Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Developing Countriesxx=Population (P)xConsumptionper person(affluence, A)xTechnological impact perunit of consumption (T)=Environmentalimpact of population (I)xx=Developed CountriesFigure 1-13 Connections: simplified model of how three factors—number of people, affluence, and technology—affectthe environmental impact of the population in developing countries (top) and developed countries(bottom).footprint per person (Figure 1-7). For example, the averageU.S. citizen consumes about 35 times as much asthe average citizen of India and 100 times as much asthe average person in the world’s poorest countries.Thus poor parents in a developing country would need 70 to200 children to have the same lifetime resource consumptionas 2 children in a typical U.S. family.Some forms of technology, such as polluting factoriesand motor vehicles and energy-wasting devices,increase environmental impact by raising the T factorin the equation. But other technologies, suchas pollution control and prevention,solar cells, and energy-saving devices,lower environmental impactby decreasing the T factor.In other words, someforms of technology are en-Earth's Life-Support SystemAir(atmosphere)Water(hydrosphere)vironmentally harmful and some are environmentallybeneficial.The three-factor model in Figure 1-13 can help usunderstand how key environmental problems andsome of their causes are connected. It can also guide usin seeking solutions. However, these problems involvea number of poorly understood interactions betweenmany more factors than those in this simplified model,as outlined in Figure 1-14. Look at the interactionsshown in this figure.Human CulturespherePopulationTechnologyFigure 1-14 Connections: majorcomponents and interactions withinand between the earth’s life-supportsystem and the human socioculturalsystem (culturesphere). The goal ofenvironmental science is to learn asmuch as possible about these complexinteractions.Soil and rocks(lithosphere)Life(biosphere)EconomicsPoliticshttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller1415