ON THE ROAD TO COLLAPSE

CHAPTER 1 ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY

What lessons can we learn from a vanished Viking society?

Do Now

• What lessons can we learn from a vanished Viking society?

• What factors led to the demise of this group of Viking settlers?

• Are there any similarities between modern civilization and this Viking Society?

Announcements

• Homework Assignment (google calendar via course website)

• Case Study next week• Quiz next week (Thursday 9/20?)

Here are some of the key points in the story for this

chapter:• What is environmental science?• What is environmental literacy?• How can we adopt more

sustainable practices?

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE?

It is an interdisciplinary field of research that draws on the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in order to better understand the natural world—and our relationship to it.

Why did the Greenland Vikings vanish?

And how do you even begin to answer this question when the

disappearance occurred over 700

years ago?

Do Now

• How is empirical science different from applied science?

• How do we use both of these methods in Environmental Science?

• In what ways would you change US Environmental Policy to move towards more sustainable practices?

Announcements

• Texts Books are in – Please sign out• Quiz on Chapter 1– Thursday 9/20• Current Events Presentation

(Requirements, rubric, guidelines and scheduling)

• Blooms Taxonomy• BLS Wave

Thomas McGovern used empirical science to

observe middens (garbage piles) for

clues.

Applied science: What lessons can we

learn from the Greenland Vikings?

McGovern came to a conclusion: natural events and human choices led to the

demise of the Greenland Vikings.

Why did the Viking society on Greenland

collapse?

Biologist Jared Diamond’s five factors offer an

explanation.

1. Natural climate change

2. Self-inflicted environmental damage

3. Failure to respond to the natural environment

4. Hostile neighbors

5. Loss of friendly neighbors

Jared Diamond’s Five Factors

How they applied to the

Vikingsmini ice age

overgrazing, overharvesting

would not eat fish

refused Inuit’s help

European supplies stopped arriving

Environmental literacy =the ability to understand environmental problems

Environmental problems—and the choices they force us to make—are frequently complicated.

They often involve trade-offs.

They have environmental, social, and economic impacts. This is called the “triple bottom line.”

Humans are an environmental force that impacts Earth’s

ecosystems.

Carrying capacity = population size that an

area can support indefinitely

Ecological footprint = land needed to provide resources, assimilatewaste of a population

Anthropogenic = caused by or related to human action

Ecocide = willful destruction of the

natural environment

The U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported that—due to

humanity’s actions—the ability of Earth’s

ecosystems to sustain future generations is gravely imperiled.

The U.N. says there’s hope to reverse damage…if we act

now.

We can’t allow our own attitudes to prevent us from solving these problems.

Humans tend to rely on nonrenewable resources (fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, petroleum).

Nonrenewable resources = resources in finite supply or

not replenished in timely fashion

Fossil fuels are replenished over vast geologic time – far too slowly to keep up with

our rampant consumption of them.

Sustainable = using resources in a way that we can use them indefinitely

A sustainable ecosystem is one that makes use of

renewable energy.

Renewable energy is energy that comes from an infinitely available or easily

replenished source.

Sustainable ecosystems rely on biodiversity: a variety of species to provide resources

and keep populations in check

How can we adopt more sustainable practices?

use nature as a model, mentor, and measure

for our human ecosystems

BIOMIMICRY

decisions that produce short-term benefits, but hurt society in the long

run

SOCIAL TRAPS

When people are aware of consequences, they are more likely to examine trade-offs to determine whether long-term

costs are worth short-term gains.

Education is our best hope for avoiding social traps.

Another obstacle to sustainable growth is wealth

inequality.20% of the world’s population

controls 80% of the world’s resources.

Conflicting worldviews are another challenge to sustainable living.

An ecocentric worldview values all living creatures and nonliving processes of an

ecosystem.

The view of the United States toward the natural world has gradually changed over

time.

These views have led to landmark events in U.S. environmental history.

“Their conservatism and rigidity, which we can see in many different aspects, seems to have kept them on the same path, maybe even prodded them to try even harder—build bigger churches, etc.—instead of trying to adapt.”

--Thomas McGovern