Environment can be defined as (1) the circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms, or (2) the complex of social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community. Environmental science is the systematic study of our environment and our proper place in it. It is concerned with such topics as population and resource consumption, climate change, hunger, biodiversity loss and conservation efforts, energy, pollution and environmental health, water resources, and information and education.
Ecological footprint is a measure used to quantify the demands placed on nature by individuals or by nations. Footprints are often calculated in terms of global hectares of productive capacity, or the global area that would be needed to support one person.
Conservation history and environmental activism can be divided into at least four distinct stages: (1) pragmatic resource conservation, (2) moral and aesthetic nature preservation, (3) a growing concern about health and ecological damage caused by pollution, and (4) global environmental citizenship. One of the core concepts of modern environmental thought is sustainable development, often defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In other words, we should be able to improve conditions for the world’s poorest populations without devastating the environment.
Eliminating poverty and protecting our common environment are inextricably interlinked, because the world’s poorest people are both victims and agents of environmental degradation.
One measure for evaluating resource consumption is the ecological footprint. Another concept for describing resource use is throughput, the amount of material or resources that flow through a system. Ecosystem services are services or resources provided by environmental systems – provisioning of resources, supporting services, regulating services, and cultural services. The tragedy of the commons raises the question of how to protect these services over the long term.
Moral extensionism describes an increasing consideration of moral value in other living things–or even nonliving things. Some of our most pressing environmental problems don’t need technological or scientific solutions; they’re not so much a question of what we’re able to do, but what we’re willing to do.
—December 2020
—February 2021
—August 2023
Lance Jones 