Unit 5 - Module 29 - 30 Flashcards
The tendency of a shared, limited resource to become depleted because people act from self-interest for short-term gain.
Tragedy of the commons
The cost or benefit of a good or service that is not included in the purchase price of that good or service.
Externality
The maximum amount of a renewable resource that can be harvested without compromising the future availability of that resource.
Maximum sustainable yield (MSY)
What 3 concepts to environmental scientists use to understand land use and management issues?
- Tragedy of the commons
- Externalities
- Maximum sustainable yield
What is it called when the use of common land is not regulated in some way—by the users or by a government agency leading to the land can easily be degraded to the point at which it can no longer support that use.
The tragedy of the commons
Why are environmental scientists concerned about negative externalities?
Because of the environmental damage for which no one bears the cost.
What are the negative externalities of your transportation to and from school?
Some negative externalities of transportation to school are air pollution, traffic congestion, and noise pollution.
Why do you think students leave their trash behind at lunch?
Because they don’t care about other people needing to use the area that they leave the trash in.
If the maintenance staff was not there to pick up after them, do you think it would change their behavior?
Yes, because eventually the trash will pile up and there will be no where to eat if they don’t pick up after themselves.
- Why do you think students leave their trash behind at lunch?
- If the maintenance staff was not there to pick up after them, do you think it would change their behavior?
How does the above 2 question relate to the tragedy of commons?
This relates to the tragedy of the commons because students are acting from self interest by leaving the trash. By leaving the trash they are creating less space for others to eat.
How long does it take to determine whether a yield is truly sustainable?
Even when we calculate MSY, it can take months or years.
In theory, harvesting the MSY _________ sustainable. In reality its is very _______ to calculate MSY.
Should be, Difficult
Maximum sustainable yield _____ case to case
varies
What would happen if every time we had a pod of seeds ready to harvest, that we harvested and ate them?
If we constantly harvested and ate seeds without saving any to plant, it would deplete the seed supply, disrupt plant reproduction, and eventually lead to food shortages. This could also harm ecosystems and biodiversity, as seeds are essential for sustaining plant and animal populations.
What is it called when, every population has a point at which a maximum number of individuals can be harvested sustainably. That point is often reached when the population size is about one-half the carrying capacity.
Maximum sustainable yield
_______ areas are distributed around the world.
Protected land and marine
_________ are managed for scientific, educational, and recreational use, and sometimes for their beauty or unique landforms.
National parks
_______ are designated for the sustained use of biological, mineral, and recreational resources.
Managed resource protected areas
______ are actively managed to maintain biological communities.
Habitat/Species Management Areas
______ are set aside to protect species and ecosystems.
Strict Nature Reserves and Wilderness Areas
_____ permit nondestructive use of natural resources while allowing for tourism and recreation.
Protected Landscapes and Seascapes
______ are designated to protect unique sites of special natural or cultural interests.
National Monuments
How much of the land is publicly owned, in the United States?
42%
How much of the United states land is owned by the federal government?
25%
The belief that people should maximize use of resources, based on the greatest good for everyone.
Resource conservation ethic
A U.S. classification used to designate lands that may be used for recreation, grazing, timber harvesting, and mineral extraction.
Multiple-use lands
How can we use an apple to benefit the greatest number of individual?
You could slice it into pieces and share with multiple people, or take the seed to plant, and grow an apple tree.
How much of all federal lands are managed by the four federal agencies?
95%
What are the four federal agencies?
- Bureau of Land Management (BLM): grazing, mining, timber harvesting and recreation
- U.S. Forest Service (USFS): timber harvesting, grazing, and recreation
- National Park Service (NPS): recreation and conservation.
- Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS): conservation, hunting, and recreation
A dry open grassland
Rangeland
What can grazing too many animals do?
It can quickly denude a region of vegetation.
What can loss of vegetation lead to?
It can lead to exposed to wind and water erosion.
Land dominated by trees and other woody vegetation and sometimes used for commercial logging.
Forest
A method of harvesting trees that removes all or almost all trees in an area.
Clear-cutting
The method of harvesting trees that involves removing single trees or a small number of trees from many in a forest.
selective cutting
How much of the forests used for commercial timber operations in the U.S. are privately owned?
Approximately 73%
What do timber harvest practices include?
Clear-cutting and selective cutting
What type of forest does clear-cutting result in?
It results in trees that are all the same age.
What type of forest does selective cutting result in?
It results in a forest consisting of trees of varying ages.
Ecologically sustainable forestry
An approach to removing trees from forests in ways that do not unduly affect the viability of other trees.
A large area typically planted with a single rapidly growing tree species.
Tree plantation
A fire deliberately set under controlled conditions in order to reduce the accumulation of dead biomass on a forest floor.
Prescribed burn
What helps reduce the risk of uncontrolled natural fires?
prescribed burns
extensive areas of the park were burned in this exceptionally hot and dry year.
Yellowstone fires of 1988
What are National parks for?
They are managed for scientific, educational, aesthetic, and recreational use.
A federal public land managed for the primary purpose of protecting wildlife.
National wildlife refuge
An area set aside with the intent of preserving a large tract of intact ecosystem or a landscape.
National wilderness area
A 1969 U.S. federal act that mandates an environmental assessment of all projects involving federal money or federal permits.
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
A document outlining the scope and purpose of a development project, describing the environmental context, suggesting alternative approaches to the project, and analyzing the environmental impact of each alternative.
Environmental impact statement (EIS)
A plan that outlines how a developer will address concerns raised by a project’s impact on the environment.
Environmental mitigation plan
A 1973 U.S. act designed to protect species from extinction
Endangered Species Act
An area surrounding a metropolitan center, with a comparatively low population density.
Suburb
An area similar to a suburb, but unconnected to any central city or densely populated area.
Since 1950 more
Exurb
Since 1950 more than 90% of the population growth in metropolitan areas has occurred in ________
Suburbs
Urbanized areas that spread into rural areas, removing clear boundaries between the two.
Urban sprawl
What are the four main sources Urban sprawl has?
- Automobiles and highway construction
- Living costs
- Urban blight
- Government policies
The degradation of the built and social environments of the city that often accompanies and accelerates migration to the suburbs.
Urban blight
What is an example of a positive feedback system?
People moving away from the city to suburbs and the exurbs. Causing the city to deteriorate, which in turn causes more people to leave.
Highway Trust Fund
A U.S. federal fund that pays for the construction and maintenance of roads and highways.
Induced demand
The phenomenon in which an increase in the supply of a good causes demand to grow.
A planning tool used to separate industry and business from residential neighborhoods.
Zoning
A zoning classification that allows retail and high-density residential development to coexist in the same area.
Multi-use zoning
A set of principles for community planning that focuses on strategies to encourage the development of sustainable, healthy communities.
Smart growth
A person or organization with an interest in a particular place or issue.
Stakeholder
What are the principles Smart growth follows?
- Create mixed land uses.
- Create a range of housing opportunities and choices.
- Create walkable neighborhoods.
- Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.
- Take advantage of compact building design.
- Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place.
- Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas.
- Provide a variety of transportation choice.
- Strengthen and direct development toward existing communities
- Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective
The feeling that an area has a distinct and meaningful character.
Sense of place
Development that attempts to focus dense residential and retail development around stops for public transportation, a component of smart growth.
Transit-oriented development (TOD)
Development that fills in vacant lots within existing communities.
Infill
A restriction on development outside a designated area.
Urban growth boundary
