ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES

The course explores the fundamental principles and applications of

knowledge related to the surface of the earth and its main components:
atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere or geosphere. The
main objective of the course is to explain the spatial and temporal
characteristics, and the interaction between these systems in an
interdisciplinary manner.

It cover processes operating at the global (or planetary) scale such as

biogeochemical cycles and the major circulation systems of the planet;
and processes occurring at the regional scale that when aggregated
present a serious threat to earth system functioning.

These processes control (i) the climate system, (ii) how landscapes
change over time, (iii) how soils develop and provide the basis of the
world’s food supply, and (iv) how different ecosystems function.

1.1 What is ‘the environment’?

Define the term ‘environment’.

Many meanings

The term ‘environment’ is widely used and has a broad range of

definitions, meanings and interpretations. What does the term
‘environment’ mean? In popular usage, for some people, the term
‘environment’ means, simply, ‘nature’: in other words, the natural
landscape together with all of its non-human features, characteristics
and processes. To those people, the environment is often closely
related to notions of wilderness and of pristine landscapes that have
not been influenced – or, at least, that have been imperceptibly
influenced – by human activities. However, for other people, the term
‘environment’ includes human elements to some extent. Many people
would regard agricultural and pastoral landscapes as being part of the
environment, whilst others are yet more inclusive and regard all
elements of the earth’s surface – including urban areas – as
constituting the environment. Thus, in popular usage, the notion of the
‘environment’ is associated with diverse images and is bound up with
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various assumptions and beliefs that are often unspoken – yet may be
strongly held. All of these usages, however, have a central underlying
assumption: that the ‘environment’ exists in some kind of relation to
humans. Hence the environment is, variously, the ‘backdrop’ to the
unfolding narrative of human history, the habitats and resources that
humans exploit, the ‘hinterland’ that surrounds human settlements, or
the ‘wilderness’ that humans have not yet domesticated or dominated.

In its most literal sense, ‘environment’ simply means ‘surroundings’

(environs); hence the environment of an individual, object, element or
system includes all of the other entities with which it is surrounded.
However, in reality, individuals, objects, elements and systems rarely
exist in isolation; instead, they tend to interact to varying extents with
their surrounding entities. Therefore, it is not particularly helpful to
conceptualize the ‘environment’ without including in that
conceptualization some notion of relationship. Individuals, objects,
elements and systems influence – and are in turn influenced by – their
surroundings. Indeed, the networks of relationships that exist between
different entities may, in some cases, be extensive and highly
complex. Thus the ‘environment’ may be regarded as a ‘space’ or a
‘field’ in which networks of relationships, interconnections and
interactions between entities occur.
For this course we define

A) Environment – as the total set of circumstances that surround an

individual or community:

-- physical conditions ; - Air, - water, - gases, - landforms,

- social and cultural conditions, - ethics ,- economics , - aesthetics , -

B) Environmental Awareness:

the way we perceive and respond to our natural environment

C) Environmental Ethics

- land ethic assumes we are the land’ ’s citizens and protectors, not its
conquerors

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 - we are responsible for the total environment, we have a moral
responsibility to the land
- we are all brief tenants of this planet, yet humanity is an integral part
of the environment
- We have a moral obligation to the present and future earth community
to preserve and protect the environment.

1. 2. THE EARTH SYSTEM

Section Overview

This section explains the value of adopting a systems analysis

approach to the environment, in which the entire global environment
is considered to be the ‘earth system’. In common with other systems,
the earth system comprises components (which are often sub-systems)
and flows. This section presents an overview of the main components
and flows associated with the earth system. In particular, the earth
system is often considered to have four main components: the
geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere (although there
are various alternative ways of defining the earth system). A wide
range of flows occurs in the earth system, although transfers of
energy and materials represent the most important of these. Key
materials are transported within the earth system via biogeochemical
cycles.

Indeed, given that the earth system is dynamic – in other words, is

constantly changing at all spatial and temporal scales – and because
environmental changes can have profound consequences for human
societies and economies, the work of environmental scientists
frequently focuses on the investigation of process and change. In fact,
the task of understanding environmental change is central to
environmental science – yet it is a task that may present formidable
challenges, for several reasons:

 scientific knowledge is cumulative, limited and partial; many

environmental changes involve parts of the earth system that are

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 not yet fully known or understood – as in the case of the extinction
of species that have not yet been formally discovered or identified
 environmental changes may be cryptic: in other words, impossible
(or extremely difficult) to detect, even using modern scientific
techniques – as in the case of changes that occur in the genetic
material of organisms but which are not immediately apparent in
the structure or behaviour of those organisms
 environmental changes may occur over vast spatial scales, making
it difficult to establish effective scientific monitoring programmes
– as in the case of changes in the strength or direction of oceanic
currents at the global scale
 conversely, environmental changes may occur over extremely small
spatial scales, again making observation and monitoring difficult –
as in the case of the contamination of soils and groundwater by
nanoparticles
 environmental changes may occur over very long temporal scales,
including the geological timescale, and they may be imperceptible
over the average human lifespan – as in the case of changes in the
amount of solar radiation received due to variations in the earth’s
orbit
 conversely, environmental changes may be extremely rapid and
their significance may not be appreciated until it is too late to
conduct scientific monitoring and to establish baselines – as in the
case of the collapse of an animal population following the outbreak
of a virulent disease
 environmental changes may have occurred in the past when
scientific monitoring techniques were not available, or were not
used – as in the case of the historical rapid depletion of some whale
species due to the operation of commercial fisheries
 environmental changes may involve complex environmental
systems and subsystems, including myriad feedback mechanisms,
and the causal relationships between the various components may
not be known with sufficient certainty – as in the case of regional
and local climate change due to radioactive forcing
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 environmental changes may have both natural and human
(anthropogenic) causes, and it may be extremely difficult to
disentangle the relative significance of each – as in the case of
vegetation change in pastoral areas that have become drought-prone
and desiccated For reasons such as these, many concerns have been
expressed about the accuracy and reliability of scientific knowledge
and understanding of environmental change. Indeed, the subject of
environmental change has become one of the most problematic and
fiercely contested aspects of environmental science.
Fundamental concepts of environmental geology

- Humans are agents of geological change.

- The Earth is unique.
- The Earth is a closed system.
- Materials and energy tend to cycle from one reservoir to another.
- The physical structure and chemical composition of the Earth affect our lives
in many different ways.
- Geologic processes and human beings operate on different time scales.
- Hazardous geologic processes are natural and have always existed.
- Risk is characteristic of the human- planet relationship.
- We are fundamentally dependent on Earth resources for the conduct of
modern society.
- Earth resources are limited.
- Earth resources can be managed properly in a sustainable fashion.
- There is no "away" to throw things to; our garbage and pollution remains
with us.
- Managing the environment means managing human behavior.
- Restoration and preservation are also part of the human-planet relationship.

CONCEPT ONE: POPULATION GROWTH

 The number one environmental problem is excessive human population

growth.
 The reason this is true is because the excessive number of humans is the
ultimate or proximate cause of all other environmental problems. Another
way to state this is that there were no environmental problems on Earth

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 before humans evolved, and there were no serious environmental
problems while human populations were relatively small.
 Human population is growing at an exponential rate- - each year, population
increases at a constant percentage of the present population.
• 1960 – 2%/yr (pop. doubles in 36 years)
• 1980 – 1.7%/yr (pop. doubles in 41 years
• 2000 – 1%/yr (pop. doubles in 72 years)
 World population ~5.9 billion in 2000, Increases by ~94 million/yr, and
~10,000 people are added each hour.
 Population growth is not evenly distributed:
o Highest rates in underdeveloped countries:
o Africa, Asia, Latin America
o it will be impossible to supply resources and a high- quality
environment in the 21st century for all the world’ ’s population s
 The role of Education is paramount in the population problem
 As people become educated, the population growth rate is reduced
The population of Cameroon is 22 Million. If the growth rate is 2.6 per
cent, calculate the population by year 2035, When will the population
double?

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- Shortages

 - food supplies, renewable, ‘ ‘elastic’ within limits

 - mineral resources – not generally renewable
 - land

CONCEPT TWO: SUSTAINABILITY

- Sustainability is an environmental objective

 We must sustain our environmental resources
 We are concerned with the quality of the human environment, as earth
processes will eventually ‘ ‘cleanse’ the natural environment by geologic
processes. the natural environment by geologic processes.
 Sustainable global economy (careful management and wise use of the
planet and its resources)
 Populations of humans and other organisms must live in harmony with
natural support systems such as air, water, and land.
 An energy policy is needed that does not pollute, and cause climatic
change
 A utilization plan or renewable resources such as water, forests,
grasslands, fisheries that does not deplete the resource or destroy the
ecosystem
 A resource utilization plan for nonrenewable resources that does not
damage the global environment, and provides for future generations
 A legal, social, and political system dedicated to sustainability and a
socially just global economy.

• To Achieve Sustainability:

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  strategies Develop effective population control strategies
 Completely restructure our energy programs
 Institute social, legal, political, and educational changes that have their
goal the maintenance of a quality local, regional, and global environment
 Institute policies (economic, tax, etc.) that population control and wise
use of resources

CONCEPT THREE: SYSTEMS

 Understanding the earth ’s systems and their changes is critical to solving
environmental problems.
 The earth is a system of systems:
- Atmosphere, - Hydrosphere, - Biosphere, -Lithosphere
- Principle of environmental unity: Principle of environmental unity:

- EVERYTHING AFFECTS EVERYTHING ELSE

 The earth itself is an open system with respect to energy (sun as source)
 The earth is a closed system with respect to natural cycles

CONCEPT FOUR: LIMITATION OF RESOURCES

The earth is the only suitable habitat we have, and its resources are limited

 Two major views:

 Finding resources is not so much a problems as is finding ways
to use them. Resources are where you find them.
 Finite resources cannot support an exponential increase of
people forever.

CONCEPT FIVE: UNIFORMITARIANISM

 The physical processes modifying the landscape today have operated

throughout much of geologic time.
 However, the magnitude and frequency of these processes are subject
to natural and artificially induced change.
 Originally proposed by James Hutton in late 1700’ ’s Commonly stated as
“the present is the key to the past”
 Also true is “the present is the key to the future ”

CONCEPT SIX: HAZARDOUS EARTH PROCESSES

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  There have always been earth processes that are hazardous to people.
These natural hazards must be recognized and avoided when possible
and their threat to human life and property minimized.
 With respect to their causes, hazards may be allocated to various classes
according to their level of geogenic (or ‘natural’) and anthropogenic (or
‘man-made’) origin (see Table ).
 hazards often have interrelated causes. For example, a landslide might
be triggered by heavy rainfall but determined in its severity by
deforestation. Often one hazard is triggered by another one. For
example, volcanoes may cause landslides, which in turn cause tsunamis.
Or an earthquake may provoke the destruction of buildings and
infrastructures such as dams, which will result in other hazards such as
floods.
 Geogenic hazards triggering technological disasters, in particular due to
the release of toxic chemical material.
 Additionally, it is most likely that in the near future the number of
anthropogenic hazards triggered by disputes about access to limited
natural resources such as water will increase significantly.
 Increasingly frequently the expression ‘environmental hazard’ is used for
events that are caused by a mix of geogenic and anthropogenic incidents
and circumstances. In particular this is the case for hazards associated
with global climate change.

CONCEPT SEVEN: AESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS

 planning should strive to obtain a balance between economic

considerations and the less tangible variables such as aesthetics.

CONCEPT EIGHT: OUR OBLIGATION TO THE FUTURE

 The effects of land use tend to be cumulative, and therefore we have an

obligation to those who follow us.
 the entire surface of the earth has been altered by human activity
o human activity (agriculture, urbanization, mining) moves more soil
and rock per year than any other natural process – 40– 45 gigatons
(billion tons)

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 o must develop conservation practices that provide soil for the future
generations

CONCEPT NINE: GEOLOGY AS A BASIC ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

 The fundamental component of every person’s environment is the

geologic •component, and understanding our environment requires a
broad -based comprehension and appreciation of the earth sciences and
related disciplines.

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