Unit 4 - Growth & the Environment Flashcards
What is an example of a Pessimistic Environmental Outlook*?
The current and past mismanagement of human interaction with the natural environment will have high and devastating costs long into the future
Phrase that David Suzuki would support
What is an example of an Optimistic Environmental Outlook?*
Our ingenuity and adaptability of our institutions, including our market system, will allows us to continue economic and social progress with no long term significant environmental consequences
Phrase that Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada)
Historical Coupling of Growth & Environmental Degradation*
Economic growth is linked to environmental degradation
Steady Environmental Degradation Theory (Tapestry Theory)*
The theory states that gradually little effects add up, and the environment will degrade. It isn’t one single moment that the environment is in bad condition, it gradually worsens over time
What happened to the Aral Sea, and what is this an example of?
Once the 4th largest freshwater lake in the world
The lake has continually dried up from 1976 to 2000, where it is now a desert the size of Netherlands and Luxembourg combined
The sea used to have fishing as its main source of economic growth, but then they focused towards producing cotton which improved their economy and degraded the environment
Economic production grew, but the environment degraded and so did the quality of life there
What did Thomas Malthus argue about Collapse Theory?*
Thomas Malthus argued that human populations, like animal populations tend to increase exponentially when food production is plentiful
Humans were too immoral and undisciplined to control their “sexual urges”
Human populations would inevitably grow larger than available food supply and eventually collapse due to overshooting of Ecological Carrying Capacity
Ecological Carrying Capacity*
The natural limit of a population, set by resources in a particular environment
Limits to Growth Theories (Collapse Theory)
Most ‘Limits’ theories are based on the concept of ‘overshooting’ a threshold due to over consuming a resource beyond a sustainable yield resulting in a collapse of the resource.
The key element of ‘Limits’ theories is that some point in time terrible consequences occur without a great deal of prior warning. Indeed, they could more accurately be labelled Collapse’ theories.
They emphasize the concept that there is a limit to economic growth and tend to suggest we are nearing that limit
Collapse Threshold*
Argues that there is a limit to economic growth, and after a certain point, the quality of life and environment will decline rapidly (Cod Overfishing)
The Club of Roam (MIT Study)
Studied the predicament of mankind in the face of technology growing at an exponential rate
The collapse based mostly upon sources issues where shortages of fossil fuels and fertilizer cause a food supply collapse (and associated conflict)
Standard Run Scenario: if current economic and population growth trends continue, then Global Collapse would occur in 100 years
Alternative Scenario: if humans change these trends, then we can reach a point of economic stability through a steady state economy (an economy with zero growth)
Steady State Economy*
A Steady State Economy is an economy where we produce and consume the same amount each year
Emphasis of Limits to Growth Theorists is on Steady State Economy as a solution*
Accept the limits to growth and integrate the finite ecological limits of our planet into governing the economy. Arguments range from radical growth to slow growth
Refocus the economy in wealthy nations toward material sufficiency and non-consumptive human well being (and away from an obsession with GROWTH)
Tackle systematic economic inequality to address issues of poverty through the process of redistribution
Decoupling*
Until now, our economic growth has been closely linked to environmental degradation (resource depletion, pollution)
Decoupling refers to breaking the link between economic growth and environmental degradation, and continue to grow without environmental harm
Refers to making efficiency improvements to a level where growth doesn’t cause environmental harm, indeed growth can continue while the environment improves
The Great Lakes used to be very polluted from factories, and there were swimming & fishing bans in these lakes. Now the water quality has improved and people can fish out of them, while production and consumption has grown 4-5x.
This scenario is an example of what?
Decoupling
Optimists often argue that innovation should be factored into forward projections for food supply (Ester Boserup), but what is an example of this?
The Green Revolution
- In the 1940s, innovations in hybridized seeds increased crop yields greatly and resulted in massive growth in food production
