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GCS > L5 Population & Planetary Boundaries > Flashcards

L5 Population & Planetary Boundaries Flashcards

1
Q

Which environmental problems are within the safe operating space?

A

Environmental problems that do not pass the planetary boundaries are:

  • Ocean acidification
  • Stratospheric ozone depletion
  • Freshwater use
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2
Q

Which environmental problems are in the zone of uncertainty (with increasing risk)?

A
  • Land-system change

- Climate change

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3
Q

Which environmental problems are in the high risk zone?

A

Environmental problems beyond the zone of uncertainty:

  • Phosphorus and nitrogen flows
  • Genetic diversity
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4
Q

What are other environmental problems of which the boundary is not yet quantified?

A
  • Atmospheric aerosol loading
  • Novel entities
  • Functional diversity
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5
Q

Which countries emit the most CO2?

A
  1. China
  2. USA
  3. EU countries
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6
Q

Which country has significantly increased its CO2 emissions relative to its GDP/capita growth? What could be the reason?

A

China.

It has exceeded the CO2 emissions level of the UK while its GDP/capita growth has been relatively lower.
The reason could be the huge and fast increase in population.

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7
Q

What is the IPAT equation (Ehrlich & Holdren)?

A

It represents the main drivers of environmental impact.

Environmental Impact = Population (# people) * Affluence (resources / person) * Technology (impact / unit of resource)

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8
Q

What is the criticism of the IPAT equation?

A
  • Too simplistic
  • Does not represent interlinkages between P, A, T
  • Ignores goverment and political context of countries
  • It is incomplete: Schulze (2002) adds Behavior to the equation
    (I = PBA*T)
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9
Q

What does Barry Commoner say about population as the key driver of environmental impact?

A

Population can’t be the driver, but technological development.
How you manage the impact of population and affluence with technology.

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10
Q

What is the difference between the Malthusian Theory and Boserupian Theory about population & food output in the long run?

A
  • Malthusian Theory (negative view): the Earth has a maximum capacity, so if population keeps growing we will reach a point of starvation, war and famine.
  • Boserupian Theory (positive view): takes into account technological innovations that increase the ways to obtain food and therefore the food supply while population rates keep increasing.
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11
Q

What is the difference between the Malthusian Theory and Boserupian Theory about population & food output in the long run?

A
  • Malthusian Theory (negative view): the Earth has a maximum capacity, so if population keeps growing we will reach a point of starvation, war and famine.
  • Boserupian Theory (positive view): takes into account technological innovations that increase the ways to obtain food and therefore the food supply while population rates keep increasing.
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12
Q

The poorest countries have higher population growth rates.

True / False

A

True.

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13
Q

Which are the global trends on population?

A
  • Lower birth and death rates
  • Lower fertility rates
  • Higher life expectancy at birth
  • Higher migration rates (from the global south to the north)
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14
Q

Explain the different stages of the demographic transition model that assumes that population growth is related to the stages of world development.

A

Stage 1. Traditional agrarian society (slow population growth)
High birth rates (no family planning, children needed for farming, religious/social encouragement) and high death rates (disease, famine, poor medial knowledge)

Stage 2. Early industrialization (acceleration of population growth)
Decrease of death (improvements in health care, water supply and sanitation)

Stage 3. Industrialized society (population growth slows)
Decrease of birth rates (fewer children needed, improved medial care and diet)

Stage 4. Service society (negative or stagnant population growth)
Death rates equal or higher than birth rates (family planning, later marriages, improved women status)

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15
Q

What is the microeconomic basis for having children?

A

According to the microeconomic utility maximization: parents weight the costs (marginal cost) and benefits (marginal utility) of having an additional child.

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16
Q

Which are the marginal benefits and costs of having an additional child in rich countries?

A

Less marginal benefits (children not needed for productive labor / taking care of elderly)
More marginal costs (time of parents, price of schooling…)

= smaller family sizes

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17
Q

Which are the benefits of having a children as inputs in production? Explain it in the different demographic stages.

A

Stage 1 & 2 (agrarian & early industrialization): children are useful as inputs to production (farming, etc.)

Stage 3 (industrialized): manufacturing requires more adult labor, less children are needed as production inputs.

Stage 4 (service): education growth - increase of the investment in each child (better education) & families have fewer children.

18
Q

Which are the benefits of having children in building pensions? Explain it in the different demographic stages.

A

Stage 1 (agrarian): families have many children to provide support for the parent when they are no longer capable of providing for themselves.

Stage 3 (industrialized): with public social support systems it is easier to store wealth and children are less needed to support elderly.

19
Q

Which are the costs (education, food, housing, mother’s time) of having children in each demographic stage?

A

Stage 1 (agrarian): relatively small costs.

Stage 2 & 3 (industrialization): urbanization and industrialization increase the marginal costs of increasing the family size.

20
Q

What is the demographic dividend?

A

The growth of the working-age popoulation, which in turn affects development.

Demographic dividend benefits development when a country has (a) high growth of the working-age population or (b) has low birth and death rates, because fewer births = fewer number of young dependents relative to the working population. With fewer people to support and more people in the labor force, an economy’s resources are invested in other areas to accelerate a country’s economic development.

21
Q

How do population dynamics work?

A
  • Large populations lead to health and birth control policies to reduce the population growth.
  • That reduction of population growth would imply that more productive capital is concentrated in fewer workers (higher capital per worker = higher productivity)
  • Higher productivity will lead to economic growth and, in turn, higher levels of affluence (wealth)
  • Richer countries tend to have smaller families, which will lead to a higher decrease in population growth…
    (repeat of the process)
22
Q

What are countries experiencing due to social protection systems?

A

Population ageing.

23
Q

What is affluence and how do you measure it?

A

Affluence (or prosperity) is an indicator of economic development.

There are different ways of measuring it: GDP, HDI, etc.

24
Q

What is the difference between poverty line, washing line, and air line?

A

Poverty line: poor population
Washing line: middle-class population
Air line: rich population

25
Q

What does the Milanovic’s Elephant Curve represent?

A

The income growth of each economic group of the global income distribution.

  • Global elite & rich class (the top 1%): massive income growth + high initial share of income.
  • Global upper middle class: stagnant income growth (=0).
  • Global middle class: rapid growth, select developing countries have begun to converge toward rich countries (e.g., China)
  • Global extreme poor & least developed: low growth, they have been left behind, with several countries stuck in a cycle of poverty and violence.
26
Q

The richest 1% own 45% of the world’s wealth.

True / False

A

True

27
Q

Inequality is decreasing almost everywhere.

True / False

A

False - Inequality is increasing or staying extremely high nearly everywhere.

28
Q

Women are scarce at top level positions and overrepresented at the bottom.

True / False

A

True

29
Q

What is the Lorenz curve?

A

Graphical representation of the inequality of income distribution.
It shows for the bottom x% of population (x-axis), what percentage (y%) of the total income they have (y-axis).

  • Straight diagonal line (45 degrees) = total equality
30
Q

What is the Gini coefficient?

A

Index that represents the income inequality.

Gini coefficient = [ A / (A+B) ] * 100

A: area between equality line and actual income distribution curve
B: area outside the actual income distribution curve

= 0 (complete equality)
= 100 (complete inequality)

31
Q

Inequality has decreased since 1990.

True / False

A

False - Inequality has grown since then

32
Q

Is there any correlation between economic inequality and environmental change?

A

Yes, there is a link between economic inequality and carbon emissions & municipal waste generation.

33
Q

Richest 10% are responsible for almost half of total lifestyle consumption CO2 emissions.

True / False

A

True

& poorest 50% are responsible for a 10%

34
Q

Poverty has declined since 1975.

True / False

A

True - but there there has been an increase in inequality.

35
Q

What is the main function of technological development (T)?

A

It is crucial to mitigate impacts of Population (P) & Affluence (A) growth.

36
Q

Why is technological development hard to predict?

A
  • Technologies may be not affordable (Affordability)
  • Access to technology may differ (Accessibility)
  • Adoption is not always imminent (Adoption / Availability)
37
Q

There has been a scale-up in the use of solar and wind technology.

True / False

A

True, due to the decline in the cost price.

38
Q

What does the Original Kuznets Curve explain about inequality? Does it apply to real life?

A

It hypothesizes that industrializing nations experience a rise and subsequent decline in income inequality

It does not apply to real life.

39
Q

Does the modified Environmental Kuznets Curve apply for environmental degradation?

A

It suggests that economic development initially leads to a deterioration in the environment, but after a certain level of economic growth (turning point), a society begins to improve its relationship with the environment and levels of environmental degradation reduces.

Poor economies have low environmental impact because they have low economic activity, middle-class economies pollute more due to the increase in economic activity, and then richer economies are able to invest in environmental technologies to decline their footprint.

It just applies for certain cases: deforestation, food (less meat is consumed), and biodiversity.

40
Q

In which cases does the Environmental Kuznets Curve not apply?

A
  • Increasing impact, but it slows down for rich countries: waste generation and carbon emissions
  • Increasing impact - slow down for middle-economies - and accelerating increase again for rich economies: mobility and food (in case they consume more meat)
41
Q

Explain the difference between CO2 consumption and production in rich countries.

A

Because rich countries import CO2 to consume it, they do not produce it.

42
Q

What other variables may be also very important explaining environmental impact?

A
  • Urbanization
  • Committed climate change (policies, etc.)
  • Lifestyle

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