Urgency to Act
“Spaceship
earth carrying capacity to sustain life will be soon exceeded”
— The
worlds population exceeds 6 billion, and 80 million people are added each year.
Resource consumption per capita also is in the rise. For example, over 25
percent of the possible terrestrial and aquatic solar energy captured in
photosynthesis by primary producers (plants and cyanobacteria) in now
appropriated by humans. Just two more doublings of the human impact on the
worlds natural resources – through a combination of population increase and
consumption-fueled economic growth – would result in 100 percent of the net
primary production being utilized by humans.
Carrying Capacity
— Refers
to the upper limit to population or community size imposed through
environmental resistance (availability of renewable land non-renewable
resources)
— Renewable
resources are those that can be produced
for consumption
— Non-renewable
resources are resources that are finite such as space and could not be
produced- once used, it could not be recreated
— In
the past, society evolved with the principle of “fighting against limits rather
than learning to live with them.” ( The Limits to Growth, Meadows, et.al, 1972)
IPAT equation
I
= P * A * T
(Environmental Economic model of Paul Ehrlich and John
Holdren Ehrlich Identity )
Human Impacts on the Environment (I) can be estimated
from three (3) general factors:
— The
number of people (P)
— Resources
consumed per person (A for "affluence")
— Effects
of the Technologies used to obtain those resources (T)
— The
impact of any group or nation on the environment is represented qualitatively
by P*A*T
— “I
= P * A * T” where ‘I=environmental impact’
‘P=population,’
‘A=affluence’ ‘T=technology’ expresses
that growth in population, affluence, and technology are jointly responsible
for environmental problems
Example: Multiply the population (P) times the number of
cars per person (A) times the average CO2 emissions per user (T)
Existing and Emerging Environmental Issues
— Globalization,
Trade, and Development
— Coping
with climate change and viability
— Growth
of megacities
— Human
vulnerability to climate change
— Freshwater
depletion and degradation
— Marine
and Coastal degradation
— Population
growth
— Rising
consumption in developing countries
— Bio-diversity
depletion
— Bio-security
Source: United Nations Environment Programme, 2002
We have to act urgently
— As
population and per capita consumption increase, so does the urgency for
architects/ professionals/ ordinary persons to protect and enhance the
environments and communities where people reside
— Role
of Engineers
— It
has a unique role to play, because they have a direct effect to on the design
and development of products, processes, and systems, as well as on natural
ecosystems through material selection, project siting, and the end-of-life
handling of products.
(adopted from Environmental Engineering by James R. Milhelc
and Julie Beth Zimmerman)