Lesson One
Topic: Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Text: Chapter 1, pages 5-27
Each society’s goal should be: "to maintain an environmentally sustainable society."
The definition of an environmentally sustainable society is: It satisfies the basic needs of its people, without depleting or degrading its natural resources, and thereby preventing current and future generations from meeting their basic needs.
Basic needs are often thought of as: food, clothing, clean water, shelter, and space. Economists often add: "Enough income to meet the basic needs plus:"
A respectable and safe work environment
Can you think of others?
There is a cost associated with meeting our basic needs in terms of natural resource consumption. This cost is even greater when a society maintains or provides a standard of living for its inhabitants that go beyond the level of "basic needs."
Sustainable is defined as: "to support, to bear, to endure without giving way or yielding." It infers that our use of natural resources does not, or should not, exceed or is at least no greater than their rate of replenishment or renewal.
Natural resources can be broken into three groups: perpetual, renewable, and non-renewable (see Resources, pages 12 through 16 of the text). Be sure you can identify several examples of each type of resource.
As you read through the text on Resources, how would you respond to the following questions?
What are some of the environmental problems associated with our using renewable resources faster than their rate of replenishment?
Of the five choices given for remedying exhausted nonrenewable resources (find more resources, recycle or reuse, waste less, use less, or develop substitutes), which one, or combination of the six choices, do you think makes the most sense to practice today? Why?
There are 6 environmental issues mankind must face in this century. As you review these issues think about how each one, beginning with the first, actually compounds the effects of the next one but don’t lose sight that they are all interconnected.
The human population is growing at an exponential rate (Figure 1-1). Notice how human population numbers remained fairly steady until about 150 years ago, but then began an exponential increase. We will discuss later the reasons for this increase in the human population, but for now study the figure and mark its location in your textbook.
But for now, you need to understand is that this exponential growth is expected to continue during this century. Review the discussion on current exponential growth in the text to get an idea on how rapidly the human population is growing. The effects of population growth are not equally spread across all countries or continents. For instance:
Beginning on page 16, the text discusses pollution, and defines pollution as any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms. Sources of pollution are from point sources (from single, identifiable sources, such as smoke stacks and drain pipes), or from non-point sources (from dispersed sources, such as agriculture fields, golf courses, etc). Can you identify some sources of pollution (both point and non-point sources) in your community?
Lastly, Chapter 1 of the text discusses the causes and connections of environmental and resource problems, and asks the question: "Is our present course sustainable?" This is concluded with a case study on the city of Chatanooga, Tennessee.
Assignment
Lesson 1's assignment is found on the discussion board. Follow the link below to access the assignment.
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