quiz 4 Flashcards
(39 cards)
1
Q
What is Environmental Geography?
A
- Branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world
- Requires an understanding of the dynamics of:
- Biogeography
- Climatology
- Geology
- Geomorphology
- Hydrology
- Requires an understanding of the ways human societies conceptualize the environment
2
Q
What is the ‘Environment’?
A
- Overworked word that means the totality of things that in any way affect an organism
- Biological → Relating to living organisms
- Ecological → Relating to the relationship of living organisms to one another and their physical surroundings
- Ecosystem → Functional unit or complex of relations in which living organisms interact with one another and with their physical environment, forming a dynamic yet broadly stable system
- Natural → Not caused by humankind
- Physical → Relating to natural features and processes of the environment
- What roles do humans have in the environment?
3
Q
Human-Environment Global Issues
A
- Physical Environment (Physical Geography) + Humans and Societies (Human Geography) = Global Environmental Issues
- Global climate change
- Water shortage
- Ozone layer depletion
- Acid rain
- Desertification of the land
- Ocean pollution
- Biodiversity decline, etc.
- South Korea has acidic rain due to factories in India and China
- Any policies made relies on the political will of the people → political issue
- Global environmental issues are, at their very core, social problems, NOT ecological problems
- Global environmental issues are inherently social and political in nature
4
Q
The Roots of Modern Environmental Problems
A
- Atmosphere
- Light blanket of air
- Hydrosphere
- Surface and subsurface waters in oceans, rivers, lakes, glaciers, and groundwater
- Lithosphere
- Upper reaches of the earth’s crust
1. Soils that soil plant life
2. Minerals (nutrients) for flora and fauna
3. Fossil feuls and ore for energy use
- Upper reaches of the earth’s crust
- Biosphere (or ecosphere)
- Thin film of air, water, and earth within which all organisms live in
5
Q
Biocapacity, Ecological Footprints
A
- Biocapacity
- The capacity of ecosystems to regenerate what people demand from the ecosphere
- Supply and demand in a natural setting
- Biocapacity buffer
- The amount of biocapacity set aside to maintain the ecosphere and viable populations of species
- Ecological debt
- Level of resource consumption and waste discharge by a population which is in excess of the biocapacity
- Ecological footprint
- Total area of land required to sustain a population
- Calgary has a very large ecological footprint
- It terms of urban sprawl
6
Q
Three Scenarios: Future Ecological Debt
A
- the higher the population, the worse it becomes
First Scenario: Business as Usual
- Not a lot of environmental policies in place → ecological footprint becomes larger
- So much demand, not a lot of supply going around
Second Scenario: Slow Shift
- Trying to impose policies after
- This will take years
Third Scenario: Rapid Reduction
- Act now, environmental debt shrinks a lot. faster
7
Q
First Scenario: Business as Usual
A
- Not a lot of environmental policies in place → ecological footprint becomes larger
- So much demand, not a lot of supply going around
8
Q
Second Scenario: Slow Shift
A
- Trying to impose policies after
- This will take years
9
Q
Third Scenario: Rapid Reduction
A
- Act now, environmental debt shrinks a lot faster
10
Q
The Overshoot
A
- Ecological debt
- Difference between supply and demand
- Most developed countries are most likely to overshoot biological capacity
- Mar 13, Canada, US overshoot
11
Q
What About Other Species?
A
- According to Stuart Pimm (Biologist)
- Pre-human rate of extinctions on earth was around on species per year for every million species in existence
- Refined later downwards to 0.1 species per year for every million species
- Today, this rate has increased to between 100 and 1,000 species per year for every million species in existence
- It took a long time for species to go extinct before humans populated the earth
- It is increasing at a much faster rate
12
Q
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCM) Red List of Threatened Species (The Barometer of Life)**
A
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Identifies 31,000 Species Threatened With Extinction, Including:
- 14% of birds
- 25% of mammals
- 30% of all sharks and rays
- 33% of reef-building corals
- 43% of conifers
- 41% of amphibians
13
Q
The IUCN Barometer of Life: The Case of the Amazon Rainforest**
A
- From 2010 to 2014, a total of 12,256 species were assessed.
- The assessment found that 1,182 species (9.6% of all species assessed) were threatened with extinction, including:
- 55 elasmobranchs (32%)
- One myxine (20%)
- 110 mammals (15%)
- 234 birds (12%)
- 80 reptiles (11%)
- 299 invertebrates (9%)
- 353 bony fishes (8%)
- 41 amphibians (4%)
- Chance on nuclear war, 1 in 1,000
- Chance of total natural risk, 1 in 10,000
14
Q
How Do We Respond to Global Environmental Issues
A
- Resignation: All is lost
- Divine providence: It’s in God’s hands
- Denial: What’s the problem?
- Paralysis: It’s too overwhelming
- Mudding through: It’s going to be alright… somehow
- Deflection: It’s not my problem
- Solutionist: Answers CAN and MUST be found!
15
Q
Suspect 1: Modern Industrialization
A
- Colonialism and trade
- Exchange of ecologies and export of raw materials to Europe
- Restructuring of land use
- Commodification of nature
- During colonialism, they are pillaging natural resources → altering what those landscapes are all about
- Destroys the natural environment of that place, changes their way of life and the natural ecology
- 19th century
- Foreign investment
- Mining, lumber, grains, livestock
- 20th century
- Refrigeration
- Airplanes and cars
- Refrigeration required a lot of chemicals that was damaging to the environment
- Dependence of developing world on developed world
- Import substitution after WWII
16
Q
Suspect 2: Overpopulation
A
- Thomas Robert Mathus (1798)
- “An Essay on the principle of Population”
- Population growth will outrun food supply because:
- Growth rate of food supply (Arithmetic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
- Growth of population (Geometric: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16)
- Club of Rome (1972)
- “The Limits to Growth”
- Even with advanced technology, the earth’s resources will not be able to support current rates of economic and population growth
- Malthus and the Club of Rome warn that overpopulation will lead to eco-scarcity
- It has been debunked that overpopulation leads to food scarcity
17
Q
Suspect 3: Human Attitudes
A
- Belief systems surrounding being apart or at one with the environment
- Indigenous worldviews maintain that humans are one with the environment and that it is a duty to care for the earth and all its resources
- Contemporary (urbanized) humans are psychologically wired and socially adapted to viewing themselves as separate from the natural environment.
Ecocentrism
- Nature-centred
- Intrinsic value of nature although humans must use and even exploit nature to survive
- Fine line between use and abuse of the natural environment
- To what extent should we conserve?
Anthropocentrism
- Human-centred
- Belief reflected in Western religions and the dominant economic paradigm of industrialized societies
- Utilitarian worldview
- Not the conservation of the environment for the environment’s sake, but the conversation of the environment for human’s sake
- To what extent should we develop?
- Shifts in human attitudes toward toward the environment
- Prior to Industrial Revolution, more ecocentric view
- 1750s: Industrial Revolution
- Mid-1940s: Post WWII, anthropocentric view
- Post WWII, it took off
- Late-1980s: Brundtland Report, we should live more ecofriendly
- Late 2010s: Fridays for Future
18
Q
Ecocentrism
A
- Nature-centred
- Intrinsic value of nature although humans must use and even exploit nature to survive
- Fine line between use and abuse of the natural environment
- To what extent should we conserve?
19
Q
Anthropocentrism
A
- Human-centred
- Belief reflected in Western religions and the dominant economic paradigm of industrialized societies
- Utilitarian worldview
- Not the conservation of the environment for the environment’s sake, but the conversation of the environment for human’s sake
20
Q
Suspect 4: Capitalist Production Systems
A
- Production system
- Where are natural resources harvested and manufactured?
- Farms (US) → Mills (China or India) → Factories (China, India, Bangladesh, and Türkiye → Stores (worldwide)
- Environmental pollution
- Dyes → Toxic waste water and air pollution
- High carbon footprint → clothing production is 10% of global carbon emissions
- Washing and drying → Energy intensive
- Social costs
- Poor working conditions
- Low wages
- Culture of consumption
- Fast fashion
- Kardashians
21
Q
Suspect 5: Lack of Regulation and Control**
A
- “The phrase ‘managing the global economy’ comes rather easily. It is frequently heard because it is a priority enterprise of governments, multilateral financial institutions, and many others. But ‘managing the global environment’? It still sounds futuristic, but it shouldn’t. The global environment is more of an integrated system than the global economy. It is even more fundamental to humans well-being. It is impacted powerfully by human activities, and it requires collective management.” — James Gustave Smith (Environmental Lawyer)
Environmental management
- Management of an ecological entity with the intention of keeping the ecological entity ecologically intact (Preservation)
- Represented in
- Biodiversity conservation
- Parks and protected areas
- Ecological monitoring
- Environmental impact assessments
- Pollution reduction
Resource management
- Management of a particular defined natural resource with the intention of keeping the resource use at a sustainable rate to secure its future use (Conservation)
- Represented in
- Sustainability goals
- Community-based and local governance concepts
- Eco-certification programs
22
Q
Environmental management
A
- Management of an ecological entity with the intention of keeping the ecological entity ecologically intact (Preservation)
- Represented in
- Biodiversity conservation
- Parks and protected areas
- Ecological monitoring
- Environmental impact assessments
- Pollution reduction
23
Q
Resource management
A
- Management of a particular defined natural resource with the intention of keeping the resource use at a sustainable rate to secure its future use (Conservation)
- Represented in
- Sustainability goals
- Community-based and local governance concepts
- Eco-certification programs
24
Q
What is Environmental Governance?
A
- Broader than environmental management
- Environmental management refers to decisions and actions regarding how to allocate or develop resources; and how to use, restore, rehabilitate, monitor, or evaluate environmental change
- Environmental governance implies leadership and draws attention to important actors outside of formal government structures that contribute to environmental decision-making
- Includes formal and informal institutional arrangements for environmental management and decision-making
25
The Actors in Environmental Governance
- Considers the role of all actors that impact the decision-making policies related to the environment
- Local communities/civil society (you)
- Governments (local, provincial, federal)
- Corporations (private sectors)
- Non-government organizations (NGOs)
- Religious groups (to some extent)
- These actors all influence:
- How power is exercised and negotiated
- How public decisions are made
- How citizens become engaged and disaffected
- How they gain legitimacy and influence
- How they achieve accountability
- Cooperation among all actors is critical to achieving effective governance and policymaking
26
Local Environmental Governance**
- Advantages
- Management and governance of natural resources are better served at the local scale as local communities directly experience changes to the biophysical environment (i.e., effective action on environmental issues)
- Community participation and partnership alongside decentralization of government management to local communities
- Shifts power from government to local communities
- Acting on their own
- Disadvantages
- Ineffective policymaking to address environmental issues
- Power struggles within and between local communities
- Local communities don’t have power when it comes to policymaking
27
National Environmental Governance
- The most powerful in all three levels of environmental governance
- The power to pass or prevent environmental policies
- The power to bypass environmental protection policies for economic gain
- Despite what is happening globally and locally, political power rests in national governments
- Provincial governments also have power but national government can squash any decisions made below them
28
Global Environmental Governance
- Big corporations and big power in global economy have the largest say.
- Have the money to move forward with projects
29
Participation
- Incorporates “various forms of interaction with people, from informing and listening through dialogue, debate, and analysis, to implementing jointly agreed solutions” (Hügel and Davis, 2020, p. 2)
- Formerly concentrated on the decisions of industry and government (those with power)
- Top-down or vertical process
- Those who set up the agenda, controlled by industry and government
30
Engagement
- Seen as an ongoing, multi-way process where relationships among actors rather than organization decisions are seen as more important (Ross, Baldwin, and Carter, 2016)
- “Involves capturing people’s attention and focusing their efforts on the matter at hand – the subject means something personally to someone who is engaged and is sufficiently important to demand their attention” (Aslin and Brown, 2004, p. 5)
- Bottoms-up or horizontal process
31
What Shapes Participation and Engagement?
- Space
- Invited and invented
- In-person and online
- Formal and informal
- Time
- How is defined?
- By and for whom?
- On the scientists and researchers time
- Power
- Culture
- Economics
- Social and political affiliation
- Western powers dictate what we are doing, and who participates in environmental governance
- Rapport (or Relationship)
- Short- versus long-term
- Building long-term relationships with those and things that you are researching—usually people just do research and leave, never come back.
- Interests and identity
- The economy versus the environment
32
Developed versus Developing Countries
- Relations between developed and developing countries have been highly influenced by colonialism
- Extraction of natural resources from developing countries to be taken to developed countries
- This history continues to this day, marking intense disagreements about environmental governance among countries of the developed and developing world
- Ideas of “environmental issues are a first-world problem” and “them versus us”
- Three case studies:
- Biodiversity
- Ozone layer
- Plastic pollution
33
Biodiversity
- The variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms that make up the natural world
- These species work together to maintain balance and to support life
- 1.6 million species in the world . . . But there could be more!
- New species are being discovered
34
Biodiverse Regions
- Most biologically rich, yet threatened regions
- To qualify as a biodiverse region:
- Contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on Earth
- Have lost at least 70% of its primary native vegetation
- Biodiversity hotspots make up approximately 2.3% of the Earth’s land surface
- There are 36 recognized biodiversity hotspots in the world
- Challenges stem from urbanization, deforestation, and to some extent, tourism
35
Why is Biodiversity Important?
- Biodiversity provides food for the littlest of critters to the upper levels of the food chain (i.e., US!)
- Medicines come from plants and fungi . . . And many more lie undiscovered in remote corners of the world
- Natural environment protects the built environment from floods
- Trees and shrubs → Flooding
- Coral reefs and mangroves → Storm surges
- Spiritual and cultural value nature provides to humankind
36
Protecting Biodiversity
- Hands-on management from humans
- Protection and conservation
- Reintroduction efforts in South England (e.g., white storks)
- Virunga National Park in the DRC (e.g., mountain gorillas)
- Biosphere reserves (local-national-global effort)
- Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity
- Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable
- Logistic support, understanding development through research, monitoring, education, and training
37
Ozone Layer
- Discovered in 1913 by French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson
- A region of the Earth’s stratosphere which absorbs 97 to 99% of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation
- Contains high concentrations of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere
- In 1974, it was discovered the ozone layer was rapidly depleting due to chemicals released by industry, mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
- Canadian connection
- Montreal Protocol kickstarted the healing of the ozone layer
38
Plastics
- Plastic is an essential commodity with multiple uses based on its qualities of
- Malleability
- Flexibility
- Durability
- One of the most economical items to produce
- The world produces 300 million plastics per year
- Every area of the world has been affected by plastics in one way or another
39
Global Plastic Pollution Treaty
- UN agrees to create global plastic pollution treaty (announced in March 2022)
- Talks were held in Nairobi, Kenya
- Most significant environmental deal since the 2015 Paris climate accord
- Create a legally-binding treaty that is to be finalized by 2024
