Lesson 1: The State of the Planet
In this lesson, we will be talking about what is environmental science, and how
did the environmental movement begin? We will also learn about a concept called
the environmentalist's paradox, look at how the earth's population is changing,
and jump into a quick overview of ecosystems, global climate change, and the
steady loss of biodiversity.
Studying the environment involves studying how the world works on a larger
scale and the impact of human activity on physical surroundings. Environmental
science has only been studied for the last 60 years, but its roots trace back
to the late 19th century.
Learning about the environment helps you better understand what resources we
have on Earth, what is required for human beings, animals and plant life to
live and flourish, what impact human beings have on their environment and what
is needed to sustain healthy populations for the future.
In the United States, a biologist Rachel Carson published a book Silent Spring
in 1962 where she documented carefully the effects of pesticides such as DDT.
While used to control Dutch elm disease spread by elm bark beetles, DDT
unfortunately also killed off birds.
When Carson's book was published, she faced a lot of fire from
chemical and agricultural companies. However, President Kennedy read about her
book in the New Yorker and set up an advisory science committee to investigate.
Less than a year later, the committee offered recommendations fully supporting
Carson's theory. Congress held hearings and by 1969, a new Environmental Policy
Act was passed. This was the first law to recognize that ecological systems and
human enterprise were interconnected.
The EPA was founded with the purpose of protecting the environment against any
pressures imposed by other government agencies and companies and to protect the
public. DDT was banned in the early 1970s. Also in 1970, 20 million Americans
celebrated the first Earth Day.
In 2010, a group of scientists at McGill University in Montreal, Canada
published a paper defining the ‘environmental paradox' where they looked at
the assumption that human quality of life has gone up while ecosystems have
declined. They challenged this assumption, looking at how much human population
has grown, which lowers quality of life, and also how a decline in natural
ecosystems affects human life and leads to lower quality of life in the long run.
To understand the real state of the planet, there are
4 factors to consider - Population Growth, Ecosystem Goods and Services, Global
Climate Change and Loss of Biodiversity. Looking at these 4 factors will help
us reach a more comprehensive understanding of the state of the planet today
and also help in looking ahead to the future.
Human population continues to
grow at a very fast rate worldwide. With 2.2 billion new people expected in the
next 33 years, quality of life can go drastically down when so many more people
occupy the same space and compete for limited resources.
The United Nations developed a Human Development Index (HDI) to study the well
being of people worldwide in 135 countries over the last 40 years, looking at
health, education and basic living standards. These factors contribute to
literacy, better employment, longer lives, more fulfillment and greater
reported happiness overall. The HDI has gone up and thus ‘well being' has
mostly gone up.
However, there are many impoverished and malnourished people - mostly located in
developing countries - that
suffer and have a very low quality of life. As more people are
born, food, energy, shelter, education, employment and quality of life become
even bigger concerns.
The world economy relies heavily on natural resources such as water, wood,
plants, fish, cattle, poultry, leather, furs, raw materials for fabrics, oil,
alcohols and more. In fact, 50% of all jobs in the world come from agriculture,
forestry and fishing.
These ecosystems also support services necessary for human life and the economy
for every country. Goods and services are developed from these resources and
through the sale and trade of these resources. The state of any country's
environment, particularly in terms of its natural resources, has a large impact
on the well-being of its people and the wealth of that nation.
From 2001 to 2005, the Millennial Ecosystem (ME) assessment gathered
information worldwide with the help of 1360 scientists in 95 countries to look
at ecosystems on a global scale. The summary report revealed that human beings
mostly had a negative impact upon ecosystems (63%), 20% mixed impact (some
positive and negative), and 17% enhanced impact.
There are real solutions to the Global Climate Change problem, first starting
with lowering carbon dioxide emissions. This is called mitigation. Climate
change affects extremely poor people more because they mostly live in
developing countries where they are heavily dependent upon their natural
environments to survive. Animal life is also affected as warming temperatures
lead to more acidic environments, killing off plant life, which in turn,
destroys the food supply for many animals. Ultimately, this affects entire food
chains.
Global climate change is one of the defining environmental issues facing the
21st century and affects every country.
Our Earth is so rich in biodiversity that many species remain unidentified
still today. Scientists estimate that as many as 5 to 30 million species exist
on Earth. Of known vertebrates (with a spine), however, populations have
dropped by 30% between 1970 and 2006. Most of this has happened in the tropics
and in the oceans.
Biodiversity is essential to
agriculture and medicine. It also helps environments maintain stability and
recover from wildfires, volcanoes and other natural disasters. Most goods and
services come from various living organisms. When we consume organisms without
protecting these natural systems, they get depleted and can even become extinct.
Many animal species are hunted and marketed illegally. Some are
protected by law in the United States and in some other countries. Pollution
also degrades habitat, leading to significant loss of biodiversity in terms of
both plant and animal life.