环境生态学Chapter 8.pptVIP

Perhaps the most important lesson of our exploration of space is that earth is our only home We will not establish major colonies on other planets in the foreseeable future Nor will we import resources from other worlds Optimism: Technological innovations will eventually come to our rescue. Indeed, history encourages this belief Pessimism: Economic growth has taken place by using up resources and despoiling the environment at a rate faster than the natural rate of restoration sustainable development refers to economic growth that takes place within the limits set by nature; it occurs in a way that maintains environmental quality and allows a reasonable level of global prosperity in both more-developed and less-developed nations. The concept of sustainable development is a direct outgrowth of the growing environmental awareness of the past two decades and our increasing understanding of how ecosystems function and interact and how human activities affect the orderly operations of nature. significant reduction in the rate of global human population growth inclusion of the environmental cost of production, use, and disposal in all economic activity operation of industries to more closely approximate ecosystems erosion of the stratospheric ozone shield the potential for global warming; toxic materials in the land, air, and water shrinking global supplies of oil and natural gas a loss of perhaps 25% of the planets biodiversity degradation of cropland a continued and unprecedented rate of human population growth * * Toward a Sustainable Ecological Environment Chapter 8 Sustainable development Sustainable development Sustainable development requires The serious problems we are facing: *