Announcement Reading Questions (ecological footprint) due in lecture 25 pts

Developing countries - pop is increasing the greatest –Some areas doubling pop in 18yrs Richer countries – pop steady or declining Developing regions Developed regions

How do we achieve a stable population? The most significant factors: Reducing poverty

The most significant factors: Reducing poverty Investing in Family Planning Elevating the status of women –Education

Human impact on the envt. x resource use per person # people on planet What determines overall human impact on planet? =

Individuals living in developing countries use most of the world’s resources. 1.True 2.False

Resource use per person is much greater in developed countries, especially N. America 24

Avg. income in 1990s ~ 1 billion people in richest countries ~$22,000/yr. ~ 2 billion in middle-income countries ~$1,600/yr. ~ 3 billion in poorest countries ~$400/yr.

An ecological footprint is 1.Equal to the size of my house and land 2.All the land needed to support an individual’s lifestyle 3.All the land currently used to grow food

Ecological Footprint is a way to measure resource use per person Land needed to support you at your lifestyle

How is the footprint determined? Measures how fast we use resources and generate waste Compares this to how quickly nature can generate new resources and absorb waste

Includes: growing food water disposing of waste, pollution producing material objects supplying energy needs

Acres used per year PER PERSON: What can you conclude from this?

Ecological Footprint (EF) If Earth was divided evenly ~ 4.5 acres/person Poorer countries - smaller EF –China 4 acres/person –India 0.2 acres/person Wealthy countries - larger EF –U.S. 24 acres/person

If everyone lived like us, we would need 5 Earths

If everyone in the world lived like we do in the US, the carrying capacity of the earth would be 1.Less than 6 billion 2.6 – 7 billion 3.10 – 12 billion 4.20 billion

If everyone lived like us, we would need 5 Earths Average world footprint requires 1.4 Earths

Carrying Capacity (revisited) Based on the average world EF, we do not have enough resources to support everyone at that level.

Carrying Capacity (revisited) How to change the K: 1. Amount of Resources we use use less resources per person, planet can support more people If everyone lived like us in US, Earth’s K would be 1 – 2 billion. If we lived like people in India – possibly 20 billion

Ex. Use less energy, buy less stuff

2. Technology used - some technology stretches resources further, some destroys resources

3. Earth’s productivity - technology can increase or decrease this Ex. Agriculture –increased K 4x in last century