BIOL-103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Waste Treatment, Natural Capital, Ecosystem Services
3 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
Human population growth: 200 years ago, population was smaller than now (7 billion). Population: we"ve overwhelmed earth"s natural pollution cycle. Over consumption of resources and natural systems: natural systems are processes on earth that happen naturally. (example:) production of oxygen to the atmosphere = photosynthesis from plants. Their waste byproduct is something other organisms need. Cutting down forests include less oxygen and more carbon dioxide. Poverty: a result of growing human population and lack of resources. Environmental cost: not including environmental cost of economic goods/services in market prices. Simplify nature: trying to manage/simplify nature with too little knowledge about how it works. Natural capital: the earth"s natural resources/processes (ecosystem services) that sustain life on the. If we continue to use the resources at the same, escalating and dangerous heights/amounts, we eventually have to pay the consequences and it"ll take 2 and a half planets to make up for the resources used.
