Welcome to the AP Environmental Science Website

1-1 Living More Sustainably
An environmentally sustainable society does not deplete the natural capital on which it depends and lives off the biological income provided by this capital.

1-2 Population Growth, Economic Growth, and Globalization

The human population is undergoing exponential growth. One measure of population growth is doubling time. A quick way to calculate doubling time is to use the rule of 70.

Almost all countries seek economic growth and economic development. Indicators such as gross national income (GNI), gross domestic product (GDP), gross world product (GWP) and per capita GNI measure economic growth.

The United Nations classifies nations as either developed countries or developing countries, based on their degree of industrialization and per capita GNP. The ecological footprint of each person in developed countries is large compared to that in developing countries. Globalization is leading to an increasingly integrated world.

1-3 Resources

Ecological resources and economic resources may be perpetual, renewable, or nonrenewable. Solar energy is a perpetual resource.

Environmental degradation occurs when the rate of use of a renewable resource exceeds the sustainable yield. Through recycling and reuse we can extend supplies of some nonrenewable resources, such as metallic minerals.

The tragedy of the commons describes the degradation of common-property resources or free-access resources.

1-4 Pollution

Pollution can come from either point sources or nonpoint sources. The two basic approaches to dealing with pollution are pollution prevention (input pollution control) and pollution cleanup (output pollution control).

1-5 Environment Problems: Causes and Connections

According to one model, the environmental impact of a population depends on the population's size, per capita resource use (affluence), and the environmental effects of its technologies.

1-6 Is Our Present Course Sustainable?

People have differing environmental worldviews. Most people in industrial consumer societies have a planetary management worldview.

Advocates for environmentally sustainable economic development generally have an environmental wisdom worldview.