General Ecology and Population Issues Mrs. B-Z

Exponential Growth  Quantity increases by a fixed percentage of the whole in a given time

Environmental Problems  Population growth  Wasteful use of resources  Destruction and degradation of wildlife habitats  Extinction of plants and animals  Poverty  Pollution

Human Activity has modified or disturbed __% of the earth’s land.  73%  27% remains intact and undisturbed. However, this number is always decreasing.

Bettering of Society  Longer life expectancy  Lower infant mortality  Higher crop yields

Environment  Solar and earth capital;  sun’s energy,  air  water,  animals, and plants,  minerals,  natural purification,  recycling (natural and artificial),  and pest control

Sustainable Society  Manages its economy and population size without exceeding all or part of the planet's ability to absorb the environmental insults and replenish  Use only what is needed and replenishes what is taken

Earth Wisdom  Learning as much as we can about how to sustain the earth

Population Growth and the Wealth Gap Types of societies and the differences this has on both population and the environment

Types of Pollution  Number of people x resources x environmental degradation = environmental impact

MDC—More Developed Country  A country who’s standard of living is similar to the US.  Industrialized or post-industrial societies  Which countries can you think of that fall into this category?

LDC—Less Developed Countries  Countries who have a much lower standard of living than the US or at least most of the residents have this lower standard of living.  Can you think of countries that fall into this category?

Population Explosion  Although the global population rate is between 2-5%, the consequences of an increasing population of billions of people has become a key issue in many areas and has lead to some countries having reproductive law to decrease population growth.

The population statistics—people living on the planet at the same time.  60,000 years ago = 1 billion humans  130 years ago = 2 billion  30 years ago = 3 billion  15 years ago = 4 billion  12 years ago = 5 billion  6 years ago = 6 billion  2 years ago = 7 billion

What caused these jumps in population?  10,000 to 12,000 years ago the Agricultural Revolution began  275 years ago the Industrial Revolution  What effect does this lifestyle have on population?  How does this tie into a sustainable society?

GNP Gross National Product  Market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced within and consumed within a product. Imported and exported goods

GDP Gross Domestic Product  Goods that are manufactured and consumed within a country

Per Capita GNP  GNP / total population

Human Population Size and Distribution

Population Change  For the planet:  Births – deaths = population change  For a country:  Births + immigrations – (deaths + emigrations) = population change

Birth Rate  Live births / 1,000

Death Rate  Deaths / 1,000

ZPG and NPG  To achieve Zero Population Growth, what needs to happen?  How could the planet or a country achieve NEGATIVE population growth?

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)  Average number of children that a woman will have during her childbearing years

What are factors that would affect TFR in a given country?  Traditions  Education  Marriage  Divorce  Religion  Health  Available contraception

Other factors influencing birth rates:  Children as labor  Urbanization  Cost of raising/educating children  Infant mortality  Average marrying age

Other factors influencing birth rates  Private and public pensions  Availability of abortion  Reliable birth control  Religious beliefs  Tradition  Culture

Effects on Death Rates  Life expectancy Health care Technology Preventative medicine Working conditions Retirement  Infant mortality

Resources Types of resources

Renewable or Perpetual  Continues without any artificial support  Can you think of any examples of this type of resource?  Solar energy  Wind Energy  Water Energy  Water purification (low yields)

Potentially Renewable  Resources that can be renewed but they must be replaced at the rate at which they are being used  Can you think of examples of this?  Trees  Grass  Animals  Lakes  Soil

Sustainable Yield  Rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing available supply

Nonrenewable Resource  A resource in fixed quantity that may take too long to replace to be effective  Can you think of any examples of this type of resource?  Coal  Oil  Natural gas  Uranium  Iron  Copper  Aluminum  Salt  Clay  Sand  phosphates

General Ecology Terms and definitions

Biodiversity  Different life forms that can survive the variety of conditions currently found on earth

Problems that cause degradation  Common Property Resources  Prevention  Private ownership  Open (no owner or not maintained) spaces  Controlled spaces—places that are under control of a legal entity

Pollution Defining and understanding

Pollution  Any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival, or activities of a living organism

Two sources of polluion  Point Source—the source is identifiable  Can you think of examples of this?  Nonpoint source— sources are general and not readily identified.  Can you think of any of these?

Characteristics that make a type of pollution harmful  Chemical Nature  Concentration  Persistence Degradable (less than 10 years) Slowly Degradable (more than 10 years) Nondegradable (over 250 years)

Pollution Solutions  Prevention  Cleanup  Which would be advocated by environmentalists?