Chapter 1 Environmental Interrelationships

The Important Role of Wolves in Yellowstone

● There was a pressure on farmers/hunters/ranchers to reduce the number of
predator species on public lands
○ Predators reduced number of elk, deer, etc. that were preferred by hunters
● 1914- U.S. Congress provided funding to eliminate wolves and other predators
● 1926- wolves had been eliminated from Yellowston
○ Lack led to cascade of consequences:
■ Population of elk, coyotes increased
■ Coyotes decreased number of small mammals
■ Pronghorn antelope decreased
■ Cottonwood and willows along streams declined due to browsing by
elk
● People began to understand that wolves were necessary
○ Wolves kill and eat elk
○ Modifies behavior of elk, allowing regeneration of cottonwood, willow, etc.
■ Increased number of beavers
○ Coyote population decreased
○ Increase in food resources for the animals
Lesson 1 The Nature of Environmental Science
Environmental science- interdisciplinary field that includes both scientific and social
aspects of human impact on the world
- Also deals with politics, social organization, economics, ethics, philosophy
Environment- everything that affects an organism during its lifetime
- All organisms including people affect many components of the environment
Science- an approach to studying the natural world that involves formulating hypotheses
and then testing to see if the hypotheses are supported or refuted
- Environmental science is rooted in the early history of civilization

An Ecosystem Approach
Ecosystem- a region in which the organisms and the physical environment form an
interacting unit
- Complex network of interrelationships within
- ex.) for animals, animals spread plant seeds, plants secure soil and
evaporate water, which affects weather
- Some ecosystems have easily recognized boundaries
- ex.) lakes, islands, separated by mountains
- Large ecosystems always have smaller ones
- ex.) large watershed may include a number of lakes, rivers, streams, and
terrestrial ecosystems
- Boundaries are often indistinct
- ex.) grassland->desert

Political and Economic Issues

- Air pollution may involve several units of government
- ex.) pollution in Juarez, Mexico, causes problems in neighboring city, El
Paso, Texas
Lesson 2 Emerging Global Issues
Sustainability- development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Population Growth
- Human population continues to grow mostly in poor areas which puts pressure
on resources and leads to degrading of the environment
- Economically developed countries generally have stable or falling populations
and encourage immigration from less developed countries to provide labor
needed for economies

Maintaining Functional Ecosystems

- Much of Earth’s surface has been converted to agricultural use for crops/cattle
- Natural ecosystems are destroyed/degraded
- When a species of organism goes extinct, its loss has a ripple effect throughout
its ecosystem
- ex.) distinction of wolves resulted in changes in the populations of plants
and other animals
Ecosystem services-
● Provisioning services; food, minerals, renewable energy, water
● Regulating services; waste decomposition, pollination, purification of water/air,
pest and disease control
● Cultural services; spiritual, recreational, cultural benefits
● Supporting services; nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, soil formation
- Changes that alter these services affect human security
- Especially people in poverty

Food Security
- World is divided into those who have:
- Abundant food
- Adequate food
 - Lack of food
- Amount of food produced currently is able to feed all people adequately
- When facing a food shortage, food can be shipped from a place with surplus food
- People often migrate to areas where food is being distributed
- Refugee camps
- Increased squatter populations

Environmental Governance
- Typically political and economic friction associated with a resource that crosses
political boundaries

Environment and Health

- Health of people around the world is affected by human-induced changes in
environments
Air pollution-
- Results from unregulated industrial sources and vehicles with poor pollution
control devices
Water pollution-
- Results from industrial and municipal releases of pollutants into waterways
Malaria-
- Caused by a protozoan parasite carried by mosquitoes
Accidents-
- Cause about 900,00 deaths per year
Cancer and coronary heart disease-
- Cause about 4 million deaths per year
Emerging diseases-
- Result from new organisms or those that become a problem because of
environmental changes
Environment and Security
- Person’s security incorporates economic, political, cultural, social, and
environmental aspects
- Means having stable and reliable access to resources and the ability to be
secure from natural and human disasters
- When environmental sources are threatened, people’s security is also threatened
- Urbanization can cause significant threat and pressure to the environment
- Can also provide economies of scale, opportunities for sustainable
transport, and efficient energy options which can relieve pressure on the
environment

Environment and Globalization

- Globalization is the worldwide exchange of ideas, goods, and cultural views
- In particular, business transactions
- Has led to spread of exotic species
- International activities to address concerns about Earth’s natural systems and
how humans are affecting them:
The Earth Summit
- First worldwide meeting of heads of state that was directed to a concern for the
environment took place in UNCED in Rio de Janeiro in 1992
Climate Change
- 1997- 125 representative met in Kyoto, Japan for the Third Conference of the
United Nations Fram Convention on Climate Change
- Commonly referred to as Kyoto Conference on Climate Change
- Resulted in commitments from the participating nations to reduce overall
emissions of six greenhouse gasses (linked to global warming) by at least 5%
below the level in 1990
- Agreement was called Kyoto Protocol
- It has not worked
Energy and Environment
- World is facing twin threats:
- Inadequate and insecure supplies of energy at affordable prices,
environmental damage due to overconsumption of energy
- Global increases of Co2 are primarily the cause of fossil fuel use

National Security Policy and Climate Change

- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that climate change will
manifest itself in a number of ways
- Increases in sea level
- Melting of glaciers
- Changes in weather patterns
- Altered agricultural productivity
 Chapter 2
Of Sea Lions and Salmon—An Environmental and Ethical Dilemma
- Oregon, Washington, and Idaho first asked the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) in 2006 for permission to “take” California sea lions that eat salmon,
steelhead, and sturgeon just below the dam, which acts as a bottleneck to fish
migrating upstream in the Columbia River.
- The request was part of an effort to protect threatened or endangered
populations of these fish.
- California sea lions are protected
- Marine Mammal Protection Act bans taking of marine animals
- Unless they have impact on the decline or recovery of endangered
species
- 2008: states were permitted to kill up to 85 cali sea lions per year
- U.S. Ninth Circuit Court vacated that in 2010

Lesson 1 The Call for a New Ethic

- U.S. Pacific Northwest- Conflict over value of old-growth forests
- Economic interests: want to use forests for timber
- Argue that trees are meant to be use by human economic benefit
- Opposing: removing trees would destroy something that took years to
develop and almost impossible to replace
Lesson 2 Environmental Ethics
- Which seeks to define what is right/wrong
- Help us to understand what is wrong and why it's wrong
- environmental ethics considers 3 key propositions:
1. The Earth and its creatures have moral status (they are worthy of
our ethical concern)
2. The Earth and its creatures have intrinsic value, (bc they exist, not
bc we need them)
 3. Based on the concept of an ecosystem, human beings should
consider “wholes” that include other forms of life and the
environment.
- Saving the forest might mean the loss of some logging jobs
- Healthier forest leads to new jobs in recreation, fisheries, and tourism
- Religions have developed ethics for homicide, suicide, and genocide
- Now they are challenged to respond to biocide and ecocide
- NRPE- founded in 1993 to weave the mission of care for God’s creation across
all areas of organized religion
- 135,000 congregations
- Catholic parishes
- Synagogues
- Protestant
- Eastern orthodox
- Evangelical congregations
- Provided with resource kits on environmental issues
- Toxic waste contaminates groundwater, oil spills destroy shorelines, and fossil
fuels produce carbon dioxide, thus adding to global warming
- Environmental ethics focus on moral foundation of environmental responsibility
and how far this responsibility extends
- Three primary theories of moral responsibility
regarding the environment
- Anthropocentrism
- Biocentrism
- Ecocentrism
 Chapter 3

Lesson 1
- Most life decisions involve a consideration of
- Risk
- Cost

Lesson 2
- Risk
- the probability that an action will lead to a injury, damage, or loss
- 3 factors when thinking about a risk
- Probability
- Consequences of a bad outcome
- Economic cost of dealing with bad outcomes
- Risk Assessment
- use of facts and assumptions to estimate the probability of harm to people
or the environment from particular environmental factors/ conditions
- World Health Organization
- identified major environmental factors that lead to injury/ death
- indoor/ outdoor air pollution → lower respiratory infections
- dusts/ fumes in workplace & homes; smoking → chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease
- poor urban design/ poor design of transport systems; inadequate
laws → road traffic injuries
- unsafe drinking water/ lack of sanitation → diarrheal disease
- exposure to disease-carrying mosquitoes → malaria
- if a situation is well-known
- scientists use statistics based on past experience to estimate risks
- animal testing
- by exposing different animals to different dosages, you can determine the
levels at which negative effects are observed
- computer simulations
- used to establish an estimate of risks associated with new products and
policies
- if human activities cause the extinction of species
- there is a negative environmental impact
- Risk management
- decision-making process that involves using a risk assessment
- ex.)
- automobile safety
- recognizing that the probability is high that a person will be
involved in an automobile accident
- risk management plan includes:
- evaluating scientific information
- deciding how much risk is acceptable
- deciding which risks should be given highest priority
- deciding where the greatest benefit would be realized by spending
limited funds
- deciding how the plan will be enforced and monitored
- Negligible risk
- At what point is there really no significant health or environmental risk?
- Perceptions of risks
- Indoor air pollution
- Very little attention
- Hazardous waste dumps
- Attract much attention and resources
- Asbestos
- Seen as
- “Dangerous, carcinogenic material”
 - In buildings
- Does not become a problem unless is disturbed during renovation
or demolition
- As risk is eliminated
- cost of the product or service increases

Lesson 3
- Economics
- study of how people choose to use resources to produce goods and
services, and how goods and services are distributed to the public
- Companies that mine coal, drill for oil, harvest lumber, burn fuels, transport goods
- have a negative effect on the environment
- Resources
- Available supply of something that can be used
- 3 kinds of resources
- Labor
- human resource
- Capital
- enables the efficient production of goods and services
- Land
- natural resources
- Natural resources
- structures and processes that humans can use for thor own purposes but
cannot create
- ex.)
- Soil, rivers, minerals, forests
- Renewable resources
- can be formed or regenerated by natural processes
- ex.)
- Soil, vegetation, animals, air, water
- Nonrenewable resources
 - not replaced by natural processes, or the rate of replacement is so slow as
to be ineffective
- ex.)
- iron ore, fossil fuels, mountainous landscapes
- Scarcity
- whenever the demand for anything exceeds its supply
- Supply
- amount people are willing to sell at a given price
- Demand
- amount consumers are willing to buy
- Price
- monetary value
- When price increases
- people seek alternatives or decide not to use a product or service
- results in a lower quantity demanded
-