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ENVL Unit 2, We tend to exploit resources in the most critical areas and…

- - - - Discussion What are the likely environmental/social consequences of rapid population growth in rural, low-income nations? In more urbanized areas?
        
        Rural
        Low life expectancy, sanitation issues, lack of access to modern amenities, resource over-exploitation, access to healthcare (or lack thereof), infant mortality rates, deforestation which can lead to the loss of rare wood, agricultural mining which can affect livestock, loss of biodiversity
        
        Urban Low life expectancy, sanitation issues, high crime rates, infrastructural issues, air quality issues, overpopulation
        
        Why are growth rates higher in low income vs. high income countries?
        
        Population Growth: births > death
        Total Fertility Rate (TFR): average number of children a woman has over her lifetime, >2 = growth <2 = decline
        Replacement-level fertility: fertility rate replacing population of parents
        i.e. 2.1 for high income countries, higher in low-income countries (child mortality)
  - - - 1. Neolithic Revolution
        12,000 yrs ago
        We went from hunters & gatherers to farmers of crop and livestock
        Key: We could focusing on growing/harvesting on our own food
      - 2. Industrial Revolution
        Electricity made farming more land plausible as well as having more time to work
        Key: Fossil fuels and spread of electricity - farming equipment and technological marvels
      - 3. Medical Revolution
        Treatments and medicines became more available to cure diseases like Small Pox, Typhoid
        Key: Death rates plummeted
      - 4. Green Revolution
        Occurred after WWII
        Creation of chemical pesticides, fertilizers, irrigation, GMO's & crop-breeding
        Moved technology to developing world
      - 5. Environmental Revolution
        Current day
        Use of robotics and green nanotechnology to reduce our environmental foot path and stabilize the population
  - - - Consequences in Low-income nations
        Land ownership by wealthy --> Needs reform
        Intensifying cultivation --> small farms cannot support families
        Opening up new lands --> destroys ecosystem
        Resource over-exploitation
        Illicit activities --> crime
        Migration --> moving to other cities/countries
  - - - Demographic Transition Birth and Death Rates
        Epidemiologic Transition: discovery of modern medicine, death rates have decreased dramatically
        Fertility Transition: Reproduction decrease in low income countries
        Note: most low income nations haven't gone through either, or they have gone through the epidemiologic transition but need to go through the fertility transition and typically speaking high income nations have already gone through the fertility transition
        Economic growth is one way to push a nation through the demographic transitions
        
        Demographic Dividend --> Dependency Ratio
        Ratio of non-working to working age population, important for low income countries
        The lower the ratio is, the more of the population is not working
        
        The poverty cycle or poverty trap
        
        Progress in these areas:
        
        Extreme poverty --> almost met
        Reduce amount of people living on $1.25/day
        
        Children
        Primary education enrollment is up, mortality, fertility rates declined
        
        Other
        Death from measles and other diseases down, AIDS decreased/newly infected declining
        More access to safe drinking water
      - How do we decrease fertility rates? Economic development alone will not work, need public policies to move through a demographic transition.
        What kind of policies can a nation implement to help?
        Mandating education, implementing a fine for multiple children, potential tax breaks for individuals without children, sterilizing a portion of the population, providing better healthcare, access to contraceptives
- - - - Consequences of Deforestation
        
        Productivity reduced
        
        Reduction in nutrients and biomass
        
        Biodiversity reduced
        
        Soil erosion increased
        
        Alters hydrology
        
        Carbon Dioxide sequestration lost
  - - - Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) is the highest possible rate of use an ecosystem can match with it's own rate of replacement/maintenance. This can apply to maintenance of parks, air and water quality, a particular organism, and soils
        
        Common-pool Resources are resources that are owned by many people in a common or owned by no one, they can be used as much as possible without subtraction (in number of resource being used by other people)
        i.e. fishing in open ocean
        
        Precautionary Principle tells us where there is uncertainty and where resource managers should favor the protection of a particular resource
        
        Optimal Population is the maximum number of species that allows a species to thrive
- - - - Consequences of Biodiversity Loss:
        Loss of ecosystem services
        Extinction of keystone species
        Aesthetics and nature-based tourism
        K vs. R-Strategists
        Many unknown consequences
    - - More species exist near the tropics, it's the most biodiverse location on the planet.
        
        Rectangular projections on maps don't do the land mass justice, the tropics are actually much larger than they appear on the maps.
        
        Tropical forests are older than temperate forests, they've had more time to get rich in biodiversity
        
        The tropics are warm, they get more water, and they have more sun so plants and animals get more energy here
        
        Life is more stable in the tropics, specialization is not really required. There's too much change in higher latitudes and temperate climates
        
        The creation of new species happens faster near the equator. More species are born here, less species die here. It acts as the world's cradle and museum
        
        It's a wet climate and a hot climate, the amount of moisture and proximity to the sun create a very diverse and healthy soil
    - - Over-exploitation
        
        Overharvesting of particular species, this accounts for 23% of recent extinctions
        i.e. trade in exotics and greed
      - Pollution
        
        1. Chemical
        Nutrients
        Endocrine disrupting compounds
        Industrial waste
        2. Biological
        Pathogens
        Parasites
        3. Physical
        Sediments
        Light
        Noise
        Thermal
      - Population (Humans)
        
        Population growth
      - Introduction of invasive species
        
        Enact laws, prevent establishment of the invasive species, remedy the situation by removing the species entirely, alter the habitats to make them less desirable to the species, introduce a new species to combat the invasive species
      - Habitat destruction
        
        Conversion, Fragmentation, Simplification, Intrusion of other species whether accidental, deliberate, or gradual (non-native, invasive species [autumn olive, feral pigs, cats, spotted knapweed, kudzu, emerald ash borer, house mice, zebra mussels, lionfish]).
      - All related to Global Climate Change
      - Discussion What are the likely environmental/social consequences of rapid population growth in rural, low-income nations? In more urbanized areas?
        
        Rural
        Low life expectancy, sanitation issues, lack of access to modern amenities, resource over-exploitation, access to healthcare (or lack thereof), infant mortality rates, deforestation which can lead to the loss of rare wood, agricultural mining which can affect livestock, loss of biodiversity
        
        Urban Low life expectancy, sanitation issues, high crime rates, infrastructural issues, air quality issues, overpopulation
        
        Why are growth rates higher in low income vs. high income countries?
        
        Population Growth: births > death
        Total Fertility Rate (TFR): average number of children a woman has over her lifetime, >2 = growth <2 = decline
        Replacement-level fertility: fertility rate replacing population of parents
        i.e. 2.1 for high income countries, higher in low-income countries (child mortality)
  - - - Animals with Conservation Success Stories
        Whooping Cranes Grey Wolf of Yellowstone
        Birds of Prey & DDT
        California Condors
        Karner Blue Butterfly
        Kirtland's Warbler - Radiolab Podcast
    - - Game Animals: those hunted for sport No hunting restrictions previously
        State laws + NGOs fund management today
      - International Efforts:
        International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
        Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)
        Convention on Biological Diversity
        Critical Ecosystem Partnership Funds