Lecture 1: Introduction Flashcards
Environmental Concerns for the World
- Global warming - greenhouse gases and associated climatic changes in temperature - rainfall (flood vs drought), weather conditions (hurricane, tornadoes, wildfires, dust and/or hail storms, etc.)
- Sea level rising due to thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and ice sheets
- Air and water pollution increase from over production and consumption
- Threats to oceans from dumping waste and acidification caused by uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere
- Threats to polar regions and its fauna and flora due to global warming and overfishing
- Loss of habitats and species, reducing biological diversity
- Excessive use of non-renewable energy sources through wasteful exploitation and development
Definition of Carrying Capacity
Ability of an ecosystem to sustain a population of a particular species.
OR
Capacity of an environment to absorb pollution or waste.
I = PAT
(Impact = Population * Consumption per capita * Technology Factor
Carrying Capacity vs. Computed
Computed is 20 billion tonnes per year so…
1992, pop. = 5.29bn so cc = 3.8 tonnes/pp/py
2002, pop. = 6.25bn so cc = 3.2 tonnes/pp/py
However, actual EU avg. in 1997 was 8.3 tonnes/pp/py
Definition of Precautionary Principle
Previously, environment has been treated as a “free good” that can be damaged with impunity and to save would have no economic advantage.
New principle ensures environmental costs and benefits are taken into account in public & private sector.
Rio convention: Where threats of serious/irreversible damage, you can’t postpone cost-effective methods to prevent environmental degradation purely because of a lack of scientific certainty.
What is economic development aimed towards?
- Satisfying basic material needs
- Providing resources to improve quality of life
What effect does economic development have on the environment?
- Uses natural resources which have limited supply of
- Generates by-products of pollution and waste
Definition of Green Economy
Low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.
UN promotes a dev. path that sees natural capital as a critical economic asset and source of public benefits, especially for poor people who’s lives depend on natural resources.
Examples of Green Economic Activity
- Renewable energy generation and energy efficiency measures
- Make better use of land/buildings
- Improve transport efficiency (road, air, marine)
- Improve technology and production techniques
- Better product design, marketing and consumption
- Waste minimisation and resource recovery
Definition of Polluter Pays principle
Behavioural policy to change social attitudes towards environmental damage.
- People responsible for pollution aren’t usually the ones who bear the consequences
- Principle suggest polluter, usually the producer, is made to pay so costs of pollution and waste are brought into calculations of business. Although, realistically user ends up paying - reduced demand for product but reduced polluting activity so sustainable consumption.
(Adopted by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD in 1972)
Reactive vs. Proactive Improvements
Reactive - Incremental improvements by optimising current manufacturing process/use/maintenance of product.
Proactive - Factor X improvements by sustainability considerations throughout lifecycle of product/production process.
Benefits of Sustainable Engineering
- Lower raw material costs
- Lower energy costs
- Lower waste disposal and dependency on waste treatment
- Reduce future liability for clean-up/contamination by buried waste
- Less regulatory complications
- Lower risk to public, environment and employees
- Better productivity, product quality
Benefits of Large Multinationals pushing Sustainability
They expect their suppliers to adopt environmentally friendly practices through standards like the ISO14000 family.
What is the ISO14000 family of standards?
Family of internationally recognised standards for environmental management.
Includes standards for conducting a lifecycle assessment and establishing an env. management system.
How did environmental degradation get to how it is today?
- Unsustainable consumption
- Greedy approach by industry to maximise profits through mass production of cheap shit with short life cycles
- Lack of awareness and monitoring or degradation
Whose responsibility is to fix the environment?
- Customers by closing the gap between needs and desires
- Industry by pursuing improvements in their environmental performance
- Governments by regulating, monitoring and investing green more
