Global Resource Consumption and Security ch1

Question 1

ecological footprint

Answer 1

hypothetical area of land required by a society, a group or an individual to fulfill all their resource needs and assimilate all their wastes, measured in global hectares (gha) a country with 3.2 gha in its own geographical area is consuming resources and assimilating its waste on a rate that would require a land are 3.2 times bigger than it’s own land

Question 2

biocapacity

Answer 2

The capacity of ecosystems to regenerate what people demand from those surfaces.

Question 3

virtual / embedded water

Answer 3

the hidden flow of water in food or other commodities that are traded from one place to another (through products that used water to make them, not physical)

Question 4

non-renewable energy

Answer 4

fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal) and contribute to majority of energy supply (non renewable to match the same rate they are demanded, which results in depletion of the supplies)

Question 5

renewable energy

Answer 5

solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass and tidal schemes (large scale or small scale) and they are sustainable because there is no depletion of natural capital)

Question 6

fossil fuels

Question 7

hydroelectric power

Answer 7

uses wind turbines that are cheap to run once they’re built. But may lead to areas getting flooded and harming the environment and ecosystems

Question 8

tidal power

Answer 8

uses ebbing or flooding tide to turn turbines that produce energy and generate sufficient energy but are expensive to set up

Question 9

solar energy

Answer 9

uses solar panels and is much cheaper for heating homes but is very expensive to set up and can have impact on ecosystems

Question 10

wind power

Answer 10

produces by wind turbines from available wind energy and turns the wind energy into a generator and generates electricity, placements of these are critical

Question 11

biofuel energy

Answer 11

can be produced by burning plant material to give off heat by transforming plant matter into ethanol and then fuel but produce emissions and require a lot of land and are planted at the expense of natural ecosystems

Question 12

waste

Answer 12

organic wastes decomposes and gives of methane gas which is burned but ads to global warming in the atmosphere

Question 13

poverty reduction & global middle class

Question 14

increasing & decreasing ecological footprint

Question 15

factors in calculating ecological footprints

Question 16

ecological footprints: HICs vs. LICs

Question 17

patterns and trends in water availability and consumption

Question 18

patterns and trends in availability of land and food consumption

Answer 18

Food intake steadily increased while world population increased
Change of diet towards a more balanced meal, and this is clearly observed as LICs become MICs
Food consumption is price dependant, when there is something cheaper, consumption increases especially in poorer households
Consumption increases until a certain point, even when people have money to pay for it

Question 19

patterns and trends in availability and consumption of energy

Answer 19

Insecurity has risen because of
Increased demand, especially newly industrialized countries (NICs)
Decreased reserves as supplies are used up
Terrorist activity
Conflict between Russia and Ukraine
Geopolitical developments: countries with oil resources such as Russia flex their resources in response to the decreasing resources in other places
Global warming and natural disasters which increase awareness about the misuse of energy resources
Diversified energy mix offers the most energy security while defending on a single source is more likely to lead to energy insecurity

Question 20

advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources

Question 21

changes in global energy demand

Question 22

case study: economic growth in Vietnam

Answer 22

Since 1990, economic growth averaged 6% per year
Developed from one of poorest countries to middle income country due to:
Young population (encourages work and labor)
Proximity to a HIC country or one doing well helps
Invested in education, and member of trade cooperation with other countries
No one single reason for emergence as MIC

Question 23

energy insecurity

Answer 23

when there’s an energy deficit, where the amount consumed is greater than the amount of energy produced (causes are terrorist activity, climate change and natural disasters, decreased reserves as supplies of fossil fuels are used up, dependence on other countries)