Economic Systems: The Environment & EcosystemsNow playing: Louis Armstrong What a wonderful world

Websites: Chapters 40, 43, 44 & 45 (Alt. Bk. 27 to 32 not 28)http://www.gis.iwr.msu.edu/net21/ssurgo/countypicker.html http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/links.htm http://www.great-lakes.net/ http://www.paris21.org/betterworld/home.htm http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/environment/economics/ http://www.econ4env.co.za/ http://www.free-eco.org/Goals:1. Understand how economics affect the environment.2. Begin to see the scope of effects of both sides of global development, global trade & economic systems.3. Recognize that economics systems have structures + processes = patterns. These systems can be evaluated based on the environmental, ecological & social patterns they create.

Economic Systems: Analogous to the Environment & Ecosystems? Do more growth economic systems affect ecological sustainability?Does our US economic systemaffect local, national & global ecological sustainability?If yes or no, can you defendyour response scientifically,logically & with statistics?

Everything is

Connected to Everything else!

Agricultural SustainabilityDefinition: the ability of a farm to continue in timeIts at least a presumption or presupposition about the future:involves at least:How well are we measuring our economic policy outcomes relative to sustainability?

Ecosystems:Abiotic and Biotic IntegrationAbiotic EnvironmentPhysical laws and structure:earth, soil, water, minerals, atmosphereCycles: H20, C, N, etcChemical Interactionsmetabolism & synthesisdegradation & mass action Energy flux: light, +/_ charge e.g. heat (long wave length light)e.g. electrical charges (chemical bonds & enzymes)

Biotic SystemsSpeciesPopulationsCommunitiesAgro-EcosystemEcozonesHemispheresBioshpereEarthSolar SystemUniverse

What Do Industrial Economies Use?

Primary Contributions to the Total Material Requirements of Selected Economies, 1991Fossil fuels and the hidden material flows associated with them make up a large percentage -- between 26 and 46 percent -- of the total materials used in the most industrialized countries. For more information see http://www.wri.org/wri/trends/wasting.html.Source: A. Adriaanse et al., Resource Flows, The Material Basis of Industrial Economies, a joint publication of the World Resources Institute (WRI); the Wuppertal Institute; the Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment; and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (WRI, Washington, D.C., 1997), p. 12.

Technology(Delivery to Consumption)FacilitiesStorage, processing, packaging, marketingMachinery and equipmentStorage, processing, packaging, marketingTransportation systemAir, land, waterInformation systemHome utensilsPreserving, cooking

Transportation

Storage

Processing

Supermarkets

Packaging

Resources and the environment: Renewable Nonrenewable

How does our US economic system mesh with 1) Biology, 2) Agriculture, and the 3) Environment?What is the US Economic System?

Final Goods (Products to Society) From the EnvironmentOr Environmental & Ecological Amenities Energy Calories (from food chain) Temperature Light Radiation shielding

Matter Air (gas composition) Water (humidity, drinking water, bathing water) Food nutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fats, minerals, vitamins) Sights, sounds, smells, taste, sensations Shelter Clothing Waste assimilation Aesthetics

Intermediate Goods From the Environment Photosynthesis and Food chain Hydrological cycle (water purification, irrigation) Climate system (temperature and humidity control, air purification) Soil formation Biogeochemical (material) cycles Pollination

Economic & environmental Production Functions; Analogous? Just as the economy transforms matter and energy; the environment does likewise!

Just as production of economic inputs requires capital and inputs; the environment and ecology require investment to assure sustainable production!

X% growth per year top countries drag up the lowest countries as trading partners economic growth inexhaustible transition from real consumer goods and manufacturing to information or other forms of non-manufacturing goods market will dictate the outcomeMore Growth Economic ModelsWhat are the assumptions of these systems?

Land Use Change from 1980-2040Southeast Michigan198020202040

Land Use Change from 1980-2040Southwest Michigan198020202040

Degraded Soil Means Less Food

World Totals(million hectares)

Vegetation Removal579Overexploitation133Overgrazing679Agricultural Activities522Industrial and Bioindustrial 23

Human-Induced Soil Degradation by Region and by Cause, 1945 to Late 1980s.By 1990, poor agricultural practices had contributed to the degradation of 562 million hectares, about 38 percent of the foughly 1.5 billion hectares in cropland worldwide. For more information see http://www.wri.org/wri/trends/soilloss.html.Source: World Resources Institute in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme, World Resources 1992-93 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992), Table 19.4, p. 290.

Food Supply Increasingly Relies on Irrigation

Irrigated Land as a Percentage of Agricultural Land, 1961-94Poor water management on irrigated cropland is a leading cause of degraded farmland. For more information see http://www.wri.org/wri/trends/soilloss.html.Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT Statistical Database (FAO, Rome, 1997).Note: Asia and Europe do not include the countries of the former Soviet Union until 1991.

Information as a commodity: How do information systems affect our economy today? electronic information biological information genetic information emergent properties of the economy = publication and use of economic information

Is Voting a Duty or a Choice?

59%

39%2%Voters 18 to 30 years oldVoters 31 or older2%62%36%Constitutional DutyChoiceNo answerFrom The Lansing State JournalOctober 31Far less than 50% of Americans vote!

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Constitutional Duty39%

No answer2%

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What Are the Most Important Issues?Voters 18 to 30 years old36%17%23%24%Voters 31 or older39%28%10%23%War on TerrorismEconomyEducationOtherFrom The Lansing State JournalOctober 31

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Economy39%

War on Terrorism28%

Education10%

Other23%

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VideoDirty BusinessFood Exports to the United States

Migrant Media ProductionsP.O. Box 2048Freedom, CA 95019408-728-8949

Economic Systems: Analogous to Environment & Ecosystems? Do more growth economic systems affect ecological sustainability?Does our US economic systemaffect local, national & global ecological sustainability?If yes or no, can you defendyour response scientifically,logically & with statistics?

Environmental Advocacy Group PerspectiveEarth day offered little political analysis, no vision of how corporate America has manipulated consumer demand, how corporate interests have gradually shaped our addiction to products containing a wide array of environmentally destructive chemicals, how American companies went from producing one billion pounds of toxic chemicals in 1940 to over 220 billion in 1987. Earth Day failed to educate people about the limited choices consumers really have, and how industry, especially the automotive, petrochemical and paper industries, bear more responsibility than the rest of us. [Or howthe US food industry exploits people in the Us and overseas!]-- Gary Cohen in Toxic Times.

This time series shows land use in SE Michigan. Here the built land use class is in red, forest in green, water in blue, and all others in the grayish color. The next slides are a zoomed-in look.This time series shows land use in SW Michigan. Here are the built and forest classes of land use for the three snapshots in time.

Here the built land use class is in red, forest in green, water in blue, and all others in the grayish color.