Basics Flashcards
Middle class has…
Increased
What happens to consumption when the middle class increases?
Consumption increases and products such as cars, and technology increases to a great extent
What is the reason that consumption increases?
Middle class has a more disposable income than LICs, meaning that they have money to put on consumer products such as cars.
What is the ecological footprint?
The hypothetical area of land required by a society, a group, or an individual to fulfil all their resource needs and assimilation all their waste.
What is carbon footprint?
GHG emissions by person, country and individual expressed as CO2 equivalent
What is biocapicity?
Capacity of a given area to generate an ongoing supply of renewable resources and to assimilate its waste
What can be ecological footprint be used for?
- direct comparison between countries/areas, such as comparing LICs and HICs
- they can highlight sustainable and unsustainable lifestyles
Trends and patterns with ecological footprints for LICs and HICs
LICs tend to have smaller ecological footprints because of their smaller rates of resource consumption
HICs have more of a disposable income= more consumption and more demand for energy resources
HICs produce more waste and pollution
How can ecological footprint be reduced?
- reducing the use of fossil fuels (switching to renewable energy)
- reducing consumption of animal products (animals convert 10% of what they eat into biomass)
- reducing the amount of energy used by technology or just reducing the use of it
- recycling, reusing and recycling resources
- reducing the amount of goods imported (transport generate CO2)
- using GIM crops to increase the yield in the same area of land
What is water distribution? (Describe in one word)
Uneven
What will happen to waters demand?
Increase
Why will the demand doe water increase?
- growing population
- growth of middle class ( which can afford more goods, changing dietary habits into higher meat consumption, growth or tourism and recreation (e.g. golf courses)
- increasing demand for water for hydroelectric plants
Water availability in many regions is likely to…
Decrease
Example of places that are water scarce
Sub-sharan Africa
Embedded water
Water involved in the growing and manufacturing of products (such as food, materials, manufactured goods) in one place transferred to other , often water scarce places via trading.
What does embedded water allow?
Allows countries with scarce water resources to benefit from water intensive goods (since water itself is difficult to transport) and allows counties to save their own water resources while benefiting from others.
Blue water
From irrigation (artificial application of water) Fresh water, etc. from the earths surface and underground resources
Green water
From precipitation (rain, snow, sleet)
Grey water
From pollution (washing machines, shower, draining from households)
Problems occur when ( with embedded water)
Water intensive products are often produced in already dry regions with the use of irrigation like the strawberries in Spain and cotton in Central Asia
Physical water scarcity
Occurs when the natural water resources in an area cannot meet the needs of the people living there
Example of physical water scarcity
Occurs in for example northwest china, Central Asia, and parts of Australia, south west United States and Northern Africa)
What is economic water scarcity?
Arises when poor management of the water resources in an area such as under-investment in water storage and distribution systems, causes the demand for water to exceed the amount available)
Water trap
A situation in which one does not have a stable water supply by pipelines, so they have to walk to collect water for basic household activities. (Taking away time from school and work)
What has happened to food intake
Steadily increased as the worlds population has increased
Where has calorie intake remained?
Sub-Saharan Africa
What has happened to land/availability per person?
Declined
Why has land availability per person decreased?
Combination of rapid population growth, land use changes and land grabs by foreign companies.
