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Earth: A User's Guide > Midterm 2 > Flashcards

Midterm 2 Flashcards

1
Q

How is the majority of land on earth used?

A

Cropland and rangeland.

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2
Q

Cropland

A

20% of all surface land is needed for agriculture to feed. Equal to the size of Africa.

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3
Q

Rangeland

A

Grazing livestock, meat and dairy.

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4
Q

Land use extensification

A

When natural ecosystems are converted into areas for human use

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5
Q

Land use intensification

A

Increasing the intensity of human land use

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6
Q

Issues with land use intensification

A

More fertilizers- more pollution

More resistant plants

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7
Q

Urbanization

A

Increase in proportion of people living in urban areas.

  • overall population increasing
  • rural population decreasing
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8
Q

Issues with urbanization

A

Waste, pollution, urban sprawl, transportation

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9
Q

Reforestation

A

Complicated: rows of the same trees (monoculture), costly to recreate an entire ecosystem, selective harvesting

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10
Q

Deforestation causes

A

Wood products, fuel, cropland, rangeland.

Ex) Brazil and Australia

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11
Q

Reforestation

A

Replanting trees

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12
Q

Aforestation

A

Planting trees where there were none previously

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13
Q

Impacts of deforestation

A
  • carbon released by burning and decomposition of trees and other plants
  • loss of ability to absorb carbon
  • carbon from fossil fuels burned in process of deforestation
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14
Q

Issues with cropland

A
  • loss to urban sprawl

- soil degradation: erosion, salinization, water logging

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15
Q

Rangelands

A
  • quickly cause irreversible erosion, especially in semi-arid places. ex) Australia
  • overgrazing
  • rotational grazing
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16
Q

Desertification

A

Land degradation in arid location, eventually becomes desert

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17
Q

Future of land use

A

Cities: high density, mass transit, less energy use.

-eat lower on the food chain. Requires less resources.

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18
Q

4 challenges for increased agriculture production?

A

Irrigation, soil, tillage, fertilizer

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19
Q

Irrigation

A

Increasing complexity and demand for water.

  • salination of soils (inadequate drainage and evaporation)
  • leads to desertification (loss of vegetation)
  • decline in freshwater bodies (ex. Aral Sea)
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20
Q

Soils

A

Soil erosion.

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21
Q

Techniques to prevent soil erosion

A
  • manuring
  • fallowing and crop rotation
  • terracing sloped fields
  • maintaining vegetation cover
  • importance of understanding soil types
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22
Q

Types of tillage

A

Strip/zone tillage, minimum tillage, zero tillage

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23
Q

3 functions of tillage

A
  • provides a seed bed
  • controls weeds
  • incorporates organic matter
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24
Q

Fertilizer

A

NITORGEN.
-naturally from the atmosphere, but not enough.
-in farmed soils it reduces over time.
Ways to increase nitrogen is by using manures and planting legumes

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25
Q

Ammonia synthesis

A

Process to convert atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia.
Ex) Haber-Bosch process
-can lead to eutrophication

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26
Q

Eutrophication

A

Excessive nutrients in a body of water.
Often from land run off.
Too much plant growth, depletes oxygen when these plants die

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27
Q

Green Revolution

A
  • rapid development of improved plants and animals.

- high yielding varieties of rice and wheat. (Followed by other crops).

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28
Q

Negative impacts of the Green Revolution

A
  • Environmental impacts

- neocolonialism (downgrading local knowledge)

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29
Q

5 major factors/advances in the Green Revolution

A
  1. Mechanization
  2. Fertilization
  3. Irrigation
  4. Pesticides
  5. Plant breeding
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30
Q

Cultivation

A

20% earths land is currently used in cropland and cultivated

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31
Q

Cultivation needs…

A

Food, fuel, fibres, pharmaceuticals, luxury goods

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32
Q

2 issues with food security

A
  • crop failure in subsistence agriculture

- sudden change in markets (ex. Increase in price)

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33
Q

Food security - chronic

A

Food availability is always low

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34
Q

Food security - transitory

A

Disruption in food supply

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35
Q

Issues with food aid

A
  1. Can depress prices in the receiving country.
  2. May not be effectively distributed
    - inadequate transportation
    - government control
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36
Q

Origins of agriculture

A
  • transition from foraging to farming around 12 000 years ago
  • plants and animals domesticated a number of times by different populations
  • diffusion of crops between neighboring regions
  • colonialism brought crops from Americas
  • industrialization if agriculture related to the emergence of capitalism
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37
Q

Food security

A

Where all people at all times have access to safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

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38
Q

Famine

A

Food shortage in a region so severe that it leads to starvation

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39
Q

Causes of famine

A

Drought, disaster, conflict, and corruption

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40
Q

Causes of hunger and famine

A

Environment, poverty, conflict

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41
Q

Environment (hunger and famine)

A
  • soil degradation
  • climate change
  • lack of water
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42
Q

Poverty (hunger and famine)

A
  • lack of resources
  • uneven distribution
  • hunger and poverty also reinforce the other
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43
Q

Conflict (hunger and famine)

A
  • displacement of people
  • control of resources and transportation
  • hunger used as a means of control
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44
Q

Malnourished

A

Insufficient or excessive intake of nutrients.

Specific nutrients insufficiency.

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45
Q

Undernourishment

A

Caloric insufficiency

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46
Q

How do we increase food production?

A
  1. Increased irrigation
    - already at maximum
  2. Increasing amount of agricultural lands
    - already using all good cropland
  3. Eating lower on the food chain
    - not popular, culturally difficult
  4. Improve food distribution
    - equity issues, difficult with natural disasters, instability of governments
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47
Q

Monoculture

A

The planting of large areas with a single species or even a single strain of subspecies in farming

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48
Q

4 most popular foods

A

Wheat, corn, rice, potatoes

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49
Q

Breeding

A
  • selective adaptation
  • colour, flavour, size, resistance to temps, floods
  • manipulate genes at genetic level
50
Q

Conventional breeding

A

Takes advantage of genetic changes over multiple generations

51
Q

Genetic engineering

A
  • direct manipulation of genes, within an organism
  • only way to transfer between species
  • specific and deliberate alteration of genes
  • create new combinations not possible in nature
52
Q

GMOs

A

Organisms that have been genetically engineered

53
Q

Transgenic organism

A

Genes from another species

54
Q

Concerns of GMOs

A

Improper testing, unintentionally pass on to other non-target organisms, can accumulate in the environment

55
Q

Mycotoxins

A
  • naturally occurring from fungi and molds
  • in small amounts not an issue
  • can kill animals and humans
  • “natural” can also be toxic
56
Q

Cash crops

A

Crops grown to be traded or sold, profitable

57
Q

Subsistence crops

A

Crops used directly for food by a farmer or sold locally where the food is used directly, food that is needed

58
Q

Demand-based agriculture

A

Limited by demand and not resources

59
Q

Resource-based agriculture

A

Production is limited by the availability of resources

60
Q

Organic food

A

Produced by methods that comply with the standards of organic farming. General features include practices that strive to cycle resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity

61
Q

Organic food yields

A

5-50% less.
Higher costs and limited supply.
Typically less pesticides on organic food.

62
Q

4 approaches for sustainable agriculture

A
  1. Reduce water, fertilizers, and pesticides.
    - precision agriculture (drip irrigation)
  2. Reduce agriculture where water is scarce
  3. Limit biofuels
  4. Limit resource intensive food growth - like meat
63
Q

Ecology

A

Branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to each other and their environment

64
Q

Ecotoxicology

A

Studies the effects of chemicals and other toxic agents on everything from organisms to ecosystems (not people), with an emphasis on adverse effects, but even ‘positive’ effects need to be understood and characterized

65
Q

Hazard

A

Combination of toxicity and intensity of exposure.

-no toxicity or no exposure results in no hazard

66
Q

Risk

A

The probability that a substance will be hazardous

67
Q

Risk involves 3 things

A

Toxicity, intensity of exposure, probability of exposure

68
Q

Toxic

A

Degree to which a chemical substance can damage an organism

69
Q

Bioaccumulation

A

Increase in substances in an organism

70
Q

Biomagnification

A

Increasing build up of toxins in organisms in higher levels of the food chain

71
Q

Dilution paradigm

A

“The solution to pollution is dilution”

-replaced by the boomerang paradigm: what you throw away can come back and hurt you

72
Q

Globalization

A

Complex combination of economic, political, and cultural change.

  • evident in accumulation of possessions
  • has accelerated since the 1980s
73
Q

Globalization today

A
  • inexpensive manufacturing
  • in 1990s specialization and product concentration
  • highly mechanized/automated facilities owned by few companies
74
Q

Product concentration

A

Control of markets by single often multinational corporations

75
Q

Product concentrations- causes

A
  1. Distance overcome more easily
    - efficient transportation, international communications
  2. Increased dominance of transnational corporations.
    - corporations not confined to one state
    - some more powerful than some governments
76
Q

Product concentration- effects

A
  1. Homogenization of cultures
    - suppression of diversity
    - uniformity of cultural landscape
    - spread of English
  2. Increased connectedness (both result and cause)
  3. Blurs in the distinction between developed and emerging markets
77
Q

Impact on trade

A
  1. Goods and information traded
    - greater volumes, faster speeds
  2. Greater interdependence
    - connectedness could lead to stability
    - benefits need to be well distributed (they’re not)
78
Q

Criticisms of world trade

A
  • inequity and negative impacts on developing nations
  • potential for significant control on populations
  • environmental problems
  • promotes export-oriented economies
79
Q

Foreign debt

A

Less developed countries owing money to international lending agencies and foreign banks

80
Q

GINI coefficient

A

A measure of income/wealth inequality from a scale of 0 to 1.

  • perfect equality of income = 0
  • perfect inequality of income = 1
81
Q

Glocalization

A

Ability of a nation to retain its distinct identity while taking advantage of globalization

82
Q

Developing nations and waste trade

A

MDCs
-higher costs to deal with waste, especially hazardous.
Export to LDCs

83
Q

Shipbreaking

A
  • contaminated ships broken up for scrap metal

- if done in MDC, costs exceed price of steel recovered

84
Q

What are plastics?

A

Materials based on polymers

85
Q

Polymers

A

Large repeating molecules

86
Q

Composites

A

Included with other materials

87
Q

Laminates

A

Layered on another material

88
Q

Qualities of modern plastic

A
  1. Successful- low cost, superior performance

2. Enduring- have become global litter problem

89
Q

Plastic from fossil fuels

A
  • produced from crude oil, natural gas, and coal

- 300 billion tonnes per year of plastics is produced. Expected to triple by 2050

90
Q

Benefits of plastic

A
  • buildings (pipes, valves, flooring, siding, etc)
  • medicine (IV tubes, pacemakers)
  • food (packaging extends shelf life)
  • transportation (lightweight)
  • 3D printing (everything)
91
Q

Issues with plastic

A
  • waste (91% of total produced plastic is not recycled)
  • microplastics
  • hazardous to wildlife
  • unsightly
  • expensive to management
92
Q

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

A

Centre of Pacific where gyres accumulate and concentrate garbage.
-80% marine debris comes from land

93
Q

Solutions to plastic use

A

Use less

  • can use innovative design so items need less material
  • recycling produces other materials
  • create plastics that are degradable
  • new generation of bioplastics
94
Q

Rare earth minerals

A

Relatively rare minerals used in high tech industries.

Ex) tantalum and lithium

95
Q

Columbite-tantalite

A
  • “coltan”
  • used in the electronics industry
  • contain high field strength elements used in the electronics industry
96
Q

Tantalum

A
  • high melting point
  • low electrical leakage and high capacity
  • light weight
  • metal least rejected by the human body
97
Q

Lithium

A
  • high specific heat capacity
  • very reactive
  • found in minerals such as PETALITE and SPODUMENE
  • high power to weight ratio
98
Q

Uses of lithium

A
  • batteries
  • cell phones and laptops
  • lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable, lighter and long lasting
99
Q

Pegamatites

A
  • crystalline igneous rock
  • associated with dikes
  • form from magma containing a lot of water and under pressure
  • sometimes very rare and valuable elements
  • can be found in Africa
100
Q

Dike

A

Crack in the earth’s surface where magma flows in and cools. That’s where we find pegamatites

101
Q

Coltan and the Congo

A
  1. increased demand from computers and other technologies
  2. Illegal extraction
    - funds guerilla warfare
    - damages the environment
    - dangerous mining conditions for people
    - threatens populations of gorillas
  3. Described as a blood mineral
102
Q

Issues with blood minerals

A
  • child labour
  • dozens of reported deaths
  • birth defects
103
Q

Uses of boron

A
  • coatings on turbine blades and rocket nozzles
  • bullet proof clothing
  • detergents, soaps, cleaners, cosmetics
104
Q

Main ways that we consume

A

Lifestyles, food, shelter, goods, mobility, experiences

105
Q

Ways we consume: lifestyles

A
  • permanent settlements = able to have more stuff.
  • ability to consume is increased by our ability to move stuff around the world
  • globalization results in cheaper products and cheaper transportation
106
Q

Canada’s food waste carbon footprint size?

A

3rd largest

107
Q

Ways we consume: home

A
  • geothermal
  • natural gas (most common in MB)
  • electricity
  • fuel oil
  • propane
108
Q

Average amount of e-waste in USA

A

9.4 million tons

109
Q

Average amount of phones disposed of every day

A

350, 000

110
Q

Amount of e-waste recycled

A

12.5%

111
Q

Fast fashion

A

Clothing made cheaply and easily replaced

112
Q

Planned obsolescence

A

Meant to be thrown away when broken

113
Q

Perceived obsolescence

A

Staying current; throw away just because

114
Q

Solutions to over consumption

A
  • minimalism
  • shift from goods and services to experiences
  • more transparency in media and social media
115
Q

Solutions to food waste

A
  1. Meal planning
  2. Labelling/ fridge organizing
  3. Freeze
  4. Shopping: picking the food that doesn’t look perfect
116
Q

Solutions: home

A
  • where we chose to live
  • types of homes we buy
  • energy efficient decisions
117
Q

Solutions- electronics

A
  • buy fewer upgrades
  • RECYCLE
  • look for ethically sourced products
118
Q

Solutions- fashion

A
  • more transparency in the supply chain

- environmental and social activism as a brand

119
Q

Solution- transportation

A
  • transit
  • infrastructure
  • culture that supports these initiatives
120
Q

Tourism economies

A

10% of global GDP

121
Q

Export earnings and tourism

A

Tourism is ranked 3rd

122
Q

Tourism (UNWTO)

A
  • 10% GDP
  • 1/10 jobs
  • US $1.4 trillion in exports
  • 7% of world’s exports
  • 30% of services exports

Earth: A User's Guide (3 decks)

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