1.1: Exploring human populations

Question 1

By the end of 2020 its estimated that the human population would reach:

Answer 1

7.8 billion

Question 2

How many people are added every minute?

Answer 2

140

Question 3

Natural ecosystems are under threat because of..

Answer 3

over-consumption of resources and creation of pollution

Question 4

What did the Global Footprint Network reported?

Answer 4

That the human population on earth had already consumes its yearly production

Question 5

Why does the impact of human population on the earth depends on how resources are used and distributed?

Answer 5

Because of the huge differences in resource use among people

Question 6

What does overpopulation depend on?

Answer 6

Density of population
ratio of population to available sustainable resources
how resources are managed and distributed

Question 7

List the 7 types of resources

Answer 7

1. Fresh water
2. Food
3. Wood
4. Non-renewable energy
5. Renewable energy
6. Metals and Minerals
7. Land

Question 8

What is the human carrying capacity?

Answer 8

Carrying capacity means the population size for a given species that a specific environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessary resources available.

Question 9

According to Malthus, human population size is regulated by its food supply when

Answer 9

the number of people exceeds the available food supply.

Question 10

The regulations on human population growth are either

Answer 10

1. voluntary (for example, birth control, abstinence, or delayed marriage)
2. involuntary (for example, famine, disease, or war).

Question 11

Define an ecological footprint

Answer 11

is a measure of a person’s daily demands on the earth’s ecosystems. It is the amount of biologically productive area of the earth (land and sea) needed to produce the resources a person consumes, in addition to the area needed to absorb and treat the resulting waste. It is measured in global hectares (gha).

Question 12

What does a global hectare represent?

Answer 12

A global hectare represents the biological productivity found on one “average” hectare (a measure of area) of the biologically productive parts of the earth.

Question 13

it is estimated that each person on earth needs ______ to meet their needs, but this is not distributed evenly.

Answer 13

2.1 gha

Question 14

The ecological footprint of the average Canadian is about

Answer 14

7.6 ha

Question 15

In developed countries:

Answer 15

birth rates have recently declined.
birth rates in some countries are so low that their populations would begin to shrink if they didn’t use immigration to keep their populations stable.

Question 16

Describe the demographic transition

Answer 16

stability - high - stability - decline

Question 17

Why did the global population in stage 1 stayed for thousands of years?

Answer 17

• Agriculture and rise of complex societies increased birth rates
• Disease and wars kept mortality rates high

Question 18

When did the Industrial Revolution began? Where?

Answer 18

mid-1700s and began Europe and North America

Question 19

What happened when the Industrial Revolution began?

Answer 19

• New machines and factories (more goods and cheaper)
• People migrated from farms to cities
• Higher standard of living (less mortality rates and more birth rates)
• Modern farm machinery and fertilization meant more food could be harvested from same amount of land

Question 20

What happened because of high mortality rates?

Answer 20

People had more children as an insurance policy
People had more children to help in farming
Young women started having families at an early age

Question 21

As the Industrial Revolution progressed, the new lower mortality rates combined with traditionally high birth rates created a

Answer 21

period of exponential growth.

Question 22

When Industrial Revolution did not spread as fast to developing countries?

Answer 22

1. Most were still dependent on small-scale agriculture until the early 1900s.
2. Gradual improvements in medical care and agricultural practices helped to reduce their mortality rates. This led to small increases in their population.
3. However, infant mortality rates remained relatively high, so population growth was moderate.
   Risk of famine was also high.

Question 23

Who created the Green Revolution?

Answer 23

an American plant breeder named Norman Borlaug

Question 24

What happened during the Green Revolution?

Answer 24

1. New varieties of wheat and rice
2. Synthetic fertilizers, mechanized irrigation, and petroleum-based herbicides and pesticides food supply

Question 25

A reduction in family size was seen due to

Answer 25

widespread education
the social advancement of women
urbanization
economic opportunity
low risk of infant mortality

Question 26

Now, the average number of children born per woman in developed countries is about

Answer 26

2.1

Question 27

What caused the human population to rapidly increase, around 250 years ago?

Answer 27

The Industrial Revolution allowed humans to extract more resources, develop advanced medical technology, and provide far more food to many more of the world’s wealthier people.

Question 28

Despite some high-growth countries, populations in most countries are now showing signs of slower growth. This is mainly due to:

Answer 28

social and economic development
a lower risk of infant mortality
continuing urbanization

Question 29

Division projected that the world’s population will likely surpass ___ billion in ____ and then begin to decline because of

Answer 29

economic factors, health concerns, land exhaustion, and environmental hazards.

Question 30

What are three factors that will likely cause this decline?

Answer 30

A lowering of global birth rates to below the replacement level of 2.1
Economic development and urbanization, changing cultural attitudes towards family
Land exhaustion and environmental degradation of the earth will limit our ability to feed everyone.

Question 31

Where would the decline in population growth rate be the most dramatic? Why?

Answer 31

Developing countries that progress towards more development. Countries like India and China are becoming wealthier and are developing a large population of middle-class citizens who will tend to have fewer children.

It is also possible that environmental degradation could slow population growth rates in some developing countries by keeping infant mortality rates high

Question 32

What caused many local wells to run dry?

Answer 32

constant irrigation

Question 33

What might be the biggest environmental threat we face.

Answer 33

climate change

Question 34

What is a common?

Answer 34

a shared field for grazing cattle that is open to everyone

Question 35

Billions of people are affected by:

Answer 35

• poverty
• malnutrition
• lack of educational opportunities
• environmental degradation

Question 36

Canada is helping developing nations deal with their problems mainly in two ways:

Answer 36

social and economic development
advances in biotechnology that can help feed a hungry world

Question 37

Currently, Canada delivers much of its aid to developing countries through:

Answer 37

The federal government ministry
Foreign Affairs
Trade
Development Canada

Question 38

What does CIDA stand for?

Answer 38

Canadian International Development Agency

Question 39

Why over irrigation caused many fields to eventually becone too salty?

Answer 39

Because there is natural salts in the irrigation water left in the soil