Lecture 1: Systems thinking, system diagrams, systems analysis Lecture 2: Ecosystems, Succession, Dynamics, Complex systems cycle (Holling) Lecture 3: Human population Lecture 4: Agriculture Lecture 5: Energy basis for socio-ecological development: from solar to fossil fuels back to solar Lecture 6: Global Climate Change Lecture 7: Ecological Economics and Ecosystem Services Lecture 8: Urban systems Lecture 9: Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals Lecture 1: Systems thinking, system diagrams, systems analysis •What is part of your question and what is not? • •How you determine this first part largely determines the answers the question System boundaries Every system is a process Unintended consequences •Acid precipitation/rain •Ozone depletion •Eutrophication •Global climate change •Automobile dependency •… •All of today’s major environmental problems emerge from yesterday’s solutions. • •Input-Output models • •Feedback • •Time lags • •Exponential growth • •Irreversibility • • Key systems concepts Carrying Capacity •max number of individuals of a species that can be sustained by an environment without decreasing the capacity of the environment to sustain that same amount in the future. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/4159/images/Figure1.jpg Lecture 2: Ecosystems, Succession, Dynamics, Complex systems cycle (Holling) •structure (parts) and •function (processes) and is •dynamic (orderly change called succession) • •Two main functions are •Transfer/Exchange of energy •Cycling of material (particularly nutrients) • Ecosystem has Complex Systems Cycle: Holling’s 4-stage model of ecosystem dynamics Logistic growth only captures part of the cycle Lecture 3: Human population Human Population •World 7,679,302,210 http://www.paulchefurka.ca/World%20Population.JPG Growth rate = Birth rate – Death rate Population Birth/year Death/year Crude Growth Rate = Crude Birth Rate – Crude Death Rate Crude = # Per 1000 Demographic Transition 50/1000 10/1000 Lecture 4: Agriculture 5 ways that agro-ecosystems differ from ecosystems 1.Stop ecological succession – requires energy 2.Large areas of a single species – monoculture, reduces soil fertility because the specific requirements of that species 3.Planted in neat rows makes it easier for pests (real systems are complex) 4.Food chains are greatly simplified – competitors and pests eliminated box and arrow 5.Plowing – erosion, damage to the physical structure of the soil Environment, Power, and Society Role of thermodynamics and energetics in human society (HT Odum, 1971) Alternatives to conventional agriculture Ways to reduce erosion Contour plowing Terracing Strip cropping No till farming Ways to maintain soil fertility Strip cropping Crop rotation Cover crops Leaving land fallow Polyculture Permaculture Urban farming Organic farming Lecture 5: Energy basis for socio-ecological development: from solar to fossil fuels back to solar Energy is the ability to do work 1st Law of Thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed 2nd Law of Thermodynamics: energy goes from a high quality to a lower quality during each energy transformation; while energy is conserved, it’s ability to do work decreases Forms of energy: potential, kinetic, thermal, chemical, electrical, etc. Energy is key to Sustaining system structure and complexity Natural and human systems build and maintain order and organization by taking in high quality energy, using it, and passing degraded energy outside of the system boundary. Our society is dependent on the energy flows that support it AND having a sink for the waste. System (human or natural) High quality Energy Input Low quality Energy output (waste heat) http://ideonexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/coalformation.jpg Fossil Fuels are derived from partially decomposed organic materials transformed in Earth’s crust by pressure, heat and bacterial processes. It takes millions of years for these organisms to chemically change into fossil fuels. Magnets plus copper wire plus motion equals electricity Electricity Generation whether from fossil fuels, nuclear, renewable fuels, or other sources - is usually* based on the fact that: "When copper wire is moving through a magnetic field, an electric current is generated in that wire." www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/ert/electgen.html * exceptions are electrochemistry (batteries) and photovoltaic effect Energy use in daily life (Ecological Footprint – measuring your impact) •Household consumption •Transportation •Diet TABLE 1. Global installed capacity in 2003 (MW) Energy Future Transition to Renewables (cleaner and sustainable) Increased Efficiency and Conservation in all sectors Reduce need for transportation through wise development decisions Lecture 6: Global Climate Change Three Climate Basics 1)Earth and Sun are at different temperatures, therefore radiate energy at different wavelengths •Earth – long-wave – infrared radiation •Sun – short-wave – visible light radiation • 2)Certain gases (GHG) in the atmosphere respond to energy at different wavelengths (passing short, absorbing long) 3) 3)The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing http://www.climateark.org/vital/graphics/large/3.jpg 19.jpg - 54889 Bytes Mitigation Measures More efficient use of energy Greater use of low-carbon and no-carbon energy • Many of these technologies exist today Improved carbon sinks • Reduced deforestation and improved forest management and planting of new forests • Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage Lifestyle and behavioural changes AR5 WGIII SPM Lecture 7: Ecological Economics and Ecosystem Services Drivers of Unsustainability •HUMAN POPULATION INCREASE ØAgriculture ØShelter ØMobility ØStuff Use Energy and Material Resources causes ØLand use change ØHabitat loss ØDeforestation ØAlter biogeochemical cycles Climate Change Eutrophication Acid precipitation Ozone Depletion Smog … Leads to Why environmental resources have been poorly conserved in the past? 1.Nature’s rate of return of ecosystem services leads us to over exploitation •Living off the flow is too slow, how we want to grow •Poor understanding of growth, exponential growth 2.Externalities •Indirect cost not paid for by producer and consumer as part of a transaction •When a decision (for example, to pollute the atmosphere) causes costs or benefits to individuals or groups other than the person making the decision 3.Pressure for resource consumption •Economic and institutional growth paradigm •Victor Lebow (1955): our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption •Marketing Steps forward •Market corrections for externalities •Ecosystem Services now guiding policy decisions •Consider other “quality of life indicators” •Genuine Progress Index •Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare •Human Development Index •Gross Happiness Index •Development of Steady State Economics • •Change the growth oriented mindset Lecture 8: Urban systems Urban Ecosystems Socio-ecological-economic systems Three issues: 1)understanding a city as a system 2)understanding specific environmental impacts of cities 3)understanding a city as a sense of space (human niche) Importance of place •Protection and investment in place •Finding the balance of what the environment offers: sustaining (and enhancing) those flows • • Place worth protecting • •Geography of Nowhere Lecture 9: Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable Development vs Sustainability •Sustainable Development: “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” – Our Common Future/ Brundtland Report, 1987 • • •Sustainability: “the capacity to endure; how systems remain diverse and productive over time” – wikipedia Image result for environment economy society Environment is foundation for all aspects, others are subsets Emergence of humans, from a minor component of natural system to predominant occupant Scale of humanity has increased greatly putting pressure on all natural resources The changes have come so fast our customs, ethics, and religious patterns may not have adapted to them. http://www.csc.noaa.gov/coastal/economics/images/sa7_fig06.gif Conclusions: Sustainability is a property of interaction networks •Reliable Inputs •Healthy Outputs •Recycling of material – my output is your input • }Processes functionally linked together - my useful byproducts happen in the act fitting into the network • • System Input Output A C B + + +