Chapter 2 Flashcards
What is a natural resource?
A resource’s human utility and cultural appraisal.
What are the 4 resources of the environment?
- Continuous (never runs out - solar, wind)
- Renewable (naturally regenerated - plants, animals)
- Non-renewable (available in finite quality/slow to regenerate - fossil fuels)
- Extrinsic (all aspects of human species - people, skills)
What are all environmental issues a result of?
Mismatch between extrinsic and natural resources.
What are the human forces behind environmental issues?
- Demographic
- Sociopolitical
- Economic
- Science/tech
- Cultural/religious
What is the clearest driver of impact on the environment?
Growth in human population. We use more resources and create more waste.
How is the population growing?
Still increasing, but has been increasing at a far slower rate than in the previous century.
Where will most future growth in the world occur?
In the developing world, this is because the developed world has grown to its full extent, gone through agricultural/industrial revolution, and lacks capacity for more.
When was the first billion people milestone?
1804
What is the worldwide replacement fertility rate?
2.1
What is the #1 contraceptive worldwide?
Female education
What is carrying capacity?
Max population that can be supported on a given resource base with given technology.
What is the Malthusian perspective?
Population grows geometrically (2^) while food grows linearly, so world population will exceed ability to produce enough food.
What were Malthus’ predictions?
Can only be brought back under control by intentional means of restraint and natural means like disease/famine/war.
Why have not all of Malthus’ predictions come true?
Because of technological advancement, contraception, industrialization of agriculture, better distribution of resources.
Who was Paul Ehrlich?
Believed the battle to feed humanity was over, 100 million people would starve in the 1970-80s.
What is the Impact on the Environment formula?
Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology (I-PAT)
What does the IPAT formula explain?
Why Ehrlich believed the west was overpopulated, since a small population x high income x high tech = greater environmental stress.
What is one of the striking changes as a result of the agricultural and industrial revolutions?
Urbanization, environmental imbalance between rural and urban.
How are the rich/developed world responsible for environmental issues?
Affluence and overconsumption
How are the poor/developing world responsible for environmental issues?
Strain for survival, unsustainable use of resources (cannot consider future generations)
Give an example of economic inequality at the global level?
One billion people live in unprecedented luxury, while one billion are destitute.
How is debt related to gross inequality?
Poorer countries are in debt to the countries/banks of the rich world, and rely on limited exports to sustain the economy.
What is the greatest inequality at the national level?
The rural/urban divide.
What are the two perspectives on technological innovation towards the population?
- That it spurs population growth (agricultural revolution)
- That it is a result of population growth (created need for technological solutions)
