Medium Length Questions

Question 1

How do the laws of thermodynamics help explain why somebody might become
vegetarian?

Answer 1

• define laws (1: energy cannot be created or destroyed (can’t win)2: conversion is not prefect efficiency (can’t break even).
• sun energy first brought in by the primary producers
• most primary energy as you increase in tropic levels has been lost as heat
• loose energy as you go up the food chain. Lots of hey fed to cows, and you only get a small portion of the initial input energy

Question 2

Whatever are the key drivers of extinction?

Answer 2

ALL this are significantly influenced by humans. Why many consider us to be in the Anthropocene extinction

• changes in land use (habitat loss degradation and fragmentation) (forest lost/ fragmentation for coco beans)
• overexploitation (cod being overfished and dodo bird)
• invasive species ( Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, mosquitoes to hawaii, connected to disease )
• disease(
• climate change (global warming) (connected to the further spread of disease as mosquito can travel further than before

Question 3

Define the ecological footprint and explain how it is calculated. What is the purpose or significance of calculating ecological footprint?

Answer 3

Ecological footprint - total effect on has on the enviroment based on their lifestyle and circumstances (can also be compared to the PAT part of the I=FPAT equation)

Uses ecological accounting - compares productive land being used to what is available (ie. biocapasity)

Purpose? - To compare and contrast different lifestyle choices a person can have to leave a more sustainable life. Makes the global issue tangible to a single person

Question 4

What is meant when we say that “nature is socially constructed” (or a social construction)? Provide some examples and discuss the significance.

Answer 4

Humans have shaped what is “nature”.
Think it is ecosystems untouched by humans but hasn’t everything been touched by humans? (Algonquin Park and logging)
-> where do we draw the line of what’s man-made and what’s natural
-> is everything “natural’? even plastic?
-> social construct- joint assumptions humans have about certain things

Question 5

Why is an understanding of time scales analyzing socio-ecological disturbances?

Answer 5

Understanding the norm of what occurs during a time scale. It’s through this comparison that the “great acceleration” is so scary

• > what is great acceleration? Define (huge surge in many aspects of env degradation and climate, from 1950s on word)
• > yes there has been huge temperature shifts on earth but never at this scale and speed

Question 6

Explain the latitudinal location of the world’s major deserts and rainforests.

Answer 6

Due to Hadley cells and the ITCZ

• > warm moist air from tropics -> most direct sunlight
• > warm air rises condense (leads to rain)
• > this cool dry air then falls, and this is around the tropics which is where most deserts are
• > Warmer earth, more rain here, the drier the deserts get

Question 7

What is soil?

Answer 7

D: The upper layer of earth in which plants grow, made of organic material, clay and rock
Soil permeability: rate which water moves through soil
A: soil is needed for many things: plant trees (therefore shelter), water flow,

Question 8

Explain the following graph of biomass (in Gt): (Terrestrials have high producer but low consumer, marine has low producer and high consumer)

Answer 8

Terrestrial

• much more producers in terrestrial
• these producers reproduce slowly and take longer to mature and die, thus a lot more is needed (more biomass)

(animals use energy to live)
Marine
- phytoplankton are small and use photosynthesis (main producers)
- plankton produce rapidly and die quickly, thus have lower biomass (r-stratigiest)

Question 9

How have debates around population and population growth been shaped by power
(e.g., class & racist/colonial biases)?

Answer 9

• some people need to have lots of children due to the high mortality rate. this is to a less of an extent now, due to demographic transition
• do we need to limit our population (china’s one child in the past)
• should poor countries such as China control their population (lessen the burden)
• these ideas brought by people like Malthusian (poor people population destroying the planet)

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/19/overpopulation-cities-environment-developing-world-racist-paul-ehrlich

Question 10

How is it possible to live beyond the biocapacity of the planet?

Answer 10

• unequal distribution of resources (we have so much wile others live in poverty)
• new technology will fix our problems (technocentric viewpoint/optimistic viewpoint)
  ex. growing plants with out dirt, new materials being created, new food sources like algae

Question 11

What are the benefits and trade-offs of the Green Revolution?

Answer 11

Third Agricultural Revolution
D: Set of research technology transfer initiatives that occurred between 1950-1960s and increased agricultural production in developing world.
E: Crop genetic improvement to produce more
A: Green revolution helped initially boost food production
Modern agriculture systems have significantly impacted the planet and lead to reduced productivity

Question 12

Use an explanation of the nitrogen cycle to explain eutrophication.

Answer 12

Nitrogen Cycle: continuous series of natural processes by which nitrogen passes from air to soil to organisms and back to air or soil.
Nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, dentrification
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle#/media/File:Nitrogen_Cycle_2.svg Eutrophication: A body of water become overloaded with nutrients, which causes plants and algae to grow rapidly which forms algal blooms. When algal blooms dies, microbes will decompose.
Caused by land run off, death of animal life in water from lack of oxygen

E: When too much fertilizer is used, excess nitrogen can runoff into bodies of water which can lead to eutrophication.

Question 13

Use an explanation of the nitrogen cycle to explain eutrophication.

Answer 13

Nitrogen Cycle: continuous series of natural processes by which nitrogen passes from air to soil to organisms and back to air or soil.
Nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, dentrification
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle#/media/File:Nitrogen_Cycle_2.svg Eutrophication: A body of water become overloaded with nutrients
Caused by land run off, death of animal life in water from lack of oxygen

Question 14

Explain what would happen to global temperature if emissions were brought to zero
tomorrow?

Answer 14

• global temperature would continue to rise due to the fact that there are still greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere trapping the suns radiation and warming the earth
• use his blanket analogy, we stopped putting blankets on but we still need to take the original blankets off
• this would also mean transportation, energy production and manufacturing have all stopped releasing emissions

Question 15

What are the causes and impacts of ocean acidification?

Answer 15

Causes
- co2 concentration in the water
- water absorbs co2, causing chemical reactions
Impacts
- degradation of corals (algae is sensitive to acid, it leaves the coral, less photosynthesis)
- coral bleaching is caused like the coral reef
- bad for fish, need corals to live

Question 16

What does it mean to say that “not all emissions are equal.”

Answer 16

• some green house gasses are more dense than others
• es. methane is more dense than co2 (longer lifespan, stays in atmosphere longer)
• even thous co2 is more abundant methane can have a larger effect
• trap more of the suns radiation

Question 17

What are some ethical reasons given why the “fair share” for greenhouse gas emissions
of wealthy countries should be greater than their proportion of global population on its
own would suggest.

Answer 17

Good ethics
- contribute more to society 
- need more resources to produce more 
Bad ethics
- want to produce as much as possible and not think about the environment, anthropocentric viewpoint

Question 18

Why is climate change a pressing or urgent issue?

Answer 18

• temperature is rising in many places across the globe
• quickly losing arctic ice and glaciers (loss of habitat for plankton and polar bears)
• melting glaciers results in rising sea levels (cities can become flooded ex. Venice, if nothing is done Vancouver)
• intense weather events happening more often and at greater scales
• happening all around the world and in different ways

Question 19

Drawing on case studies discussed in class, what are some tensions between potential opportunities for collaboration between forestry workers and environmentalists?

Answer 19

Example is the job loss in the forestry sector for British Columbia.
Forestry workers want their jobs back because it is their logs that are being logged. They want the logging to be done locally by local people working in the area. This lines up with what environmentalists want becuase they also want forestry to be more local and less industrialized. Also, they don’t want Canadian logs going overseas, which creates more emissions costs.

Question 20

Define the three type of biodiversity and explain their importance.

Answer 20

Reliance on species survival as the climate and other circumstances change. More variation means more of a chance that a part of it will survive. Frame this in relation to how biodiversity helps ecosystem services.

• > Medicine
• > food
• > resources
• > cultural

genetic - More variation in alles (brown vs blond hair) means more survival. Think survival of the fittest thing
species - a variety of species within a habitat or a region.
ecosystem diversity- Variety of different type of ecosystems and diversity within the system

Question 21

Why is climate change a pressing or urgent issue?

Answer 21

• temperature is rising in many places across the globe
• quickly losing arctic ice and glaciers (loss of habitat for plankton and polar bears)
• melting glaciers results in rising sea levels (cities can become flooded ex. Venice, if nothing is done Vancouver)

Question 22

What are some of the impacts of the tar sands at various spatio-temporal scales (i.e., short-term and long-term; local, regional and global).

Answer 22

Local
- provides jobs for the community
- birds and other animals can suffer negative effects to their health from contact with tailing ponds
- destruction of habitats
- land is taken from indigenous people
Regional
- provide petroleum products for the country to use
- large portion of Canada’s energy comes from tar sands
Global
- produce oil that is exported around the world
- more fossil fuels being used means more emissions and greenhouse gasses being emitted (long term)

Question 23

Define and assess the value of ecosystem services.

Answer 23

Adds economic value to things that upfront don’t have a money attachment to it. Can get people to think more about their effect on the earth resources, and what the environment does for us

Question 24

What is the relationship between density and urban form? Discuss with reference to the following diagram. State what you think is the most sustainable urban form and explain why.
(Look at density and urban form diagram on question sheet)

Answer 24

-low rise, high coverage (Ex: suburban houses)
-worst in terms of Efficiency and space
-Medium rise and coverage
(Ex: mix of both)
-do everything in one area, don’t need to drive anywhere
-high rise, low coverage
(Ex: Apartments)
-very efficient because of how compact it is, still need parking lot

Question 25

What is the precautionary principle?

What are the arguments in favour and against policy-makers using a strong version of the precautionary principle?

Answer 25

D: when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically
D: Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
Pros: Recognizes potential harm, uncertainty, that action is needed
Cons: Precludes progress, ignores benefits and trade-offs, ill-defined
Ex: CRISPR and genetically modified babies

Question 26

Discuss the five major approaches for solving socio-ecological problems [i.e.,
technology; the market; government-led solutions; collective & grassroots actions;

Answer 26

Technology
- more efficient use of resources
- green technology 
- communicate with people around the world 
The Market
- operate in sustainable ways
- operate in a fair way (ex. no child labor, exploitation of poor nations) 
- waste less (donate unused food)
Government led solutions
- environmentally friendly policies 
- invest in clean energy 
- invest in environmentally friendly technology
Collective actions
- petition for social change
- ex. climate strike
Individual actions
- make wiser choices, organic, reusable products, recycle, etc

Question 27

What are cumulative effects?

Discuss three types of cumulative effects using examples.

Answer 27

D: changes in the environment caused by the combo of impact of past, present and future human activities and natural processes.
Often overseen and not included in environmental assessments
Chemical Cumulative Effects:
Ex: tobacco smoke + asbestos = greater risk of lung cancer from acting together
Additive Cumulative Effects:
Ex: as growing population occurs, more cities are built, causing urban sprawl and separation of forests
Synergistic cumulative effects:
Effects of addictive and chemical effects together

Question 28

Discuss at least three factors that explains the “Values-action gap?”

Answer 28

Space that occurs when the values or attitudes of an individual do not correlate to their actions. 
Factors that effect this:
-restricted by external or situational constraints (Econ or political)
-cost of product / finance
-brand strength
-culture 
-lack of info
-lifestyles or personalities
-ethical factors

Question 29

How does history inspire hope for realizing sustainability?

Answer 29

• the industrial revolution lifted the world out of a cycle of poverty
• hope for new technology to save us
• social movements create change (LGBTQ rights, civil rights)
• change our behaviors (move away from cars to sustainable travel methods

Question 30

What explains seasonal variation compared to variation of major biomes across the
globe?

Answer 30

Seasons- due to the tilt of the earth and changes in sunlight intensity

biome change - characterized more by climate, while seasons more by the weather. This “average” changes the soil and what species can live in these areas

Question 31

CRAAP test?

Answer 31

You should know this by now