1

William P. CunninghamUniversity of Minnesota

Mary Ann CunninghamVassar College

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Chapter 25

Lecture Outline

2

What Then Shall We Do?

3

Outline

• Making a Difference

• Environmental Education

Environmental Careers

• How Much is Enough?

Green Consumerism

• Working Together

Mainline and Radical Environmental Groups

• Campus Greening

• Sustainability is a Global Challenge

• Millennium Assessment

4

Making a Difference

• Stewardship is everyone’s business.

• Many groups are working to solve

environmental problems-

Minorities

Religious groups

Farmers

Loggers

Business leaders

5

Environmental Science

• Environmental Science involves-

Communications

Policy

Education

Economics

- AND

Science

6

Environmental Education

• In 1990, Congress passed the National

Environmental Education Act establishing two

goals:

Improve understanding among the general public

of the natural and built environment and the

relationships between humans and their

environment

Encourage postsecondary students to pursue

careers related to the environment

7

8

Environmental Literacy

• William Reilly, former EPA administrator, called for

environmental literacy in which every citizen is

fluent in the principles of ecology and has a working

knowledge of the environment.

Foster a stewardship ethic

Prepare ourselves for life in the 21st century

A lifelong process

Get out and enjoy the natural world

9

Environmental Education

10

Citizen Science

• Ordinary people join with established scientists to

answer real scientific questions

Community-based research was pioneered in

the Netherlands in when they combined

researchers with students and neighborhood

groups to work on research projects

The Audubon Society sponsors a annual

Christmas Bird Count.

Earthwatch and American River Watch are also

examples of enlisting the public in scientific

research projects.

11

Environmental Careers

• Trained people in environmental professions, at

every level from support staff to managers to

educators are essential, and those roles will only

increase in importance.

• World Wildlife Fund estimates 750,000 new jobs in

renewable energy in next 10 yrs

• Other fields_

Environmental law

Environmental engineering

Environmental education

12

Green Business

• Can resource conservation and environmental

awareness be an advantage in business?

Most large companies have an environmental

department.

Companies are beginning to design with

pollution control and waste disposal in mind.

Huge market for pollution control technology

13

Environmental Technician Taking Samples

14

How Much Is Enough?• Veblen in Theory of the Leisure Class one century

ago coined the term conspicuous consumption to describe buying things we do not need in order to impress others.

The average American now consumes twice as many goods and services as in 1950

- An average house in the U.S. is now more than twice as big as 50 years ago, even though the typical family has half the number of people.

- We need the additional space to hold all the stuff we buy.

15

How Much Is Enough?

• Growing number of people find themselves stuck in

a vicious cycle:

Work frantically at a job they hate, to buy things

they don’t need, so they can save time to work

longer hours.

Some, however, take a cue from Thoreau and

are adopting more simple, less consumptive

lifestyles.

“Affluenza” refers to the drive to possess stuff.

16

17

We Can Reduce Our Environmental

Impacts

• Even small steps can have significant

environmental effects:

Switching from a diet high in red meat to a

vegetarian one can save as much energy as

trading in a normal car for a hybrid.

- It takes only about 2 calories of fossil fuel to

grow most produce.

- The ratio is as high as 80 to 1 for cattle grown

in confined feeding operations.

18

“Green Washing” Can Confuse

Consumers

• Many terms used in advertising are vague and have little meaning:

Nontoxic, biodegradable, recyclable, natural, organic, environmentally friendly

• Several national programs scientifically analyze the environmental impacts of products.

Blue Angel label in Germany

Green Seal program in the U.S.

The most comprehensive product analysis is called the life cycle analysis, as it follows a product through its manufacture, use and disposal.

19

Life Cycle

Analysis of

Products

20

Limits of Green Consumerism

• Often, consumers are faced with complicated choices.

Paper or plastic grocery bags?

- Both have good and bad points, and represent trade-offs in energy use, pollution production, ability to recycle, etc.

- If you have both paper and plastic recycling, plastic is probably better because it is easier to recycle and produces less pollution.

A better choice is to take your own reusable cloth bag.

21

Limits of Green Consumerism (cont.)

• Focus on doing your best to recycle, buy green

products, and be involved.

• Green consumerism generally can do little about

larger issues of global equality, chronic poverty,

and oppression in the Third World.

There is a danger that an exclusive focus on our

own small steps, such as recycling, may divert

attention from greater environmental issues.

22

How Can We Work Together?

• Collective action can magnify the power of

individuals. For this reason, many people join

environmental or social action groups.

• National Environmental Groups Include:

National Wildlife Federation

World Wildlife Fund

The Audubon Society

The Sierra Club

Ducks Unlimited

Natural Resources Defense Council

The Wilderness Society

23

Growth of Environmental Organizations

24

Environmental Groups

• Mass membership, large professional staffs, and

long history provide large, national groups a degree

of respectability and influence not found in newer,

smaller groups

Mainline environmental organizations are often

criticized by radical environmentalists for their

tendency to compromise and cooperate with the

establishment.

These groups have local chapters, a good way

for you to become involved

25

Environmental Groups (cont.)

• Some groups have limited contact with members

and focus instead on land acquisition, litigation and

lobbying.

Environmental Defense Fund

Nature Conservancy

National Resources Defense Council

Wilderness Society

26

27

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

• Rapid rise in international NGOs

Rio Summit in 1992 had 30,000 representatives

of environmental groups attending

Carry out public education and consciousness-

raising using protest marches and civil

disobedience

Conservation International does debt for nature

swaps

28

Campus Greening

• Student Environmental Action Coalition

(SEAC) is largest group with some 5000

chapters.

Is there a chapter on your campus?

• Another important student organizing group

is the network of Public Interest Research

Groups.

• You can learn to organize, use social media

to get your message out.

29

Schools Can Be Environmental Leaders

• Schools can do campus audits to study water and energy use, waste disposal, recycling, paper consumption, etc.

• New buildings should meet U.S. Green Building Council standards. It does not cost any more to build in an environmentally friendly way.

At Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, a kiosk in the dorm shows daily energy use and there are green dorms with natural lighting, clean air and few allergens.

30

Colleges Showing Environmental

Leadership

• Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford and Williams rank at

the top for green policies.

• Berea College in Kentucky got special

commendation.

Berea’s ecovillage has a student designed house

that produces its own electricity and treats waste

water in a living system.

College has a full time sustainability coordinator

31

Your Campus Can Reduce Energy Usage

• Your campus can reduce energy use by

purchasing fuel efficient vehicles

using green building standards

purchasing energy from renewable sources

buying locally produced foods

32

Sustainability is a Global Challenge

• Sustainable Development uses renewable resources in harmony with ecological systems

Developing countries need access to more-efficient, less-polluting technologies

- Technology transfer and financial aid

- Poverty is at the core of many problems.

The $350 billion/yr needed to address sustainability issues is small compared to the $1 trillion/yr spent on wars and military.

Need to find compromise between no-growth and unlimited growth

33

A Model For Sustainable Development

34

Millennium Assessment

• The Millennium Assessment was completed by the

U.N. in 2000.

All of us depend on ecosystems to provide

conditions for decent life.

We have made unprecedented demands on

ecosystems to meet growing demands for food,

water, fibers for clothing and energy.

These changes improved humans but weakened

nature’s ability to purify air and water, protect

from disasters.

35

Millennium Assessment (cont.)

Outstanding problems include the dire state of the world’s fish stocks, the vulnerability of people living in dry regions, and the growing threat of global warming and pollution.

Human actions have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of extinctions.

Loss of ecosystem services is a barrier to reducing poverty, hunger, and disease. Pressures on ecosystems will increase globally unless we change our actions.

36

Millennium Assessment (cont.)

Conservation is more likely to succeed if local communities are given ownership.

Today’s technology can reduce human impact, but it is unlikely to be deployed fully until we stop thinking of ecosystem services as free and limitless.

Better protection of natural assets requires coordinated efforts of governments, business, and international institutions.