earth’s Ecosystem

 Environment
• the natural world, as a whole or in a particular
geographical area, especially as affected by
human activity.
 Environmental Science
• An interdiciplinary study of the relationships
of the natural world and the relationships
between organisms and their environments
 Environmentalism
• Social movement to protect earth’s life
support systems
• Members Include- ecologists, conservationists,
preservationists, restorationists and
environmentalists
 Sustainability
• Meets the basic needs of all people while not
affecting the future generations’ ability to do
so.
 How unstable the world is?
• As the world population rises, the rate at
which we degrade the worlds natural capital is
constantly accelerating.
 Resources
• Anything obtained from the environment to
meet our needs and wants.
– Example: water, food, shelter etc.
 Classifications of resources
• Perpetual
• Renewable
• Nonrenewable
 Perpetual resources
• resources that are renewed continuously on
the human timescale, such as the sun.
 Renewable Resources
• resources that are refreshed fairly rapidly
(hours to several decades) through natural
processes, such as forests and freshwater
 Non renewable Resources
• Exist in a fixed quantity or stock in the earth’s
crust. They can only be renewed after millions
or billions of years.
– Energy resources, metallic mineral resources and
nonmetallic mineral resources.
 Population in the world
• Population in the world is currently (2018-
2019) growing at a rate of around 1.07% per
year (down from 1.09% in 2018, 1.12% in 2017
and 1.14% in 2016).
• The current average population increase is
estimated at 82 million people per year.
 Economic Growth
• The increase in the capacity of a country to
provide people with goods and services.
– Measured by GDP (gross domestic product)
– Standard of living is measured by a change in per
capita GDP
 Economic Development
• The improvement of living standards by
economic growth.
• Determines whether a country is developed or
not
• Based on degree of industrialization and per
capita GDP
– Developed nations have 1.2 billion people
– Undeveloped have about 5.2 billion people
Developed vs Underdeveloped nations
 Globalization
• the process by which businesses or other
organizations develop international influence
or start operating on an international scale
 Environmental problems
• The industrialization of society and explosion
of human population leads destruction to the
environment through indiscriminate discharge
of untreated industrial and domestic wastes.
 Pollution
• the presence in or introduction into the
environment of a substance or thing that has
harmful or poisonous effects.
• Pollution can occur through natural processes
(volcanoes) or human or anthropogenic
actions (burning coal).
– Most comes from urban or industrialized areas
 Pollutants
• a substance that pollutes something, especially
water or the atmosphere.
– Example
• Ground level ozone
• Carbon Monoxide
• Sulfur Dioxide
• Lead
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Particulate Matter
• Carbon Dioxide
• Methane
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFS)
 Types of Pollution
• Water pollution
• Thermal pollution
• Land pollution
• Radiation Pollution
• Noise pollution
• Air pollution
 Water Pollution
• Degradation of the quality of water and
affects organisms living in it through :
– Chemical, physical or biological materials.
 Thermal Pollution
• the harmful release of heated liquid into a
body of water or heat released into the air as
a waste product of a business
 Land Pollution
• the deterioration (destruction) of the earth's
land surfaces, often directly or indirectly as a
result of man's activities and their misuse of
land resources
 Major causes of Land Pollution
• Deforestation
• Agriculture
• Industry
• Mining
• Landfills and waste
• Urbanization
 Radiation Pollution
• Caused by radioactive substances which emit
invisible radiation released in the environment
through human activities
 Noise Pollution
• harmful or annoying levels of noise, as from
airplanes, industry, etc.
 Air Pollution
• the presence in or introduction into the air of
a substance which has harmful or poisonous
effects.
 Types of air pollution
• Primary pollutants
– Volcanic ash (natural occurrence)
– Gas emission from vehicles (man made pollutant)
• Secondary pollutants
– Nitrogen oxide from factory emission causes acid
rain
 Global warming
• a gradual increase in the overall temperature
of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed
to the
 Greenhouse Effect
• increased levels of carbon dioxide,
chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants
 Effects of Global Warming
• Rising seas and increased coastal flooding
• More destructive hurricanes
• Longer and more damaging wildfire seasons
• More frequent and intense heat waves
• Costly and growing health impacts
• An increase in extreme weather events
• Destruction of marine ecosystems
 Effects of Global Warming
• Widespread forest death in the Rocky
Mountains
• More severe droughts in some areas
• Growing risks to our electricity supply
• Changing seasons
• Disruptions to food supplies
• Melting ice
 Solutions to Global warming
• Improvement of energy efficiency and vehicle
fuel economy
• Use of alternate natural powers
– Wind and solar power
– Biofuel (organic waste)
• Protection of forestry
• building better batteries to store renewable
energy
 Solutions to Global warming
• building better batteries to store renewable
energy
• engineering a smarter electric grid
 Overpopulation
• an undesirable condition where the number
of existing human population exceeds the
carrying capacity of Earth.
 Causes of Overpopulation
• Decline in the Death Rate
• Better Medical Facilities
• More hands to overcome poverty
• technological Advancement in Fertility
Treatment
• Immigration
• Lack of Family Planning
 Effects of Overpopulation
• Depletion of Natural Resources
• Degradation of Environment
• Conflicts and Wars
• Rise in Unemployment
• High Cost of living
 Solutions to Overpopulation
• Better education
• Awareness on family planning
• Tax benefit (concessions)