Dimensions of sustainability Flashcards
What does water have?
Uneven ability.
How many litres of water does it take to make a pair of jeans?
7,000 litres.
What % of the Earth’s water is available for us to drink.
3%
How much water is used for toilet flushing as a pose to drinking?
30% = flushing
4% = drinking
What was Capetown’s day zero?
- In 3 years they had almost no rain = drought.
- Plan to turn off all water sources for one day to combat depletion of water.
- Limited to 25 litres were available from collection points on this day.
What were the impacts of Capetown’s day zero?
- People became more water conscious.
- Illegal car washers became a big issue.
- Water consumption was reduced to a third and day zero was pushed back.
Could the need for day zero have been avoided?
- Perhaps through the use of a precautionary principle.
How does deforestation link to the concept of dimension?
It can be measured.
What impacts or dimensions is deforestation linked to?
Soil degradation, habitat loss, loss of indigenous land rights, child labour, GMO’s, conflicts surrounding timber.
Give an example of a deforestation campaign.
Barbie and Ken - Mattel x Greenpeace.
Give an example of the precautionary principle not being applied?
The Ozone Layer.
Is water evenly distributed?
No, the UK use 154 litres per capita compared with India who use only 10 litres per capita.
Give an example of one dimension.
Deforestation.
Give an example of eutrophication.
Hyper fertilisation. Agricultural fertiliser which leads to accumulation of nutrients in water courses, causing excessive algae growth, which in turn results in oxygen depletion n water and the death of fish.
What does eutrophication/hyper-fertilisation link to?
Malthus theory of population and food production.
Give an example of two social dimensions.
Working conditions and labour rights.
What is an ETI based code?
Ethical Trade Initiative.
Used to drive forward for better working conditions in the world.
Explain the Apple scandal.
Apple has 1 million workers, long shifts sometimes of 36 hours - workers became depressed and suicidal.
90 million iPhones produced with 17 suicides.
How did Apple attempt to tackle the suicide issue?
Put grills on the windows - however this was unsuccessful as people jumped from the windows instead.
Explain how the distribution of Apple’s impacts isn’t ‘fair’ or even.
They make $18 bn profit a year, yet the working conditions are terrible and they are paid 70 cents an hour.
How can we measure different impacts (2 ways)?
- Intergenerational Impacts.
2. Product lifecycle: material extraction, energy, consumption, waste, discharge.
Briefly outline the product lifecycle.
- Pre-production.
- Production.
- Distribution.
- Use.
- End of Life.
What are the 2 different types of resources?
- Primary/Virgin.
2. Secondary/recycle post-industrial/pre-consumer.
What is involved in pre-production activities?
- Acquisition of resources.
- Delivery to production areas.
- Transformation of raw materials to energy.
