Summary Principles of Environmental Sciences - Natural Science
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Course
Principles Of Environmental Sciences (ESA20806)
Institution
Wageningen University (WUR)
Book
Principles of Environmental Science
The Lectures of Dr. Arnold van Vliet are summarized in this document. 1 Lecture roughly has 5 pages, including class notes, table of content and graphs.
Chapters 1,2, 3, 5, 8, 9 of textbook included.
,Content
Lecture 1 – The Main Principles of Environmental Science ................................................................................ 1
1. What is Environmental Sciences? ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Characteristics of Environmental Sciences.......................................................................................... 1
1.2. Defining Environmental problems ....................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Environmental Quality............................................................................................................................. 1
1.4 Sustainability/Sustainable Development .............................................................................................. 2
2. DPSIR Environmental Problem Chain ....................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Environmental Problem Chain............................................................................................................... 2
2.2. Example: Transport by cars ................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 2 – Climate Change ....................................................................................................................................... 4
1. The greenhouse effect..................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Natural variability............................................................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Milankovitch cycles................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 El Niño Southern Oscillation ................................................................................................................. 5
3. DPSIR: Driving forces &pressures ............................................................................................................... 6
4. Radiative forcing .............................................................................................................................................. 7
5. Scenarios ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.1 What is scenario analysis .......................................................................................................................... 9
6. Response .........................................................................................................................................................10
6.1 Mitigation .................................................................................................................................................10
6.2 Adaption ...................................................................................................................................................10
6.2.1 Adaption in the Netherlands .......................................................................................................10
Lecture 3 – Environmental Health and Toxicology.............................................................................................11
1. Definition of health .......................................................................................................................................11
2. DPSIR-Framework for human health........................................................................................................11
3. Environmental factors that affect health ...................................................................................................11
3.1 Vector-borne diseases: Lyme disease...................................................................................................11
4. Risk Assessment and Risk Management ...............................................................................................11
4.1 Hazard identification (Risk Assessment 1) .............................................................................................12
4.2 Dose-response assessment (Risk Assessment 2) ...................................................................................12
4.2.1 Health impact depends on personal conditions .......................................................................12
4.2.2 Health impact depends on chemical Interactions ....................................................................12
4.2.3 Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification .....................................................................................13
4.4 Exposure assessment ............................................................................................................................13
4.4.1 Changes in levels of exposure ......................................................................................................13
4.5 Risk Characterization (Risk Assessment 4) ............................................................................................14
4.5.1 Response options for Case: Risk Management .........................................................................14
5 Differences environmental technology and human epidemiology ........................................................15
6 Advantage and disadvantage human epidemiology..................................................................................15
7 Advantage and disadvantage Environmental Toxicology .......................................................................15
,Lecture 4 – Loss of Biodiversity ..............................................................................................................................16
1. Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) ...............................................................................................16
2. Definition of Biodiversity.............................................................................................................................16
2.1 Nagoya Protocol .....................................................................................................................................16
2.2 Global Biodiversity Outlook .................................................................................................................17
2.2.1 Conclusion Leclere et al 2020 ......................................................................................................17
2.3 Challenge: Lack of information on state biodiversity .......................................................................18
3. Which species depends on which species? ................................................................................................18
3.1 Species roles in a modular network .....................................................................................................18
3.2 Conclusion on ecosystem modularity ..................................................................................................19
4. Classify biodiversity: Biomes of the world ................................................................................................19
5. State varies: Unequal distribution of biodiversity .....................................................................................19
6. Indicator: Mean Species Abundance (DPSIR: Pressures) .......................................................................20
6.1 GLOBIO can be used to assess ...........................................................................................................20
7. DPSIR: Drivers ..............................................................................................................................................21
8. DPSIR: Impact ...............................................................................................................................................21
8.1 Ecosystem Services .................................................................................................................................21
8.2 Provisioning Services .............................................................................................................................21
8.3 Cultural Services ......................................................................................................................................21
8.4 Regulating Services .................................................................................................................................21
9. DPSIR: Response Options ..........................................................................................................................21
Lecture 5 – Water: Resources and Pollution – Focus on Treatment Technologies .......................................22
1. How much water on earth is liquid fresh surface water? ........................................................................22
2. Water cycle ......................................................................................................................................................22
3. Relation water availability and use ..............................................................................................................23
4. Human actions to abate water scarcity .......................................................................................................23
4.1 Influence of anthropogenic driving forces .........................................................................................23
4.2 Water Management and Conservation ................................................................................................23
5. Water pollution ..............................................................................................................................................24
5.1 Societal Drivers .......................................................................................................................................24
5.1.1 Public health ...................................................................................................................................24
5.1.2 Pollution prevention......................................................................................................................24
5.1.3 Depletion prevention/resource recovery ..................................................................................25
5.2 Treatment Technologies ........................................................................................................................25
5.2.1 From Sewage to drinking water...................................................................................................25
Lecture 6 – Introduction to Renewable Energy....................................................................................................28
1. Energy..............................................................................................................................................................28
1.1 Energy vs Power .....................................................................................................................................28
1.2 How much Energy? ................................................................................................................................28
, Lecture 1 – The Main Principles of Environmental Science
Chapter 1 & 2 in Book
→ Define and characterise environmental sciences
→ Define Sustainability
→ Concept of environmental quality
→ DPSIR Diagram!
1. What is Environmental Sciences?
Environment after Cunningham =
• Circumstances or conditions that surround an organism or group of organisms
• Social or cultural conditions that affect an individual or community
• Ecological Environment + Social Environment = systematic study of our environment and our place in it
• = The use of scientific methods to study processes and systems in the environment in which we live
• Environmentalism = working to influence attitudes and policies that affect our environment
1.1. Characteristics of Environmental Sciences
• Holistic
• Mission-oriented
• Multidisciplinary/Interdisciplinary →Transdisciplinary scientific field
• Basic disciplines are
o Natural sciences: earth science, ecology, chemistry, technology
o Social sciences: legal science, economics, anthropology, sociology
• Science plays an important role in the process of awareness and valuation of environmental problems.
• Environmental science provides a methodological, orderly way of understanding our environment and the (potential)
impact society has on our environment.
• Careful observation and logical reasoning → search for testable evidence.
1.2. Defining Environmental problems
• Human induced changes in the state of the environment or environmental quality leading to negative ecological and
socio-economic consequences.
• A known process within the environment or a state of the environment which has adverse effects on the sustainability
of the environmental quality necessary for the well being of the organisms living in it.
1.3. Environmental Quality
• To assess and value the actual state of the environment, we need to have an idea of what the state could or should be.
• It requires the setting of a norm or standard or adopting a reference.
• The difference between actual state and reference points to the concept of quality. A valuation of the gap between ‘is’
and ‘ought’.
• Once a function is known it is easier to set a reference/norm/standard.
• A standard is defined as the state of (parts of) the environment in which or by which the function is fully or sufficiently
satisfied.
o E.g. Water pollution: nitrate in groundwater
o Norm: 50mg NO3 per litre
o Function: water suitable for human consumption
o The average NO3concentration in the water in Gelderland is 60 mg/l. This statement is an indication of
a) the state
b) the reference (?)
• The more accurate the user and function are defined and the more we understand about causal relations and other
relevant mechanisms, the more precise the standard can be set.
• Quality can be assessed by comparing the actual (or expected) state of the environment with the standard.
• The actual state of the environment can change due to human interventions or to ‘natural’ fluctuations.
• If people consider the environmental changes as negative than we refer to it as environmental problems.
1
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