139 exam 2

Question 1

Crude birth rate (CBR)

Answer 1

i. Not adjusting numbers for anything
ii. Births per 1000 people per year
iii. Geographically uneven—Africa = high, USA = low

Question 2

Crude death rate (CDR)

Answer 2

i. Number of deaths per 1000 people per year

ii. Also geographically uneven—Africa/peripheries = high, USA/cores = low

Question 3

Rates of natural increase

Answer 3

i. Crude birth rate minus crude death rate
ii. Greatest rates tend to be in peripheries and some semi-peripheries
iii. Slow increase and possible decrease in cores
1. Decreasing in Germany and Russia
iv. Politics, economics, and infrastructure are factors
1. Public health
2. Drawing of political boundary makes significant effects on survival of baby

Question 4

Demographic transtition

Answer 4

i. In multiple countries in last centuries have period of growing birth rates (population) b/c CBR and CDR have been out of sync
ii. Phases:
1. High CDR and CBR are both high
2. CDR falls and CBR stays same—due to vaccinations, clean water, etc.
3. Birth rate falls
4. Both are low

Question 5

Demographic momentum

Answer 5

i. Geographically uneven
1. Interested in biological gender (men and women)
a. Differences are caused by war, slavery, etc.

The tendency for growing population to continue growing after a fertility decline because once this happens a country moves to a different stage in the demographic transition model

Question 6

Population pyramid

Answer 6

i. Peripheries: pyramid is wide at bottom → population increases
1. Issues with peripheries based on core-periphery model
ii. Cores: pyramid is more of a bar → no population change
iii. **Different population issues due to differences in pyramid
1. Time, dynamics, age of population, where, etc.
2. Where, political links, and structure of economics

Question 7

Carrying capacity

Answer 7

Maximum number of people that can be supported by given unit of area (i.e. resources)

Question 8

Overshoot

Answer 8

i. When a population’s demand on an ecosystem to regenerate consumed resources
ii. Up and down over carrying capacity line

Question 9

Diminishing returns

Answer 9

Form of Malthusian limit;
The principle that, at some point, adding more of a variable input, such as labor, to the same amount of a fixed input, such as capital, will cause the marginal product of the variable input to decline

Question 10

Problems with extending the carrying capacity concept to humans

Answer 10

i. Temporal, spatial, and social variation in consumption
ii. Needs vs. wants
iii. Technology (resources are culturally AND technologically defined)
iv. The capacity of an ecosystem to absorb waste

Question 11

Malthusian view on relationship between population, resources, and technology

Answer 11

Mostly concerned with conditioned that gave mortality and vice versa

Implications:

a. Population growth is limited by agricultural resources
b. Land degradation is more likely as one approaches resources limit
c. Population growth leads to declining quality of life one approaches resources

Contingencies:

a. Migration and birth control
b. Means of production
c. Culture
d. Relations of production
e. **can lead to Boserupian elasticity

If he is right, Amazonia, Congo, and Sahel should be inhabitanted

Question 12

Boserupian view on relationship between population, resources, and technology

Answer 12

1. Trying to improve agricultural yields in sub-Saharan
   a. Much better responses from high density areas
   b. Is Malthus wrong?
2. Resources are dependent on population (not other way around)
3. Argument:
   a. Intensification (technologies, new discoveries, etc.) increases productivity of land, but reduces returns per unit of labor (need much more labor)
   b. Given diminishing returns, farmers will only intensify agricultural production when necessary (i.e. population increases)
   i. Problem creates need for solution
   c. Population on growth induces technological advances and higher living
4. If he is correct, China and India should not exist

Question 13

The numbers game

Answer 13

Too many people?

i. If wanted to live on need only, whole world could live in Europe solely (Germany to be exact) and food comes from Europe area
ii. If lived on wants, whole population could live on continent of Russia and produce food in Africa

Question 14

Private property regime

Answer 14

i. Individuals and firms are involved

ii. Supported by public bureaucracy (rules)

Question 15

Common property regime

Answer 15

i. Clearly defined social group (village owns)

ii. Supported by councils and participatory governance—how to manage resources; no free access

Question 16

Open access

Answer 16

i. System resource procurement
ii. No one many be excluded
iii. No rules

Question 17

Common pool resources

Answer 17

i. Access restrictions difficult to enforce—i.e. fishing in Atlantic
ii. Rules difficult to enforce

Question 18

Structure and purpose of ‘Tragedy of commons’ models

Answer 18

i. Model is for simplification
ii. Want to hold some of complexities still and only look at few variables
1. Land tenure—rules and processes to assessing properties
2. Resources
3. Overshoot—issue between population and resources
iii. Must make assumptions and conditions to make model work
iv. Spits out inferences, and then get to conclusions
v. Inputs (assumptions) → Resource, Land tenure, Overshoot → Outputs → Conclusion

Question 19

**Model mechanics of Hardin’s tragedy of the commons

Answer 19

• Gov’t regulation and redistribution through taxes (very ineffective)
• Divide commons into private parcels
• Gov’t ownership = command and control (ineffective)

Question 20

Problems to Hardin’s model

Answer 20

Conceptual conflation and flawed assumptions
1. Based model on non-existing situation

Flawed assumptions and conditions
1. Legal reason for privatizing common leads to erosion of soil BUT…not enough scientific evidence

Flawed outputs

1. Tragedy of privatization
   a. i.e. Masasai people of East Africa

Flawed inference

1. Private parcels and mutual coercion
   a. Hardin went straight to conclusion (privatization from environmental degradation)
   b. Conditions favorable to sustaining communal governance (socio-ecological and governance)

Question 21

Contrary examples to Hardin’s model

Answer 21

Isle of Axholme, North Lincolnshire, England

1. Communal investment of infrastructure
2. 400 years of common property exercised

Swiss “Alpwirtschaft”

1. Moving cattle around so environmental degradation doesn’t happen
2. Based on common property regulations

Israel Kibbutz
1. Common property AND common resources regime

Question 22

Fallow

Answer 22

Letting field rest to regain organic and environmental benefits

Question 23

Shifting cultivation

Answer 23

i. Moving field productions over time

ii. Allowing fields to go into fallow

Question 24

Slash and burn

Answer 24

i. Ecological consequences: loss of biodiversity, environmental degradation
ii. Example in Rondonia, Brazil
iii. Existing vegetation is slashed/cut and burned before new seeds are planted

Question 25

Swidden agroforestry

Answer 25

i. Hanunoo, Mindoro, Philippines ii. Very important to get even and proper burn 1. Take care of pests; ash is nutrients for soil iii. 40-50 different crops 1. Up to 125 cultivars (Different varieties of crops)

Question 26

Landesque capital

Answer 26

i. Systems that are permanent—sustainable food production that have been in place for millennia ii. Applying labor, skills, etc. securing production over long term iii. Type of labor-intensive agriculture iv. Going to improve the land through long term thinking/production

Question 27

Terra preta (soil)

Answer 27

i. Landesque capital ii. End result of human cultivation iii. Get this benefit through slashing and burning iv. Want to burn wood (after slashing) where little wet → reduced conditions v. Biochar → mined for charcoal (type of fertilizer) vi. In tropics—adding biochar and household waste; setting up very favorable soil situations

Question 28

Plaggen soil

Answer 28

i. Environmental consequences after 2nd agricultural revolution ii. End results of agriculture 1. Improving soil as cultivating iii. Adding dung and fertilizer iv. Northern temperate areas (NW Europe)—adding biomass

Question 29

Raised fields

Answer 29

i. Mound planting surface (elevate) ii. Can be used for extended periods of time iii. Improve soil/area by concentrating ash and coal into planting area iv. Nutrient-poor, sandy, very acidic, saturated soils v. Provide drainage and water storage vi. Thinking long term uses vii. i.e. Chinampas in S. America

Question 30

Terraces

Answer 30

i. Andes mountains ii. Must worry about erosion, etc. iii. Different crops at different elevations iv. Glaciers up top are sources of water v. i.e. Colca Valley, Peru

Question 31

Irrigation

Answer 31

i. Ancient Egyptian irrigation 1. Capture water from Nile River 2. Whole temporal spatial rhythm so all can continue cultivating and growing crops ii. Mesopotamia irrigation 1. Euphrates supplies and Tigris drains 2. Mostly worked but issues with excess water evaporation, leaving salty deposits

Question 32

Middle East ecological triad

Answer 32

i. Working relationships with pastoralists and agriculturalists 1. When plants done in area, pastoralists come in and graze farm and fertilizer area with dung

Question 33

Gbout system

Answer 33

i. Cultivating deserts before desalinization plants 1. Palm trees at way bottom underground; begins with water supply 2. Plant crops that use lots of shade with new water technology 3. Minimizes evaporative losses

Question 34

Qanat

Answer 34

i. Cultivating deserts before desalinization plants ii. Southern Iran iii. Possible to farm in extreme environments--very arid with no surface water iv. Deposits sediments right outside of canyon that was washed up when traveling through canyon v. Tunnel in until intersect with ground water and is then used to irrigate the field

Question 35

Rice terracing

Answer 35

i. Chinese irrigation ii. During Shang Dynasty iii. How you farm mountainous, steep areas iv. When plant, needs water; when grows, no water; must be timed exactly right

Question 36

Closed nutrient farming (Jitang & Tambak)

Answer 36

i. Combination of farming and fish/shrimp farming ii. Ponds were vegetarian fish iii. Take fish poop and use as fertilizer iv. What isn’t used for humans are given to fish v. Used all products and waste products

Question 37

Agroecology

Answer 37

study of ecological processes that operate in agricultural production systems

Question 38

Where are different labor intensive systems of agriculture practiced and why?

Answer 38

i. Brazil, Philippines, Andes mountains, Eypt/Nile River, Mesopotamia, China ii. Had to sustain their civilization with food

Question 39

Social and ecological consequences of shifting cultivation systems

Answer 39

‘Slash and burn’ 1. Short term thinking 2. Maximizing profits 3. Thinking of object of production 4. Cause of environmental degradation 'Swiss agroforestry’ 1. Healthy soils 2. Rights of determination 3. Land is their home

Question 40

Advantages of labor intensive agriculture

Answer 40

1. Agrodiversity and biodiversity a. Have particular resistance to disease, already long term adaptations, etc. 2. Soil health 3. Long term yields and risk minimization a. Work in marginal fields b. Different mind set than capital intensive system 4. Food sovereignty at household level—self sufficient and self determination 5. Original organic agriculture 6. Original sustainable agriculture—centuries and millennia; environmental change

Question 41

Disadvantages of labor intensive agriculture

Answer 41

1. Occasionally labor intensive systems have failed 2. Minimal capital creation 3. Minimizes non agricultural specialization 4. It’s hard work!

Question 42

Means of production in capital intensive agriculture

Answer 42

1. Depends on irrigation | 2. Many seeds used today are genetically modified

Question 43

Relations of production in capital intensive agriculture

Answer 43

1. Farms are at bottom of ladder—decisions are not really theirs a. Dependent on things happening all over globe b. Equally dependent of physical environment and global, local, political issues/policies

Question 44

Food commodity chain

Answer 44

Agricultural inputs → farm production → product processing → food distribution → food production Determining where all ingredients/food has been produced/grown geographically

Question 45

Green revolution

Answer 45

i. Norman Borlaug → father of Green Rev. ii. Move crops to tropics to get 3 generations worth of food—speeds up development iii. Find out optimal needs for seeds and provide them with agrochemicals iv. Main advantage of capital intensive are the remarkable yields v. Food production has out stripped population growth

Question 46

Erosion

Answer 46

.

Question 47

Soil fertility (Nitrogen fixation)

Answer 47

1. Main source of nitrogen is the air we breathe 2. Get into soil through atmospheric fixation (lightning) or biological means 3. Today we have substituted for chemical fixation

Question 48

Soil fertility (phosphorous fixation)

Answer 48

1. Very complex in absorption/accessibility 2. Solution: put enough phosphorous that knows it needs a. Both inorganic and organic sources 3. Net result: excess phosphorous in environment 4. Main source = phosphorous mining—ground; guano (poop of birds)

Question 49

Eutrophication

Answer 49

i. Excess richness in nutrients especially in lake/body of water 1. Causes dense growth of plant life and death of animal growth from excess oxygen; from land run off ii. When algai blooms die, they sink to bottom and absorb oxygen at bottom of lake iii. Cause of loss of biodiversity—killing species

Question 50

Salinization

Answer 50

i. Too much salt ii. East coast in USA, N. Europe, E. Asia = big issue iii. Total area equipped for irrigation are increasing 1. As wwater evaporates, salts are left behind a. Tremendous salt accumulations b. Then add more water which adds to salt

Question 51

Genetically modified organism

Answer 51

i. Unintended consequences—eliminating species by accident; monarch example

Question 52

Food pipeline

Answer 52

i. Decrease in groundwater caused by irrigation of area (i.e. Kansas) ii. Distributing networks and the losses that occur in those distribution networks

Question 53

Agriculture paradox

Answer 53

i. Issue: profit maximization 1. Exploits relations and not means 2. Commodity markets are global a. Transcend laws b. Not what gov’t wants

Question 54

Food sovereignty

Answer 54

Objectives: 1. Food producers and food consumers together deciding what constitutes as healthy, sufficient, and culturally appropriate food 2. Focused on the food producers—anti vertical ladder 3. Local food networks—anti global food commodity chains 4. Labor intensive agriculture and diversified production 5. Self-determination define: globalization of agriculture

Question 55

Advantages of capital intensive agriculture

Answer 55

- Capital gain

Question 56

Disadvantages of capita intensive agriculture

Answer 56

.

Question 57

Social and ecological consequences of green revolution in Sonora

Answer 57

i. Habitat and biodiversity loss ii. Effects on local water supply—shortages or too much water creating salinized soils iii. Some households that have done very well and some that didn’t—winners/losers iv. Get go into so much debt from this v. Fewer people farming, but get growth of urban area—expanding city (rural to urban migration) vi. Changes in diet vii. Loss of farms

Question 58

Where is capital intensive agriculture practiced and why?

Answer 58

i. Core countries and increasingly practiced in semi-peripheries