APS31006 Human Planet Flashcards
When did the industrial revolution begin?
c. 1800 AD
Where did the industrial revolution begin?
Britain
Major human developments that have had major environmental impacts
-Ancient fire and hunting (earliest impacts), particularly Australia
-Origins and spread of agriculture (land-use)
-European colonisation (resource consumption)
-Industrial revolution (increased fossil fuel use)
-Great Acceleration (economic globalisation) after WWII
Holecene exceeding
-Temperature
-GHGS now well beyond Holocene range
Why does human history matter?
-Attribution (what are important causes?)
-Mitigation (what is needed to address problems?)
-Responsibility (who should lead mitigation efforts?)
Main developments of the industrial revolution
-Fossil fuel driven machines replaced human/animal labour
-Transition from rural agriculture to industrial manufacturing economy
-Migration into cities (urbanisation)
-Improved sanitation and healthcare led to population growth
-Industrialisation using fossil fuels has been integral to economic development across world
-Different trajectories of fossil fuel growth but dominated by Europe, USA and China
‘Post industrial’ development
-In today’s rich countries
-Involved transitioning to service-based economy
Current UK industrialisation trajectories
-De-industrialisation and transition to service economy linked with peaking of CO2 emissions
-Currently emissions are decreasing
-Electricity grid has substantially changed, no longer coal dominated
-Instead dominated by gas as gas emits smaller amount of CO2 per unit generated
-Wind dominates the renewable energy sources
Current energy use in India
-Emissions on upward trajectory due to ongoing industrialisation
-However, less than 2 tonnes produced per capita
-UK is still at 5 per capita despite the downward trajectory
Who has contributed the most to global CO2 emissions?
-Based on cumulative CO2 emissions 1751-2017 production based estimates
-Early industrialised nations contribute the most to the cumulative total
-E.g., N.A., Europe, Japan and Australia = 66% of the total
What was the rapid economic growth after WWII built on
-Cheap fossil fuels (especially oil)
-Abundant natural resources
-Global expansion of farmland
What caused the Great Acceleration?
-WWII
-Today’s wealthy countries
Consumption-based CO2 emissions per capita vs GDP per capita
-Global inequality
-46% of wealth controlled by richest 0.7%
-97% of wealth controlled by richest 30%
-Wealthiest 1% responsible for CO2 emissions equivalent to those of the poorest 66%
-On average, a person in US emits more CO2 in 4 days than someone in poorer countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda or Malawi emit in a whole year
Effects of urbanisation on per capita energy consumption
-Increases it
-Leads to economic productivity and then energy and natural resource consumption
-Weaker positive relationship between wealth and urbanisation than with CO2
-Urbanisation is a relatively recent phenomenon linked to urbanisation
-Growing fraction of world’s populations live in cities
Overconsumption in the Anthropocene summary
-Industrial and consumption based CO2 emissions have pushed the Earth System outside its natural Holocene range of variation
-CO2 emissions arise primarily from consumption by globally wealthy, industrialised urban populations
-Primary cause of CO2 emissions is consumption of energy and goods by wealthy, urban societies
-Cumulative CO2 emissions have arisen predominantly from early industrialising western countries, especially USA and Europe
-In 21st century, emissions are shifting to Asia, centred on China
-Export accounts for a significant fraction of Chinese emissions
-However, consumption by industrialised urban populations across Asia and Global South are becoming increasingly important
Global trade
-Value of world merchandise exports are 260 times greater in 2016 ($15 trillion) than in 1948 ($59 billion)
-Global supply and production chains mean that consumption in one country may lead to environmental impacts in another
-Change in recent decades, global manufacturing shifted from Western countries to China, more recently to less developed countries of Global South
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
-Chinese investment in infrastructure to promote economic connections with other nations, especially across Eurasia and Africa
-Projects include roads, railways, telecoms, energy pipelines, ports
-Revives the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road by land and sea
CO2 emissions from BRI
-BRI nations account for 50% global CO2 emissions and 92% increase in last 20 years
-BRI is a net exporter of emissions to rest of world via international trade
-Carbon leakage from China and India to SE Asia, West Asia and Africa
