Global Perspective

Question 1

Define carrying capacity.

Answer 1

The number of people, animals, or crops which a region can support without environmental degradation.

OR

The number of planets needed to support all life on earth.

Question 2

What can carrying capacity be abbreviated to?

Answer 2

K.

Question 3

At current what is the carrying capacity of all life on earth?

Answer 3

140% of the planet’s capacity - meaning we’re draining more resources than a planet can provide.

Question 4

What carrying capacity does the USA make up?

Answer 4

4.5 x the capacity of the planet.

Question 5

What does MSY stand for?

Answer 5

Maximum sustainable yield.

Question 6

Define MSY.

Answer 6

The maximum level at which a natural resource can be routinely explored without long-term depletion.

Question 7

What is meant by “Limiting Factors”?

Answer 7

Limiting factors are environmental conditions that limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of an organism or a population in an ecosystem.

Question 8

Give an example of a limiting factor.

Answer 8

Food, water, shelter, mates, space, predators and pollution.

Question 9

What can limiting factors result in?

Answer 9

Competition between individuals of a species population.

Question 10

Define “complexity of factors”.

Answer 10

The complexity of factors refers to the complex nature of limiting factors e.g. the genetic gene pool - if this is too small it will limit the growth of the population.

Question 11

Give an example of Ecocide.

Answer 11

Easter Island;
Over exploited maximum sustainable yield, the carrying capacity was exceeded, resulting in complete loss of the forest ultimately leading to cannibalism and extinction of the Rapa Nui people.

Question 12

Outline Malthus’ theory surrounding population growth.

Answer 12

Left ‘unchecked’ the population will outgrow resources.

Question 13

What were Malthus’ checks?

Answer 13

Preventative: postponing marriage.
Positive: famine, disease and warfare.

Question 14

What is the impact of affluence in today’s society?

Answer 14

More disposable income.

Question 15

What are the 6 stages of human society?

Answer 15

1. Proto Hunters.
2. Hunters.
3. Early agriculturalists.
4. Advanced agriculturalists.
5. Industrial society.
6. Technological society.

Question 16

Throughout the stages of human society how has the amount of energy we use changed?

Answer 16

Increased from proto hunters 100W to Technological society 11,000W.

Question 17

What impact does moving through the 6 stages of society have?

Answer 17

Increased use of extra somatic energy.

Question 18

Which 3 factors have an impact on the planet?

Answer 18

Population, Affluence and Technology.

Question 19

How are environmental impacts distributed globally?

Answer 19

Not evenly for example there are likely to be more negative impacts in lower income countries.

Question 20

Why are there a higher proportion of impacts distributed in lower income countries?

Answer 20

• Lack of infrastructure in place.

- Raw materials are ordinarily found in the Eat rather than the West.

Question 21

What does consumption lead to?

Answer 21

Increasing demand for the extraction of substances.

Question 22

What does production lead to?

Answer 22

Increasing quantities of waste and harmful substances released into nature.

Question 23

What are the 3 different levels of impact?

Answer 23

1. Local Level: The immediate Vicinity.
2. Regional Level: Across political borders and geographic areas.
3. Global Level: Planet wide effects.

Question 24

Define delayed, spatial, cumulative and irreversible impacts.

Answer 24

1. Delayed: long lag between cause and effect.
2. Spatial: separation between location of cause and resultant effect.
3. Cumulative: individual actions have a little effect, but collectively a large effect.
4. Irreversible Impact: Impacts that are fundamentally impossible to repair.

Question 25

What are the four concepts of sustainable development?

P, S, S, V

Answer 25

1. Precautionary principle: suspected risk, stop doing it until it’s proven not to be harmful.
2. Social space: we are connected by consumption e.g. 2005 19 billion tonnes of global trade.
3. Spatial Scale Switching: relationship between scale and cause and scale of consequence.
4. Values: Instrumentally and intrinsically measured.

Question 26

How has our social space increased in recent years?

Answer 26

Virtual social space exists with social media and the internet and more than ever connections are global.

Question 27

How important are values?

Answer 27

How something is valued can determine whether it is likely to be maintained or used up to extinction.

Question 28

Why are values so important?

Answer 28

Exploring the range of values is important to determine the justification of the issue and how to negotiate inclusion of your values and what action you take.

Question 29

What are the two main actions used to preserve the environment?

Answer 29

1. Conservation: ‘seek to protect resources with a view to their eventual use for the benefit of society”’
2. Preservation: ‘to protect resources from human development or restore to a current or earlier state of affairs for the foreseeable future’.