The Science of Sustainability
Common sense tells us that air, water, food, and shelter are fundamental to the survival of humans and businesses. However, the pathway to healthily integrating the two remains a challenge. Read this chapter to explore the important interrelationships between the environment, society, and economics and their importance to sustainable business. What are the merits of both views of economics with limits versus no limits to growth? How do businesses and individuals threaten ecosystems and the environment? What roles can businesses play in addressing environmental challenges as well as the limitations?
2.3 Human Activity Impacts on Ecosystems
Learning Objectives
- Identify five threats to ecosystems from human activities.
- Understand what factors affect climate change and what the current trajectory and implications of climate change are for the next century.
- Discuss the role of population, affluence, and technology in driving human impacts.
Business and human activities can be direct threats to ecosystems. They can cause destruction, degradation, and the impairment of biodiversity and other natural resources. Ecosystem threats include (1) climate change, (2) pollution, (3) habitat destruction, (4) overexploitation, and (5) introduction of invasive species. Business and human activities can stress the ecosystem they operate in reducing its overall health and at some point the accumulation of all negative impact from human activities can exceed the ecological threshold of the planet. Driving these human activities are population, affluence, and technology.