environmental sustainability

Theenvironmentconsists of all the earth’sabiotic (non-living; e.g. rocks, rivers, sunlight) andbiotic (living; e.g. plants, animals, microbes) components, including the built environment (what humans have built).

Humans are part of the environment: we depend on it, we help shape it, and it shapes us. Humans and nature are interconnected.

Various systems interact with each other to form the functioning environment. A system is a “network of relationships among parts, elements or components that interact with and influence one another through the exchange of energy, matter, or information” (Withgott et al., 2017, p. 60).

Open systems receive energy (capacity to change the position, physical composition or temperature of matter) and matter (all material in the universe that has mass and occupies space: solids, liquids, and gases), and produce/release both into the surroundings. Environmental systems are open: they allow both energy and matter to pass through.

Closed systems receive and produce energy, but not matter. In this case, matter does not enter or leave the system. Closed systems are rare in nature. The earth as a whole, however, could be considered a closed system. Energy from the sun enters and leaves the earth’s atmosphere, but matter cannot (or the small amounts that do are so small and limited that it doesn’t affect the system). Matter must be recycled within the Earth’s systems.

Environmental systems do not have well defined boundaries. One environmental system is connected to systems smaller and larger than itself through the exchange of energy, matter, and information with the surrounding areas. One environmental system can be part of another system or could have one or more systems within itself. We, as researchers, define the boundaries of the system we are studying depending on our research question.

Since environmental systems are so interconnected, relationships within and among these systems are complex, which we will see more and more of throughout the course.

1.2. The Biosphere and Ecosystems: Where Life is Found

Ecosystems make up the biosphere. Ecosystems consist of all organism and their interactions with each other and their non-living surroundings in a particular area at the same time. Ecosystems are smaller systems within the biosphere.

Like the environment, ecosystems do not have defined boundaries, but are defined by the interest of the researcher. The scale of the ecosystem chosen will depend on what the researcher is studying or what dynamics within the ecosystem are being evaluated

Ecosystems tend to have relatively constant conditions. Internal processes adjust for changes in external conditions so that the internal processes in the ecosystem are stable and balanced, or indynamic equilibrium. What this means is that the internal processes in the ecosystem that pull in opposite directions are doing so at equivalent rates, so that their effects balance out.

For example, different conditions (e.g. amount of resources, predator population, habitat conditions) in a particular ecosystem will cause the population of a species to either increase or decrease, but in general these population numbers stay within a similar range –factors that increase the population, balance factors decreasing the population, and so the population remains in equilibrium.

We say that the equilibrium is dynamic because ecosystems constantly adjust and change in response to external factors to try to maintain stable internal conditions. Maintaining stable internal conditions is referred to as homeostasis.

When an ecosystem maintains a dynamic equilibrium, it is said to be in a steady state. However, ecosystems change over time as climates and landscapes change, and organisms respond to these changes.

1.3. How Does Energy Flow Through the Biosphere?

Energy is the basis for all life. The main source of energy comes from the sun. About one third of the energy that comes into the Earth’s atmosphere from the sun is reflected by the atmosphere back into space. Forty-two percent provides heat to the earth’s surface, 23% causes evaporation, and less than 1% is used in ecological systems.

Characteristics of Energy

Before exploring how energy is used in ecological systems, we must be aware of a few of the characteristics of energy that will help us understand how it flows.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed into other types of energy (This is the first law of thermodynamics).
When energy is transformed, there is always a decrease in the quality of usable energy. Some amount is lost as waste heat into the environment, which cannot be used by organisms. The amount lost depends on the nature of the transformation. Energy cannot be recycled. It flows through systems and is continually degraded. As more energy is transformed, more is degraded and dispersed into the environment. (This is the second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy).
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1.4. How Does Matter Cycle Through the Biosphere?

Elements and compounds that make up nutrients travel through air, water, soil, rocks, and living organisms within ecosystems and the biosphere. Similar to energy, matter cannot be created or destroyed, but unlike energy, matter is recycled through cycles calledbiogeochemical cycles.

As nutrients and materials cycle through the biosphere, they move from one pool or reservoirto another and remain in these reservoirs for varying amounts of time. For example, the atmosphere is a reservoir for nitrogen, and coal and the ocean are reservoirs for carbon.

1.5. Why Does it Matter?

In order to understand how we affect the environment and how it affects us, we need to understand the systems that make up our environment and how these systems interact with each other. We must appreciate how interconnected our world is and we with it.

When we interact with the systems that are in place or change how the systems work, we can have a drastic effect on the equilibrium of the environment.

2.1. The Relationship Between Humans and the Environment

Last week, we learned how earth’s systems function together to support life, and this includes our human lives.

Our well-being is strongly connected to the health of ecosystems, since the environment provides us with many goods and services on which we rely. These goods and services not only keep us alive, but also support our economies.

Goods can be defined as “tangible material things that can be extracted from the environment” (Withgott et al., 2017, p.11). Food, water, mineral and energy resources, and materials for shelter can be considered goods.

Services are intangible “functions and processes that are useful or even vital in the support of living organisms” (Withgott et al., 2017, p.11). These services often come at no cost to us. Nutrient cycling by soils, detoxification of contaminated ground water by wetlands, and climate regulation by oceans and atmosphere are considered services.
Environmental goods and services are often described simply as “ecosystem services”, which are defined as services that are necessary to support life and on which we rely. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) grouped these services into four categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services.

2.2. What is Sustainable Development?

Triple Bottom Line

Sustainable development often seeks to meet economic, social, and environmental goals simultaneously, to satisfy this Triple Bottom Line.

he United Nation’s new 2015 Sustainable Development Goals outline these goals as follows:

“People (Social): We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions, and to ensure that all human beings can fulfill their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment.

Planet (Environmental): We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.

Prosperity (Economic): We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.” (UN, 2015b)

These goals, again, may look different to individual organizations and government institutions, and in different cultural settings.

2.3. What is Sustainability?

Sustainability and sustainable development are often used interchangeably and understood to mean the same thing, even in many scientific journal articles evaluating the concepts. The interchangeable use of these terms in the literature makes it difficult to determine distinctions in definition or focus between the two.

Governments and the private sector tend to use sustainable developmentterminology (emphasizing economic considerations), whereas academics and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) tend to use sustainability most frequently.

In this section we will try to untangle the two terms from each other to see if there are indeed any differences, or if they, in fact, mean the same thing.

Differences between sustainability and sustainable development

Although there are many definitions of sustainability, and it is often taken synonymously with sustainable development, there are some distinctions that are worth noting.

Sustainability terminology is an attempt to describe a more integrated and holistic approach to addressing societal and environmental challenges instead of simply looking at the Triple Bottom Line as separate entities.
It acknowledges the need to look at interactions across domains and scales (nature to society, local to global) and recognizes the complexity of those interactions.
Sustainability uses a whole systems approach in evaluating challenges instead of looking at these challenges linearly. Think of viewing energy and feeding interactions in an ecosystem as a complex food web or a simplistic food chain. Sustainability is like viewing feeding interactions as a complex food web.
Finally, sustainability seeks to respond to the needs and values of society, while preserving its life-support systems, and recognizes that human activity and well-being are interconnected and take place within the environment.

2.4. Why Focus on Environmental Sustainability?

Humans depend on the natural environment for health, survival, and well-being, and we, in turn, have an impact on the environment. Our actions in the environment ultimately cycle back to affect us (remember feedback loops from Week 1?).

“Environmental degradation is inextricably and casually linked to problems of poverty, hunger, gender inequality and health. Protecting and managing the natural resource base for economic and social development and changing consumption and production patterns are fundamental requirements for poverty eradication.” (Melnick et al., 2005, p. 2)

In 2000, the United Nations launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to provide a blueprint to help meet the needs of the world’s poorest people and achieve certain development targets by 2015. Goal 7, Ensure Environmental Sustainability, highlighted the importance environmental sustainability plays in the development process.

Given the strong link between human well-being and environmental health, and the fact that there are finite amounts of resources on Earth, the need to focus on environmental sustainability is great. In moving towards environmental sustainability, we also promote sustainability in social and economic spheres.

3.1. Hunter-Gatherers

Our species, homo sapiens sapiens (“wise man” in Latin), have been around for approximately 60,000 years. For a majority of our species’ existence, we have been hunter-gatherers. To survive, the species relied on hunting, fishing, scavenging, and collecting edible plants.

Characteristics of hunter-gatherers include:

Typically lived in small clusters (or clans) of approximately 50 people or less;
Nomadic;
Possessed expert knowledge of nature and the environment (e.g., edible plants, behaviour and migration patterns of animals, weather and climate patterns);
Sexual division of labour. Women did most of the gathering while men hunted;
Fire was used to cook food and hunt/trap animals.

3.2. Agricultural Revolution

Approximately 10,000 – 12,000 years ago, there was a cultural shift in which hunter-gatherers began settling in permanent communities that relied on agriculture for food. There is evidence to suggest that this shift was due to a warming climate at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago.

Wild animals (e.g., goats, sheep, cattle) were domesticated and people began cultivating wild plants (e.g., figs, wheat, barley, rice). Increased use of agricultural practices resulted in greater amounts of food, larger populations, and longer life expectancies. Overall, there was a higher standard of living.

3.3. Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution originated in England in the mid-1700s and spread to other countries including the United States (in the 1800s) and Canada in the late 19th century. The Industrial Revolution was a cultural shift involving significant economic development characterized by the introduction of machines powered by non-renewable resources (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas). Overall, there was a transition from an agricultural society to one dominated by industry and manufacturing.

3.4. Medical-Technological Revolution

This revolution is generally defined as the period from ~1950 to the present and is characterized by the proliferation of new technologies that were used to obtain information in a rapid manner from (almost) anywhere in the world. The development in technologies and innovation permits a more effective and rapid response to environmental problems.

In terms of economic systems, there has been a transition from a Fordist system to a Post-Fordist system. The names of these systems are named after Henry Ford, automobile producer and founder of the Ford Motor Company.

3.5. Impacts of these Revolutions

As we examine the main Revolutions discussed in this module, we can see some commonalities and similarities.

Some common characteristics of the Revolutions:

Population growth
Increased affluence (although it is important to note that this affluence was (and is) not distributed evenly).
Technological developments which had implications for human and natural systems.
Environmental impacts.

In the coming decades, increasing urbanization and population growth will have many implications for human and natural systems and environmental sustainability. According to the UN (2014, pg. 3), “rapid and unplanned urban growth threatens sustainable development when the necessary infrastructure is not developed or when policies are not implemented to ensure that the benefits of city life are equitably shared.”

4.1. A History of Environmental Awareness

Prior to the 1960s, the preservation and conservation of the wilderness were two main priorities.

Creation of National Parks to preserve nature, wildlife, and wilderness
Banff, established in 1885, is Canada’s oldest National Park.
Myth of abundance

During the colonial times in Canada, many European settlers believed natural resources were infinite; resources and nature were to be used for human progress and benefit
Notable Environmental Works

Walden (1848) by Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau spent two years living in a cabin in the Massachusetts’ wilderness;
Describes the harmony of being one and living in nature.

1960s – Birth of the Modern Environmental Movement

Silent Spring – Rachel Carson

Silent Spring increased public awareness of the impacts of environmental pollution (pesticides such as DDT) on human health, water quality, air quality, and wildlife.
Many historians consider the release of Carson’s book to mark the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
Public became more aware of the impact humans were having on nature.
Citizens began pressuring governments to pass legislation that protects the natural environment.
Emergence of ecology from 1965-1970; greater attention to the inter-relationships between population, pollution, and natural resource use.
Events such as the moon landing in July 1969 invoked a sense that Earth can be compared to a spaceship; we have only one Earth and our resources are not finite.

1970s

The increased awareness of environmental issues led to a number of developments in the 1970s.

The Canadian Context

Formation of environmental groups in the early 1970s
Greenpeace, the Sierra Club of Canada, the Canadian Audubon Society, and the Canadian Nature Federation
Canada’s First Environment Week (1971)
Formation of environmental ministries at the federal and provincial levels
Ontario established the Ministry of Environment in 1972.
Federal government established the Department of the Environment in 1971.
In response to public awareness and concern, the Canadian federal government introduced several pieces of legislation and laws including:
Canada Water Act (1970)
Arctic Waters Pollution Act (1970)
Clean Air Act (1971)
Canadian Wildlife Act (1973)

International Context

1972: Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment
Organized by the United Nations
Declaration produced at the end of the Conference had 26 principles.
Creation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
Recognizes the right to a healthy environment
Agreement on the need to respond to environmental issues; nations are accountable for environmental issues that are a cause of their actions.
1979: World Climate Conference (Geneva, Switzerland)
Scientific conference organized by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.
Considered one of the first major climate conferences at the international level.
Agreement that the greenhouse effect requires a response from the international commu

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