Climate change Flashcards
(39 cards)
What is the tragedy of the commons (Roopnarine, 2013)?
The tragedy of the commons describes situations in which a shared resource is destroyed or access is rendered progressively. (Roopnarine 2013)
How have the common’s resources become over utilized?
- mining
- oil extraction
- overfishing
- whaling
What was the Artic Haze?
first recognized in 1970s that contaminants generated from America and Europe were travelling to the Artic
What is the difference between one hop and multi hop contaminants?
one hop = cant revolatize and re enter the atmosphere whereas multi hop can
one hop = doesn’t travel very far, whereas multi hop can travel great distances and become globally distributed,
Name some examples of one hop contaminants
sulphates, nitrates, non- volatile heavy metals and radionuclides
Name some examples of multi hop contaminants
POPs, PCBs, semi volatile organics - HCHs and mercury
What are some effects of PCBs in mammals?
- affect reproduction of mammals
- neurological and carcinogenic effects
What are the impacts of POPs on the tragedy of commons (Easton, 2002) ?
infiltrate food chains and bioaccumulate up each food chain to top predators
What properties of contaminants make them dangerous in the Artic (Donaldson, 2010)?
- chemical and physical properties
- highly lipophilic and resistant to biodegradation
What are the main impacts of eating hamburgers (Spencer 2005)?
- linked to colon cancer, diabetes and over weight/ higher body mass indices
- obesity linked to arthiritis, cancer, CVD, diabetes and high cholesterol
How much has litter increased in the UK by since 1965?
500%
How do air pollutants become spread globally?
they cross international boundaries as carried long distances by air circulation patterns
What does over grazing lead to?
soil erosion and desertification
Who was Thomas Malthus?
first person to recognize that the population grows at exponential rates whereas resources don’t
Define carrying capacity
“The maximum number of a species that can be supported indefinitely by a particular habitat”
Name the 4 possible outcomes of population growth
- continuous growth
- sigmoid growth
- overshoot and oscillation
- overshoot and collapse
When does continuous growth occur?
- physical/ resource limits are far off
- physical/resource limits are growing exponentially
When does sigmoid growth occur?
- signals from physical/resource limits are responded to rapidly
- population limits itself without needing signals from carrying capacity limits
When does overshoot and oscillation occur?
signals/ responses are delayed
- resources can recover rapidly
When does overshoot and collapse occur?
signals or responses are delayed
resources can’t recover rapidly
What was the key point that Hardin believed in about the tragedy of the commons?
you had to legislate to prevent the tragedy of the commons
What is understood by the term Neo-Malthusianism?
family planning is of vital importance throughout the world to avoid the social consequences, environmental degradation and depletion of resources that occurs through population growth
Who said that ‘The Artic was considered a pristine environment due to remoteness from other regions but studies in 1980s-90s showed evidence of contaminants in all components of the Artic ecosystem’?
Donald SG, 2010
Who said that ‘Increasing industrialization of the northern hemisphere has lead to a rapid increase in pollution entering rivers, oceans and lakes’?
Easton, 2002
