Geography 2412 Lecture Notes

Chap 1: A World in Crisis: Env and Humanity in 21^st century

Basic premise of the book: pop and consumption growth will continue to create environmental crises, and that current trends, even with a slight decline in the rate of population growth, reflect a non-sustainable relationship between society and nature. We will critically examine this premise throughout the class.

Global Indicators of Stress:

• Rapid Pop growth from 2 to 6 B in last century (peaked in 1985-90 at 90 m/yr; mostly in developing countries)
• A ten-fold increase in consumption of resources (and creation of various waste products)
• Differences among nations at different levels of development and developing countries increasing, with highest pop growth in less developed countries, reducing or stagnating per capita production, income and consumption.
• Increased waste from production/consumption system (pollutants, including carbon dioxide, which is linked to global warming)
• Increased transformation of land (e.g., de-forestation); loss of species. And increased demand on vital natural resources like fresh water.

Some Positive indicators:

• The rate of population growth appears to be declining (though finite growth will continue for some time), see Fig. 1.2.
• There is a positive rate of development (in terms of per capita income and economic productivity) despite still big differences between most and least developed (illustrated in Fig. 1.6 and 1.8). Some countries seen as “in trouble” due to pop and resource problems, like India and China, seemed to have turned the corner and are developing quickly now. [side note: as the text implies, one economic argument holds that we need to have more development is we are to have environmental protection, as we discussed in class].
• We have protected some species, and reduced some air and water pollution types in most developed countries.
• There is a nascent movement toward “sustainable development.”

The continuing differences between “developed” and “developing” countries may be a hindrance to sustainability. The text describes development and offer three classes of countries:

o Most developed (Industrialized)

o Developing

o Deprived, or least developed (poorest of the poor)

Inasmuch as environmental problems are associated with economic problems, then it must worry us that some countries appear to be stuck in poverty. [side note: of course, one should also point out that the industrialized countries still cause problems, they are mostly responsible for global warming, for example].

OK, what are the prospects for the human occupation of the earth?

We address this question with the concept of:

Carrying capacity: the absolute limit on the number of an organism that a habitat can sustain indefinitely.

But what is the global capacity for people? Depends on culture: on the form of our technology/consumption systems. (see Fig. 1.9, which we’ll talk more about next class): Cultural carrying capacity: sustainable population at reasonable quality of life, with no net degradation of environment.

Are we there yet?

Reasonable people (as well as unreasonable extremists) will disagree on this matter. The textbook authors tend to be pessimists. But some “techno-optimists” or what we’ll call “Cornucopians” in forthcoming recitation discussions, strongly disagree, some arguing that population growth is good, that it is the main source of economic growth, and that economic growth is needed to improve both human q of l and environmental quality.

Are there “limits to growth” as predicted at 1970s Earth Day rallies? My own take is that the worst-case scenarios from the 1970s appear to have been wrong, and that we face of awkward time of continued development and environmental degradation that will ameliorate as the former overcomes the latter, over the next 50-75 years.

Discuss Fig. 1.9