BIO1060 Introductory Environmental Science

Changing attitude to the Environment

Until the mid-1960s, people treated the environment as a boundless cornucopia to be enjoyed, plundered and rearranged for human benefit. However, human population and technological ability had grown so much that humans now had a significant effect on the environment. The ability of humans building technological tools increased greatly throughout the years: before this advancement the human effect on the environment was regional whereas nowadays, the effect has become global. As a result, the environment is no longer a boundless cornucopia but a limited resource. With awareness of this, many people foretold of ecological disasters [for example: large scale starvation and pollution forcing humans to adopt a simpler way of life]. These ideas were brought to the attention of the general public by popular science books [science written in such a way that non-scientific people would understand] such as: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson -> this book describes the springtime without the birds this resulted due to pesticide usage (such as DDT) which accumulates in the insects (bioaccumulation). The insects would then be eaten by their predators (birds) (biomagnification). This resulted into thinner, more fragile egg shells which cracked and the embryo inside them would die owing to the decrease in the bird population. The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich -> this book is about overpopulation when you have overpopulation, environment resources would be depleted resulting into death of organisms. In general, people reacted in 2 extreme ways: Nothing to worry about Ban technology and go back to nature

The middle of the road attitude based on reason, not emotion, is the best approach to future action. It is still possible for humankind to maintain a high standard of living, develop underdeveloped parts of the world and continue to exploit natural resources; provided that exploitation and development are rational (rational is a better term than sustainable since sustainability implies continuity of action). Thus there is an awareness of environment problems. This implies also the management of the environment: continue using the environmental resources but manage in such a way to have no problems.

BIO1060 Introductory Environmental Science

Environment Management
Management of the environment is only possible given a thorough knowledge of the various factors which affect the Earth: Chemical Physical Biological Geological

The scientific study of these factors is known as environmental science. However, there are some problems which arise. Key Problem 1 Anybody concerned with management of the environment will be faced with two opposing attitudes: Development and exploitation of the natural resources [example: whaling, hunting and building] Conservation of the environment

However, the two are not mutually antagonistic. Non-rational exploitation of the environment can be disastrous to humankind in the long run which will result in huge economical problems. Scientists predict that if you remove the large predator fish (overfishing), other organisms which are simpler (e.g. Jellyfish) will increase in their population. This happened in Japan where the jellyfish population increased greatly resulting in the fishermen capturing jellyfish with their net. On the other hand, there are economic and social benefits concerning conservation (for example whale watching, safari and rural holidays). Key Problem 2 The risks of environmental mismanagement are not obvious to most people: the costs of taking action to manage the environment are clear: however the benefits will only be felt some time in the distant future by our future generation. Environment systems are complex and their components are linked in

BIO1060 Introductory Environmental Science

subtle and unobvious ways that most people find difficult to understand [e.g. global climate change controversy]. The solution relies in education: people need to, at least, have a basic understanding of environmental science.

What is the environment?

What is the environment is intuitively obvious but it is difficult to define it. There is a subtle but basic difference in the definitions made by people with a background in the physical sciences and those with a background in the social sciences. The social sciences background is concerned with what affects the human life a human-centred definition. On the other hand, physical sciences background concerns all that affects an organism life a life-centred definition. Since humans are one of several million different types of organisms living on the planet, the second definition encompasses the first. Since biology is the study of life, a biological definition of environment would be: The entire range of external factors both non-living (i.e. physical factors) and living (i.e. biological factors) acting on the organism. However, humans tend to give importance to those factors that are most important to human life. Therefore, from the human point of view, the environment may be divided into two: the natural environment and the human environment. Natural Environment The natural environment has two components: 1) The living component (biotic). This is made up of species. Species are a group of organisms that breed together but do not breed successfully with other organisms outside their own group. Species are organised into populations.

BIO1060 Introductory Environmental Science

A population is a group of individuals belonging to the same species that occupy a given area at a given time and actively interbreed. An example is the cat population in the university campus however the cats of the Maltese Islands are not regarded as a single population as a cat in Gozo cannot interbreed with a cat in Marsaxlokk due to physical barriers. Populations are in turn organized into communities. A community is defined as populations of different species that occupy a given area at a given time and interact with each other. An example is the Leishmaniasis propagation. A sandfly (a vector an organism which transfers parasite from one organism to another) feed on the blood of a dog infected with a leishmania population (parasite which lives in the blood) and enters the flys body. Subsequently, this fly can either feed on humans or another dog. On doing this, the leishmania population is transferred to humans or dogs causing Leishmaniasis. 2) The non-living component (abiotic). Physical life support systems of the planet geophysical, atmospheric and hydrological systems. This includes the material which forms them and the energy which drives them (which comes ultimately from the sun). Ecosystems An ecosystem is defined as the interactions of the biotic and abiotic factors made between each other. It is also defined as the community of the living organisms, the region they occupy (habitat) their interactions with each other and with the physical environment and the flow of energy and matter through the system. An example is a water puddle. The scientific study of ecosystems is an area of ecology. Ecology comes from oikos (house) and logos (reason), where the house is defined as the environment. Ecology is the study of the interactions and interrelationships between organisms and their environment. One must not mistake ecology with environmentalism (the philosophy/advocacy for protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution). Unfortunately, over the years, ecology has come to mean different things to different people and has taken on a non-scientific meaning as a synonym for environment or green politics.

BIO1060 Introductory Environmental Science

Human environment The human environment consists of the physical and biological forces of nature which surrounds us and affects the life of humans and the interaction of humans with these forces. These forces include the same natural processes that affect all other life on our planet. However, this also includes others of special importance to humans (for example urban living, transportations, land-use and waste disposal amongst others).

Concepts basic to a study of the environment