GGH1503 SUMMARY NOTES CHAPTER 1

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