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Science, Technology,

& Society

Week 1 -

Introduction

Dr. Lindsay Miller - Branovacki

Course Details

For complete course details, please consult the

course syllabus available on our course website:

The delivery of this course will be online.

Weekly lecture notes will be posted along with

quizzes and assignments.

You will also receive marks for participating in

online forums and polls.

There is also an independent study unit in this

course.

The mark breakdown for these activities is

provided on the following slide.

Introduction

The major objective of the course is to introduce

and discuss some scientific topics that have an

effect on society and our environment.

Often times, technological gains come at a cost to

society and the environment and it is our

responsibility to be aware of these effects and to

try to mitigate these effects as much as possible.

Introduction

• Some of the topics we will be discussing are:
• Human population and food supply
• Approaches to sustainable development
• Applied ecology and ecosystem management
• Air pollution and climate change
• Urban wastewater and the Great Lakes
• Invasive species
• Emerging contaminants
• Brownfields
• Energy – renewables and nuclear
• Ethics, legislation, and risk

Introduction

• Many good things come from advancements in science

and technology and these fields will continue to develop

throughout the future.

• This course aims to make you aware of the possible

effects and to work on solutions.

• There is no one solution to ensure the protection of

society and the environment, however, the answer to a

lot of the problems may lie in sustainability.

• Sustainability will be a key concept in this course. If we

can keep sustainability in mind, we can develop

technology and advance science while minimizing

impacts.

Sustainability

Many definitions available, the most common:

Sustainable development is development which

meets the needs of the present without

compromising the ability of the future to meet its

needs.

Bundtland. G. (1987) Our Common Future. UN

World Commission on Environment and

Development

Sustainable Engineering

“the design of human and industrial systems to

ensure that humankind’s use of natural resources

and cycles do not lead to diminished quality of

life due either to losses in future economic

opportunities or to adverse impacts on social

conditions, human health, and the environment”

(Mihelcic, et al. 2003)

Existing and Emerging Environmental

Issues

Globalization, trade, and development

Coping with climate change and variability

Growth of megacities

Human vulnerability to climate change

Freshwater depletion and degradation

Marine and coastal degradation

Population growth

Rising consumption in developing countries

Biodiversity depletion

Biosecurity

Source: United Nations Environment Programme, 2002.

Impact

• The IPAT equation helps to identify that there are

multiple ways to lessen our impact on the earth’s

resources.

• Different types of countries could focus on different

components of the equation.

• Affluent countries can focus on reducing their

consumption.

• Developing countries can focus on reducing their

population through education and provision of resources.

• All countries can focus on making the technologies more

efficient.

Overview of Challenges - Population

Increasing human population place strains on

natural resources.

Our planet has an upper limit on carrying

capacity due to the availability of resources

such as food as energy.

Increases in development and quality of life

have been linked with resource depletion and

environmental degradation.

Overview of Challenges - Health

Poor environmental quality contributes to 25% of

preventable illnesses worldwide (WHO).

Contributing to this challenge is a lack of

improved water supply for some 900 million

people worldwide.

Diseases can be transmitted through contact with

water, air, soil and solid waste.

“Health is both a resource for, as well as an

outcome of, sustainable development.” (WHO,

Overview of Challenges – Water Scarcity

Defined as a situation in which there is

insufficient water to satisfy normal human

requirements.

Reasonable access to a water source: at least 20

L / capita • day from a source within 1 km of the

user’s dwelling (WHO).

2 billion people now suffer from severe water

scarcity.

This is expected to rise to 3 billion by 2025.

This increase will be partially associated with

climate change effects.

Overview 0f Challenges – Finite Resources

Our reliance on nonrenewable resources is

growing as the population increases.

For the current population to live at the quality of

life in America it would require the resources of

four Earths (Rees, 2006).

Of all raw materials used in manufacturing

processes, 94% end up as waste.

The majority of that waste is from nonrenewable

resources.

Natural Step System Conditions

For a society to be sustainable, nature must not

be subjected to the following systematically

increasing processes:

Extracting concentrations of substances

from the Earth’s crust

Substances that are scarce should be

substituted with those that are abundant

Materials should be used efficiently and recycled

Dependence on fossil fuels should be

systematically reduced.