GEOG 2EI3

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Outline
➢ Introduction
 General course Information
 Quizzes, assignments, midterm and exam formation
➢ What we will be covering this semester
➢ Introduction to Environmental Issues
➢ TO DO list

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Instructor – Rebecca Lee

➢ Office- BSB 312

➢ Ext. 24077
➢ leer37@mcmaster.ca
 Email is the best way to
contact me

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Instructor – Rebecca Lee

➢ Office- BSB 312

➢ Ext. 24077
➢ leer37@mcmaster.ca
 Email is the best way to
contact me

4
Course Materials
Textbook:

Dearden, P., and Mitchell, B.

2016. Environmental
Change and Challenge.
5th edition. Oxford
University Press.

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Structure of the Course
➢ Course consists of:
 Quizzes (on avenue)
 Assignment 1:
 Assignment 2:
 Midterm
 Final exam

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Course Outline
➢ If you have any questions about the logistics of the class
look at the outline first
 Includes information on the due dates, expectations, format
of the quiz

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Quiz format
➢ 4 online quizzes (on avenue)
 Best 3 out of 4 counted
➢ Schedule can be found on avenue and the class schedule
 Quizzes will be open from 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Wednesday of the week
assigned until 8:30 a.m. Monday the following week (a period of 5 day).
➢ Multiple choice
 20-30 questions for each quiz
 Questions from a pool
o Not all quizzes have the same questions

➢ One submission attempt for each question

 Can be started and returned to throughout the week
 Must be submitted (the submit button pressed) by the close time
➢ Questions will cover course material and may require you to complete
additional research
 Can be from lecture or the textbook
➢ Late submissions will not be accepted
➢ Missed quiz
 MSAF cannot be used on the quizzes
 There are no make up tests or quizzes
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The Midterm
➢ Midterm
 Scheduled for July 15th during class time
 Room locations will be posted at a later date
 Will be composed of multiple choice questions and
short answer questions
 There will be no make up midterm
o Individuals who miss the midterm will have the marks
automatically moved to the final exam
o MSAF are not required

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The structure of the final exam
➢ Composed of multiple choice and short answer
questions
 May include calculation questions

➢ The exam date will be August 7th during class time

➢ The exam will cover the entire course, slightly

weighted to the second half

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 Where to go for help
➢ Please feel free to talk to me before or after class
➢ Office hours
 The time of the office hours will be posted next week
 Office hours are not meant to go over whole lectures
➢ Avenue to learn
 There is a discussion board where any non-personal questions can be asked
 Always remember if you are have a question than others probably share it!
➢ If you miss a class, ask a classmate for the notes
➢ Email
 You can email or the TA with questions that you are not comfortable posting

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Check Avenue!

➢ Avenue is an important resource and you should check it

regularly (if you don’t already)
➢ Course notes will be uploaded weekly
➢ Information on the class will be posted in the
announcements
➢ Quizzes are completed online
➢ Please use the discussion board to ask questions, it is a
great resource!

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 The course schedule
Week Date Lecture Textbook Assessment
June 24 Introduction to Environmental Issues Chapter 1
1
June 26 Understanding ecosystems Chapter 2 and 3 Quiz 1 Starts
July 1 CANADA DAY Quiz 1 Due
2 No Class!
July 3 Understanding ecosystems Chapter 3 and 4 Quiz 2 Starts
July 8 Environmental Policy and Planning Chapter 5 and 6 Quiz 2 Due
3 July 10 Climate Change Chapter 7 Assignment 1 Due
Review period
July 15 MIDTERM MIDTERM
4
July 17 Oceans and forests Chapter 8 and 9
July 22 Agriculture and Water management Chapter 10 and
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5 July 24 Minerals and Energy Chapter 12 and Quiz 3 Starts
Urban development and management 13

July 29 Endangered Specie Chapter 14 Quiz 3 Due

6 July 31 The future of environmental issues Chapter 15 Assignment 2 Due
Quiz 4 Starts
August 5 CIVIC HOLIDAY Quiz 4 Due
7 No Class!
August 7 EXAM EXAM 13
What to expect in the course
➢ This class will cover a variety of topics related to the
environment and the current challenges that we face.
 Includes:
o The components and mechanisms of ecosystems
o The planning, policy and management of the environment
o Current environmental issues facing Canada and the World

➢ We will explore these topics using current and past

examples from around the globe

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Let’s Begin!

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CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=466264
Change and Challenge
➢ These changes threaten societal well-being – society must
respond thoughtfully and deliberately.
 Impact human health, infrastructure, economies

➢ Significant economic growth during the past 35 years due

to population growth and increased consumption.

➢ How do we meet basic human needs and protect the

integrity of biophysical systems?
Earths not growing with us
Important terms
➢ Environment: includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere,
cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere in which humans,
other living species, and non-animate phenomena exist.
 Included in the environment is the animals that inhabit it, as
a component of the biosphere
 Broadly it can be thought or as the habitat, and all its
components, in which we all live and depend on to survive
 Important terms

➢ Resource: parts of the

environment that are deemed to
have value, whether directly to
humans or more generally
 More specific and include
forests, wildlife, oceans, rivers,
lakes, minerals, and petroleum.
 Value can be defined in
different ways
Self centered value how much it benfits humans o Anthropocentric
o Ecocentric or biocentric
has value because it exists, its there and has its own value
Scenario
A new gold deposit has been found in northern Canada. It is
worth billions of dollars, but mining the ore may impact the
permafrost and surrounding ecosystems.

If you focused on anthropocentric value?

The ore would be mined as its value is high

If you focused on biocentric value?

The ore may be mined, depending on how much it
will impact the surrounding ecosystems and how
permanent the changes might be.
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What is Environmental Management?

➢ Environmental management entails actions to protect the

environment and conserve natural resources

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Three Waves Regarding Approaches to
Environmental Management
➢ First wave of Environmental Management
 Late nineteenth century
 Focused on inventory, protection and conservation of
wilderness areas for the current and future generations

Banff National Park

Three Waves Regarding Approaches to
Environmental Management

"We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the
time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are
gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the
soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting
the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation.“

President Theodore Roosevelt

Three Waves Regarding Approaches to
Environmental Management

➢ Second wave
 Began in the early twentieth century
 Focused on identifying environmental degradation and
urging change from the government to reduce the damage

https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/history/
Three Waves Regarding Approaches to
Environmental Management

➢ Third wave
 Began in the late twentieth century Ottawa tornados

 Remediate environmental degradation (sustainable

development)
Approaches to Understanding Complex Natural
and Socio-economic Systems
Individual Approaches
➢ Disciplinary
➢ Cross-disciplinary

Group Approaches
➢ Multidisciplinary Work with random people
➢ Interdisciplinary Start working

➢ Transdisciplinary
Forget about disciplines take everything equally
Science-Based Management of
Resources and Environment
➢ Mills et al. (2001) provide five guidelines for
contributions by scientists for effective management of
resources and the environment:
1. Focus the science on key issues, and communicate it in a
policy-relevant form.
2. Clarify issues, identify potential management options,
and estimate consequences of decisions.
3. Clearly and simply communicate key scientific findings
to all participants.
4. Evaluate whether or not the final decision is consistent
with scientific information.
5. Avoid advocacy of any particular solution.
War on Science?

➢ Characteristics of the
war on science:
1. Reducing funds for
government units or
organizations whose
research has
produced findings
that challenge
government
initiatives.
Govt > Scientists
War on Science?
2. Not allowing government scientists to publish their research
findings in journal articles or to present them at conferences
unless the material has first been reviewed and approved by
the relevant minister’s office.

3. When government scientists make a conference

presentation or are interviewed by the media, having a
spokesperson from the relevant minister’s office
accompany them and determine which questions can be
answered.

4. Discrediting or raising questions about research findings

that challenge a government’s priorities, policies, or
programs.
 Modern War of Science
“The Trump Administration’s
War on Science Agencies
“Trump's war on science is being
Threatens the Nation’s
led by a climate change denier…”
Health and Safety”
https://www.scientificameri
https://www.businessinsider.com/tr can.com/article/the-trump-
ump-war-on-science-is-led-by- administration-rsquo-s-war-
climate-change-denier-2019-5 on-science-agencies-
threatens-the-nation-rsquo-
s-health-and-
safety/?redirect=1

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 Canada’s War on They silenced scientists

Science trying to make Alberta a

power house for oil during
the recession

Text

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/trumps-war-on-science-could-the-
canadian-experience-offer-a-blueprint-on-how-to-fight-back-a7567821.html

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The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ Proposal to
build a twin
pipeline from
Bruderheim,
Alberta to
Kitimat, British
Columbia
➢ Total length:
1177 km
➢ Total capacity:
525 000 barrels
per day
The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ International ramifications:
 Large increases in global CO2 emissions and global warming

➢ National implications:
 The scale of the project, transprovincial issues, federal
jurisdictions, global trade

➢ Provincial, regional, and local concerns:

 Place-specific impacts of the infrastructure required

➢ Ethical issues:
 Related to the rights of Aboriginal peoples
 Whether we should be making a major contribution to furthering
the negative impacts of the world’s primary environmental
problem
The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ The federal government strongly
supported the project.
 They saw the benefit to all
Canadians and dismissed
environmental concerns

➢ Scientists called for an

assessment accounting for the
cumulative effects of all the
resource developments involved.

➢ Politically appointed federal

panel dismissed the call for
assessment.
The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ The BC government specified five requirements to be met
before it would support the proposal:
1. Completion of an environmental review process
2. Proper marine oil spill response, prevention, and recovery
system in place
3. Proper land oil spill response, prevention, and recovery
system in place
4. Address Aboriginal rights and benefits
5. BC receives its fair share of fiscal and economic benefits—
reflecting the level of risk borne
The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ Federal government: established a National Energy Board
panel in late 2009 to examine the Northern Gateway pipeline
proposal and report before the end of 2013

➢ December 2013
 The Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel
published a report
 Recommended approval by the federal government of the
proposed pipeline, subject to 209 conditions

➢ June 2014
 The government of Canada accepts the independent Panel’s
recommendation to impose 209 conditions on Northern Gateway
The Northern Gateway Proposal
➢ First Nations’ leaders
announced they would work
collectively in “. . . a new
push to halt the project
through the courts, in public
campaigns, and—if
necessary—by protests on the
land.”

➢ BC government also
maintains a key role in the
overall decision-making
process.
The End of the Northern Gateway
➢ Liberal government bans tankers from carrying large amount of
oil from BC’s north coast
 Effectively kills the northern gateway pipeline

➢ Approval officially revoked in November 2016

 Deemed insufficient consultations with the Indigenous
Communities

➢ Many Indigenous communities in the region, who would have

benefited from the Northern Gateway Pipeline, are
disappointed with the decision to cancel the project
 Most supported the pipeline, as it would bring in long term
benefits
 Would have added employment and revenue to the communities
Wicked Problems
➢ Ill-defined, with
incomplete and/or
contradictory
information or
interpretations,
many stakeholders
with values in
conflict, and an
overall system and
related issues which
are uncertain and
confusing.
Sustainable Development
➢ Sustainable development: development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.

➢ Sustainable energy entails three strategic aspects:

1. Presents a vision or direction of the nature of future
societies
2. Emphasizes a system of governance characterized by
openness, transparency, decentralization, accessibility
3. Ensures that economic, environmental, and social aspects
are considered together and that trade-offs are visible and
transparent
Sustainable Development
➢ The concept of sustainable development has generated both
enthusiasm and frustration.
 Provides a compelling vision for the twenty-first century that
acknowledges the need to balance. social, economic, and
environmental considerations
 Term is so vague that it can be defined in ways to suit
different and often conflicting interests.
Crop rotation- sustainable development?
➢ Crop rotation: planting different crops on the same land on
successive years
 Reduces soil erosion
 Reduces pests
 Reduces disease
 Improves soil fertility

http://aridagriculture.com/2018/03/01/crop-rotation-agriculture/
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Resilience
➢ Resilience
 The ability of a system
to absorb disturbance
and still retain its basic
function and structure.
 The ultimate goal is to
move a system into
some ideal state and
sustain it in that state.
The Anthropocene
➢ New proposed epoch that would reflect the significant
human impact on the planet- including climate change

https://newatlas.com/anthropocene/45151/
The Global Picture
➢ The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment
 Carried out between 2001 and 2005 to
assess the consequences of ecosystem
change for human well-being and to
establish the scientific basis for actions
needed to enhance the conservation
and sustainable use of ecosystems and
their contributions to human well-
being.
 The experts concluded that many of
the changes are non-linear and once
they start, the processes of degradation
will increase rapidly.
Global Population Trends
➢ The current population is around 7.7 billion people
 Has been increasing exponentially

What factors do you think

may have allowed the
rapid increase in human
population?
 Global Population trends
➢ There is a relationship
between economic growth
and population that occurs in
four main phases as a
population passes through a
demographic transition.
 High equilibrium (high birth
and death rates)
 High expanding (high birth
rate, low death rate)
 Low expanding (falling birth
rate, low death rate)
 Low equilibrium (low, equal
birth and death rates)
Global Population trends
PERU CANADA
Global Energy Consumption
Nine Planets??
➢ Overconsumption
and pollution have
put stress on the
planet
 Creates pressure
on the planetary
carrying capacity
at a global scale
➢ Nine main
planetary processes
need to be taken
into account.
Nine Planets??
➢ Three of these system processes have already exceeded
the safe operating zones:
 Rate of biodiversity loss, climate change, and interference
with the nitrogen cycle

➢ There is a need to set scientifically determined biophysical

preconditions for human development and the need to stay
within those boundaries.

➢ Violating these boundaries will result in a noted loss in the

resilience of the Earth in its ability to produce the goods
and services necessary to support humanity.
Civilizations collapse!
➢ There have been many
civilizations that saw
rapid decline resulting in
changes in abandonment
of cities and fundamental
changes to their ways of
life
 Some of these were
caused by environmental
changes
By Wolfgang Sauber (User:Xenophon) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5769549
Whose responsibility is it (in Canada)?
➢ The authority over, and responsibility for, natural
resources in Canada is divided between the federal and
provincial governments
 Territorial, municipal and Indigenous communities have
increasingly important roles
➢ Canada has many international agreements
 Water and shared resource agreements with the USA
 Multilateral agreements regarding fisheries, migratory birds
and marine based mineral resources
Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Roles
➢ Federal Control
 Natural resources and land in the north (above 60º N)
 Natural resources offshore
 Legislative authority over trade and commerce
 Legislative control over navigation, shipping and fisheries

➢ Provincial Control
 Natural resources within the province
 Legislative authority on natural resources
 Partnership for conservation authorities

➢ Municipal Control
 In the 1990s, provincial governments began to give control to municipal
goevrnments
o Principle of subsidiarity
 Partnership for conservation authorities
 Monitoring Progress towards Sustainable
Development
➢ In 1997, the Office of the Auditor General began reporting on
progress by 24 federal government departments and agencies
regarding sustainable development.

➢ Improvements necessary:
 Implementation gaps
 Lack of coordination and
integration
 Inadequate performance
review processes
Looking forward
➢ We are violating global thresholds related to the carrying
capacity of the life support system of the planet.

➢ The most important message underlying the

environmental challenges we face is the need for
fundamental changes in the way we view our relationship
with nature.
To Do!
➢ Read chapters 1 and 2 in
the textbook
➢ Always keep checking
avenue
➢ Will discuss the first
assignment on Wednesday-
it will be uploaded to
avenue tomorrow

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