Introduction to Environmental Science

Enviornmental Science 150

Greg Hueckel

(360) 866-8564 home (360) 888-5667 cell Email ghueckel@centralia.edu

Required Text
Sustaining the Earth (Seventh Edition) G. Tyler Miller Jr.

Confusing terms
environmental science (or studies) environmentalism ecology ecosystem

Definitions

environmental science (or studies)

interdisciplinary studies in natural sciences, including geology, climatology, hydrology, ecology, and their interaction with social sciences such as economics, political science, sociology, anthropology, geography

The Role of Science and People

Definitions

environmentalism

social movement for protecting earths life support systems for us and other species

More definitions
ecology
study of the interactions between organisms and between organisms and their environment (example)

ecosystem
includes all organisms living in an area and the physical environment with which these organisms interact.

What is environment?

Environment is everything that affects a living organism. Environment can include both living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components. Biotic components are the living things that shape an ecosystem Abiotic components are nonliving chemical and physical factors in theenvironment, which affect ecosystems

What Keeps Us Alive?

Solar Capital Natural Capital natural resources are natural capital

Fig. 1-2, p. 7

Ecosystem Economics

Biological income must not exceed biological expenditures. Protect your capital and live off the income it provides.

Resources

Perpetual

Solar renewed continuously Replenished fairly rapidly through natural processes

Renewable

Non-renewable

minerals

Renewable Resources

Sustainable yield

Highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used without reducing its available supply throughout the world or in a particular area.
Depletion or destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as soil, grassland, forest, or wildlife that is used faster than it is naturally replenished. If such use continues, the resource becomes nonrenewable (on a human time scale) or nonexistent (extinct).

Environmental Degradation

Tragedy of the Commons

Depletion or degradation of a potentially renewable resource to which people have free and unmanaged access. An example is the depletion of commercially desirable fish species in the open ocean beyond areas controlled by coastal countries. How do we avoid this?

Ecological Footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply each person or population with the renewable resources they use and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. It measures the average environmental impact of individuals or populations in different countries and areas. www.redefiningprogress.org

Non-Renewable Resources

Resource that exists in a fixed amount (stock) in various places in the earth's crust and has the potential for renewal by geological, physical, and chemical processes taking place over hundreds of millions to billions of years. Energy, metals, and other minerals Examples are copper, aluminum, iron, salt, clay, coal, and oil. Any potentially renewable resource can become nonrenewable if used improperly Theoretically, never exhaust due to economic feasibility for extracting.

Non-renewable resources and natural capital degradation Extracting, processing and use come at an environmental expense

ECOLOGY: Integrative levels, scope, and scale of organization

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Ecology: Habitat

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Ecology: Community

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Ecology: Ecosystem

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BIOTIC component of environment

Food chain

BIOTIC component of environment

Food Web back

ABIOTIC component of environment

ABIOTIC component of environment

ABIOTIC component of environment

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Renewable: Sustainable yield

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