Ayers-sustainiblity Flashcards

Question

What are ecosystem services?

Answer 1

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems. They are vital for our well-being and can be categorized into four main types: Provisioning Services: These are the tangible products obtained from ecosystems, such as food, water, timber, fiber, and medicinal resources. Regulating Services: These services help regulate environmental conditions, including climate regulation, flood control, water purification, and pollination of crops. Cultural Services: These encompass non-material benefits, such as recreational activities, aesthetic enjoyment, spiritual enrichment, and educational opportunities that ecosystems provide. Supporting Services: These are the fundamental processes that maintain ecosystem function, including nutrient cycling, soil formation, and habitat provision.

Answer 2

Weak sustainability assumes that substituting one form of capital for another is possible, that is, we can compensate for a reduction in one type of capital (typically natural capital) with an increase in another type of capital (typically e.g., economic capital).

Answer 3

strong sustainability argues that substitution is not always possible between different types of capital, and therefore that we must maintain eco- nomic, social, and natural capital stocks independently

Answer 4

Another argument against substitution is that natural resources often serve many purposes, and we have to find substitutes for each one.

Answer 5

Capital stocks include resources that we can use to attain a high level of well-being.

Answer 6

Renewable resources can be continuously replenished by natural processes.

Answer 7

Nonrenewable resources are fixed in quantity on a human timescale, so the faster we use them, the sooner they disappear.

Answer 8

Resource use is sustainable if the rate of withdrawal is less than or equal to the rate of replenish- ment.

Answer 9

When inflow equals outflow, the stock (water level) remains constant and the system is in a steady state.

Answer 10

When the amount of resources we consume equals the amount we produce, we are “net zero.”

Answer 11

renewable resources are flow or rate limited, while nonre- newable resources are stock limited

Answer 12

Modeling allows us to evaluate future scenarios in which changes in the environment or in human resource use affect the supply of renew- able resources such as water over time.

Answer 13

The overshoot of the system is the amount that demand exceeds supply

Answer 14

For our purposes, it can be sustainable only if it is replaced with a renewable resource at a rate high enough to maintain the stock.

Answer 15

To achieve sustainability, we must not only decrease our consumption of renewable resources to a sustainable level, but also decrease the waste produced so as not to exceed the waste absorption capacity of the environment.

Answer 16

1. The rate of regeneration of a renewable resource 2. The rate at which a renewable resource, used sustainably, can be substituted for a non-renewable resource 3. The rate at which a pollutant can be recycled, absorbed, or rendered harmless in its sink

Answer 17

because they provide services such as water purification.

Answer 18

Environmental degradation results in the loss of ecosystem services.

Answer 19

precautionary principle, a risk management approach which states that we should not change a system unless we are reasonably confident that those changes will not cause harm to the public or the environment.