Sustainable development for the planet

Question 1

What is the UN definition for sustainable development?

Answer 1

Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 2

What three things were considered in order to formulate a definition for sustainable development?

Answer 2

1. The conservations and enhancement of the environment by the development of new technologies.
2. The achievement of social equality by developing countries being allowed to meet their basic needs of employment, food, energy, water and sanitation in a sustainable way.
3. The economic growth of all countries in the world.

Question 3

Why are there different definitions of sustainability?

Answer 3

Sustainable development is a contested term. There are contrasting definitions and interpretations that depend on the values and attitudes of individuals, governments and organisations.

Question 4

What are the 4 key sustainable areas that have been identified by the UK?

Answer 4

1. Climate change and energy.
2. Natural resources.
3. Sustainable communities.
4. Sustainable consumption and production.

Question 5

How can climate change and energy be made sustainable in the UK?

Answer 5

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and worldwide while at the same time preparing for the climate change that cannot be avoided.

Question 6

How can natural resources be made sustainable in the UK?

Answer 6

The limits of the natural resources that sustain life are understood so that they can be used most efficiently.

Question 7

How can communities be made sustainable in the UK?

Answer 7

Places that people live and work in need to be looked after by implementing ideas such as ecotowns and green energy.

Question 8

How can consumption and production be made sustainable in the UK?

Answer 8

The ways that products are designed, produced, used and disposed of should be carefully controlled.

Question 9

In what 4 ways can large companies reach sustainability?

Answer 9

1. During the manufacturing of the product.
2. In the recycling of the packaging material.
3. By encouraging customers to recycle products.
4. By encouraging employees to be more sustainable in the workplace.

Question 10

Describe how sustainability has been brought about in the food industry (11).

Answer 10

1. For example, Asda.
2. The products that are sold in local Asda stores have travelled many miles.
3. The last part of their journey is from a regional distribution centre to the local stores by lorry.
4. When the products arrive in the distribution centre they are packed in polythene and shrink wrap.
5. The distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire used to fill a skip four times a week and send it to a landfill site, costing Asda a lot of money and was not sustainable.
6. The problem was solved by Mil-tek, which is a company that makes large machines to bale plastic.
7. They installed a machine in the Didcot distribution centre.
8. All of the waste plastic is now put into the baler and crushed to 10% of its original size.
9. The bales of plastic are collected once a week by a firm that recycles plastic.
10. This is benefiting Asda, who now receive money for the plastic instead of having to pay to have it taken
11. This is benefiting the environment because no plastic is being sent to landfill sites.

Question 11

Describe how sustainability has been brought about in the communications industry (5).

Answer 11

1. For example, Nokia.
2. Nokia are concerned that people do not recycle their old phones.
3. Nokia is trying to persuade people to hand in their old phones for recycling as 100% of the phone can be recycled.
4. If every mobile phone user recycled one phone, it would save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials.
5. Nokia are promoting this campaign in stores that sell their phones and with a jingle on their website.

Question 12

Describe how sustainability has been brought about by a global company.

Answer 12

1. For example, General Electric.
2. his is a TNC that operates in may different countries.
3. The company has introduced many policies to make it operate in a more sustainable way.
4. One of their pledges is that by 2012 they will reduce fresh water usage by 20%. This is expected to save 7.4 million m^3 of water.
5. This will be achieved by assessing their water recycling. Much of the water in their boilers and cooling towers will be recycled water.

Question 13

Describe the 7 ways that sustainability can be brought about in the workplace.

Answer 13

1. The use of video conferencing reduces a company’s carbon footprint.
2. The internet is being used more to send information and documents. This means that less paper is used. Many companies aim to become paperless in the future.
3. Tourist destinations provide a variety of ways to recycle waste.
4. Sustainable development in Dartmoor National Park.
5. Large companies provide their employees with a variety of different bins to deal with waste products. There are not only bins for waste paper but also for other types of waste.
6. There are notices to switch off lights and push taps in toilets to conserve water.
7. Hotel companies have a policy of only washing towels if the clients ask them to, therefore reducing water usage and soap powder.

Question 14

In what 2 ways is transport managed in urban areas?

Answer 14

1. Respond to the increasing demand by building more roads. This might help congestion but will eventually lead to even more vehicles and an increase in pollution levels.
2. Reduce traffic with a range of sustainable schemes to alleviate the problems of congestion and pollution.

Question 15

Why must transport be managed in urban areas?

Answer 15

To control the problems of congestion and pollution.

Question 16

What are 4 sustainable transport schemes?

Answer 16

1. Congestion charging.
2. Park and ride.
3. Car sharing where workers share lifts to work using their own cars.
4. Designated cycle and walking paths within the urban area.

Question 17

What is congestion charging?

Answer 17

The practice of making motorists pay to travel into large urban areas during periods of heaviest use.

Question 18

Why would a congestion charge be implemented?

Answer 18

To reduce the number of vehicles entering the city, which will ease traffic congestion and therefore lower pollution emissions.

Question 19

What are the effects of congestion charging?

Answer 19

It will lead to more sustainable forms of transport such as walking or cycling or public transport being used.

Question 20

Give an example of where congestion charging has been successfully implemented.

Answer 20

London introduced a congestion charge in 2003. By 2008, it had had many beneficial effects.

Question 21

What have been the 5 benefits of congestion charging in London?

Answer 21

1. Traffic levels had been reduced by 21%.
2. There were 65,000 fewer car journeys a day.
3. There was an increase of 29,000 bus passengers entering the zone during the morning peak rush period.
4. There was a 12% increase in cycle journeys within the zone.
5. There was a 12% reduction in the emission of nitrous oxide and fine particulates.

Question 22

What is park and ride?

Answer 22

Schemes that allow shoppers to park their cars in large designated parking areas on the edge of the urban area and catch a bus into the town centre.

Question 23

Why might a park and ride scheme be implemented?

Answer 23

To reduce congestion and pollution.

Question 24

What are the effects of park and ride schemes?

Answer 24

Approximately 40 people will travel on one bus rather than in 40 individual vehicles, which means there will be much less congestion and pollution.

Question 25

Give an example of where a park and ride scheme has been successfully implemented (4).

Answer 25

1. Cambridge has five park and ride sites covering all the main routes coming into the city.
2. The are 4,500 parking spaces available.
3. Double-decker buses carrying up to 70 passengers leave the parks every 10 minutes during the day from Monday to Saturday.
4. It costs £2.20 per day to catch the bus into the city centre.

Question 26

How would car sharing help manage transport in urban areas?

Answer 26

If half of UK motorists received a lift one day a week, vehicle congestion and pollution would be reduced by 10% and traffic jams by 20%.

Question 27

Where have designated cycle and walking paths with an urban area been successfully implemented?

Answer 27

Milton Keynes is one of the best served urban areas in the UK with 273km of cycle paths.

Question 28

Give 3 examples of where countries have been affected by resource extraction from tropical rainforests.

Answer 28

1. Mining in Brazil.
2. Oil extraction in Ecuador.
3. Gas project in Peru.

Question 29

Describe the 4 effects that mining in Brazil has had.

Answer 29

1. A variety of minerals are extracted from the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
2. The Carajas iron ore mining project uses wood from the forest to power its pig iron plants, resulting in annual deforestation of 6100 km2.
3. Mercury is used in gold mining. The mercury is very toxic and is found in high concentration in fish. 90% of all fish caught in the gold mining region surrounding the River Tapajos is contaminated with mercury. If eaten it causes cancer and high miscarriage rates among the local tribes people.
4. In the state of Roraima there have been conflicts between gold prospectors and the indigenous Yanomamo Indians.

Question 30

Describe the 4 effects that oil extraction in Ecuador has had.

Answer 30

1. Oil is extracted from the Oriente region of Ecuador.
2. Toxic waste water mixed with crude oil seeps out of 600 unlined pits into the subsoil, polluting surrounding freshwater and farmland.
3. Hydrocarbons are concentrated 200-300 times more in the water than is permissible in water used for human consumption. Stomach cancer is five times more frequent in oil exploitation areas and there are many more miscarriages amongst indigenous people such as the Huaorani .
4. Many plants such as the periwinkle, which can be used to cure childhood leukaemia, are now an endangered species.

Question 31

Describe the 7 effects the gas project in Peru has had.

Answer 31

1. In the Camisea region there is a large natural gas and pipeline project.
   Camisea is home to many Amazonian tribes including the Yine, Nanti and Nahua.
2. Deforestation has caused drainage patterns to be altered, habitats destroyed and animal movements to be disturbed.
3. It has also caused soil erosion and landslides resulting in the silting up of local rivers. Due to the silting there has been a decline in fish catches, which has caused a rise in malnutrition, particularly among children.
4. The tribal people have caught disease that they are not immune to. During the 1980s, half of the Nahua people died from flu and whooping cough caught from Shell employees.
5. Only one in four of the Nahua live to be teenagers.
6. Many roads through the forest have been built due to the Camisea project. This has caused colonists to be attracted to the area who destroy the rainforest by setting up farms.

Question 32

In what 5 ways has the rainforest been managed in Ecuador?

Answer 32

1. Oil has been extracted from the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador since the 1960s.
2. The companies have done very little to manage the effects of extraction.
3. Recently, the indigenous people have taken the oil companies to court because of the destruction of their environment.
4. Texaco have agreed to pay $40 million to cover its share for clean-up of, among other things, some 160 of the 600 waste pits created. However, the chief of the loyal Secoya tribe stated that $6 billion was needed to do the job properly.
5. Maxus Energy, the company that extracts oil from Yasuni National Park, has built an underground pipeline, which has less of an environmental impact. They have provided schools for the local Huaorani and Quichua tribes and invested $60 million in environmental protection.

Question 33

In what 3 ways has the rainforest been managed in Madagascar?

Answer 33

1. In 2001, Givaudan, a Swiss company, sent a team to Madagascar to survey for new fragrances.
2. It developed 40 aromas that were then sold.
3. The company shared the profits with local communities through conservation and development initiatives.

Question 34

In what 4 ways has the rainforest been managed in Venezuela?

Answer 34

1. Since 2008, the Venezuelan government hasSince 2008, the Venezuelan government has not issued any more permits to mine gold or diamonds anywhere in the country.
2. The country does not need to exploit the minerals for economic reasons, due to its oil reserves, therefore it can afford to conserve its forest area.
3. This followed attacks on local people from illegal miners.
4. The government will now protect both the biodiversity of the forest and the local people.