SG 7 Flashcards
(21 cards)
Discuss the ways in which population growth affects the environment.
Important indirect driver of environmental degradation
Space Food Water Transportation Consumer goods Waste production
-Important to control to alleviate
poverty and affluence
Other important indirect drivers
What is the human population currently estimated at? What is the average growth rate? Remember that exponential growth allows small numbers to have large consequences.
7 billion
1.12% Growth
Using the equation I = P x A x T, discuss how population, affluence, and technology impact the environment?
Increased pg. 193
**
What is the Earth’s carrying capacity estimated at? Describe some of the ways that we have increased the human
carrying capacity.
No one really knows for sure
Estimates from 1 to 33 billion
Depend on assumptions of
standard of living, resource
consumption, technological
innovations, and waste generation
Analyzed results of 69 studies
Upper limit of 7.7 billion
Using tech to overcome natural limits
According to the global ecological footprint, have we exceeded the Earth’s carrying capacity? If so, when?
Ecological footprint exceeded planet about 1970
Define demography.
Understand that population size alone is not sufficient to understand our impact on the
environment. A population’s environmental impact depends on density, distribution, age structure, affluence, and technology.
...is the social science that applies the principles of population ecology to the study of statistical change in human populations
What are the world’s three largest countries in terms of population size?
China, India, USA
What is considered the best guess estimate of the human population in 2050? What do these estimates depend on?
9.9 billion.
Density, distribution, composition, affluence and tech.
What is meant by zero population growth?
Birth Rate = Death Rate
2 children per female
Where are high population densities of humans found? Low?
High in regions with temperate, subtropic, and tropical climates and coast lines-
China, US, Europe, Mexico, S. Africa, India
Lower- Low in regions with extreme climates
Desert, tundra, deep rain forest
Regions far from water
Give an example of a country with a high population density? Are humans evenly distributed across the globe?
China, US, Europe, Mexico, S. Africa, India.
No because favorable climates and location to water.
Why are areas with low population density also vulnerable to environmental impacts?
Less enforceable regulations, more energy, gas and resources.
What type of population distribution best describes our species?
Clumping.
Describe some of the potential impacts of “graying populations” on society?
Longer lives mean a larger percentage of elderly
Define total fertility rate (TFR). What factors have been shown to lower the TFR?
Average # of children born per female in her lifetime
Women’s rights and industrialization and quality of health care
Define replacement fertility rate. What is the replacement fertility rate for humans?
A TFR that keeps population size stable.
2.1 children born per female.
Which regions of the world have the highest TFRs? The lowest?
Niger, South Sudan, Congo, Dom. Rep.
Lowest: S. Korea, Romania, Singapore
Understand what is meant by the demographic transition and describe its stages.
Model of economic and cultural change that
explains the declining death rates and birth
rates that occurred in nations as they became industrialized.
Pre-industrial, birth and death high.
Transitional, declining death cuz rate increase food.
Industrial, Women working and birth control birth rate fall.
Post-Industrial, stabalizing
Describe how poverty correlates with population growth. How do these factors in turn impact the environment?
High death rate, no birth control, no sex ed.
Recognize that demographers estimate that 99% of the next billion people born will live in developing nations.
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Describe the relationship between affluence and the environment. Know that it is estimated that the richest 20% of the world’s people consume about 85% of its resources.
Wealth and resource consumption can produce even more severe and far-reaching environmental impacts
Individuals from affluent countries have a considerably larger per capita ecological footprint
