ESS
Unit 1
1,1 environmental news and history impact
EVS: world view that shapes the way an individual or group perceives and evaluates
environmental issues
influenced by culture, religion, economy…
Environmental value as a system:
inputs- education, media, culture
transfers and transformation (storage)- thinking, discussing
outputs- decision, courses of action
EV major categories
- ecocentrism- nature centred
i) protect the environment because all living things deserve to be sustained
- anthropocentric- people centred
i) manage the environment for use of future human needs
- technocentric- technology centred
i) technology will solve environmental problems and be able to control nature
the continuum and terminology:
1,2 systems and models
system: an assemblance of parts and their relationship forming a functioning entirety or whole
(lots of components working together)
they can be
- living
- non-living
- theoretical
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Examples of systems
- atmosphere
- hydrosphere
- lithosphere
- ecosphere
each of these are systems but they form part of an even bigger one which is the BIOSPHERE
System approach is Holistic
holistic- is looking at the whole view and all component parts
types of system
Transfer: energy and matter can be carried into or out of a system
- water flowing from a river into the ocean
transformation: matter can change states or forms
- photosynthesis
types of models
- physical (aquarium)
- software (computer climate change model)
- data flow diagram (food web)
advantages- make predictions
disadvantages- all types have limitations on accuracy
1,3 energy and equilibria
Laws of thermodynamics
1) first law
``energy is neither created or destroyed´´
Example: a person eats 500 calories, a lion is going after him, while running he loses 60
calories burned by heat and when the lions eat him, he has gained only 440 of the
calories
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2) 2nd law
``in an isolated system, entropy (measures the disorder of a system) tends to increase
spontaneously´´
Example: your room, no energy to clean and so it will get disordered
- The universe, on its own, will get disordered
This means that energy is lost as heat when it moves up the food chain
What is equilibrium?
- Tendency to return to an original state following a disturbance, a state of balance
Types:
- Steady-state (stable with fluctuations)
- Static (no change)
Feedback loops- information that starts a reaction in turn may input more information which
may start another reaction
The self-regulation of natural system is achieved by the attachment of equilibrium through
feedback systems
- Involves time lags (takes time)
Types of feedback
- Positive (unstable)
One action promotes another away from equilibrium
Example: high temperature=warms oceans= more evaporation= more greenhouse
gases= high temperature……
- Negative (stable)
One action depresses another
Example: predator-prey relationship
System resilience
- Resilience measures how the system responds to disturbances
High resilience= stable= back to current equilibrium
Low resilience= unstable= changes to new equilibrium
Tipping point
- When ecosystem receives a threshold that causes it to change to a new equilibrium
More complex ecosystems are more stable
1,4 sustainability
Natural capital- resource used by humans
- Renewable- self producing and self-maintaining
Example: trees or fish
- Replenishable- non-living
Example: atmosphere, ground water
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- Non-renewable- finite
Example: fossil fuels
Natural income- yield of flows from natural capital
- Marketable good
Example: timber, meat
- Ecological
Example: flood protection
Value of natural capital
- Ecological value- natural good and services
Ex: waste assimilation
- Economic value- price of goods
- Aesthetic value- spiritual
Sustainability: use and management of resources so that full natural replacement of exploited
resource can take place (harvesting)
Sustainable development
- Meeting human social, economic and environmental current needs without
compromising the ability of future generations
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- Research programme that focuses on how ecosystems have changed over the last
decades and predicts the changes that will happen
Environmental Impact Assessment
- Studies carried out before a development project is under taken to assess possible
damage to the environment
Assess, predict and prevent
- Weaknesses- diff countries have diff standard for the EIAs so hard to compare, hard to
determine the boundary, hard to consider all the indirect impacts.
Ecological footprint
- Area of land and water needed to sustainably prove all resources
- Influenced by size of population and standard of living
MEDC – more economically developed countries
LEDC- less economically developed countries
1,5 humans and population
Pollution- the addition of any substance at a rate faster than the environment can
accommodate by dispersion, recycling…
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Major types:
- Combustion of fossil fuels: co2 (greenhouse gas), sulphur dioxide (acid deposition)
- Domestic waste: organic waste (eutrophication), plastics (too much)
- Industrial waste: heavy metals (poisoning, eg: mercury)
- Agricultural waste: nitrates (eutrophication), pesticides (accumulate up food chains)
Point source- from a specific source, often acute (a lot of pollution but from one-time thing)
Non-point source- not from one specific source (often chronic- long term and not easily
noticed)
Biodegradable- can break down into simplified substances by microorganisms over a period of
time (paper, wood…)
Persistent- cannot break down naturally and remains in the environment (plastic, heavy
metals…)
Primary pollutant- active as soon as they are emitted (smoke)
Secondary pollutant- becomes active after primary pollutant and has been physically or
chemically changed (acid rain from the sulfuret dioxide from smoke mixes with water)
Reduce (altering human activity)
Regulate (controlling the release of the pollutant)
Restore (clean-up and restoration)
Factors affecting these 3 Rs
Cultural factors
- If society adapts ``out of sight, out of mind´´ mentality
- Standard of living and EVS is hard to adjust
Political factors
- Weak regulation and enforcement
- Power of MEDC
- Pollution increases if environment is seen as a free resource as long-term damages are
hard to see
- LEDC have limited money and it’s hard to be environmentally friendly
Whether the ban of DDT was good
- Killed insects and animals
- Killed the malaria mosquitos that saved millions
