Introduction

Question 1

Conservation is a human issue

Answer 1

all issues driven by human populations, can only be solved by humans

Question 2

Gough island

Answer 2

71 of 99 species are introduced

233 human landings on Gough = one species established every 3 to 4 landings

Question 3

Should conservation

Answer 3

keep people in or keep them out?

Question 4

Human History

Answer 4

Hunter-gathers -
Shift to nomadic then sedentary agriculture -
City dwelling (from 3kya) -
Late 18th century: Industrial revolution -
Mid-late 20th century: The Great Acceleration (of almost everything)

Question 5

People born in 1950 were the first to see human population double in their lifetime

Answer 5

During the 20th century, more people were added to the world than in all of previous history

Question 6

Current growth is ~0.9% p.a. - that’s ~66.3M people a year, 180,000 a day

Answer 6

Six countries account for half of this annual growth: India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia

Question 7

Inequalities in human populations

Answer 7

Access to education
Sanitation
Food Shelter

Question 8

The majority of people will live in

Answer 8

urban areas by 2050

Question 9

As a consequence of urbanisation

Answer 9

energy use, fertiliser consumption, water use, paper production, transportation will increase

Question 10

As a consequence of urbanisation

Answer 10

CO2, methane, fish capture, nitrogen, forest loss, domestic land and terrestrial biosphere degradation increase

Question 11

A Human-Dominated World

Answer 11

We consume about 1/3 of terrestrial and 1/10 of marine primary productivity (1/4-1/3 in some regions)

We dam rivers, preventing flow of sediment to the seas

We move earth: In 200 yrs in the UK we have excavated & built up >4 x the volume of Ben Nevis

We produce more reactive N than all other terrestrial processes combined

We cause extinctions and global climate change

Question 12

planetary boundaries

Answer 12

Exploring the safe operating space for humanity

Question 13

Transgressing planetary boundaries may trigger catastrophic, abrupt environmental change

9 boundaries identified

Answer 13

Approximate values derived for 7 of them

Interdependencies between boundaries are acknowledged

Question 14

What are the planetary boundaries

Answer 14

Climate change

Novel entities

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Atmospheric aerosol loading

Ocean acidification

Biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus) are high risk beyond zone of uncertainty

Freshwater use

Land-system change

Biosphere integrity (genetic diversity) high risk beyond zone of uncertainty

Question 15

Does the extent of human activity justify the formal adoption of a new geological epoch?

Answer 15

Requires a global marker of an event in stratigraphic material (rock, sediment, or glacier ice; GSSP)

Question 16

The Orbis spike implies that colonialism, global trade and coal brought about the Anthropocene.

Answer 16

Nuclear explosions:
Peak of 14C in annual rings of pine tree in Poland
Auxiliary markers: fossil pollen of GM crops, lead isotopes in ice cores, microplastics in marine sediments, diatoms in eutrophic lakes,

Question 17

The Great Acceleration of 1945-2000 was almost entirely driven by the OECD countries

Answer 17

The world’s poorest countries (~800M people) have contributed <1% of global cumulative CO2 emissions since 1800, but poorer countries are rapidly catching up, and China now the world’s largest emitter

Question 18

The biophysical demands of London require an area the size of all the ecologically productive land in the UK
Each resident of North America, Europe, Japan and Australia requires the biophysical output of 5-10 ha to support their lifestyles

Answer 18

There are only ~2 ha of productive land / water per person on Earth

Question 19

Per-capita footprint increases with development

Answer 19

USA is worst

Cuba has quality lifestyle but lower ecological footprint