Section 2: Sustainability Flashcards
Which 3 environmental problems have passed the safe boundary?
- Biodiversity loss
- Climate change
- Nitrogen cycle
Name the 4 criteria that are used to classify an environmental problem
- Absorbative capacity: Cumulative or non-cumulative (stock or flow)
- Scale of impact: local or global
- Origin: point source or non-point source
- Occurrences: continual or episodic
What is GDP?
GDP is the total economic output of producers in a country
Why is rising GDP a good thing?
- Reduces poverty
- Increases literacy
- Reduces unemployment
- Slows population growth
- Reduces environmental degradation
On the environmental Kuznets Curve, what are the labels on the x and y axes?
Y-axis: environmental degradation
X-axis: income per capita / GDP per capita
Explain the shape of the Environmental Kuznets Curve
Emissions and impacts increase as a countries economy grows. Environmental degradation starts to decrease as:
- Consumers and producers use more efficient technology
- Citizens gain pro-environmental values
- Citizens for governments with pro-environmental values
- Governments implement policies and regulations that are good for the environment
Name an example of an environmental problem that follows EKC
Urban air pollution
Name the 3 types of human-based capital
- Physical capital
- Intellectual capital
- Human capital
Define weak sustainability
Natural and human-based capital are perfect substitutes
Define strong sustainability
Natural and human-based capital cannot be substituted, but are compliments
Is the following quote weak or strong sustainability:
“each generation should leave water, air, and soil resources as pure and unpolluted as when it came on the earth”
Strong sustainability
Is the following quote weak or strong sustainability:
“Each generation should be presented with the capability of being at least as well off as previous generations.”
Weak sustainability
Define thermodynamics
The study of energy and is conversions
Explain the 3 systems in thermodynamics
- Open system: both energy and material can be exchanged
- Closed system: only energy can be exchanged
- Isolated system: neither energy nor material can be exchanged
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
Energy and matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Energy can be converted into different forms
What is the second law of thermodynamics?
There are always losses and inefficiency. Energy degrades from available to unavailable.
Define entropy
Entropy is the measure of energy quality/availability
- Low entropy is high quality/availability (e.g. fossil fuels)
- High entropy is low quality/availability (e.g. heat energy)
What is the growth paradigm?
Growth is good for society and there are no limits to growth
Explain the thermodynamics perspective on growth
There are biophysical limits to growth. Closed system. We are limited by:
- Stock of high availability resources (e.g. fossil fuels)
- Capacity to capture solar energy (for food)
- Ecosystem’s capacity to absorb waste
What are Daly’s 4 steady-state principles?
- Renewable resources should be harvested at maximum sustainable yield
- Non-renewable resources should be invested into an equal renewable replacement
- Emissions do not exceed assimilative capacity
- Limit scale of human activity
What does Genuine Process Indicator (GPI) account for?
Income inequality Household labour and parenting Higher education Volunteer work Family breakdown Crime Resource depletion Pollution Damages from GHGs Loss of farmlands, wetlands, forests
