APES: Chapter 1 Study Guide

APES: Chapter 1 Study Guide Key Themes in Environmental Science Exam Date: Monday, 9/14

Expect matching and free response questions. Remember free response questions need to have complete sentences. KEY TERMS  Aesthetic justification  Moral justification  Carrying capacity  Precautionary Principle  Cultural justification  Recreational justification  Ecological justification  Sustainability  Gaia hypothesis  Utilitarian justification  Megacities  Carrying Capacity   SUMMARY  Six themes run through this text: the urgency of the population issue; the importance of urban environments; the need for sustainability of resources; the importance of a global perspective; people and nature; and the role of science and values in the decisions we face.  People and nature are intertwined. Each affects the other.  The human population grew at a rate unprecedented in the history in the 20th century. Population growth is the underlying environmental issue.  Achieving sustainability, the environmental goal, is a long-term process to maintain a quality environment for future generations. Sustainability is becoming an important environmental paradigm for the 21st century.  The combined impact of technology and population multiplies the impact on the environment.  In an increasingly urban world, we must focus much of our attention on the environments of cities and the effects of cities on the rest of the environment.  Determining Earth’s carrying capacity for people and levels of sustainable harvests of resources is difficult but crucial if we are to plan effectively to meet our needs in the future. Estimates of Earth’s carrying capacity for people range from 2.5 to 40 billion, but about 15 billion is the upper limit with today’s technology. The differences in capacity have to do with the quality of life projected for people – the poorer the quality of life, the more people can be packed onto the Earth.  Awareness of how people at a local level affect the environmental globally gives credence to the Gaia hypothesis. Future generations will need a global perspective on environmental issues.  Placing a value on various aspects of the environment requires a knowledge and understanding of the science, but it also depends on our judgments about the uses and aesthetics of the environment and on our moral commitments to other living tings and to future generations.  The Precautionary Principle is emerging as a powerful new tool for environmental management.   REEXAMINING THEMES AND ISSUES  Human Population: What is more important: the quality of life of people alive today or the quality of life of future generations?   Sustainability: What is more important: abundant resources today – as much as we want and can obtain – or the availability of these resources for future generations?   Global Perspective: What is more important: the quality of your local environment or the quality of the global environment – the environment of the entire planet?   Urban World: What is more important: human creativity and innovation, including arts, humanities, and science, or the persistence of certain endangered species? Must this always be a trade-off, or are there way to have both?   People and Nature: If people have altered the environment for much of the time our species has been on Earth, what then is “natural”?   Science and Values: Does nature know best, so that we never have to ask what environmental goal we should seek, or do we need knowledge about our environment so that we can make the best judgments given available information?   CASE STUDIES:  “Easter’s End” – by Jared Diamond  “The Lorax” – by Dr. Seuss