Unit 3 - Global trends in consumption

Question 1

What is absolute poverty?

Answer 1

lack of money for basic needs (food, shelter, clothing)

Question 2

What is relative poverty?

Answer 2

people have inadequate financial resources and thus fall below the prevailing standards of living in a particular society

Question 3

What is income poverty?

Answer 3

family income is below the nationally established poverty line (threshold)

Question 4

What is the global progress towards poverty reduction?

Answer 4

UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - Goal 1: halve extreme poverty by 2015

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Question 5

What is the ‘new middle class’?

Answer 5

As mean global income increases and absolute poverty falls the balance between rich and poor shifts and the global middle class grows

Question 6

What is resource consumption?

Answer 6

use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, metal ores and stone; also include renewable resources such as water, soil and biomass, all of which may become non-renewable if poorly managed

Question 7

What is ecological footprint?

Answer 7

the area of land and water required to support a given human population at a particular standard of living; takes account the area of land and water required to provide all the resources needed by the population, and assimilate all waste

Question 8

What are the two aspects that ecological footprint consider?

Answer 8

Biocapacity: the biological capacity of an area/region/country to generate the resources and absorb the waste of a given population
Demand: considers the amount of bioproductive land we need to provide our resources and space for infrastructure and to absorb the waste that we produce

Question 9

Examples of lower ecological footprint

Answer 9

Renewable resources such as wind, water, solar, and geothermal
Limited private car ownership so people walk, cycle, or use public transport
Alternative fuel in use in cars and other road transport; ethanol, biogas, and diesel have lower carbon emissions
Locally grown produce will have a lower EF than imported goods
Use of recycled products (cars, clothes, containers)

Question 10

Examples of higher ecological footprint

Answer 10

Non-renewable fossil fuels: finite and create pollution problems and carbon emissions
High private car ownership
Petrol vehicles dominant: carbon emissions are a pollution problem
Imported food has a high EF because it is transported and fossil fuels to transport to the plate
New things that require more raw materials and energy to produce