REM 100: Midterm 2 Flashcards
Midterm
Institution
An elemental structure required for the functioning of a society
Embodies a particular set of values, norms, and roles that a society
Environment
The complete range of external conditions physical and biotic, in which the organism lives, including soil, water, climate, and food supply.
It includes for social, cultural and – for humans – economic and political considerations.
Global Change
Human induced transformation of the global environment
What makes a problem global?
Macro in scale
Can’t be solved by one country
It’s solution challenges the status quo
Challenges global institutions
The biosphere
The part of the earth that consists of all living organisms and their collective environments
The Great Transformation
- The transformation of the biosphere from “natural state” by the human action
- During the great transformation the elements of the biosphere have been altered by human activities, often sustainability
- However, the “natural state” of the environment is a difficult concept because the environment has undergone considerate change since the end of the last ice age
Mode of Adaptation
• Together with the physical limits of the environment, a mode of adaptation determine the population size that can be supported by a given environment
Environmental Impacts of Hunter-Gatherer
However, harmony with nature is a vague notion – hunter-gatherer people do substantially alter their environment to increase usability
Use of fire to move around
May have been a driving force of the mass extinctions of the Pleistocene
Population densities supported by this mode of adaptation are low and ecologically sustainable
Environmental Impacts of Agrarian Societies
- Simplification of natural ecosystems to a smaller number of domesticated species
- Elimination of predators and competitors
- Invention of agriculture and herding allowed for a higher human population densities
- Agricultural surpluses allowed for specialization political organization and the development of urban elites
- However, sometimes over populations led to the over exploitation of resources and the collapse of the cultures dependent on them
Agrarian Society Features
• Although they transformed the landscape most agrarian societies were ecologically sustainable
• Partly because:
o Farming methods evolved to limit environmental degradation
• Eg. Crop rotation (fallow)
o Population density was low, mostly rural
o Urban population growth was slowed by epidemic disease
• Eg. the plague and yellow fever
o Adverse environments effects were localized
o It was still feasible for populations to move
The Greatest Transformations
- Religion -> Science
- Feudal -> Democracy
- Rural -> Urban
- Agriculture -> Industry
- Biomass fuels -> Fossil fuels
- Muscle power -> Machines
Industrial Revolution
- Replacement of the cottage industry with machine based factories – powered by water and later by steam
- Wealth from colonies help provide for Europe
- Serious social, health, and environmental problems in industrial cities led to pressure for reform
- Improvements in diet, sanitation, and health care such as vaccinations increased life expectancy
- Mechanism, fertilizers, irrigation and agro-chemicals boosted agricultural production
Results of Modernization
- This has resulted in affluent Western societies utilizing resources from every region of the earth.
- “Old-fashioned” virtues of thrift and avoidance of waste have been replaced by convenience and consumerism
- Consumerism funded by easy access to credit has been promoted to sustain economic growth
World Population Increase
- 1800 AD – World population of 1 billion
- 1999 AD – World population of 6 billion
- 2011 AD – World population of 7 billion
Results of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolution
o People lived longer now
o Malnutrition was widespread
o In Europe in the 17th century people were poor
o Life expectancy was about 35 years
o Agriculture was based on common lands and tenant systems
Effects of Enclosure
• More available food
• People were pushed off the land
• Crisis looming in the iron industry
• Iron producers learned to use coal
• Coal had to be moved in bulk
o The result was the creation of a transportation network
• Eg. Trains
• Network of people no longer isolated -> could move food and people
• Nutrition improved and population increased
• More available labour, more people were able to buy their products
Lifecycle of a Consumer Product
Extraction -> Manufacturing -> Distribution -> Consumption -> Disposal
Planned Obsolescence
• Designed to be quickly used and then disposed of
Perceived obsolescence
• Makes people believe that they need to buy new products
o Ethics of first world economies
Dioxin
- The most toxic man-made substance
* This could be prevented
Domination
• Technocratic perspective
• Highly anthropocentric
• Utilizes an economic lens
• Can be:
o Cornucopian
o Environmental manager perspective (unsustainable yield)
• Nature has intrinsic value or rights
• The use of and maintenance of environmental resources are moral and ethical issues;
• Humans are reliant upon the existence of a functioning ecosystem
• Ecocentric or biocentric perspective
Range of Economic Spectrum
- Domination (status quo)
- Stewardship
- Conservation
- Eco-feminism
- Deep ecology
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
Early conservationist argued for the protection and valuing of nature
- “In the wilderness is the preservation of the world.”
- The root of civil disobedience, accept the punishment to prove that what is happening is wrong, opposed the USA – Mexico war stopped paying taxes and as a result went to jail.
John Muir (1838 – 1914)
Early conservationist argued for the protection and valuing of nature Periodical nature writer, established Yosemite National Park, California (1890)
• A prime mover in the establishment of national parks in the USA
• President of the Sierra Club from founding in 1892.
• “None of nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild.”
George Perkins
• Early conservationist argued for the protection and valuing of nature• 1864 – Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action (1874 as The Earth as Modified by Human Action)
Lewis Mumford
Early conservationist argued for the protection and valuing of nature
o “Fountainhead of the conservationist movements”
• 1885 – Banff National Park established as Canada’s first National Park
Preservationist Conservationists
Sought to maintain natural areas in their natural state
Utilitarian Conservationists
see to manage the sustainable harvesting of natural resources for human benefit
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)
o “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” – A Sand County Almanac
o Argued that we need an ethic for landowners and farmers to live by
o Would have made the 1930s less of a disaster (could have prevented the Dust Bowl to some extent)
o Earliest examples of an ecocentric Western scholar
o Instrumental in establishing professional wildlife management
o Assents that a basic lack of human regard for the land was the cause of most natural resource and agricultural problems.
o Echoes of St. Francis of Assisi
• “Plain member and citizens” of the biotic community
o He calls for an ethic that deals with humans “relation to the land and to the animals and plants that grow upon it”
• By extension ecological philosophy
o Calls for the establishment of an ecological conscience
o Asserts most private landowners are in need of a land ethic in order to explicitly acknowledge our obligations to the land
o He argues for this by enlarging the boundary of the community to include the land
Preservation
- Land is a biota which provides services of nature
- Natural species
- More than just a provider of commodities
Conservation
- Only the soil land provides for commodity production
* Trees provided by tree farms and silviculture (agronomic)
Preservationist Views of Wildlife Management
- Other species provide the basic commodities for sport and meat (game hunting, sport fisheries)
- Focus is on allowable annual kills and artificial propagation
