PLANET EARTH

|
 HISTORY OF EARTH
MILLION INDEXED EVENT



YEARS BC (Earth
formed




to now
=100)


4,700 100 Earth formed





3,800 81 Earliest




evidence of life


- 65
200


4.3 - 1.4 Age of
dinosaurs
5


0.11


First human

like apes

0.13 0.003 


appeared
|
|
|
SOME EFFECTS OF MAN ON THE
ENVIRONMENT
TIME/PERIOD SOME EFFECTS
8000 BC Development of agriculture
Classical Greek Deforestation in Greece
Classical Roman Copper in atmosphere as result
of copper production for
coinage
Middle Ages Deforestation in Kent.
Pollution in villages, towns and
cities
Industrial revolution Major pollution and ecological
damage
First half 20th century Smog in industrial cities

|
 SOME PAST ENVIRONMENTS

Gin Lane by Hogarth (1750) Legacy of industrial

revolution by
Lowry

|
LONDON SMOG OF 1952

|
 THE 20th CENTURY

X Environmental change is as old

as the planet

X Man has continually altered the

environment, but there has never
been anything like the 20th century

|
SOME MEASURES OF 20TH CENTURY
ITEM INCREASE 1890-1990
World population 4
World urban population 13
Average life expectancy Increased
Industrial output 40
Energy use 16
Carbon dioxide 17
emissions
Water use 9
Marine fish catch 35
Cars Astronomical increase

|
 LATTER HALF OF 20th CENTURY
1950 1997
X Population (bln) 2.5 5.8
X Life expectancy at birth 47 67
X Megacities (> 8 mln) 2 25
X Food (avg cal/capita) 1980 2770
X Fish catch (mln tons) 19 91
X Water use (bln cu m) 1300 4200
X Rain forest cover index 100 70
X CO2 emissions (bln t C) 1.6 7.0
X CFC in atmosphere (ppb) <1 3.0








|
 IMPROVED LOT OF MANKIND
By many indicators the lot of mankind
has vastly improved. For example:
X Prosperity
X Life expectancy
X Education
However this does not mean that things
are good enough Lomborg, 2001

Also there are threats and unknowns

|
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

X The good news is good: never before

have so many experienced so rapid an
improvement in their standards of living

X The bad news is appalling: a large

number of desperately poor countries are
falling further behind
Wolf, Financial Times, 2003

Question: are there environmental

implications of the good news?

|
 DEVELOPMENT AND THE
ENVIRONMENT: SCHEMATIC
Affluence problems: many
 


!
plus
concerns over, 
X $"




Industrialisation problems
 X 

%

X 






 
 X 






X 




  
X 




X 


 
X 








Poverty problems
 




!

 X 


 


X "
 X 
X #



 X !

X #



 X 
!

X 
#




# Scope: 





!
X 













X 
!

Scope: 


Economic development (GDP)

|
MAJOR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES
Include:
X Greenhouse gases and global
warming
X Use of non renewable resources
X Fresh water availability and quality
X Food availability and distribution
X Pollution and waste
X Biodiversity loss
X Deforestation
|
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Include:
X Food safety X Chemicals in the
environment
X Genetically X Traffic
modified food
X Noise X Litter

X Mobile phones X Nuclear energy

X Ozone hole in X Destruction of

atmosphere countryside
|
 YEARS OF LOST LIFE CAUSED BY
SOME MAJOR RISK FACTORS

M u

Y s f & T b cc
f s S
% Phys c
c y

U s f s x

D D

|
 MAGNITUDE OF SOME ISSUES AND
COST TO ALLEVIATE
Issue Effects Approx cost
to provide
Clean drinking 2 million $165 billion
water for 1.1 deaths plus 0.5
billion people billion seriously
Sanitation for 2.5 ill per year
$30 billion
billion people
Cleaner air indoors 1.6 million $30 billion
for 2.4 billion
deaths per
people who use
annum from
traditional cooking
effects of smoke
stoves
|
 COMPARISON OF THREE MAJOR
ISSUES
Issue Effects
AIDS To 2003:
X 42 million cases
X 22 million dead
Clean drinking Per year:
water and X 2 million deaths
sanitation X 0.5 billion seriously ill
Natural Per year:
disasters X 70,000 deaths
|
 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

à



 
  


 

  
 
 



  



 


 




  



 






 


   















à



 
  


 

  

 
 



 


 


 

 



  



 







 

   















x  x
à



 
  


 

  
 
 



 


 


 




  

 


 








   















|
 FACTOR FOUR








%



!






!





%







%



%
!


factor of 4

This is merely to maintain the µstatus

quo¶. To reduce environmental impact,
higher values are required. For example
to halve greenhouse gas emissions an
improvement factor of 8 would be needed
|
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS

If the entire world lived like

North Americans, it would
take three planet Earths to
support the present world
population

Energy is the main component of

this

|
 POTENTIAL IMPACT OF DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES: SCHEMATIC

Global
environmental
impact in terms
Developing countries if of resource
resource consumption and
emission figures increase depletion and
to those of developed major emissions
countries

Developed countries

2000 2100
6 billion people Year and global 9 billion people
population
m 



&
'
!

|
 MAJOR GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
CHALLENGES
X 1.2 billion people living in poverty
on less than 1 US dollar a day
X Potential impact of industrialising
countries like China and India, e.g. in
generation of greenhouse gases

X Disproportionate impact of developed

countries, e.g. in generation of
greenhouse gases

|
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND HUMAN
HAPPINESS

In economically developed
countries the link between
economic growth and human
happiness is breaking

Something is missing!

|
MASLOW¶S HIERARCHY OF HUMAN
NEEDS

SELF-ACTUALISATION
pursue inner talent,
creativity, fulfilment

SELF-ESTEEM
achievement, mastery,
recognition, respect

BELONGING, LOVE
friends, family, spouse

SAFETY
security, stability, freedom from fear

PHYSIOLOGICAL
food, water, shelter, warmth

|
GEOGRAPHICAL IMPACT OF OUR
ACTIONS

X Some things we do impact

locally, e.g. waste generation

X Some things we do impact

locally and globally, e.g.
greenhouse gas emissions

|
 SOME ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Consider:
X What effect our actions have on
our local environment
X What effect our actions have on
the global environment
X What example are we setting to
less developed countries

|
Some reasons for an individual¶s
position on the environment

?

| 

à



 
  


 

  

 
 



 


 


 

 



  



 







 

   















 




|





|