Scribd
Upload
0 views

ess 1

The document covers various environmental topics including climate change, biodiversity, water resources, soil systems, air pollution, and human systems. It highlights key concepts, models, and real-life examples from different countries that illustrate the challenges and strategies related to these issues. The overarching themes include sustainability, ecological footprints, and the impact of human activities on natural systems.

Uploaded by

eshmeet.m03
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0 views

ess 1

The document covers various environmental topics including climate change, biodiversity, water resources, soil systems, air pollution, and human systems. It highlights key concepts, models, and real-life examples from different countries that illustrate the challenges and strategies related to these issues. The overarching themes include sustainability, ecological footprints, and the impact of human activities on natural systems.

Uploaded by

eshmeet.m03
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

🌍 7.

Climate Change & Energy Resources


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Enhanced greenhouse effect


• Carbon & energy budget
• Mitigation (e.g. renewable energy, carbon markets)
• Adaptation (e.g. infrastructure, agriculture)
• Energy security & sustainability

📘 Models/Theories:

• Carbon footprint
• Energy security triangle
• IPCC climate projections

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• 🇩🇪 Germany's Energiewende: Transition away from nuclear and fossil fuels to solar
and wind energy. Now over 40% of electricity is renewable.
• 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Flood-prone country building dikes, sea walls, and floating homes as
adaptation to rising sea levels.
• 🇫🇷 France: Around 70% of electricity from nuclear — low carbon emissions, high
energy security.
• 🇲🇻 Maldives: Low-lying nation under threat from sea level rise — symbolic for
climate refugee debate.
• 🌍 Paris Agreement (2015): International effort to keep global warming below 2°C;
promotes mitigation strategies globally.

🌿 3. Biodiversity & Conservation


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Causes of biodiversity loss: habitat destruction, invasive species, overexploitation


• Conservation strategies: In-situ vs ex-situ
• Species-based & habitat-based conservation
• Ecosystem services

📘 Models/Theories:

• Simpson’s Diversity Index


• Island Biogeography Theory
• IUCN Red List
• Keystone species concept

🌐 Real-Life Examples:
• 🇪🇨 Galápagos Islands: Home to many endemic species threatened by tourism and
invasive goats and rats.
• 🐺 Yellowstone National Park (USA): Wolf reintroduction revived the entire
ecosystem through trophic cascades.
• 🇲🇽 Vaquita: World’s rarest marine mammal, declining due to illegal fishing
practices.
• 🇧🇷 Amazon Rainforest: Massive biodiversity loss due to deforestation, road building,
and cattle ranching.
• 🇮🇳 Project Tiger: Successful initiative to protect Bengal tigers through habitat
restoration and monitoring.

💧 4. Water Resources, Aquatic Food Systems & Pollution


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Water scarcity and overuse


• Pollution: eutrophication, microplastics, heavy metals
• Aquatic food production (aquaculture vs wild catch)
• Overfishing and MSY
• Integrated water management

📘 Models/Theories:

• Tragedy of the Commons


• Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
• Pollution management model
• Water footprint

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• 🇺🇸 Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone: Caused by nutrient-rich runoff (mostly from


Mississippi River farms) = hypoxia, fish deaths.
• 🇿🇦 Cape Town “Day Zero” (2018): Reservoirs dropped below 13%; forced extreme
water rationing and behavioral change.
• 🌊 North Sea Fisheries: Overfished cod stocks due to shared international waters
and lack of enforcement.
• 🇯🇵 Japan’s Aquaculture: Leading in sustainable seafood production using advanced
technology and controlled environments.
• 🐟 ICCAT quotas: Regulates Atlantic Bluefin Tuna catch to avoid collapse of
stocks.

🏞 5. Soil Systems & Terrestrial Food Production


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Soil composition and health


• Soil degradation (erosion, salinization, overgrazing)
• Terrestrial food systems: subsistence vs. commercial farming
• Intensive vs. extensive agriculture
• Sustainable farming (organic, hydroponics, permaculture)
• Food security: availability, access, use, stability

📘 Models/Theories:

• Soil texture triangle


• Food security 4 pillars
• Carrying capacity
• Input-output models in agriculture

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• 🇨🇳 Loess Plateau Rehabilitation (China): Once heavily eroded; now restored


through reforestation and terracing.
• 🇮🇳 Bt Cotton in India: Genetically modified to resist pests = increased yields but led
to some soil nutrient depletion.
• 🇾🇪 Yemen Food Crisis: War + drought + poverty = extreme food insecurity.
• 🇧🇷 Amazon Slash-and-Burn: Clearing land for soy and cattle = nutrient-poor soil
quickly degraded.
• 🇳🇱 Hydroponic Farming in the Netherlands: Minimal land and water use = high-
efficiency sustainable agriculture.

☁️ 6. Atmospheric Systems & Air Pollution


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Composition and structure of the atmosphere


• Thermal inversion and smog
• Ozone depletion and CFCs
• Urban air pollution sources
• Pollution management strategies

📘 Models/Theories:

• Pollution management model: alter → control → clean-up


• Montreal Protocol model (international policy)
• Tropospheric ozone and photochemical smog model
• Thermal inversion mechanism

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• 🇮🇳 New Delhi Smog Crisis: Caused by crop burning + vehicles + thermal inversion;
among the most polluted cities globally.
• 🇬🇧 London Congestion Charge: Reduced car use and improved urban air quality.
• 🇺🇸 Los Angeles: Classic photochemical smog city due to sunny climate + car
dependency.
• 🇦🇶 Ozone Hole Recovery: Montreal Protocol banned CFCs → ozone layer now
slowly healing.
• 🇨🇳 Beijing Air Quality Campaign: Factory closures, green energy subsidies to
reduce PM2.5 levels.

🧠 1. Foundations of Environmental Systems & Societies


🔸 Key Concepts:

• Environmental value systems (EVS): ecocentric, anthropocentric, technocentric


• Systems approach (open/closed systems, feedback loops)
• Sustainability and ecological footprints
• Natural capital and natural income
• Environmental indicators and EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)

📘 Models/Theories:

• Positive vs. negative feedback


• Sustainability indicators (e.g. HDI, EF, water/energy use)
• The Gaia Hypothesis
• IPAT equation (Impact = Population × Affluence × Technology)

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• 🌿 Amazonian Indigenous Communities: Ecocentric worldview = sustainable


living with minimal impact.
• ❄️ Arctic Ice-Albedo Feedback: Positive feedback loop — melting ice reduces
reflectivity, accelerating warming.
• 🇮🇸 Climeworks (Iceland): Technocentric solution — carbon dioxide removed directly
from the air.
• 🌍 Ecological Footprint: UAE has one of the highest EF; Bangladesh has one of the
lowest.
• 🏗️ EIA for Heathrow Expansion (UK): Assessed impacts on biodiversity, noise,
air quality, etc.

✅ CHAPTER 8: Human Systems and Resource Use


🔹 Key Concepts:

• Sustainability and carrying capacity


• Ecological footprint vs. biocapacity
• Natural capital vs. natural income
• Resource classification: renewable, replenishable, non-renewable
• Waste management: reduce, reuse, recycle, incineration, landfill
• Urbanization, population growth, and environmental degradation
• Sustainable development and SDGs
• Circular economy vs. linear economy

📘 Models/Theories:

• Ecological footprint model


• IPAT equation – I = P × A × T
• Kuznets Environmental Curve – development vs. pollution
• Tragedy of the Commons – shared resource misuse
• Circular Economy model – closed-loop resource use
• Carrying capacity – max sustainable population
• Malthusian (limits) vs. Boserup (innovation) theories on population-resource
balance

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• Sweden: Only ~1% of waste goes to landfill → strong recycling & waste-to-energy
systems
• Japan’s “Mottainai” culture: deeply ingrained values of not wasting resources
• Dubai: overconsumption of energy and water; desalination & AC use strain resources
• United States: high ecological footprint per capita due to consumption and waste
• Earth Overshoot Day: a yearly marker when global resource use exceeds Earth's
biocapacity
• China: Ban on foreign plastic waste (2018) triggered global waste management shifts
• Singapore: NEA policies and incineration plants manage waste efficiently with
energy recovery
• Amsterdam: city-led circular economy plans to eliminate waste by 2050

✅ CHAPTER 2: Ecosystems and Ecology


🔹 Key Concepts:

• Species, population, habitat, niche, community, ecosystem


• Abiotic vs. biotic factors
• Producers, consumers (1°, 2°, 3°), decomposers
• Food chains, food webs, pyramids of number/biomass/productivity
• Photosynthesis and respiration
• Productivity: GPP, NPP, GSP, NSP
• Nutrient cycles: Carbon and nitrogen
• Succession (primary vs. secondary), climax communities
• Zonation (spatial) vs. succession (temporal)

📘 Models/Theories:

• Pyramids of numbers/biomass/productivity
• GPP and NPP formula:
o NPP = GPP − R (for plants)
o NSP = GSP − R (for animals)
• Liebig’s Law of the Minimum – limiting factors
• Succession model – bare ground to climax community
• Zonation – environmental gradients (e.g., salinity, altitude)

🌐 Real-Life Examples:

• Sundarbans (India/Bangladesh): mangrove zonation from saline to freshwater


zones
• Mount Kilimanjaro: zonation with altitude (tropical to alpine conditions)
• Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: secondary succession in abandoned areas; wildlife
rebounding
• Mount St. Helens (USA): primary succession post-volcanic eruption
• Arctic Tundra: low NPP due to extreme cold and short growing season
• Amazon Rainforest: high GPP and biodiversity; rapid nutrient cycling
• Great Barrier Reef: complex food webs and mutualistic relationships (e.g.,
clownfish and anemones)
• Lake Erie (USA/Canada): eutrophication and dead zones due to agricultural runoff
disrupting nutrient cycles

You might also like