Environmental Problems, Their
Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1
,Core Case Study: Living in an
Exponential Age
Impact of human exponential growth on
• Loss of animal and plant species
• Loss of resources
,1-1 What Is an Environmentally
Sustainable Society?
Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies
depend on energy from the sun (solar capital)
and on natural resources and natural services
(natural capital) provided by the earth.
Concept 1-1B Living sustainability means living
off the earth’s natural income without depleting
or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.
, Environmental Science Is a Study of
Connections in Nature (1)
Interdisciplinary science connecting information
and ideas from
• Natural sciences, with an emphasis on ecology
• Social sciences
• Humanities
Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1
,Core Case Study: Living in an
Exponential Age
Impact of human exponential growth on
• Loss of animal and plant species
• Loss of resources
,1-1 What Is an Environmentally
Sustainable Society?
Concept 1-1A Our lives and economies
depend on energy from the sun (solar capital)
and on natural resources and natural services
(natural capital) provided by the earth.
Concept 1-1B Living sustainability means living
off the earth’s natural income without depleting
or degrading the natural capital that supplies it.
, Environmental Science Is a Study of
Connections in Nature (1)
Interdisciplinary science connecting information
and ideas from
• Natural sciences, with an emphasis on ecology
• Social sciences
• Humanities
