Geog2250H - Test 1

Front 1

Environmental Spheres

Back 1

o Atmosphere – air and gases
o Biosphere – living organisms
o Hydrosphere – water in various states
o Lithosphere – geology, rocks, minerals
o Pedosphere – soil

Front 2

Duality of Human Life

Back 2

o Are we part of nature or above nature?
• Humans are social animals and thus our behaviors are flexible and strongly influenced culturally
o Culture – total “shared way of life”
o Basic Shared Elements
 Knowledge, beliefs, values/attitudes, social norms, technology

Front 3

Society is structured/influenced by social institutions, what are they?

Back 3

o Political System
o Religious System
o Economic System
o Family System
o Education System

Front 4

hunter-gatherer societies

Back 4

o 10-12000 BP expert knowledge, food acquisition, transient society, disposed society, low impact on environment, energy resources

Front 5

Agricultural revolution and societies

Back 5

o Horticultural/pastoral system, produce food supply, wheat, rice, oats, barley, maize, 7000BP
o High productivity, nutritious, stored easily
o Food storage creates a surplus and thus wealth
o Environmental impact – permanent settlements that concentrate resource acquisition in that one area, population increased overtime due to surplus of food
o Technology – complex due to harnessing greater energy supply, increased energy use, technologically more efficient w/ more advanced tools
o “World View” – emergence of distinction between culture and human landscapes and nature
o Earth as a garden metaphor
o Land ownership and conflict over land ownership
o Wealth -> stratifications, emergences of a class structure
o Religions evolved around this time period, vestiges of agriculture

Front 6

Industrial revolution

Back 6

o Energy supply – dramatic expansion
o Steam engine utilizing fossil fuels (originally coal)
o Elaborate and complex machinery/technology
o Emergence of factories
o Upheaval
 Factories begin the emergence of the urban world, attractor with jobs, and brings about “labour class”
 Science has emerged as critical force in world, application to science, medicine, public health
 Plastics, pesticides, pollution, things tha don’t ever decompose
o “World View” – earth as a machine metaphor, utilitarian view point

Front 7

•Sun

Back 7

input, infrared radiation/heat, terrestrial radiation is given as output

Front 8

First Law of Thermodynamics

Back 8

quantity of energy fixed contingent on input of energy, cannot create nor destroy energy, transform energy from one source to another and transfer convection, conduction, and radiation

Front 9

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Back 9

quality of energy always decreases as it is transferred; no energy conversion is perfectly efficient. Declines because heat is generated.

Front 10

Photosynthesis

Back 10

green plants, sunlight = endothermic reaction, 1-2% efficient

Front 11

Respiration

Back 11

reversal of photosynthesis used by animals, heat energy = metabolism, CH2O is oxidized and heat energy is utilized, exothermic gives off heat

Front 12

Biomass pyramid -

Back 12

caused due to 2nd law of thermodynamics, inefficient energy use creates tiered system

10% left, 90% loss each step generally

Front 13

Biogeochemical cycles

Back 13

 water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus

Front 14

2 kinds of biogeochemical cycles

Back 14

 Gaseous – at one point, C, H, O, etc. exist as a gas (C, H2O, N, fast cycling in atmosphere
 Sedimentary – lithosphere, not as a gas, slow cycling (Phosphorus)

Front 15

Nitrogen Cycle

Back 15

o Bacteria in nitrogen cycle (top soil)
 Nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria
 N2 -> NH4 -> NO2 -> NO3 (nitrates)
 78% nitrogen is in N2 form
o Fertilizers – fields with nitrogen, increase in plant growth
 Can potentially contaminate water supply
 Causes eutrophication where unwanted (cultural eutrophication)

Front 16

Phosphorus Cycle

Back 16

Utilization of guano – bird feces, mines of rocks in Florida

Front 17

I = P * A * T

Back 17

Impact, population, affluence, technology

Front 18

D = 70/r

Back 18

D= Doubling of population, r = rate of natural population change
R = (births + in) – (death + out)

Front 19

3 stages of growth in civilization

Back 19

o Agricultural, Industrial, Post Industrial
 MDC – Post Industrial
 LDC – Industrial
 Births in MDC -> kids not field laborers, public/private pensions/ family planning/ woman’s empowerment, education and thus deferred reproduction

Front 20

Population Momentum

Back 20

 Population momentum is an effect which causes population growth. This phenomenon refers to the percentage of the population that are in their child bearing years who have not yet had children, and thus are scheduled to eventually have children which add to the population through reproduction.

Front 21

Technological Optimists (Cornucopians)

Back 21

Neoclassical, free market, economists, capitalists

Front 22

Neo-Malthusians – Thomas Malthus – 1800 AD

Back 22

• Concerned greatly about population and resources
• Food production linear, population growth will eventually demand higher than can be provided

Front 23

Structuralist view – Marxists

Back 23

• Economic system in time will move away from capitalist structure, class distinctions, will cause move away from this
• Poverty and inequality - distributional affluence concerns

Front 24

Economy

Back 24

system of production, distribution, and consumption of goods/services

Front 25

Perpetual resources

Back 25

resources always available (sun, wind, gravity)

Front 26

Renewable resources

Back 26

commodities which can be harvested at rates less than the rate of replenishment (trees, global fisheries, soil)

Front 27

Non-renewable resources

Back 27

doesn’t regenerate at a renewable rate, finite (lithospheric resources are finite, coal, oil, natural gas, metals, wilderness)

Front 28

Potential resource

Back 28

things that will one day of value, undiscovered resources (junkyards)

Front 29

Economic value is imposed by cultural norms

Examples?

Back 29

mesquite, diamonds, gold

Front 30

Natural resources generally low value per unit of commodity

Examples?

Back 30

tree - > lumber - > furniture

Front 31

Natural resources provide a public good often

Back 31

 Environmental services
 Ex: tree -> cleans atmosphere, traps CO2, Bees, bacteria, etc.

Front 32

What is a reserve of natural resources

Back 32

Lithosphere, finite resources

Front 33

Tragedy of the Commons

Back 33

o Communal resources (public ownership)
o Public land – national parks/forests, military bases
o Un-ownable resources – air, oceans, wildlife/fish
o Benefit accrues to individual
o Cost born by all/societal
o Not necessarily inevitable