Why Should You Care About the Environment?

Overview: - Some facts about humans - Some facts about ecological systems - How are we doing? - Preserving forests case studies

Some facts about humans:

A. What we use now
- We are animals. We require food, clean water, and air - We use ~50% of the Earths land area for food production (and most of the remainder is not farmable) - We use ~50% of the Earths available fresh water - We use ~40% of the Net Primary Productivity (NPP is new plant growth it is the base of the food pyramid for all terrestrial communities). - We are changing the climate of the planet

Some facts about humans:

B. Population growth
1 billion: ~ 1800 2 billion: ~ 1927 (127 years later) 3 billion: ~ 1960 (33 years later) 4 billion: ~ 1974 (17 years later) 5 billion: ~ 1987 (13 years later) 6 billion: ~ 1999 (12 years later) 2004: ~ 6.3 billion, adding 80 million each year (10 NYCs) U.N. medium projection: 8.9 billion in 2050, almost all growth in developing, tropical countries.

Some facts about humans:

C. Two big questions:
- (quantitative) Given our current pattern of resource use, will the Earth be able to sustain a population of 9 billion humans? - (qualitative) Will the quality of life change?

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? I want world peace

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace Democracy is the government of the people, by the people,
for the people

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace - stable, moral governments -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace - stable, moral governments -

Woohoo!!

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, productive economies -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, productive economies -

Some facts about humans:

C. What do we want for the future? - World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, productive economies - stable, productive food supply

Some facts about humans:

D. How can we get there? - A stable, productive food supply Stable, productive economies Stable, productive, moral governments Peace and happiness for our children

Some facts about humans:

D. How can we get there? stable food supply productive economies Happy people stable, moral governments To achieve ONE goal, we must achieve ALL goals...

Some facts about ecological systems:

A. What they do for humans: - They produce all our food - They produce and clean our water - They produce the oxygen we breathe and they clean our air.

Some facts about ecological systems:

B. How they do it:

O2
CO2 Water Soil nutrients Filtered water

Some facts about ecological systems:

B. How they do it: - And different plants use slightly different resources and make different types of food.