ENV100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Persistent Organic Pollutant, Biomagnification, Environmental Science
Module 1: May 7-18
Date: Wednesday, May 9
SESSION 3: INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (II)
Readings: Chapter 1
People differ in their perception of environmental problems
● Interdisciplinary communication is already difficult, but…
● Communication about environmental issues is further complicated by differences in
language and worldview (human component)
○ Our perception of risk varies between cultures, countries, and time
● Ex. DDT as life-saving and a terrible thing that causes problems
○ Slogan: “DDT is good for me-e-e!” - banishes insects, lice, etc.
○ But then people started seeing the negative results - persistent organic pollutant
(POP), they remain undegraded bioaccumulate and biomagnify
○ Huge decline in predatory birds - brittle. Wide-spread due to food chain (water →
zooplankton → small fish → large fish → fish-eating birds) until eventually the small
doses of DDT increases 10 million times (25 POP/million).
○ Carson - silent spring (1982) - caused DDT to start being phased out, but DDT is
both cost effective and effective pesticide. It is very effective at killing mosquitoes
that carry Malaria. Phase out DDT = increase in Malaria. Reintroduce DDT in
area and Malaria decreased.
■ Conflicting: DDT is very damaging to people (organic pollutant) and in
some cases it is a life-saver.
Perception is influenced by world views
● Policy/Legal/Governmental vs. Scientific
● Academic vs. Applied
● Profane/Secular vs. Religious/Sacred
● Affluence vs. Poverty
○ The poor often suffer the most by choices made by affluent people
● Industrialized vs. Developing Nations
● Anthropocentric vs. Ecocentric
○ View humans as most important or people are part of the ecosystem and world
● Ecosphere vs. Technosphere
○ Natural parts of the world versus the man-made/driven parts
○ See diagram below.
○ In “conflict” - is it real? It is...Silent spring - song birds dying in droves. How
industrial pollutants affect environment. Strong economy or environment.
● Economy vs. Ecology
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Document Summary
People differ in their perception of environmental problems. Communication about environmental issues is further complicated by differences in language and worldview (human component) Our perception of risk varies between cultures, countries, and time. Ddt as life-saving and a terrible thing that causes problems. Slogan: ddt is good for me-e-e! - banishes insects, lice, etc. But then people started seeing the negative results - persistent organic pollutant (pop), they remain undegraded bioaccumulate and biomagnify. Huge decline in predatory birds - brittle. Wide-spread due to food chain (water zooplankton small fish large fish fish-eating birds) until eventually the small doses of ddt increases 10 million times (25 pop/million). Carson - silent spring (1982) - caused ddt to start being phased out, but ddt is both cost effective and effective pesticide. It is very effective at killing mosquitoes that carry malaria. Conflicting: ddt is very damaging to people (organic pollutant) and in some cases it is a life-saver.
