S8 - Environmental Challenges (C2) Flashcards
What is consumerism ?
The idea that it is good if people buy an increasing amount of goods or services.
What are food miles ?
The distance that food travels from where it’s farmed to where it’s consumed.
What is an ecological footprint ?
A measure of the impact on the natural environment a person’s lifestyle has - measured as the land area taken to sustain this lifestyle.
How can we determine the ecological footprint of goods we consume ?
The energy used in production, land area taken to produce them, amount of carbon produced from production to consumption, the impact of the ecosystem around where it’s produced, and the waste produced from producing and consuming the product.
How is consumerism increasing ?
By new and improved non-essential products - such as new phones.
How has the food industry been driven by consumerism ?
Increased globalisation allows seasonal produce to be available year round in the UK which increases their demand and consumption and their food miles.
Where are some foods found int he UK sourced from ?
Lamb - New Zealand, beef - South America, apples - Chile, green beans - Kenya.
What affect does this increase in food miles for produce have ?
Environmental impacts such as noise and air pollution, and change in land use to accommodate for this increased food production and transportation.
What is global interdependence ?
When countries depend on each other to buy or sell goods.
What is an ecosystem ?
A community of plants and animals and how they interact with the environment within which they live.
What is a monoculture ?
A large scale farming of one crop type.
What do the impacts of consumerism on the environment depend on to determine its effects ?
The fragility of the ecosystem, the scale of growth/development of the product and how much the producing country depends on the product to contribute towards its income.
What is Borneo ?
Island in south-east Asia of countries Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Large areas of its primarily tropical rainforest biome are being cleared for palm oil plantations due to increased demand.
How has consumerism affected the production of palm oil ?
Palm oil is widely accepted as a healthy alternative for an increasingly health conscious population, can be used as a biofuel - greener solution to energy crisis, and is used in many products. 66 billion tonnes used annually.
What impact has increased palm oil production had on the ecosystem of Borneo ?
Borneo though to contain 6% of worlds species due to rainforests - but areas of forest are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations and the relating infrastructure, creating a monoculture which limits biodiversity, and displacing local indigenous people and animals. Also causes water/air pollution and soil erosion.
