The Human-Environment Relationship: Key Concepts and Models

Humans
Environment
Sustainable Development

Fulbright Lectures
ABV IIIT-M Gwalior
30 Jan-12 Mar
2014

Stephen Zavestoski, PhD

Associate Professor

Sociology and

Environmental Studies

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, California USA

smzavestoski@usfca.edu

Lecture 1

The Human-Environment Relationship:
Key Concepts and Models

Stephen Zavestoski, PhD

Associate Professor

Sociology and Environmental Studies

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, California USA

smzavestoski@usfca.edu

Overview
•

Key Questions

•

Key Concepts

•

Diagrams and Figures

•

Intro to the next lecture

What does “environment” mean?
•

Is this an image of “environment,” “nature,” “wilderness,”
or something else?

•

What makes up the environment?

•

What is NOT part of the environment?

What does
“development”
mean?
•

What is being developed?

•

Who is doing the
developing?

•

Do species other than
humans “develop”

•

What does development
have to do with
“environment?”

How do we know when a
developing country has become
developed?
•

Income level per capita?

•

Infant mortality?(link)

•

Life expectancy?

•

Mobile ownership rate?

•

Washing machine  
ownership rate?

•

Human Development Index?

•

Reduction in social
inequality?

•

Ecosystem health?

Table 1: Human Development Index and its components
Based on Table 1: Human Development Index and its components

2012
HDI
rank

Name

Type

Abbre
viation

2012
HDI
Value

2011
2010
2011
2012
2010
Expect
Mean Expect
Life
Mean
ed
Years
ed
Expect Years
Years
of
Years
ancy
of
of
School
of
at
School
School
ing
School
Birth
ing
ing
Note
ing
Note

3 United States

Ranked Country

USA

0.937

78.7

13.3

16.8

7 Sweden

Ranked Country

SWE

0.916

81.6

11.7

61 Mexico

Ranked Country

MEX

0.775

77.1

8.5

92 Sri Lanka

Ranked Country

LKA

0.715

75.1

9.3

101 China

Ranked Country

CHN

0.699

73.7

7.5

11.7

136 India

Ranked Country

IND

0.554

65.8

4.4

10.7

146 Bangladesh

Ranked Country

BGD

0.515

69.2

4.8

8.1

c

16
13.7

c

12.7

UN Development Program’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Why is the U.S. more developed than India?
•

Determinist explanations  
geography (e.g., resources, climate)

•

Structuralist explanations  
power, exploitation

•

Social constructivist/cultural explanations 
belief systems, deﬁnitions of development

Why is the U.S. more developed than India?

Key Concepts: Society
•

the aggregate of people living together in a more or less
ordered community

•

the community of people living in a particular country or
region and having shared customs, laws, and
organizations

Key Concepts: Culture
•

the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual
achievement regarded collectively

•

the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements
of a particular nation, people, or other social group

Key Concepts: Culture (cont.)
•

The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts,
beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work
and thought.

•

Anthropologists consider that the requirements for culture
(language use, tool making, and conscious regulation of
sex) are essential features that distinguish humans from
other animals.

Culture … consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs,
taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art,
rituals, ceremonies, and symbols. Every human society has its
own particular culture, or sociocultural system. Variation among
cultures is attributable to such factors as differing physical
habitats and resources; the range of possibilities inherent in
areas such as language, ritual, and social organization; and
historical phenomena such as the development of links with
other cultures … Culture change takes place as a result of
ecological, socioeconomic, political, religious, or other
fundamental factors affecting a society.  

•

 
(from Encyclopedia Brittanica online)

•

Culture has played a crucial role in human evolution,
allowing human beings to adapt the environment to their
own purposes rather than depend solely on natural
selection to achieve adaptive success.

Key Concepts: Sustainable
•

Able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

•

In Ecology (esp. of development, exploitation, or
agriculture) conserving an ecological balance by avoiding
depletion of natural resources.
!
!

Key Concepts: Sustainable Development
•

The 1987 Brundtland Report, deﬁned sustainable
development as development that "meets the needs of
the present generation without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their needs”

Key Concepts: Carrying Capacity
•

In Ecology: the maximum number of individuals of a given
species that a site can support during the most
unfavorable time of year, without causing deterioration of
the site.

•

Human carrying capacity: the maximum rate of resource
consumption and waste discharge that can be sustained
indeﬁnitely without progressively impairing the functional
integrity and productivity of relevant ecosystems

What about the environment?
•

Historically, development as measured by per capita
income has been inversely correlated with ecosystem
functioning.

UN Human Development Report
•

Good News
•

•

Between 1990 and 2012 there is a general trend
towards greater human development around the world

Bad News
•

“To ensure sustainable economies and societies, new
policies and structural changes are needed that align
human development and climate change goals in lowemission, climate-resilient strategies and innovative
public-private ﬁnancing mechanisms.”

Which brings us to “sustainable development”
•

Can a country increase GDP per capita without
signiﬁcant increases in CO2 per capita?

•

Comparing US, China, India (link)

Two conceptualizations of Sustainable Development

Triple Bottom Line

Subsystems of the
Environment

How do we measure it?
•

Evolution of measurement...
•

POET

•

IPAT

•

Carrying Capacity/Ecological Footprint

•

Planetary Boundaries

Models of the Human-Environment Relationship
The POET Model


The IPAT Model

Ecosystem Limits

Human Uses of the Environment (Hypothetical)
Waste

Resources
Primary area of
concern (20th c.)

Habitation


Ecosystem Limits

Human Uses of the Environment (Actual)

New areas of
concern (21st c.)

Waste

Resources
Of continued
concern (21st c.)

Habitation

Planetary Boundaries

The inner green shading represents the proposed safe operating space for nine planetary systems. The red
wedges represent an estimate of the current position for each variable. The boundaries in three systems
(rate of biodiversity loss, climate change and human interference with the nitrogen cycle), have already been
exceeded.
from “A safe operating space for humanity,” Rockström et al., Nature 461, 472-475 (24 September 2009)

Ecological Footprint
• A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an
individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it
consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing
technology and resource management practices.

The Two Worlds of Development
•

Humans are part of and exist within a biophysical reality

•

This biophysical reality, which many cultures call “nature,” is home to
ecological processes that result in the ecosystem services essential for
human survival.

•

Ecosystem services include
•

purifying water and air

•

mitigating droughts and ﬂoods

•

processing our wastes

•

maintaining biodiversity

•

stabilizing the climate

The Two Worlds of Development
•

Humans also construct social worlds within which social life processes are
carried out.

•

These processes, which include economic, political and cultural systems)
constitute the forms of social organization that ensure, in theory, that basic
human biological needs are met.

•

But they also give meaning to human life and shape how we make sense
of our world as well as how we pursue fulﬁllment of biological needs.

•

The reality of our social world also shapes how we strive to fulﬁll many
subjective needs (e.g., happiness, love, sense of community, status, etc.).

•

And our strategies might result in unintended consequences for the
biophysical world.

Social World-Biophysical World Communication
ECOLOGICAL
PROCESSES

SOCIAL LIFE  
PROCESSES

Water and air purification

Cultural beliefs

Material culture
Value systems
Economic systems
Political systems
Social institutions
Self-concept
Socialization
Social control
Social structure

Social World

Technology

Ecological
Processes

Biophysical World

Social Life
Processes

Drought and flood
mitigation
Decomposition and
detoxification of wastes
Generation and renewal of
fertile soil
Pollination
Seed dispersal and
translocation of nutrients
Maintenance of biodiversity
Protection from UV rays
Climate stability
Moderation of extremes
(e.g., temp., waves, wind)
(Daily 1997)

Transitive Property
•

If A = B

•

and B = C

•

then ??

•

A=C

Transitive Property
•

Therefore…

•

If Time = Money

•

and Time = Happiness

•

then Money = Happiness

•

Do you agree?

The Human-Environment Relationship: Key Concepts and Models

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