APES Chapter 1 notes

I. Living Sustainably
1. solar capital: ___________________________________________
2. natural capital:
_________________________________________________________
3. the environment: term used to describe our
_____________________________
4. What is a sustainable system?
A. one that survives over some specified time that
attains its full expected life span
B. a sustainable society manages it’s
____________________________without exceeding the
planet’s ability to absorb environmental insults,
replenish its resources and sustain life
II. Population and Economic growth
1. linear growth vs. exponential growth
A. linear growth:
____________________________________________
B. Exponential growth: quantity increases by a fixed %
of the whole in a given time.
_________________________________________________
2. Doubling Time: Rule of 70
A. to find the doubling time in year:

3. Human Population Growth

A. Population is growing exponentially at a worldwide
rate of _________. In developing countries it
is________. In developed countries it is _________.
B. ________________more people per day
4. Economic growth
A. _________________in the capacity to provide goods
and services for people’s final use
B. economic growth is measured by an increase in
GNP.
a. _____________________ $ value of goods and
services produced by a country’s businesses
within and outside the country
b. _____________________ $ value of goods and
services produced within the country
c. ______________________total $ value of goods
and services produced in the world
d. The problem with GNP is the higher the GNP
the more resource depletion and
____________________________. GNP is not the
best indicator of quality of life.
 e. ________________individuals slice of the
economic pie
5. Economic development
A. countries are classified as either developing or
developed based on their per capita GNP and
their_________________________
a. developed countries: U.S., Canada, Japan,
Australia, New Zealand, and all of Europe.
• per capita GNP greater
____________________
• generate 75% of _____________
• use 88% of resources
• have 85% of _____________
• make up _____________________
b. Developing: Africa, Asia, Latin America
• 80% of ___________________________
• some are middle income $1,000 to
$10,000 per capita GNP like
________________________
• some are low income with a per capita
GNP of less than ________________like
__________________
• 95% of population growth will take place
________________
6. Environmentally Sustainable Development
A. economic growth has allowed us to
a. _________________
b. be healthier
c. _______________________
B. It has not allowed us to
a. _______________________
b. stop environmental problems
C. Environmentally sustainable development:
a. encourages sustainable forms of economic
growth that meets the basic needs of the
current generations of humans without
preventing future generations and other
species from meeting their basic needs
b. discourages environmentally harmful and
unsustainable forms of economic growth
c. it requires that governments, businesses and
individuals integrate
_________________________into their decision
making process
I. What is a resource
A. anything that we get from the environment to meet our
needs and _____________
B. perpetual resource: something that is continually renewed
like ________________
C. renewable: On a human time scale something that can be
renewed fairly rapidly (Within decades)
a. ___________________________________________________
b. biodiversity: variety of life forms that can survive a
variety of conditions
c. renewable resources can be
________________________
d. SUSTAINABLE YIELD: highest rate at which a
renewable resource can be used without reducing
its available _____________________
e. Environmental Degradation: occurs when the
resource’s natural replacement rate is
___________________
f. Tragedy of The Commons by “Garrett Hardin”:
Overuse of common property resources, which are
owned by no one but available to everyone free of
charge. For example clean air, oceans, fish,
Antarctica. This leads to exploitation then no one
can use the resource. “ If I don’t use this resource
then someone else will, the little bit I pollute is not
enough to matter”
D. non-renewable: resources that exist in fixed quantities in
the earth’s crust
a. ____________like coal, gas, uranium which are
burned and lost
b. ______________ mineral resources that can recycled
c. ________________ mineral resources that are difficult
to recycle
II. What is Pollution
A. Any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the
health, survival, or activities of humans or other animals. It
can be natural or from ______________________
B. Two types of pollutant sources:
a. ____________________where pollutants come from a
single identifiable source, like a drainpipe or a
_________________.
b. ___________________pollutants that come from
dispersed sources. Examples are
___________________from fertilizers and pesticides or
_____________________.
 C. Two approaches to dealing with pollution:
a. pollution ________________________________
b. pollution _______________________________
III. Key Environmental Problems and Their Root Causes
A. rapid ________________________ growth
B. rapid and wasteful use of resources with little emphasis on
pollution prevention
C. ______________________ of life support systems
D. ___________________________________
E. failure of economic and political systems to have market
prices that include environmental costs
F. Our urge to dominate and manage nature for our use with
far too little knowledge of how nature
______________________________
G. Population x Affluence x Technology =
_________________________

IV. Environmental Worldviews

A. How people think the world works, what they think their
role in the world should be and what they believe is right
and wrong environmental behaviors.
B. ______________________ management worldview: human
beings, earth’s dominant species should manage the
planet for their own benefit. Part of this is that we are apart
from nature, the earth has an unlimited supply of
resources, economic growth increases human well-being
and the potential for human growth is unlimited and our
success depends on how well we control and exploit
nature.
C. ________________________ wisdom worldview: the belief that
we are a part of nature and it does not just exist for us.
Resources are limited; our success depends on learning
how the earth changes and adapting to it.
D. Who should we believe?
E. The precautionary principle
F. Try not to be overwhelmed by the environmental bad news
because there is a lot of good environmental news.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed

citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing
that ever has”
Margaret Mead