1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?

Sustainable　﹥能維持的;能保持在一定水平的
degrading　﹥降低品格的
utterly　﹥完全地
interdisciplinary　﹥各學科間的
integrate　﹥使完整
demography　﹥　﹥人口統計學
ethics　﹥倫理學
ecosystems　﹥自然生態系統
environmentalism　﹥環境保護論
dedicated　﹥專注的;獻身的
realm　﹥界,領域;範圍
indefinitely　﹥不明確地,模糊地
components　﹥構成要素;零件;成分
classified　﹥分類的,類別的
renewable　﹥可更新的;可恢復的;可繼續的
purification　﹥洗淨,淨化
photosynthesis　﹥光合作用
indirect　﹥間接的;非直接相關的;次要的
residues　﹥殘餘,剩餘;渣滓
mature　﹥成熟的;釀熟的
replenish　﹥補充
Implementing　﹥履行;實施;執行
regulations　﹥規章;規則
conflicts　﹥衝突
shift　﹥轉換
scientific　﹥科學的
inventing　﹥發明,創造
innovative　﹥創新的
vote　﹥選舉,投票
Regardless　﹥不顧一切地;不管怎樣地;無論如何
ultimate　﹥最後的,最終的
lottery　﹥運氣,難算計的事
withdrawal　﹥收回;撤回
bankrupt　﹥破產的
depleting　﹥用盡
adequate　﹥適當的







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1-1 What Is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?

CONCEPT 1-1A　　Our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun (solar capital)and natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.

CONCEPT 1-1B　　Living sustainably means living off the earth’s natural income without depletingor degrading the natural capital that supplies it.



Environmental Science Is a Study of Connections in Nature

　　The environment is everything around us. It includes all of the living and the nonliving things (air, water,and energy) with which we interact. Despite our many scientific and technological advances, we are utterly dependent on the environment for air, water, food, shelter, energy, and everything else we need to stay alive and healthy. As a result, we are part of and notapart from the rest of nature.
　　This textbook is an introduction to environmental science, an interdisciplinary study of humanity’s relationships with the earth’s living and nonliving things. It integrates information and ideas from the natural sciences,such as biology, chemistry, and geology; the socialsciences, such as economics, demography (the study of populations), and political science; and the humanities,including philosophy and ethics (Figure 1-2). The goalsof environmental science are to learn how nature works,how the environment affects us, how we affect the environment,and how to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably.
　　Ecology, a biological science that studies the relationships between organisms, or living things, and their environment, plays an important role in environmentalscience. A major focus of ecology is the study of ecosystems. An ecosystem is a set of organisms interacting with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy within a defined area.
　　We should not confuse environmental science and ecology with environmentalism, a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s air, water, soil, natural cleansing and recycling systems, and other components of its life-support systems for us and otherspecies. Environmentalism is practiced more in the political arena than in the realm of science.

Sustainability Is the Central Theme of This Book
　　Sustainability is the ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely. It is the central theme of this book,and its components provide this book’s subthemes.
　　Let us look more closely at sustainability. A critical component is natural capital—the natural resources and natural services provided by nature that keep us and other species alive and support our economies (Figure1-3, p. 8). Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans. These resources are often classified as renewable (suchas air, water, soil, plants, and wind) or nonrenewable(such as copper, oil, and coal). Natural services are functions of nature, such as purification of air and water,which support life and human economies.
　　A critical natural service is nutrient cycling, the circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the environment(mostly soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment (Figure 1-4, p. 9). Without this service, life as we know it could not exist.
　　Natural capital is supported by solar capital: energy from the sun that warms the planet and supports photosynthesis—a complex chemical process that plants use to provide food for themselves and for us and other animals. This direct input of solar energy also produces indirect forms of renewable solar energy such as wind, flowing water, and biofuels made from plants and plant residues. Thus, our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun (solar capital) and natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth (Concept 1-1A).
　　A second component of sustainability—and another subtheme of this text—is to recognize that many human activities can degrade natural capital by using normally renewable resources faster than nature can renew them. For example, in parts of the world we are clearing mature forests much faster than nature can replenish them.We are also harvesting many species of ocean fish faster than they can replenish themselves.
　　This leads us to the third component of sustainability: the scientific search for solutions to these and other environmental problems. Implementing such solutions involves using our economic and political systems. For example, scientific solutions might be to stop clearcutting biologically diverse, mature forests, and to harvest fish species no faster than they can replenish themselves. Implementing such solutions would probably require government laws and regulations.
　　The search for solutions often involves conflicts. Thus, another component of the shift toward sustainability involves trying to resolve these conflicts by making trade-offs, or compromises. To provide wood and paper, for example, paper companies can plant tree farms (see photo 1, p. vi) in areas that have already been cleared or degraded, in exchange for preserving mature forests.
　　Any shift toward environmental sustainability should be based on scientific concepts and results that are widely accepted by experts in a particular field, as discussed in more detail in Chapter 2. In making such a shift, individuals matter—another subtheme of this book. Individuals vary widely in their abilities, but everyone can contribute to finding and implementing solutions to environmental problems. Some people are good at thinking of new ideas and inventing innovative technological solutions. Others are good at putting political pressure on government officials and business leaders, acting either alone or in groups to implement those solutions. Still others know how to be wise consumers who vote with their pocketbooks to help bring about environmental and social change. Regardless, every individualis as important as the next in bringing about a shift toward sustainability.

Environmentally Sustainable Societies Protect Natural Capital and Live Off Its Income
　　The ultimate goal is an environmentally sustainable society—one that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs.
　　Imagine you win $1 million in a lottery. If you invest this money and earn 10% interest per year, you will have a sustainable income of $100,000 a year that you can live off of indefinitely without depleting your capital. However, if you spend $200,000 per year while allowing interest to accumulate on what is left after each withdrawal, your capital of $1 million will be gone early in the seventh year. Even if you spend only $110,000 per year and allow the interest to accumulate, you will be bankrupt early in the eighteenth year.
　　The lesson here is an old one: Protect your capital and live off the income it provides. Deplete or waste your capital, and you will move from a sustainable to an unsustainable lifestyle.
　　The same lesson applies to our use of the earth’s natural capital—the global trust fund that nature provides for us. Living sustainably means living off natural income, the renewable resources such as plants, animals, and soil provided by natural capital. This meansnot depleting or degrading the earth’s natural capital that supplies this income, and providing the human population with adequate and equitable access to this natural capital and natural income for the foreseeable future (Concept 1-1B).
　　The bad news is that, according to a growing body of scientific evidence, we are living unsustainably by wasting, depleting, and degrading the earth’s natural capital at an exponentially accelerating rate (Core Case Study*). In 2005, the United Nations (U.N.) released its Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. According to this four-year study by 1,360 experts from 95 countries, human activities are degrading or overusing about 62% of the earth’s natural putting such a strain on the natural functions of Easervices (Figure 1-3). In its summary statement, the report warned that “human activity is rth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. ”The good news is that the report suggests we have the knowledge and tools to conserve the planet’s natural capital, and it describes common-sense strategies for doing this.