Chapter 1: Foundations of ESS

Question 1

1.1 EVS

Answer 1

Environmental Value System – the worldview or paradigm of an individual or group: how they perceive and evaluate environmental issues.

Question 2

1.1 Influences on EVSs

Answer 2

• Experience
• Culture
• Economics
• Religion
• Education
• Historical events

Question 3

1.1 Ecocentrism

Answer 3

holistic; focuses on natural processes. Puts ecology and nature as central to humanity and emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies. Is life-centered – respects the rights of nature and the dependence of humans on nature giving it a holistic view of life which is earth-centered.

Question 4

1.1 Anthropocentrism

Answer 4

population control; focusses on humans and regulation. Believes that humans must sustainably manage the global system through the use of taxes, environmental regulation, and legislation. Is human-centered; humans are not dependent on nature but nature is there to benefit humankind.

Question 5

1.1 Technocentrism

Answer 5

believes that technological developments can provide solutions to environmental problems.

Question 6

1.1 Deep ecologists

Answer 6

strong ecocentrism

Question 7

1.1 Soft ecologist

Answer 7

mild ecocentrism

Question 8

1.1 Environmental managers

Answer 8

anthropocentric

Question 9

1.1 Cornocupians

Answer 9

strong technocentrism

Question 10

1.1 Who is involved with the environmental movement?

Answer 10

• Individuals (through norms of behavior and political choices)
• Influential individuals (through the media)
• Independent pressure groups [NGOs] (through campaigns, protests, and other acts)
• Corporate businesses (supply consumer demand and as such think about resources and methods of gathering resources)
• Governments (through policy decisions and applying legislation and international decisions with other governments)
• Intergovernmental bodies [e.g. UN] (through influential meetings – e.g. earth summits)

Question 11

1.1 Historical influences on the environmental movement [see page 4 and 7-8]

Answer 11

• Rachel Carson: Silent Spring (1962)
• Al Gore: An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
• The making of hats before and into the 20th century (hats were made with mercury, which led to mercury poisoning)
• Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory cause mercury poisoning because waste-water flooded into a bay area.
• Bhopal, India: pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of MIC gas resulting in the death of 22.000.
• Chernobyl disaster: radioactive uranium.
• Fukushima Daiichi: water flooded nuclear plant making the water radioactive.

Question 12

1.2 Systems

Answer 12

systems make up the environment. Systems consist of components that function together and form integrated units.
Political system; ecosystem; social system; economic system.

Question 13

1.2 System diagram

Answer 13

a diagram representing the elements and their functions of a system.

Question 14

1.2 Model

Answer 14

a simplified replica of a system.

Question 15

1.2 Biosphere

Answer 15

a fragile layer on Earth in which all life occurs. Consists of the atmosphere (air), lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and form the ecosphere (habitual area).

Question 16

1.2 Open system (a type of system)

Answer 16

a system that exchanges matter and energy with its environment. Most natural systems are open.

Question 17

1.2 Closed system (a type of system)

Answer 17

a system that exchanges energy but not matter with its environment. Mostly artificial (e.g. an aquarium) but do exist in nature (e.g. the nitrogen cycle).

Question 18

1.2 Isolated system (a type of system)

Answer 18

a system that exchanges neither matter nor energy with its environment. They do not exist naturally.

Question 19

1.2 Components of all systems

Answer 19

storages of matter and energy;
flows into, through, and out of the system;
input;
output;
boundaries;
processes which transfer or transform matter or energy from storage to storage.

Question 20

1.2 Transfer

Answer 20

the movement of matter or energy through storages. More efficient than transformations and uses less energy.

Question 21

1.2 Transformations

Answer 21

the transformation of matter or energy (e.g. liquid to gas).

Question 22

1.3 The first law of thermodynamics

Answer 22

is the principle of conservation of energy, meaning that the total energy in an isolated system is constant and that the only thing that can happen is that the form of the energy takes changes.

Question 23

1.3 The second law of thermodynamics

Answer 23

It refers to the fact that energy is transformed through energy transfers, which are never 100% efficient, and as such, there is an increase in entropy arising from energy transformation reduces the energy available to do work.
It states that the entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time.

Question 24

1.3 Entropy

Answer 24

a measure of the amount of disorder in a system. More entropy=less order.

Question 25

1.3 Equilibrium

Answer 25

the tendency of a system to return to an original state following disturbance.

Question 26

Steady-state equilibrium

Answer 26

an open system where inputs and outputs of matter and energy are continuous/stable.

Question 27

Static equilibrium

Answer 27

there is no change over time, the components are balanced and remain unchanged.

Question 28

Stable and unstable equilibriums

Answer 28

if unstable, the system returns to a new equilibrium after disturbance, whereas the stable equilibrium returns to its original state.

Question 29

Positive feedback loop

Answer 29

a change to the system disturbs the equilibrium. It changes (and keeps changing) the system, resulting in a destabilization of the system. It means that it has an unstable equilibrium and changes to a new constant state.

Question 30

Negative feedback loop

Answer 30

a change to the system disturbs the equilibrium, and the reaction of the system to that change will return the system to its original equilibrium, meaning there has been a stabilization - a stable equilibrium. (Imagine the triangle graph. When a change occurs, negative feedback will return it to its original state (meaning that it does not return to the same change continuing, e.g. temperature rises, then it falls to reach the original state.)

Question 31

Tipping points and resilience

Answer 31

Negative feedback loops should be interpreted as positive - they are stable. Typically, positive feedback implies that there has been human intervention which has resulted in detrimental consequences once a system crosses the tipping point. (A negative feedback loop maintains the system at an equilibrium, but once a disturbance occurs and crosses the tipping point, positive feedback ensues, reaching another equilibrium.) A system can be more resilient to this, given that it has, inter alia, higher rates of reproduction and more diversity of species.

Question 32

Primary and secondary pollutants

Answer 32

Primary pollutants are active on emission, whereas secondary pollutants are formed by primary pollutants undergoing physical or chemical changes.

Question 33

Point and non-point source pollutants

Answer 33

Point source pollution is the release of pollutants from a single, clearly identifiable site, where it is easy to see who is polluting which usually makes it easier to handle. Non-point source pollution is the release of pollutants from numerous, widely dispersed origins, and can be from multiple sources, making it difficult to track.

Question 34

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and biodegradable pollutants.

Answer 34

were often manufactured as pesticides in the past. They are resistant to breaking down and remain active in the environment for a long time, and as such bioaccumulate in animal and human tissues and biomagnify in food chains. Biodegradable pollutants do not persist in the environment and break down quickly.

Question 35

Acute and chronic pollution

Answer 35

Acute pollution is when large amounts of a pollutant are released, causing a lot of harm. Chronic pollution results from the long-term release of a pollutant but in small amounts and is usually harmful because it goes undetected for a long time.

Question 36

Detecting, monitoring, and pollution management strategies.

Answer 36

p. 52-53