Study Guide – Outcome 1:

This guide is designed to provide some practice on selected concepts from this unit … review your notes and consider our class discussions to ensure that you review all relevant information.

  1. What are the most populous (highest population) countries or regions in the world?

Answers may vary, but the most populous are found in Africa, Asia, South America—generally speaking, the developing countries.

Are these the same countries/regions consuming the most resources? Why or why not?

No. The developing countries are primarily poor countries and therefore lack the wealth necessary to consume lots of resources. They live more closely to the land and take only what they need, wasting very little. Developed countries use far more resources than are necessary for survival.

  1. How many people live in the U.S.? ~300 million (300,000,000—give or take)
  1. How many people are in the world?~ 6.7 billion (6,700,000,000—give or take)
  1. How does an increasing human population influence the strength of hurricanes?
  2. As ecosystems are degraded by humans (coral bleaching, mangrove loss), the impact of hurricanes rise as we lose our “buffers”
  3. Deforestation due to increased population can affect how the hurricanes behave inland. For example, hurricanes that hit a forest will have much of the water absorbed by the forest floor. A hurricane that impacts a city (because the forest was cut down) will have significantly different behavior…water will pool and not be able to seep underground as easily with parking lots, roads, driveways, houses etc. where soil used to be.
  4. Global climate change could cause more frequent and intense hurricane activity. A slight change in the weather pattern could cause hurricanes to hit in areas that have never seen hurricanes before.
  1. In what ways does the food you eat influence the quality of the environment?

When you consume local, organic foods you support maintaining the health of the soil, water and air. You are also supporting biodiversity as local, organic foods are grown with a variety of other crops (i.e., not wheat as far as the eye can see…) to take advantage of natural predators for insect removal. Organic farming uses very few (if any) chemicals so that preserves the quality of water and air for the surrounding communities/organisms.

  1. What is sustainable farming?

A way of producing agriculture for humans’ needs, while protecting the health of soil, water and air. Sustainable farming is working to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem so that we will be able to farm in that area for generations to come. The animals and plants are treated much differently on a sustainable farm than on an industrial farm. Animals, for instance, are given the space they need to perform the tasks they were meant to perform (chickens need to walk outside and eat grubs; cows need to graze on grass, etc).

  1. What is factory farming (corporate farming)?

Intensive monoculturing (be it corn, cows, pigs, chickens, wheat, or whatever) that relies heavily on inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, genetically altered crops) to create vast quantities of food. These types of farms degrade ecosystems due to the large amounts of chemicals used, the improper handling of all that animal waste and/or the toxic chemicals released into the air.

  1. For the past 30 years, humans have used more resources than the world produced during that time. How is that possible? In your answer, explain how this relates to ecological overshoot.

We “borrow” from our savings accounts. Deforestation of huge areas of land will provide us with paper goods for a while, but we will run out eventually. We have been buying our resources from other countries and not worrying about the future.

  1. Describe how global population has changed during the past 1000 years.

Human population has risen exponentially. It takes fewer and fewer years to add 1 billion humans to the planet.

  1. Explain what contributed to increased population during the past 150 years.
  2. Sanitation improvements: Use of soap and water treatment plants has greatly reduced the number of deaths due to common illnesses and water borne diseases (in the developed world at least)
  3. Medical improvements: The invention of antibiotics and vaccines have greatly increased the length of human life (again, mostly in developed countries)
  4. Agricultural improvements: We can grow about 5 – 6 times more food on the same amount of land compared to 100 years ago. The technology we’ve developed can allow for us to feed a greater number of humans.
  1. How is population distributed throughout the world?

Unevenly…the developing countries are still increasing their populations at alarming rates while the developed countries have slowed down their growth.

  1. Why are some parts of the world experiencing a population crisis?

Lifestyles—for countries that are still primarily agricultural in nature, a large family is necessary to maintain the farm.

Access to birth control varies widely worldwide

Child mortality—in many developing countries 160/1000 children born will not live to their 5th birthday. In some cases, families “plan” for these deaths by having larger families.

In many parts of the world, women are considered 2nd class citizens and are not allowed to make decisions regarding the sizes of their families. Men are “necessary” since they can hold jobs and own property, etc.

  1. What does a population pyramid show?

The percentage of a country’s population in any given age bracket.

  1. How do population pyramids help us understand future population levels?

We can use the population pyramid to “see” the future and anticipate where the largest population “bubbles” will be for that country. It helps us plan for the future needs of the country to know how many of the population is in any given age group.

  1. Why should all of us be concerned about global population?
  2. Human suffering—we are all human and we are just “lucky” to have been born in a developed country.
  3. Poverty—more than ½ of the worlds population lives on less than $2 a day.
  4. Sanitation concerns: As more humans inhabit the planet, we have to manage our waste in such a way as to not have people exposed to water borne pathogens by the mixing of human waste with drinking water. Many people do not have access to clean drinking water.
  5. War—as the human population increases, the demand for resources will escalate. We all need food, water, shelter, etc. Wars break out over these resources.
  6. Environmental degradation: as human population grows, we use resources. Sometimes the pressure on the natural world leads to degradation of that resource. Water, soil, air pollution will impact everyone.
  1. What is a natural resource? Compare and contrast renewable and non-renewable resources. Provide examples of each.

Natural resource is anything that occurs in nature that has an economic value tied to it (we need it/want it/use it). Examples: wood, minerals, water, oil

Renewable resource: a resource that will be regenerated naturally if given enough time. Examples: wood, sunlight, water

Non-renewable resource: a resource that will not be able to regenerate naturally because either it takes too long to regenerate or it’s impossible to regenerate.

Examples: Oil, coal, natural gas

  1. Compare and contrast developing and developed countries. Provide examples of each.

Developing: Agriculturally based country, non-industrial, poor country, less assurance of access to electricity/clean water. Most developing countries have a population crisis—too many humans causing resource stress.

Most countries in Africa, Asia, South America are developing nations

Developed: Wealthy nations that are based on industry (not agriculture). Have high per capita incomes.

Japan, Canada, US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand,

  1. What are some of the problems of over-consuming resources?

When developed countries use more resources than they need (taking more than necessary) they impact the others’ ability to acquire these resources. In addition, as some people/countries overconsume some resources, they will be come scarce—this increases the price of these resources further impeding another person/country’s ability to get them.

  1. What is an ecological footprint? What items make up (are used to measure) an ecological footprint?

An ecological footprint measures how fast we consume resources and generate waste and compares that to nature’s ability to absorb our waste products and generate new resources.

Items used to calculate the footprint include: energy use, settlement needs, paper and timber products, food and fiber use, and carbon footprint.

  1. How do the products we buy (such as clothing) affect sustainability?

When we buy things made with lasting fibers we won’t need to buy more as soon. Also by buying organic materials, we are making sure that the fiber was created with as little pesticide/chemical use as possible (impacting water, air and soil quality).

  1. Explain how the story of Easter Island can help us understand sustainability.

We can learn from the past and not use up all our resources to the point where we are a doomed civilization. We can see how they didn’t use their resources wisely and learn that it’s important to make sure we have resources for future generations.