what's all the fuss about sustainability? dr. wade worthen biology department furman university

WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY?

Dr. Wade Worthen

Biology Department

Furman University

sustainability: "a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely"

- Wikipedia 2007

Bein’ able to keep doin’ what you been doin’

sustainability: "a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely" - Wikipedia 2007

-In an expanding system, there are always more resources – sustainability is easy

- But in finite, bounded systems, resources will decline and limit the rate of the process UNLESS:

- they regenerate fast enough to meet demand

- efficiency increases so less is needed

- another resource is substituted

- Wikipedia 2007

Human sustainability: "Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."

-Brundtland Commission - 1987

WHAT'S NOT SUSTAINABLE IN A FINITE, BOUNDED SYSTEM?

Continuous Growth…

WHAT'S NOT SUSTAINABLE IN A FINITE, BOUNDED SYSTEM?

WHY IS THIS AN ISSUE NOW?

(NOW being the last 150 years!!!!

J. MuirT. RooseveltA.LeopoldR. CarsonJ. Cousteau)

our population has been growing by using up resources and then substituting others...

- 1 billion: ...to about 1850

- 2 billion: 1928 (about 78 yrs)

Five Points - Atlanta

- 5 billion: 1987 (about 15 yrs/billion)

Ozone Hole - 2004

- currently 6.78 billion

- adding about 220,000 people a day….today….

- currently 6.78 billion

- adding about 220,000 people a day now

... and 1/2 are living on less than $2/day... so there is already evidence that we are not "sustaining" our population...

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey

We are realizing that humans have become a planetary force as a consequence of:

I = P x A x T

population

affluence

technology

We are realizing that humans have become a planetary force as a consequence of:

I = P x A x T (depends on the technological goal!!)

http://www.ejsd.org/public/journal_article/11

Because of our large population and powerful technologies, we are changing the characteristics of the planet – the only planet – we depend upon for physical and psychological sustenance and inspiration

Human domination of the Earth's ecosystems (Vitousek et al. 1997).

And we realize that …

Walt Kelly – 1970, for the first Earth Day poster

There is nowhere else to go.

Really.

There is nowhere else to go. We are stressing our life-support systems.

Really.

There is nowhere else to go. We are stressing our life-support systems. We are all in this together.

Really.

ECONOMY

SOCIETY

ENVIRONMENT

Sustainability... "The term, in its current usage, refers to the potential longevity of vital human ecological life-support systems, such as agriculture, industry, forestry, fisheries, urban, and human communities in general."

ECONOMY

SOCIETY

ENVIRONMENT

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911

TODAY:

- our effects on the natural environment

- why that is important

- why biodiversity is important to sustainability

- what we can do to maintain biodiversity

- why we should appreciate biodiversity

Human Impacts on the Environment:

Human domination of the Earth's ecosystems (Vitousek et al. 1997).

Land transformation:

Forested Land – U. S.

Land transformation:

Mountaintop removal in West Virginia

Humans are a geological force…

National Forest | National Park

Human are affecting 83% of the land surface area of the planet… converting forest to field and field to development

50% of the freshwater:

The Colorado, like the Nile, Yellow, and Rio Grande, doesn’t reach the ocean for months each year. All the water is diverted.

The Aral Sea, Kazakhstan

Water diverted for agriculture in 1960; by 2007, Sea had shrunk by 90%

The Aral Sea, Kazakhstan

- Salinization increased, killing the productive fisheries industry

- Agricultural lands – salt increased 6X

by 1994 the productivity had dropped by 20-50%.

Marine Fisheries:Marine Fisheries:

- Global fish catch is declining by 500,000 metric tons/yr from peak - Global fish catch is declining by 500,000 metric tons/yr from peak in 1987 (Science, 2003). in 1987 (Science, 2003).

- Predatory fish (tuna, salmon) and bottom fish (flounder, sole) - Predatory fish (tuna, salmon) and bottom fish (flounder, sole) have decreased by 90%. have decreased by 90%.

- Farmed fish are fed fish, so that doesn’t relieve the pressure - Farmed fish are fed fish, so that doesn’t relieve the pressure

2009: 387 -

We are affecting the climate of the planet:

Highest in last 160,000 years…. (Entire history of Homo sapiens)

All of recent increase in last 200 yrs…

Plants can’t absorb it all…

2007 – lowest ever

(thickness)

- deep sea ice depth decreased from mean of 3.1 meters in 1958 to mean of 1.8 m in 1997

decrease area and depth; loss of 40% of the ICE VOLUME in 40 years (Science 1999).

- Calving off the Larsen Ice Shelf in 2002; it’s 50 miles long and as big as Rhode Island…

- Icebergs calving off Ross Shelf – April 2000

(B15 is 4,280 miles2 – about the size of CONNECTICUT….)

- Antarctic air temps have risen by 0.5oC/decade for the last 50 years; 10x faster than the global average.

- Even then, air temp change, alone, can’t explain this ice loss.

- The ocean is also warming, melting these shelves from the bottom. As such, given the thermal momentum that exists in the ocean, these shelves will be gone by the end of the century.

Shepherd et al., Science 302: 856-859.

Sea level rise

0 4Temp oC

And we are a coastal species…

- Changes in Plant Growth: Crops if CO2 at 550 ppm

-Changes in Plant Growth: Crops if CO2 at 550 ppm

And we will grow in just the wrong areas…

Permafrost is defined solely by temperature. Any rock or soil remaining at or below 0°C for two or more years is permafrost. Permafrost can contain 0- 30% ice.

And there may be some nasty non-linearities…

14% of the world’s organic carbon is stored in permafrost. As the poles warm (and they are warming faster than anywhere else), this will thaw.

- and when it melts, marshes are created where anaerobic bacteria dominate, breaking the organics into Methane, not CO2… and methane is a worse greenhouse gas…

This is a type of threshold response (not a gradual response), and would involve positive feedback loops…the warmer it gets, the more permafrost melts, and the warmer it gets…

And there may be some nasty non-linearities…

temp 0C

Things are hotter and drier…

In Western U.S., snow pack has declined dramatically, corresponding to a 30%-60% reduction in stream water.

Snowmelt begins much earlier; making spring floods and drier summers. Service, 2004. Science 303:1124-1127.

And what might you expect as the land gets hotter and drier??

Things will get hotter and drier…

Increase in fire frequency and size over the last 10 years…$3 billion to fight fires in the west, 2X amount ten years ago

And this will affect other organisms…

-Changes in Reef Communities:

“Almost 15% of the world's reefs are already beyond repair thanks to global warming. Another 30% may be lost over the next 30 years.”

– (Nature, February 2004)

- Reefs are home to 25% of all marine species

- Reefs are nursery areas for the larvae and fry of commercially important fish and crustacean species

- Reefs are important storm breaks for tropical coasts

-Change in Ocean Food Webs:

- Phytoplankton have shifted northward in Atlantic with warming of surface waters.

-They provide ½ global NPP

-They are critical to food webs

-Shift north may affect zooplankton and perhaps major fisheries.

Richardson and Schoeman, 2004, Science 305:1609-1612

- Adding CO2 to atmosphere creates carbonic acid in water

- Acidification of sea water reduces calcium carbonate production by marine organisms (coccolithophores, corals, molluscs.)

Orr, et al., 2005. Nature. 437:681-686.

15-37% of terrestrial species may go extinct in the next 50 years, largely because of global warming. (Thomas et al. 2004)

A 3oC temp rise will wipe out 80% of alpine islands, and extinguish 1/3 to ½ of 613 known alpine plants.

As treelines rise and alpine tundra declines, so do animals like marmots and pika.

Krajick, K. 2004. Science 303:1600-1602

Our growth, in our bounded system, is at the cost of other species

• 40% of primary productivity (E)

Iowa - arrow pointing to forest fragment

Our growth, in our bounded system, is at the cost of other species

• 40% of primary productivity (E)

Massive extinction should be no surprise

TODAY:

- our effects on the planetary environment

What do we want for the future?What do we want for the future?

- - - - - - - -

“I want world peace…”

- World Peace- World Peace - - - - - -

- World Peace- World Peace - - - - - - “Democracy is the

government of the people, by the people, for

the people…”

- World Peace- World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, moral governments - - - -

Woo-hoo!!

- World Peace- World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, moral governments - stable, productive economies - stable, productive economies - -

- World Peace- World Peace - stable, moral governments - stable, moral governments - stable, productive economies - stable, productive economies - stable, productive food supplies - stable, productive food supplies

How can we get there?How can we get there?

- A stable, productive food supply- A stable, productive food supply Stable, productive economies Stable, productive economies Stable, productive, moral governments Stable, productive, moral governments

Peace and happiness for our children Peace and happiness for our children

How can we get there?How can we get there?

stable food supplystable food supply

productive economiesproductive economies

Happy peopleHappy peoplestable, moral governmentsstable, moral governments To achieve ONE goal, we must achieve ALL goals...To achieve ONE goal, we must achieve ALL goals...

Wouldn’t it be nice?Wouldn’t it be nice?

I want environmental, economic, and social

sustainability to achieve world peace!

It won’t be easy…..

ECONOMY

SOCIETY

ENVIRONMENTRemember why?

For example…

“Save the Amazon rainforest!!!!”

How does Brazil get out from under it's huge international debt?

What to do with the unemployed and urban poor? (22% live on less than $2)

Unemployment

Solution - offer them land to settle in the Amazon

but there is rampant exploitation - relocate poor to servitude of others

These are incredibly TOUGH, COMPLEX problems....

but they won't just go away if we ignore them...

TODAY:

- our effects on the planetary environment

Why is biodiversity important?

The earth is truly a living planet; life changes the conditions of the earth.

Releases oxygen to the atmosphereTransfers carbon to the lithosphere

Atmosphere

Hydro/Lithosphere

Biosphere

Why is biodiversity important?

The earth is truly a living planet; life changes the conditions of the earth.

Releases oxygen to the atmosphereTransfers carbon to the lithosphere

Atmosphere

Hydro/Lithosphere

Biosphere Life:• Cleans our water• Makes our food• Cleans our air

LIFE is composed of lots of living things = biodiversity

Diversity is the number and relative abundance of species in a habitat

We have named approximately 1.5 million species…

There may be as many as 10-30 million more…

Many habitats, like tall forest canopies and the deep sea have not been well sampled…

The diversity of life is truly staggering…

And we are learning that diversity improves ecosystem function

Why is ecosystem function important?

Estimates of various Ecosystem Services - $U.S. billionsEcosystem services

Value(trillion $US)

Soil formation 17.1Recreation 3.0Nutrient cycling 2.3Water regulation and supply 2.3Climate regulation (temperature and precipitation)

Habitat 1.4Flood and storm protection 1.1Food and raw materials production 0.8Genetic resources 0.8Atmospheric gas balance 0.7Pollination 0.4All other services 1.6Total value of ecosystem services 33.3Source: Adapted from R. Costanza et al., “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital,” Nature, Vol. 387 (1997), p. 256, Table 2. TOTAL GLOBAL GNP (1997) = 18 trillion.

Productivity is the energy that an organism absorbs and stores as tissue – as biomass/growth. (And not the energy that the organism spends to move or keep their cells alive…).

So, for humans, ecosystem productivity is food.

Biodiversity INCREASES productivity

- Sampling Effects

More diverse communities are more likely to contain the most productive species, and thus raise the total productivity.

- Sampling Effects

- Niche Complementarity

More diverse communities are more likely to contain different types of species that use different types of energy... thus more efficiently harvesting all the available energy and converting it to productivity.

Monoculture

They all need the same things at the same concentrations; they compete.

Monoculture Polyculture

Combinations of different plants can be planted at higher density, and they use different "niches" and coexist. Even if abundance of "most productive" species drops, this loss can be offset.

They all need the same things at the same concentrations; they compete.

- Sampling Effects

- Niche Complementarity

- Positive Effects

Some species have beneficial effects on others, and so their presence promotes diversity and productivity.

Monoculture Polyculture

Nitrogen fixing legumes (beans) nutrify the soil, increasing the growth of other plants. And you have beans!

without beans

with beansThey all need the same things

at the same concentrations; they compete.

Diversity and Productivity in a Long-Term Grassland Experiment Tilman, et al. 2001. Science 294. 843 - 845Dotted line is biomass in a monoculture of the most productive species. Higher productivity than this, at higher richness values, means niche complementarity or positive effects must be occurring.

Diversity INCREASES productivity

Diversity can increase stability

Types of stability:

resistance to change

Types of stability:

resilience after change

Types of stability:

resilience after change

Diverse communities are less susceptible to one particular disturbance (like one species of pest, or fire, or flood), because multiple species are unlikely to be sensitive to the same thing.

Example 1: Bird “Flu”

People can get a virus (West Nile Virus), carried by mosquitoes, from birds…

SOME birds are good reservoirs… Crows, Blue Jays, Sparrows, and Robins

So people in communities with low bird diversity, dominated by these species, have high rates of Bird Flu!

( because mosquitoes are likely to hit an infected bird and transmit to humans)

People in communities with high bird diversity means a lower percentage of these species, and mosquitoes are less likely to hit them and get infected because there are OTHER species to feed on! Fewer sick people!

Example 2: Rainforest

Diverse communities may be resilient unless completely removed….

Decomposition rapid

Absorption rapid

Volatiles released

Stimulate condensation and precipitation

Rainforests feed themselves and water themselves.

Example 2: Rainforests

CUT FOREST DOWN

REDUCE RAINFALL... REDUCE NUTRIENTS

INCREASE FIRE

Select for fire-adapted grasses.... rainforest may not come back....

RAINFOREST

(wet, few fires)

GRASSLAND

(dry, many fires)

"Multiple Stable States"

We are dependent on the environment for food and resources. Ideally, we would like a STABLE, PRODUCTIVE supply of these resources.... right??

FAMINE

(We don't want "boom and bust", "feast and famine" scenarios....)

FAMINE

STABILITY

PRODUCTIVITY?

STABILITY

PRODUCTIVITYDIVERSITY…riiight… : )

TODAY:

- what we can do to maintain biodiversity?

- why should we appreciate biodiversity?

So, how do we preserve biodiversity?

- Larger areas have more species than small areas

PLANTS

HERBIVORES

CARNIVORES

LARGE AREA OF HABITAT

Area Effects

HABITAT FRAGMENTATION

Carnivores can’t be supported; competition reduces diversity among herbivores, plants overgrazed.

- Larger areas lose fewer species over time

- Larger areas are less susceptible to disturbance

- Larger areas recover more rapidly after disturbance

- How large is large?

Bigger than these……

We need to rethink our model of community…

Development

nature

Development

And we need to care…

TODAY:

- what we can do to maintain biodiversity?

- why should we appreciate biodiversity?

nature is important to each person, even at an unconscious level.

E. O. Wilson (1984) defined biophilia as “an innate tendency of humans to focus on life and lifelike processes…

Biophilia:

We are interested in living things…

Biophilia:

There is an adaptive benefit to this interest that has been selected for over hominid evolution…

Biophilia:

This relationship influences how we learn …

Biophilia:

And who we are…

Consider that the human mind and its products have not arisen in a vacuum.

Nature evolution

5.0 mya

1.75 mya

tools art

0.2 mya

burial

75,000

Understanding Human Evolution. 1999. Poirier and McKee

agriculture

10,000

chimps

99.6% before art

“Pre-cultural Baggage”

As such, our interaction with art, society, and nature may have a biologically interesting contribution.

(NOT single factor biological determinism, please!)

Let’s examine the evidence for Biophilia in our endeavors:

Humanities

Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language

A ‘first alphabet’ book…..

‘A’ is for _____________.

‘B’ is for _____________.

‘C’ is for _____________.

‘D’ is for _____________.

‘E’ is for _____________.

‘F’ is for _____________.

‘A’ is for _____________.

- antidisestablishmentarianism?

‘A’ is for _____________.

‘B’ is for _____________.

‘C’ is for _____________.

‘D’ is for _____________.

‘E’ is for _____________.

‘F’ is for _____________.

Adjectives and similes…..

Sly as _________

Sly as _________ an Enron executive?

Sly as _________

busy as __________?

Strong as ________ ?

Weak as _________ ?

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities – Language

Verbs:

To ‘cow’ To ‘quail’

To ‘clam up’ To ‘weasel’

To ‘outfox’ To ‘hound’

To ‘hog’ To ‘grouse’

To ‘fawn’ To ‘buffalo’

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities – Language

Summary –

“Human intelligence is bound to the presence of animals. They are the means by which cognition takes shape and they are the instruments for imagining abstract ideas and qualities…they are basic to the development of speech and thought.”

-Shepard 1978

Trivial examples or basic, fundamental examples?

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Art

-Language and the arts are dependent on natural imagery to evoke a particular emotion…..

Autumn Landscape at Dusk – Vincent Van Gogh

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion

Animals are central to the myths that give our lives meaning and our culture context.

In particular, the serpent figures

prominently as an icon of power,

knowledge, life, and death.

Egyptians – the Earth as an

Egg, grasped by a serpent

Middle East – Judaism – Eve and the serpent

Greeks – Gaia (Earth) was protected by her son, Python, who lived at the center of the world and held it together

Australian aboriginal culture – the rainbow serpent – art dates from 6000 years ago

Norse –dragons and Jormungand, the world serpent – (an ouroborus).

Aztecs – Quetzalcoatl, the ‘bird-serpent’ or “feathered serpent”

Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities –

Summary

"Animals are far more fundamental to our thinking than we supposed. They are not just a part of the

fabric of thought: they are a part of the loom." (Peter Steinhart, 1989).

(Native American ouroboric image)

Navajo Dance

Silver tip fox cape with foot clasp

Evidence for Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Sociology

Animals are our cultural icons, we use them for tribal affiliation, both trivial….

NFL Football Team Mascots:

Cardinals Falcons Ravens Bills Panthers

Bears Bengals Broncos Lions

Colts Jaguars DolphinsEagles Seahawks

15 of 32 teams (not that it helps….)

Evidence for Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Sociology

And significant…

Evidence for Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Psychology

- phobias are usually related to natural cues: (snakes, spiders, water, closed spaces, heights)

(and other primates that encounter snakes are ophidophobes)

- even though cultures have produced more deadly risks

-habitat selection – humans with the resources build homes on promontories near water, with a view

The Vanderbilt Estate, “The Breakers”, Newport, RI

Societies construct gardens, parks, and green spaces in urban environments – like Central Park, NYC.

We need nature, and we take it with us into man-made environments; it is a part of what we are, and it has shaped who we are and how we identify ourselves, individually and collectively.

Rooftop Garden, Tokyo Tokyo

Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences - Physiology

- contact with people helps development and healing

- contact with animals helps stress and healing, and gives us someone who depends upon us.

Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences - Physiology

- vistas - people with a natural view are less stressed and are more productive.

- inner city children with a view of a park are able to concentrate in school and are better learners.

What are the ramifications of biophilia?

Humans need nature as a reference to completely express our humanity. It is at once the “other” and the “self”.

To lose it, or to simplify it, will profoundly affect what and who we are.

“It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds…

“with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth…

“and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner….

“have all been produced by laws acting around us…There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or one….

“and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”Charles Darwin, 1859, “The Origin of Species”

If we recognize the grandeur, we might appreciate it…

If we appreciate it, we might value it…

If we value it, we might sustain it…

If we sustain it, we might be able to sustain our societies and economies, as well.

ECONOMY

SOCIETY

ENVIRONMENT

If we don’t, we won’t…

what's all the fuss about sustainability? dr. wade worthen biology department furman university

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