Chapter 2: Natural Capital, Linkages between the Economy and the Environment, and Pollution Flashcards
(20 cards)
Natural capital
The stock of natural and environmental resources that sustains our economy, ecosystems, and wellbeing of our residents – In sum, life & economic activity.
What are the three components to natural capital? Give examples.
- Natural Resource Capital – such as stocks of renewable and non-renewable resources
- Minerals, energy, forests, fish - Ecosystems or environmental capital
- Watersheds providing fresh drinking and irrigation water, pollution assimilation in the air, water and soil, Water run off control by wetlands - Land
Renewable Resources
living resources that grow overtime due to biological processes (fisheries, timber, etc), or non living such as the sun
Nonrenewable Resources
does not have a process of replenishment, once used are gone forever, extraction of them is unsustainable (gas, petroleum, oil)
Biodiversity
30 million species of living organisms, represent vast genetic information which is useful for medicine development, natural pesticides, resistant varieties of plants and animals
Intertemporal issues
issues that involve a trade off between today and the future
Assimilative Capacity
the ability for the earth’s natural system to accept certain pollutants and render then as benign or inoffensive
Impacts of Natural Capital Use
- Draws down stocks available for the future
- Catching too many fish now leaves less to catch tomorrow - Creates waste/residuals
- Processing fish or raising them may cause ocean pollution - Waste products may degrade stocks
- Fish may not reproduce in a polluted environment
Reduce consumption
Some goods are only harmful after they are consumed not necessarily when produced
Increase recycling
a. Replace a portion of inputs from nature with residuals of a previous production cycle
b. Uses less raw materials
c. However goods can only be recycled so many times before quality is degraded
Reduce residuals from production
a. Per unit of output
b. Needs new technology - use less energy
c. Shift composition of output - either use renewable energy or switch from manufacturing to service economy
d. Demand more environmentally friendly goods
Reduce the quantity of goods and services produced
a. Less output, less waste
b. Not popular because it means people have to live with less things
c. People are reluctant to live with fewer possessions
Accumulative Pollutant
(stock) - stay in the environment for a long time, new emissions are added to existing stocks of past emissions (plastic, radioactive waste, GHG)
Non accumulative Pollutant
(flow) - only causes disturbance when it is directly happening, disperses very quickly and assimilates to the environment (noise, sound)
Local pollutant
only affects a small area and does not travel to other areas, easy to identify and address (noise, land degradation, ground level ozone smog)
Regional and Global pollutant
- travels long distances from the source through the atmosphere and through water sources (acid rain, GHG)
Point source pollutant
- come from a specific source that is identifiable (power plant emissions, smoke stacks from a particular industrial plant, municipal waste outfall hole)
Non point source pollutant
- do not have a specific source, or has so many sources it is undefinable (agricultural chemical runoff, storm water runoff, GHG)
Continuous pollutant
- involve a steady rate of pollution, can be measured and monitored, technology can be installed (car emissions, power plant and wastewater emissions)
Episodic pollutants
- happen occasionally or rarely, catastrophic event, difficult to asses due to their unpredictable nature, may not have the equipment to handle the issue right away (oil spills, pipeline rupture, chemical spill)
