02 sustainability 1

Discussions start this week:

• Face-to-face in 176 Burrill Hall (Group A)

• Online activities on IB105 Moodle site (Group B)https://moodle.life.illinois.edu/login/index.php

IB105 Discussion Group A: AB1, AB3, AB5, AB7, AB9, ABB, ABD, ABF, ABJ, ABL

IB 105 Discussion Group B: AB2, AB4, AB6, AB8, ABA, ABC, ABE, ABG, ABI, ABK, ABM

http://www.queenofthesun.com/

January 27, 2011 at 7:30 pmThe Art Theater126 West Church StreetChampaign, IL 61820

Rebecca Huss, School of Law, Valparaiso University"The Evolving Nature of Animal Law,”

Tuesday, February 15, 4:00 pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana.

Rebecca Huss will focus on emerging issues in animal law relating to companion animals. Her talk will begin by defining "animal law" and

discuss the development of this area of legal practice. Other areas of the law that will be covered include housing issues, veterinary malpractice, how the law values animals, the role of service animals, custody and

estate planning issues.----

Sean B. Carroll, Molecular Biology, Genetics and Medical Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species,”

Tuesday, February 22, 4:00pmKnight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana.

The search for the origins of species has entailed a series of great adventures over the past 200 years. This talk will chronicle the exploits of a group of explorers who walked where no one had walked, saw what

no one had seen, and thought what no one else had thought. Their achievements sparked a revolution that changed, profoundly and forever,

our perception of the living world and our place within it.

Brian HandwerkJanuary 19, 2011

Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells Some places saw the ground rise by ten inches, experts report.

Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano just took a deep "breath," causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report.

The simmering volcano has produced major eruptions—each a thousand times more powerful than Mount St. Helens's 1980 eruption—three times in the past 2.1 million years. Yellowstone's caldera, which covers a 25- by 37-mile (40- by 60-kilometer) swath of Wyoming, is an ancient crater formed after the last big blast, some 640,000 years ago.

23 January 2011

Brazil flood deaths top 800 with 400 still missing

Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month. More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse. The flooding is considered the worst natural disaster Brazil has ever experienced.

January 24, 2011

Sustainability

Lecture Objectives:

2. Understand the concept of Sustainable Development

3. Learn the five characteristics that define sustainability

1. Define the field of Environmental Science

Interdisciplinary

What is environmental science?

Do you want:

the air you breathe to be clean?

the water you drink to be unpolluted?

the food you eat to be healthy?

not to be exposed to toxic wastes?

Why study Environmental Science?

Environment affects human quality of life

Humans cause problems for the natural world

Human impact on the natural world

Sustainable Development

Viability of natural resources over time, and the maintenance of human living standards and economic growth.

Sustainable Development – Meets present needs without compromising ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Economics and Sustainable Development

Three schools of thought on the best way to achieve Sustainable Development:

No need for change in fundamental economic policy

1) Economic growth is necessary to finance pollution prevention

Environmental issues are a matter of setting priorities



No need for change in fundamental economic policy

2) Science and technological advances can solve many environmental problems.

Environmental issues are a matter of setting priorities



Need for change in fundamental economic policy

3) Economic and environmental well-being are mutually reinforcing, and must be pursued simultaneously.

Economic growth will create it’s own ruin if it environmental issues are not a priority

A) Economic growth is necessary to finance pollution prevention

B) Science and technological advances can solve many environmental problems.

C) Economic and environmental well-being are mutually reinforcing, and must be pursued simultaneously.

Which school of thought is the best way to achieve Sustainable Development:


The concept of sustainable development has been criticized for being ambiguous

Criticism in part comes from a misuse of terms

Sustainable growth and sustainable use are not interchangeable terms!


• Sustainable growth is a contradiction – can’t keep growing indefinitely

•Sustainable use applies only to renewable resources – use them at rates within their capacity for renewal

Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources

Renewable resource - can be formed or regenerated by natural processes

Nonrenewable resource – cannot be replaced by natural processes, or those whose rate of replacement is exceptionally slow

Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Resources

Renewable Nonrenewable

SunlightWindVegetationAnimal LifeAir Water

Mineral resources Fossil fuels


World-wide sustainable development is not easy to achieve.

How to balance global sustainability with the local need to make a living?

How is Sustainability Achieved?

Renewability – use renewable resources no faster than they can be replaced

Outline by Gaylord Nelson, founder of the 1st Earth Day


Substitution – when possible, use renewable resources instead of nonrenewable resources

VS

Can be difficult due to barriers to substitution (cost, society, etc.)


Interdependence – local communities recognize that the larger system must also be sustainable

Does not get resources in a way that harms other communities, nor does it export waste


Adaptability – can change to take advantage of new opportunities

Requires a diversified economy, educated citizens and a spirit of solidarity


Institutional commitment – adopts laws that mandate sustainability

Economy supports sustainable production and consumption

Citizens value sustainable behavior

Other Considerations in Ecological Economics

External costs - Expenses, monetary or otherwise, borne by someone other than person using the resource

For example, how do you put a price tag on the human health effects of pollution?

Since difficult to quantify, often ignored in cost – benefit analyses

Other Considerations in Ecological Economics

Common property resources – public ownership

Common (public) ownership essentially means no owner.

Strong tendency to overexploit and misuse the resource.

Common ownership makes it virtually cost-free for anybody to cause pollution.

Ethics - Seeks to define fundamentally what is right and what is wrong, regardless of cultural differences.

Morals - - Reflect predominate feelings of a culture about ethical issues.

Ethics and Morals

Environmental ethics - Topic of applied ethics that examines the moral basis of environmental responsibility

Three primary theories of moral responsibility regarding the environment

Anthropocentric: : (Human centered)

Responsibility derived from human interests

Only humans are morally significant

Preservation for future consumption


Biocentric::

Life-centered rather than human centered

All life forms have a right to exist

Animal Rights


Ecocentric::

Environment deserves direct moral consideration

The environment has an inherent value

Advocated by Aldo Leopold

Ecocentric View

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise….We abuse land because we regard it as a community belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

- Aldo Leopold

Which theory of moral responsibility regarding the environment to you subscribe to?

A) Anthropocentric: : (Human centered)

B) Biocentric: (Life centered): (Life centered)

C) Ecocentric: (Environment centered) : (Environment centered)

D) None of them

Individual Environmental EthicsRecognition of individual responsibility must lead to changes in individual behavior.

Many want a cleaner environment, but do not want to make the necessary lifestyle changes

When raw materials are processed, some waste is inevitable.

Corporations - legal

entities designed to

operate at a profit.

Corporate Environmental Ethics

Many consider manufacturing waste unethical, while corporations may see it as one factor determining profitability.

Corporate Environmental EthicsPracticing an environmental ethic should not interfere with corporate responsibilities.It makes little sense to preserve the environment if preservation causes economic collapse

Nor does it make sense to maintain industrial productivity at the cost of breathable air, clean water, wildlife, parks, and wilderness.

Compromise is possible

Corporate Environmental Ethics

Nor does it make sense to maintain industrial productivity at the cost of breathable air, clean water, wildlife, parks, and wilderness.

Who pays the costs? who reaps the benefits?

Environmental Policy

Official rules and regulations that areadopted, implemented and enforced bya governmental agency.

…. Needs to be based on best available science!

Points to know:

1. What are the 3 schools of thought on sustainable development? How are they alike and different?

2. Distinguish between sustainable development, sustainable growth and sustainable use.

3. Name some renewable and some nonrenewable resources.

4. Know Gaylord Nelson’s 5 characteristics of sustainability.

5. How do external versus internal costs affect cost-benefit analyses?

6. Know the three primary theories of moral responsibility regarding the environment

02 sustainability 1

Technology

Transcript of 02 sustainability 1