APS31006 Human Planet Flashcards
(19 cards)
When did the industrial revolution begin?
c. 1800 AD
Where did the industrial revolution begin?
Britain
Major human developments that have had major environmental impacts
-Ancient fire and hunting (earliest impacts), particularly Australia
-Origins and spread of agriculture (land-use)
-European colonisation (resource consumption)
-Industrial revolution (increased fossil fuel use)
-Great Acceleration (economic globalisation) after WWII
Holecene exceeding
-Temperature
-GHGS now well beyond Holocene range
Why does human history matter?
-Attribution (what are important causes?)
-Mitigation (what is needed to address problems?)
-Responsibility (who should lead mitigation efforts?)
Main developments of the industrial revolution
-Fossil fuel driven machines replaced human/animal labour
-Transition from rural agriculture to industrial manufacturing economy
-Migration into cities (urbanisation)
-Improved sanitation and healthcare led to population growth
-Industrialisation using fossil fuels has been integral to economic development across world
-Different trajectories of fossil fuel growth but dominated by Europe, USA and China
‘Post industrial’ development
-In today’s rich countries
-Involved transitioning to service-based economy
Current UK industrialisation trajectories
-De-industrialisation and transition to service economy linked with peaking of CO2 emissions
-Currently emissions are decreasing
-Electricity grid has substantially changed, no longer coal dominated
-Instead dominated by gas as gas emits smaller amount of CO2 per unit generated
-Wind dominates the renewable energy sources
Current energy use in India
-Emissions on upward trajectory due to ongoing industrialisation
-However, less than 2 tonnes produced per capita
-UK is still at 5 per capita despite the downward trajectory
Who has contributed the most to global CO2 emissions?
-Based on cumulative CO2 emissions 1751-2017 production based estimates
-Early industrialised nations contribute the most to the cumulative total
-E.g., N.A., Europe, Japan and Australia = 66% of the total
What was the rapid economic growth after WWII built on
-Cheap fossil fuels (especially oil)
-Abundant natural resources
-Global expansion of farmland
What caused the Great Acceleration?
-WWII
-Today’s wealthy countries
Consumption-based CO2 emissions per capita vs GDP per capita
-Global inequality
-46% of wealth controlled by richest 0.7%
-97% of wealth controlled by richest 30%
-Wealthiest 1% responsible for CO2 emissions equivalent to those of the poorest 66%
-On average, a person in US emits more CO2 in 4 days than someone in poorer countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda or Malawi emit in a whole year
Effects of urbanisation on per capita energy consumption
-Increases it
-Leads to economic productivity and then energy and natural resource consumption
-Weaker positive relationship between wealth and urbanisation than with CO2
-Urbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon linked to urbanisation
-Growing fraction of world’s populations live in cities
Overconsumption in the Anthropocene summary
-Industrial and consumption based CO2 emissions have pushed the Earth System outside its natural Holocene range of variation
-CO2 emissions arise primarily from consumption by globally wealthy, industrialised urban populations
-Primary cause of CO2 emissions is consumption of energy and goods by wealthy, urban societies
-Cumulative CO2 emissions have arisen predominantly from early industrialising western countries, especially USA and Europe
-In 21st century, emissions are shifting to Asia, centred on China
-Export accounts for a significant fraction of Chinese emissions
-However, consumption by industrialised urban populations across Asia and Global South are becoming increasingly important
Global trade
-Value of world merchandise exports are 260 times greater in 2016 ($15 trillion) than in 1948 ($59 billion)
-Global supply and production chains mean that consumption in one country may lead to environmental impacts in another
-Change in recent decades, global manufacturing shifted from Western countries to China, more recently to less developed countries of Global South
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
-Chinese investment in infrastructure to promote economic connections with other nations, especially across Eurasia and Africa
-Projects include roads, railways, telecoms, energy pipelines, ports
-Revives the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road by land and sea
CO2 emissions from BRI
-BRI nations account for 50% global CO2 emissions and 92% increase in last 20 years
-BRI is a net exporter of emissions to rest of world via international trade
-Carbon leakage from China and India to SE Asia, West Asia and Africa
