8.4 Human Systems and Resource Use Flashcards
Carrying Capacity
the number of people, animals, or crops which a region can support without environmental degradation.
Factors resulting in an increase of carrying capacity
- Technological improvement.
- Increase in size of area
- Restoration of an area’s resources
Factors resulting in a decrease of carrying capacity
- Reduction on quantity and quality of available resources (over-exploitation)
- Reduction in size of area
Ecological Footprint
the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
Often measured in global hectares (gha)
Global Hectare
Units for Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity
A global hectare (gha) is a biologically productive hectare with world average biological productivity for a given year. Global hectares are needed because different land types have different productivities. A global hectare of, for example, cropland, would occupy a smaller physical area than the much less biologically productive pasture land.
Fair Earth Share
The total area of productive land on earth divided by the number of its inhabitants.
Approximately 1.45 hectare of productive land and 0.55 hectare fresh water.
Biocapacity
capacity to produce biological materials used by people and to absorb waste material generated by humans, under current management schemes and extraction technologies.
(more crudely, it is a measure of natural capital)
usually expressed in global hectares.
Ecological reserve
When biocapacity is higher than ecological footprint
Ecological deficit
When biocapacity is lower than ecological footprint
Overshoot
when humanity’s demand on nature exceeds the biosphere’s supply, or regenerative capacity.
Overshoot Day
the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that timeframe
Absolute reduction
Synonym for “reduce” in the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra
An overall decrease in the amount of waste produced.
Remanufacturing
Related to the “reuse” part of the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra
Rebuilding a product to its original specifications using reused components.
Ways to increase human carrying capacity
- Agricultural Advancements:
- Technological Innovations
- Design smart cities with optimized land use and transportation.
- Healthcare Improvements: To reduce mortality and control diseases.
Ways to decrease human carrying capacity
- Environmental Degradation
- Pollution
- Climate Change
- Resource Depletion
