Lesson 2:
Learning Objectives for Lesson 2
1. Enumerate, explain, and cite situations wherein the seven
environmental principles can be applied
2. Enumerate and explain the three scientific principles of sustainability
and how they affect man and nature
This lesson highlights the basic environmental principles. Humans need to learn
about the ecosystem because this is the only way to protect and take care of our
planet and act for environmental problems.
Seven Environmental Principles
1. Nature knows best
A natural process that requires serious attention is biogeochemical
cycling. Humans have to understand nature and obey their rules to ensure
a continuous and steady supply of resources; one must not go against
natural processes. In essence, nutrients pass from the environment to the
bions and back to the environment. Any disturbance in the cycle can bring
about imbalance. Our nature knows everything. Sometimes, it knows what
is best for us.
2. All forms of life are important
Though it is easy to appreciate the beautiful organisms like butterflies,
especially if one knows their essential role in pollination. The large ones
like elephants, the whales, the alligators – are the ones we respect mixed
with fear or wonder and the products they produce. But when it comes to
unlovely, squirmy, and troublesome creatures, this principle is unusually
overlooked.
Each organism presents a key role in nature. Since niche, an occupational
or functional position, cannot be simultaneously occupied by more than
one species, it is clear that all living things are considered invaluable in
the maintenance of homeostasis in the ecosystem.
3. Everything is connected to everything else
The concept of the ecosystem best exemplifies this principle. In an
ecosystem, all biotic and abiotic components interact with each other
to guarantee that the system is preserved. Any outside intervention
may result in an imbalance and the degeneration of the system.
4. Everything changes
The only permanent thing is change. The world is steadily changing,
and nothing is stable anymore. Even in each passing day, humans try
to improve their living to fit into the world. Organisms also develop
through time. However, with our current technology, we have affected
these natural changes that these changes now cause problematic
events to us. Humans should rethink their relationship with the
environment. Because what humans consider is advantageous to the
environment often turns out to be catastrophic.
5. Everything must go somewhere
When the trash is thrown, it disappears, but it does not cease to exist
and ends up somewhere else. Another example is when gases released
in the atmosphere may spread, but it will end up a component of the
atmosphere and can be brought down by rains. Any particular type of
waste should always be a concern to all organisms, big or small. It may
be a pollutant or a resource, depending on certain factors.
Everything goes somewhere, and nothing goes nothing; things have its
way to go. Everything ends up elsewhere. It does not automatically
disappear.
6. Ours is a finite earth
Can the Earth sustain our needs and demands forever?
Actions require grave reflection. Unless the factors of population
growth, lifestyles, and polluting technologies are checked, the Earth's
collapse might be inevitable.
The Earth’s sources can be classified as either renewable or non-
renewable.
o Renewable resources can be quickly replenished by natural cycles
(e.g., water, air, plants, animals)
o Non-renewable resources cannot be replaced through natural cycles.
Although renewable resources can be replenished, it is crucial to
understand that these are renewable only if they are not overused
and not destroyed from factors such as pollution.
7. Nature is beautiful, and we are stewards of God's creation!
Humans are the only ones made in God's image and given the right to
have dominion over all creations. Being the most resourceful and
gifted with reason, man are capable of planning production to their
advantage. We, humans, are made not to control the world but to
improve the world. Creation exists not to be wasted or abused but to
be taken care of. Humans cannot exist without nature. They are co-
natural with the environment they live in. If the environment they
live in is destroyed, it will hit back to humans.
Principles of Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is defined as the Earth’s natural systems and human culture
systems can survive, flourish, and adapt to the changing environmental
conditions into a very long-term future. It is also ecologically defined as
responsible interaction with the environment to avoid depletion or
degradation of natural resources and allow for long- term environmental
quality.
Three Scientific Principles of Sustainability
1. Dependence on Solar Energy
o Solar energy warms up the planet
o Provides necessary power to plants to
produce nutrients
o Indirectly forms other types of energy
(wind, flowing water)
2. Biodiversity
o Variety of species, genes, ecosystems, and
interactions among organisms
o Feeding interactions provide vital
ecosystem services control population
o Provides ways for life to adapt to changing
environmental conditions
3. Chemical cycling
o Circulation of chemicals necessary for life
from the environment to organisms and back
to the environment
o In nature, “waste = useful resources.”
Interdependency
All organisms in an ecosystem are dependent on each other. Oftentimes, small
changes to ecosystems have large consequences, which can be difficult to
predict. If the population of one organism increases or decreases, then this
can affect the rest of the ecosystem. The importance of interdependency is
that it sustains life and allows it to adapt to a continually changing set of
environmental conditions. .
Components of Sustainability
Natural Capital – composed of natural resources and ecosystem services
• Natural Resources – materials and energy in nature that is
essential or useful to humans.
• Exhaustible resources – ex. Electricity from wind and sun
• Renewable resources – ex. Air, water, topsoil, animals, and
plants
• Nonrenewable resources – ex. Copper, oil, coal
• Ecosystem services – are processes from healthy ecosystems
that support life and human economies.
• Examples: Purification of water, renewal of topsoil, nutrient
cycling, pollination, and pest control
Human Activities
• Most human activities degrade natural capital by overusing natural
resources faster than they can be naturally restored and
overloading the Earth with pollution.
The Solution
• Scientist are looking for scientific, economic, and political solutions
to solve environmental problems
• YOU ARE PART OF THE SOLUTION. Individual matters because
everyone can be part of the solution.
Other Principles of Sustainability form Social Sciences
Full – costing pricing (economics)
• The costs for rehabilitation and mitigation of harmful
environmental and health impacts of products are included in their
market prices.
Win-win solutions (political sciences)
• An approach that shifts from competition and dominance (win- lose)
to compromise and interdependence (win-win)
Responsibility to future generations (ethics)
• The current generation's responsibility is to maintain and sustain
the planet’s life support systems for future generations.
Sustainability refers to three simple concerns that calls for transformation:
1. the need to arrest environmental degradation and ecological
imbalance
2. the need not to impoverish future generations
3. need for quality of life and equity between current generations.
THINK!
A. Reflection:
Read and reflect on the following ethical questions and
internalize the responsibilities of humans on the environment
o Is there a need to care about our environment?
o Are humans the most important species?
o Are we obliged to always inculcate if we have
obligations to other species? How do we decide which
species to protect?
o Are we capable of passing to the future generations the
conditions of the environment we have inherited?
o Should we be entitled to equal protection from
environmental hazards?
B. What will happen if there is a problem with the imbalance
of key players in interdependence?
