Pol 130 Final Terms: The Global Commons

Front 1

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

Back 1

Predicted (in 1789) that population growth would soon outstrip increases in the food supply, leading to a host of social, economic, and political crises. Though he proved to be wrong, his arguments foreshadowed many of those made almost two hundred years later by the Club of Rome

Front 2

Club of Rome

Back 2

A group of social and natural scientists created in 1968 to examine the future "predicament" of humankind. Their 1972 study, Limits of Growth, helped shape the debate over the interrelated issues of global population growth, resources depletion, and environmental degradation.

Front 3

Limits to Growth (1972)

Back 3

Study done by the Club of Rome that helped shape the debate over the interrelated issues of global population growth, resources depletion, and environmental degradation.

Front 4

Carrying Capacity

Back 4

Term employed by the Club of Rome to indicate the maximum level of population that the world's resources and environment could sustain.

Front 5

Zero Population Growth (ZPG)

Back 5

A situation in which a population's crude birth rates equals crude death rates.

Front 6

Garrett Hardin (1915-2003)

Back 6

American ecologist that made the warning of the Tragedy of the Commons.

Front 7

Tragedy of the Commons

Back 7

A metaphor in which actors fail to restrain their use of common resources, eventually depleting those resources for all. Often used to conceptualize the issues of global population growth, resource consumption, and environmental degradation.

Front 8

World Food Bank

Back 8

Proposed as a means of responding to famines around the world. The idea was to create a ready stock of food that could be shipped rapidly to areas in need, thus saving thousands of lives. Opposed by Garrett Hardin because he thought such aid would increase the population of areas that were already overpopulated.

Front 9

Population escalator

Back 9

Garrett Hardin's term to describe the effect of an international food bank. Refers to the steady increases in population that would result every time external assistance was offered to deal with recurring famines.

Front 10

Lifeboat ethics

Back 10

Metaphor for resource distribution proposed by Garrett Hardin.

Ethics of who to save with one lifeboat. If you try to save everyone, everyone will die.

Front 11

Lifeboat ethics

Back 11

Metaphor for resource distribution proposed by Garrett Hardin.

Ethics of who to save with one lifeboat. If you try to save everyone, everyone will die.

Front 12

Neotraditionalists

Back 12

Those, like the Club of rome and Garrett Hardin, who believe that the world is rapidly approaching (or is already at) its limits to growth.

Front 13

Modernists

Back 13

Those who reject the analysis presented by the Club of Rome. Argue that even if there is a limit to the population the world can support, it is not even close to the limit. Generally have great faith in science's ability to solve problems and overcome what are often portrayed as limits to growth.

Front 14

Theory of Demographic Transition

Back 14

Claims that periods of great population growth tend to be followed by a leveling off of population. The same technological, economic, and social changes that cause population to grow in the first place by reducing death rates usually have long-term effects that result in declining birth rates.

Front 15

Climate change/global warming

Back 15

Empirical observation: world is warming, concentration of CO2 is rising in the atmosphere.
Causal claims: result of human activity.
(fossil fuels-->release CO2-->CO2 accumulates-->traps heat)

Front 16

The Simon-Ehlich wager

Back 16

Wager on resource scarcity. Ehrlich believed that prices of certain metals would sky rocket, proving that resources were being depleted. Simon argued that prices would drop. After 10 years they compared costs: Simon's prediction was correct, proving that the resource scare was premature.

Front 17

Montreal Protocol

Back 17

Global solution to dealing with the problem of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) depleting the ozone. 22 nations signed the negotiation, agreeing to phase out CFCs over the next 20 years and fund poor nations to help them comply.