INSTRUCTOR GUIDE - TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE THIRTEENTH EDITION ...

INSTRUCTOR GUIDE

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE:

TOWARD A

SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

THIRTEENTH EDITION

RICHARD WRIGHT

!

DOROTHY BOORSE

Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo

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CHAPTER 1

Science and the Environment

Chapter Outline:

I. A Paradox: What Is the Real State of the Planet?

• Population Growth and Human Well-Being
• Human Development Index
• Is It All Good?
• Ecosystem Goods and Services
• Patterns of Resource Consumption

2. Measuring Ecosystem Health: A Huge Undertaking

• Paradox Resolved?
• Global Climate Change
• Monitoring Carbon Dioxide and Its Effects
• Responses
• Loss of Biodiversity
• Environmental Science and the Environmental Movement
• Environmental Science
• The Early Environmental Movement
• The Modern Environmental Movement

II. Sustainability

• Sustainable Yields
• Sustainable Societies
• Sustainable Development
• An Essential Transition

III.Sound Science

• The Scientific Method
• The Scientific Community
• Professional Societies
• Disagreements
• Junk Science
• Evaluating Issues

IV. Stewardship

• Who Are the Stewards?
• Justice and Equity
• Moving Toward a Sustainable Future
• Social Changes
• Environmental Changes
• A New Commitment 2 / 4

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Learning Objectives:

• The State of the Planet: Explain the main reasons for concern about the health of our planet today. Describe

what the environmental movement has achieved in recent years, and explain how environmental science has greatly contributed to the environmental movement.

• Sustainability: Define sustainability and explain ways in which our relationship with the environment needs to

be more sustainable.

• Sound Science: Explain the process of science, how the scientific community tests new ideas, and contrast

sound science with junk science, with examples.

4. Stewardship: Define the principle of stewardship and give examples.

• Moving Toward a Sustainable Future: Identify trends that must be overcome in order to pursue a sustainable

future and trends that promote sustainability.

Instructional Goals:

• Environmental issues are complex. We need to study environmental issues from the perspective of economics,

sociology, anthropology, and many other disciplines, which help to explain the problems with which we are faced.

• Science is a necessary component of environmental decision making. For the science to be useful it must be

sound, and sound science involves scientific peer review.

• Earth is a finite system, and creating a sustainable lifestyle should allow for indefinite continuation of the

human species. Stewardship is the actions and programs that manage natural resources and human well-being for the common good. Sound science is the best method for achieving sustainability and for humans to understand our stewardship role.

• Environmentalism and environmental problems are not new. Environmental problems caused by human

activities have occurred since the dawn of agriculture. The current wave of environmentalism began in 1962 with the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, but its roots can be traced to the 19th century.

Concepts and Connections:

Environmental science is a multidisciplinary field. It is not possible to understand and solve environmental problems when the problems are viewed from a narrow or single disciplinary focus. Discussing the possible contributions from various fields would help draw in students whose primary interests are not the sciences and would help science majors understand the true complexity of environmental science. It is possible to improve how humans interact with our environment from almost any field. Anthropology, archaeology, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines that explore how and why people act help a multidisciplinary environmental team determine the most effective way to educate or motivate people to act in environmentally sound ways. Economists and others involved in business decisions influence the quality of the environment around us; many are working to make business decisions “green.” Those individuals who transmit culture—actors, writers, musicians—convey values. The values conveyed include how the natural world is perceived and how we should relate to it. Teachers have a special role because they not only transmit concepts (facts) but they also transmit society’s values.Putting the environmental movement in historical context can be very important. Most students think that the current problems are the most severe and may be very upset that adults have not “fixed” these problems. A 3 / 4

3 Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.discussion of success (and failure) stories can be useful. Knowing that people who lived more than 100 years ago cared strongly about the environment can be motivating. Double-edged stories such as John Muir’s struggle to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley near Yosemite can be both heartbreaking (because he did not succeed) and enlightening because Muir is an inspiring individual. Another double-edged story involves the first Clean Air Act. To solve the problem of locally high levels of air pollution, the law required the building of tall smokestacks that moved the pollutants to the upper atmosphere, resulting in acid precipitation in areas very far from the pollutant source. We solved the problem of locally severe air pollution, which caused periodic increases in death rates, but moved the problem to places distant from the pollution source. This latter example can be used to demonstrate the need to think through the effects of an action. We may be able to avoid future problems if we try to envision the downstream events that may flow from a decision.

Concepts in Context:

The first chapter is a survey of many of the environmental issues to be covered and the context (sustainability, sound science, and stewardship) in which they will be discussed. We also discuss the historical perspective and the bias and misrepresentations of junk science.

Key Terms and Vocabulary:

Environmentalist's paradox, Human Development Index (HDI), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global climate change, greenhouse effect, mitigation, biodiversity, environmental science, environmental movement, sustainability, sound science, stewardship, sustainable yield, sustainable society, sustainable development, development, equity, scientific method, junk science, observation, model, experimentation, hypothesis, null hypothesis, theory, natural laws, concepts, National Academies of Science (NAS), environmental justice movement, environmental racism

Discussion, Activities, and Labs:

• Ask the students to name local environmental controversies. At the same time ask if they know of any local

environmental problems that have been resolved; it is important for students to see that there is a continuum between the past and the present. Make two lists of all the suggestions on the board. If they do not have many suggestions, broaden the question to include state, national, and/or international issues. Some examples of national-level environmental problems that have been resolved include (1) Air quality: the reduction of lead emissions as a result of the elimination of lead in gasoline, (2) Water quality: the Cuyahoga River, and other rivers, no longer catch on fire, (3) Solid waste: recycling of solid waste is widespread, and (4) Pesticides and hazardous materials/wastes: DDT and most of the persistent organic pollutants are phased out or will be soon.

• Begin with asking the students to suggest systems (processes) within our society that are sustainable. Have the

students provide a justification for why each suggested system (process) is sustainable. Next ask the students to suggest systems within our society that are not sustainable. Have the students provide justification for why the suggested system (process) is not sustainable. Finally, ask the students to summarize the information about sustainable and non-sustainable processes in our society and justify a conclusion about the overall sustainability of our society.

• Ask the students to suggest examples of sound and junk science. Write all the suggestions on the board, making

two lists. If a student suggests an example of sound science but the example is junk science, then put the suggestion within parentheses and discuss as many of these as time allows after the suggestions have ended. Do not interrupt the suggestions to discuss incorrectly placed suggestions.

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