Human Impact on the

Biosphere
What is Environmental Science?

 The goals of environmental science are to

learn:
how nature works.
how the environment effects us.
how we effect the environment.
how we can live more sustainably without
degrading our life-support system.
 Human Impacts

 Humans are using energy and altering

the environment at astonishing rates
 We are altering natural processes before
we even understand them
 Sustainability: The Integrative
Theme

 Sustainability, is the ability of earth’s

various systems to survive and adapt to
environmental conditions indefinitely.
 The steps to sustainability must be
supported by sound science.
Figure 1-
 A Path to
Sustainability

Natural Capital Natural Capital Solutions Trade-Offs Individuals

Degradation Matter

Sound Science

Fig. 1-3, p. 8
Environmentally Sustainable Societies

 … meets basic needs of its people in a just

and equitable manner without degrading the
natural capital that supplies these resources.
Figure 1-
 NATURAL CAPITAL = NATURAL RESOURCES + NATURAL SERVICES
NATURAL RESOURCE
NATURAL SERVICES NATURAL SERVICES
RESOURCES

NATURAL RESOURCES NATURAL SERVICES

Air Air purification

Water purification
Water Water storage
Soil Soil renewal
Nutrient recycling
Land
Food production
Life (Biodiversity) Conservation of
NATURAL CAPITAL = + biodiversity
Nonrenewable Wildlife habitat
minerals
(iron, sand) Grassland and
forest renewal
Renewable Waste treatment
energy
sun, wind, Climate control
water flows Population control
Nonrenewable (species interactions
energy (fossil
fuels, nuclear Pest Control
power)
Fig. 1-4, p. 9
 Developing vs. Developed

 In developing countries, per capita

resource use is high but growing,
as is population size
 In developed countries, population
growth has slowed but per capita
resource use is already high
 POPULATION GROWTH,
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
 Economic growth provides people with
more goods and services.
Measured in gross domestic product (GDP)
and purchasing power parity (PPP).
 Economic development uses economic
growth to improve living standards.
The world’s countries economic status
(developed vs. developing) are based on their
degree of industrialization and GDP-PPP.
Global Outlook

 Comparison of
developed and
developing
countries.
Figures 1-5 and
 Pollutants

 Substances with which an ecosystem

has had no prior evolutionary experience
 No adaptive mechanisms are in place to
deal with them
POLLUTION

 Found at high
enough levels in
the environment to
cause harm to
organisms.
Point source
Nonpoint source

Figure 1-
 Air Pollutants

 Carbon oxides
 Sulfur oxides
 Nitrogen oxides
 Volatile organic compounds
 Photochemical oxidants
 Suspended particles
 Reactant(s) Product(s)

carbon + oxygen carbon dioxide + energy

C + O2 CO2 + energy

+ + energy

black solid colorless gas colorless gas

p. 39
 Chemistry 101
 Acid anhydrides: oxides of nonmetals
 CO2, NO2 and SO3

 These react with water to form oxyacids.

 CO2 + H2O ---> H2CO3 (carbonic acid)

 HNO3 and H2SO4 are also formed in

the atmosphere
 Acid Rain and Architecture
 On campus we have some
architectural damage attributable to
acid rain.
 The limestone lentils and pillars on
the older building are dissolving
away!

 H SO + CaCO3(s)  H2O(l) +
2 4(aq)
CO2(g) +CaSO4(aq)
 Industrial Smog
 Gray-air smog
 Forms over cities that burn large
amounts of coal and heavy fuel oils;
mainly in developing countries
 Main components are sulfur oxides
and suspended particles
 Photochemical smog
 Brown-air smog
 Forms when sunlight interacts with
components from automobile
exhaust
 Nitrogen oxides are the main culprits
 Hot days contribute to formation
 Thermal Inversion
 Weather pattern in which a layer of
cool, dense air is trapped beneath a
layer of warm air

cool air

warm inversion air

cool air
Cities Are Often Plagued with
Thermal Inversions
 Acid Deposition
 Caused by the
release of sulfur
and nitrogen oxides
 Coal-burning power
plants and motor
vehicles are major
sources
 Effect of Ozone Thinning

 Increasedamount of UV radiation
reaches Earth’s surface
 UV damages DNA and negatively
affects human health
 UValso affects plants, lowers
primary productivity
 Ozone Thinning
 In early spring and
summer ozone layer
South
over Antarctica thins America

 Seasonal loss of
ozone is at highest
Antarctica
level ever recorded
Ozone in Earth’s Atmosphere
 Ozone Concentration
from 1962 to 1996

http://www.igf.edu.pl/igf/atmosphere.htm
 Recipe for Ozone Loss
 “The polar winter leads to the formation of the polar
vortex which isolates the air within it.
 Cold temperatures form inside the vortex; cold enough for
the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs).
As the vortex air is isolated, the cold temperatures and the
PSCs persist.
 Once the PSCs form, heterogeneous reactions take place
and convert the inactive chlorine and
bromine reservoirs to more active forms of
chlorine and bromine.
 No ozone loss occurs until sunlight returns to the air
inside the polar vortex and allows the production of
active chlorine and initiates the catalytic ozone
destruction cycles. Ozone loss is rapid. The ozone
hole currently covers a geographic region a little bigger
than Antarctica and extends nearly 10km in altitude in the
lower stratosphere”
http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/part3.html
 Protecting the Ozone Layer
 CFC production has been halted in
developed countries, will be phased
out in developing countries
 Methyl bromide will be phased out
 Even with bans it will take more than
50 years for ozone levels to recover
 Generating Garbage
 Developed countries generate huge
amounts of waste
 Paper products account for half the total
volume
 Recycling can reduce pollutants, save
energy, ease pressure on landfills
Garbage Barge Solution
Landfills
 Land Use

 Almost 21 percent of Earth’s land

is used for agriculture or grazing
 Abouthalf the Earth’s land is
unsuitable for such uses
 Remainder could be used, but at a
high ecological cost
 Green Revolutions
 Improvements in crop production
 Introduction of mechanized agriculture
and practices requires inputs of
pesticides, fertilizer, fossil fuel
 Improving genetic character of crop
plants can also improve yields
Data From the UN
 INDIA REACHING 1 BILLION ON AUGUST 15: NO CELEBRATION
PLANNED

Lester R. Brown and Brian Halweil

 Falling water tables are now also

threatening India's food production.
 The International Water
Management Institute (IWMI)
estimates that withdrawals of
underground water are double the
rate of aquifer recharge.
 As a result, water tables are falling
almost everywhere.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1656
 Aquifer Depletion

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/EarthSC202Notes/Grndh2o.htm
 Deforestation
 Removal of all trees from large tracts of
land
 38 million acres logged each year
 Wood is used for fuel, lumber
 Land is cleared for grazing or crops
Clear Cutting of Forests
 Effects of Deforestation

 Increased leaching and soil erosion

 Increased
flooding and sedimentation of
downstream rivers
 Regional precipitation declines
 Possible amplification of the greenhouse
effect
 Regions of Deforestation

 Rates of forest loss are greatest in

Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and
Columbia
 Highly mechanized logging is
proceeding in temperate forests of the
United States and Canada
“A heavy duty tree chopper for cutting down
trees in a logging operation.”
Rainforests
Forests Burning
 Reversing Deforestation
 Coalition of groups dedicated to
saving Brazil’s remaining forests
 Smokeless wood stoves have saved
firewood in India
 Kenyan women have planted millions
of trees
 NAIROBI (AFP) Feb 23, 2005

NAIROBI (AFP) Feb 23, 2005

“Kenyan Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai on
Wednesday urged developing nations to help fight global
warming and support the Kyoto Protocol on climate change
by joining her tree-planting campaign.”
 Destroying Biodiversity
 Tropical rainforests have the greatest
variety of insects, most bird species
 Some tropical forest species may prove
valuable to humans
 Our primate ancestors evolved in forests
like the ones we are destroying
 Primates
Many primate species are threaten or
endangered.
 Desertification

 Conversion of large tracts of grassland to

desertlike conditions
 Conversions of cropland that result in
more than 10 percent decline in
productivity
Global Desertification Vulnerability
 The Dust Bowl
 Occurred in the 1930s in the Great
Plains
 Overgrazing and prolonged drought
left the ground bare
 1934 winds produced dust storms
that stripped about 9 million acres of
topsoil
Caption: "Dust Over Texas." Huge boiling masses of dust
that blocked out the sun were common sights in Texas during
the Dust Bowl years. In: "To Hold This Soil", Russell Lord, 1938.
Miscellaneous Publication No. 321, U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
Human Tragedy
 Ongoing Desertification
 Sahel region of Africa is undergoing
rapid desertification
 Causes are overgrazing,
overfarming, and prolonged drought
 One solution may be to substitute
native herbivores for imported cattle
Linear dunes of the Sahara Desert encroach on Nouakchott, the capital of
Mauritania. The dunes border a mosque at left (photograph by Georg

Gerster).
 Water Use and Scarcity
 Most of Earth’s water is too salty for
human consumption
 Desalinization is expensive and
requires large energy inputs
 Irrigation of crops is the main
use of freshwater
Mean Annual Precipitation
Water Distribution
Negative Effects of Irrigation

 Salinization, mineral buildup in

soil

 Elevation of the water table and

waterlogging

 Depletion of aquifers
Salinization, mineral buildup in soil

http://waterquality.montana.edu/docs/methane/irrigation_suitability.shtm
 Groundwater
 Aquifers- Porous layers of sand, gravel, or
rock lying below the water table.
– Artesian - Pressurized aquifer intersects the
surface. (Water flows without pumping)
 Recharge Zone - Area where water
infiltrates into an aquifer.
– Recharge rate is often very slow.
 Presently,groundwater is being removed faster
than it can be replenished in many areas.
 Depleting Groundwater
 Groundwater is the source of nearly
40% of fresh water in the US.
– On a local level, withdrawing water
faster than it can be replenished leads to
a cone of depression in the water table,
 Ona broader scale, heavy pumping can
deplete an aquifer.
– Ogallala Aquifer
 Mining non-renewable resource.
Depleting Groundwater
 Ogallala Aquifer
 Extends from southern South Dakota
to central Texas
 Major source of water for drinking
and irrigation
 Overdrafts have depleted half the
water from this nonrenewable source
 Ogallala Aquifer
 “The Ogallala Aquifer within the
boundaries of the North Plains
Groundwater Conservation District is
declining at an average of 1.74 feet
per year (1,082,631 acre ft).”
 The aquifer is cut off from

 natural recharge sources.

http://www.npwd.org/Ogallala.htm
Aquifer Problems
 Sink Holes and Karst Topography

CaCO3 + H2SO4  CaSO4 + H2O +CO2

http://www.soils.umn.edu/academics/classes/soil2125/doc/1-snkle.htm
 Water Pollutants
 Sewage

 Animal wastes
 Fertilizers

 Pesticides

 Industrial chemicals

 Radioactive material

 Excess heat (thermal pollution)

Groundwater Pollution
 Wastewater Treatment
 Primary treatment
– Use of screens and settling tanks
– Addition of chlorine to kill pathogens
 Secondary treatment
– Microbes break down organic matter
 Tertiarytreatment removes additional
toxic substances; rarely used
 Sewage Treatment
 More than 500 pathogenic bacteria,
viruses, and parasites can travel
from human or animal excrement
through water.
 Natural Processes

– In many areas, outdoor urination and

defecation is the norm.
 When population densities are low, natural
processes can quickly eliminate waste.
 Municipal Sewage Treatment
 Primary Treatment - Physical separation
of large solids from the waste stream.
 Secondary Treatment - Biological
degradation of dissolved organic
compounds.
– Effluent from primary treatment transferred
into trickling bed, or aeration tank
 Effluentfrom secondary treatment is usually
disinfected (chlorinated) before release into
nearby waterway.
 Municipal Sewage Treatment

 TertiaryTreatment - Removal of plant

nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) from
secondary effluent.
– Chemicals, or natural wetlands.
 In
many US cities, sanitary sewers are
connected to storm sewers.
– Heavy storms can overload the system,
causing by-pass dumping of raw sewage
and toxic runoff directly into watercourses.
Municipal Sewage Treatment
 CSO Tunnels and Treatment
Facilities (Atlanta, GA 2005)
 “The tunnel is part of a storage and treatment system that
involves capturing and storing combined sewer overflows.
The overflows are stored in a large underground tunnel in
bedrock similar to the rock that comprises Stone Mountain.
When a storm is over, the captured CSO volume is
conveyed to a separate treatment system for removal of
pollutants and reduction of harmful bacteria with sodium
hypochlorite disinfection followed by dechlorination with
sodium bisulfite before discharge to receiving waters. The
City is building two facilities, the West Area CSO storage
tunnel and the East Area CSO underground linear storage
facility to handle the overflows.”
 Milestone Completion Date for
West Tunnel October 2007

These will collect storm water for

treatment.
http://www.cleanwateratlanta.org/CSOTunnels/
 Oxygen-Demanding Wastes
 Waterwith an oxygen content > 6 ppm will
support desirable aquatic life.
– Water with < 2 ppm oxygen will support mainly
detritivores and decomposers.
 Oxygen is added to water by diffusion from
wind and waves, and by photosynthesis from
green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria.
– Oxygen is removed from water by respiration and
oxygen-consuming processes.
 Oxygen-Demanding Wastes
 Biochemical Oxygen Demand - Amount
of dissolved oxygen consumed by
aquatic microorganisms.
– Dissolved Oxygen Content - Measure of
dissolved oxygen in the water.
 Effectsof oxygen-demanding wastes on
rivers depend on volume, flow, and
temperature of river water.
– Oxygen Sag - Oxygen levels decline
downstream from a pollution source as
decomposers metabolize waste materials.
Oxygen Sag
 Water Wars?
 Per capita amount of freshwater available
is decreasing
 International conflicts over water use and
quality have already occurred
 Building dams or dumping pollutants
effect countries downstream
Weiss Lake Organization Declares
War!

“Weiss Lake Improvement Association is the environmental

and ecological watchdog for Weiss Lake and against
‘Metro Atlanta’ from taking our WATER.”
(Coosa River Drainage)
 Energy Use
 Only 10 percent of energy used in
developed countries is from
renewable sources
 Less developed countries rely more
heavily on renewable sources
(primary biomass)
 Fossil Fuels

 Coal, oil, natural gas

 Main energy source of
developed countries
 Burning of fossil fuels
contributes to global warming
http://faculty.virginia.edu/setear/courses/globwarm/images.htm
 Oil
 Reserves are declining
 Many reserves are in ecologically
fragile wilderness areas
 Environmental costs of extracting
and transporting reserves from such
areas are high
Total Energy Consumption
Domestic Product
 Cuba claims massive oil reserves
BBC 17 Oct 2008

“Cuba currently produces 60,0000 barrels of oil a day

The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have
more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields - more than
double the previous estimate.”

“Such reserves would place Cuba

among the top 20 oil producing
nations.”
 Oil and Gas Injection Wells
 Typically, when oil and gas are extracted,
large amounts of salt water (brine) are also
brought to the surface. This salt water can
be very damaging if it is discharged into
surface water.
 Coal

 Extensive reserves exist

 Mining is very destructive
 Burning coal releases sulfur
dioxides that cause acid
deposition
Coal Strip Mining
 EPA targets utilities’
mercury pollution
 “Coal-burningpower plants in the
United States now emit an estimated
48 tons a year of mercury, and the
EPA rule aims to reduce that to 31.3
tons in 2010, 27.9 tons in 2015, and
24.3 tons in 2020.”
Updated: 3:03 p.m. ET March 15, 2005 (AP)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/7185001
 How Mercury Gets into the Food
Chain

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/7185001
 Top 10 Sources of Mercury Air
Pollution in the US
 (No. 2) Alabama Power Co.'s Miller Steam Plant in Jefferson,
Ala. is a coal-fired power plant. Alabama Power is a subsidiary
of Atlanta-based Southern Company, one of the largest utilities
in the U.S., which generates 68% of its electricity from burning
coal. Also on the Top 100 list of mercury air polluters are
Georgia Power's Monroe, Ga. plant (No. 5) and Alabama
Power's Gaston (No. 9) and Greene, Ala. plants (No. 81).

Read more:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/mercury-p
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/mercury-
 EPA’s Cap and Trade Policy
EPA sets yearly limits on mercury emissions

Industry is assigned a quantity of tradable mercury

emissions certificates

These are bought and sold by power companies (bid/ask

system).

Some companies “over pollute” and some “under pollute”

Each year the EPA reduces allowable emission quantities

leading to an economic solution to pollution
 Nuclear Energy
 Usedextensively in some energy-
poor developed countries
 Little support in the United States
 Emitsfewer air pollutants than
burning coal, but creates
radioactive wastes
 Potential for meltdown
 Nuclear Changes: Radioactive
Decay
 Natural radioactive decay: unstable
isotopes spontaneously emit fast
moving chunks of matter (alpha or
beta particles), high-energy radiation
(gamma rays), or both at a fixed rate.
Radiation is commonly used in energy
production and medical applications.
The rate of decay is expressed as a half-
life (the time needed for one-half of the
nuclei to decay to form a different isotope).
Nuclear Changes: Fission
 Nuclear fission:
nuclei of certain
isotopes with large
mass numbers are
split apart into
lighter nuclei when
struck by
neutrons.

Figure 2-9
 Chernobyl Accident - 1986
 Coremeltdown at a nuclear power
plant in the Ukraine
 31 immediate deaths, radiation
sickness and death for others
 Cloudof radiation spread by winds
across Europe
 Long-term health impacts downwind
Map of Chernobyl Region
 Nuclear Power in France
 “When the Civaux nuclear power plant comes on line
sometime in the next 12 months, France will have 56
working nuclear plants, generating 76% of her electricity.”
(Frontline)
 Some Alternatives……
 Solar-Hydrogen Energy
 Photovoltaic cells use sunlight energy
to split water
 Hydrogen gas produced in this way
can be used as fuel or to generate
electricity
 Clean, renewable technology
Fuel Cells
 Farmed Hydrogen
 Photobiological Hydrogen
Production
 Aquatic algae bio-engineered to
produce hydrogen gas rather than
sugars via photosynthesis
 Place algae in a clear tube, reduce
sulfur, place in sunlight, and collect
the hydrogen!
Hydrogen from Algae

Chlamydomonas reinhardt
MIT Algae Photobioreactor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=EnOSnJJSP5c&feature=related
 Shec – labs System
Mirror array focuses sunlight on a
hydrogen generator (850 C)
Waste gases (methane, CO2, etc) are
heated and converted to hydrogen gas.
Hydrogen gas (plus O2) is used to power
fuel cells.

www.shec-labs.com/press/images.php
 Wind Energy

 An indirect use of solar energy

 Wind farms are arrays of turbines
 Can supplement needs of some
regions but is not dependable
enough on it own
 Giant wind turbines at Aapua,
Sweden

http://www.xahlee.org/Whirlwheel_dir/windturbine.html
San Gorgonio Field Near Palm
Springs, CA
 Overview of Wind Energy in
California
 “the year 2004, wind energy in California
produced 4,258 million kilowatt-hours of
electricity, about 1.5 percent of the state's total
electricity.
 According to the Electric Power Research
Institute, the cost of producing wind energy has
decreased nearly four fold since 1980. The
levelized cost of energy from wind turbines in
1993 was about 7.5 cents per kilowatt/hour. With
current wind research and development efforts,
the Energy Commission estimates that newer
technologies can reduce the cost of wind energy
to 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.”
http://www.energy.ca.gov/wind/overview.html
Electricity Costs (2003)
 Fusion
 Energy is released when atomic nuclei
fuse
 This process produces solar energy
 Attemptsto mimic this process on
Earth require use of lasers, magnetic
fields
 Notyet a commercially viable energy
source
 Fusion Reaction
Note: Fusion tutorial available at
website below.

http://hif.lbl.gov/tutorial/tutorial.html
Changes in the World of Life
 Adaptations of species have
changed the environment
 Photosynthetic organisms that
arose during the Proterozoic
altered the atmosphere by adding
oxygen
 Change is natural
 Humans and Change

Unlike previous species, human

have the capacity to observe and
make decisions about the changes
they bring about.

A couple of examples of using

misplaced resources….
 Gas for the Greenhouse
 "By transporting CO2 by pipeline
from the Shell refineries in Pernis to
the cultivators in the Westland, the
emission of greenhouse gas can be
greatly reduced. At the same time,
the farmers can save a lot of money;
there is no more need for them to
produce their CO2 themselves".
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/science/051107rf
 OCAP Waste CO2 Used in
Greenhouses

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + sunlight  C6H12 O6 + 6O2

 “Anything Into Oil”
Changing World Technologies, Inc.
“…Carthage, Missouri, turkey plant accumulates
1.3 million gallons a day of turkey grease,
guts, fat, and feathers that is stored in
lagoons and sent to waste treatment facilities”
Estimated production of fuel oil,
500 barrels a day.

http://www.perc.org/perc.php?id=290

“Twenty tons of slaughterhouse turkey parts, freshly

dumped by a truck, await processing into oil, gas,
and minerals at the thermal conversion process plant
in Carthage, Missouri. When the plant reaches full
capacity in the fall, it will process 10 dump trucks of
leftovers, one tanker truck of blood, and one tanker
truck of discarded restaurant grease every 24 hours.”
ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS:
CAUSES AND CONNECTIONS
 The major causes of
environmental problems are:
Population growth
Wasteful resource use
Poverty
Poor environmental accounting
Ecological ignorance
 SOLAR
EARTH
CAPITAL

Goods and services

Heat
Human Capital Human
Economic
Depletion of
and nonrenewable
Cultural resources
Systems Degradation of
Natural Capital renewable resources

Pollution and waste

Fig. 1-10, p. 17
 Natural capital degradation

 The exponential increasing flow of

material resources through the world’s
economic systems depletes, degrades
and pollutes the environment.
Figure 1-
Causes of Environmental Problems

Population Unsustainable Poverty Not including the Trying to

growth resource use environmental costs manage and
of economic goods simplify nature
and services in their with too little
market prices knowledge
about
how it works

Fig. 1-11, p. 17
 Solutions: Prevention vs.
Cleanup
 Problems with relying on cleanup:
Temporary bandage without improvements
in control technology.
Often removes a pollutant from one part of
the environment to cause problems in
another.
Pollutants at harmful levels can cost too
much to reduce them to acceptable levels.
Poverty and Environmental
Problems
1 of 3 children

under 5,
suffer from
severe
malnutrition.

Figure 1-12 and 1-

Lack of Number of people
access to (% of world's population)

Adequate
Sanitation 2.4 billion (37%)

Enough fuel for

heating and 2 billion (31%)
cooking

Electricity
1.6 billion (25%)

Clean drinking
Water 1.1 billion (17%)

Adequate
1.1 billion (17%)
health care

Enough food
for good health 1.1 billion (17%)
Fig. 1-12, p. 18
 Resource Consumption and
Environmental Problems
 Underconsumption
 Overconsumption
Affluenza: unsustainable addiction to
overconsumption and materialism.
 Connections between
Environmental Problems and
Their Causes

Figure 1-
CULTURAL CHANGES AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
 Agricultural revolution
Allowed people to stay in one place.
 Industrial-medical revolution
Led shift from rural villages to urban
society.
Science improved sanitation and disease
control.
 Information-globalization revolution
Rapid access to information.
 Which single
advantage and
disadvantage are
the most
important?

Figure 1-
 SUSTAINABILITY AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
WORLDVIEWS
 Technological optimists:
suggest that human ingenuity will keep
the environment sustainable.
 Environmental pessimists:
overstate the problems where our
environmental situation seems hopeless.
Four Scientific Principles of
Sustainability: Copy Nature

 Reliance on Solar
Energy
 Biodiversity
 Population Control
 Nutrient Recycling

Figure 1-
Aldo Leopold’s Environmental
Ethics
 Individuals matter.
 … land is to be
loved and
respected is an
extension of ethics.
 We abuse land
because we regard
it as a commodity…

Figure 1-A
Implications of the Four Scientific
Principles of Sustainability

Figures 1-17 and 1-

 Solutions
Principles of Sustainability
How Nature Works Lessons for Us
Runs on renewable Rely mostly on
solar energy. renewable solar
energy.
Recycles nutrients Prevent and reduce
and wastes. There pollution and recycle
is little waste in and reuse resources.
nature.

Preserve biodiversity
Uses biodiversity to by protecting
maintain itself and ecosystem services and
adapt to new habitats
environ- and preventing
mental conditions. premature extinction of
species.
Controls a species’
population size and Reduce human births
resource use by and wasteful resource
interactions with its use to prevent
environment and environmental overload
other species. and depletion and
degradation of
resources.
Fig. 1-17, p. 25
Fig. 1-18, p. 25
 The Three R’s
 Individuals matter!
Reduce

Reuse

Recycle