GGH2604_ SUMMARY NOTES.

GGH2604_ SUMMARY NOTES. GGH2604 - People And The Environment. Geography offers a unique perspective on how human activities affect and influence ecological processes at different scales - The ANTHROPOCENE – the age of man - Evidenced by the widespread pollution & presence of artificial radioactive particles - Zalasiewicz (2016) -: sufficient evidence exists to suggest that the Anthropocene is a real ecological phenomenon with potential to be formalized within the Geological Time Scale” 1.3 Meme or Geological Epoch: Introducing the Anthropocene - Holocene -: o Geological term used by environmental scientists to denote the warmer, inter-glacial period in which we now live. o Began approx. 12 000 years ago around 10 000 BCE - Paul Crutzen o Found this term outdated due to the rapid change of the global environment o At the base of the argument was that humans had become a force of nature;  By the ways that humans had transformed the environment  The ways that these transformations were increasingly expressed at a planetary level - The term “Anthropocene” is made-up from the prefix “anthropo” (humankind) and the suffix “cene” (a geological epoch) and can also be referred to as “the age of humans”. - The Anthropocene is marked by: o Greenhouse gases reaching their highest levels for 400,000 years o The ability of humans to regulate and control the flow of water through dam-building and sluice constructions o Industrial emissions of sulphur dioxide reaching 160 million tons per year o Increased exploitation of fisheries in the ocean o Increased levels of fertilizers in soils; and o High extraction rates of minerals through mining. - Studying the Anthropocene requires a horizontal record of human-environmental relations across (and above) the surface of the planet as at the vertical record of the geological past. - Scientists remain uncertain as to whether the human impact on the global environment constitutes a geological level shift in planetary history. - Key issue: for the ‘age of humans’ to exist geologically, it is necessary to show that humans have changed the environment and illustrates that humans actually changed the ways in which the global environment operated. - International commission on Stratigraphy has established a working group to explore this idea. - Ecocentrists see the Anthropocene as basis for reducing the demands we place on the planet, to challenge the value of economic growth and to re-localize our economies. Techno centrists feel that the idea of humans as intelligent agents of geological power should be an incentive to deeper interventions on the planet. - Two large trash vortexes were formed by ocean currents in the North Pacific Ocean. The floating mass of microplastics, cigarette lighters and syringes causes the death of approximately 1 million seabirds every year and 100,000 marine mammals. CASE STUDY 1.1. - A recent study on bioaccumulation found high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in amphipods (crustaceans such as sand fleas) in two of the deepest parts of the oceans. Both of these trenches are more than 10,000 meters deep and are considered as some of the most inaccessible and remote parts of the Earth. - Plastics are already present in sufficient numbers to be considered as one of the most important types of ‘technofossil’ that will form a permanent record of human presence on Earth. 1.4 The Rough Geographies of the Anthropocene - Debate as to when the Anthropocene began, some believe it is at the human domestication of animals and the birth of modern agricultures. - Paul Crutzen – began in 1784 when the first stem engine & the kick-start of the industrial revolution - Some believe it is linked to rise of nuclear technology & radioactive traces it has left - Where is the Anthropocene? o Spatial question – historic & contemporary implications o Key questions:  In what particular places have the changes that humans have caused been felt most?  Where have the different processes been orchestrated from?  How and what is being done to address these impacts? - Geographical perspectives have the potential to transform our understanding of the consequence of env. Change - Spaceship Earth-: R. Buckmiester Fuller – we are all already astronauts o A metaphor used to convey both the finite resources that humanity has at its disposal and the crucial role of env. Maintenance in ensuring the ongoing wellbeing of our shared home. o We need to carefully monitor and utilise the resources at our disposal in order to ensure human survival - Spaceship Earth theory unites us under a common ecological fate - However, we cannot look at all env. Problems with a global perspective - The unevenness of our env. Fates is expressed clearly in the case of climate change - Studies indicate that South Asia and Africa are the inhabited areas that will be hit the most by impacts of Climate Change. o Will bear the brunt of flooding, loss of agricultural productivity, spread of climate-related diseases o Also some of the least responsible for the damage o Least able to protect themselves from the dangers/ impacts o “involuntary exposures” to climate change - Env. Geography involves the study of spatial relations, locations and systems. Spatial relations 2 interconnected & distinct forms; 1. Routes taken by trade/ transport/ communication/ pollution which form the geographical means in and through which the world is joined together – e.g. lines on a map 2. The myriad of political, economic, social, cultural & env. Processes which constitute the collection of relations in and through which specific spaces (e.g. cities/ regions/ neighbourhoods/ nations) relate to other places – e.g. bank transfers/ cultural exchange etc. - Lines of engagement are both part of what it is, and part of its effects - Env terms: the relations that connect one place with another’s env. Are not only transboundary pollution (e.g. acid rain/ toxic waste disposal/ air pollution). Env. Relations are also hidden in everyday products that we buy and consume. E.g. palm oil & the clearing of the rainforests in Indonesia. Spatial Locations - Studying locations is about more than simply tracing our current environmental problems back to their roots, - Key: understanding the role of particular sites in the Anthropocene. - About understanding how certain places are both environmental relations and at the same time express the effects of those same relations. - Locating the Anthropocene provides us with an opportunity to see if our theories about nature and form are accurate, and the ways in which such general theories may apply differently in different places. Spatial Systems - Final key: the particular concern with the formation and operation of spatial systems - The spatial system exists when geographical spaces of various sizes come together to form interconnected arrangements of coordination and support. - Spatial systems: can include cities/ regional economies/ nation states/ transnational economic and political blocs. - Harvey – urbanization; combination of housing, transport, infrastructure, factories, and offices mean that cities reflect a kind of spatial logic for capitalist society - Can be seen on a neighbourhood level – home life/ schools/ working/ recreation and shopping have to be organized and negotiated on a day-to-day basis - Dominant spatial system: global market place CASE STUDY 1.2 - Pripyat, Ukraine - The use of nuclear power is often propagated as “safe” or “emitting less pollution” - At 1:23am on 26/04/1986, reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl Power Plant (NPP) in northern Ukraine - experiment started - Purpose: to investigate reactor safety in the event of failure of the main elec. Supply to the plant - One minute later, a steam explosion blew the life of the reactor and resulted in the largest accidental release of radioactivity into the env. (historic) - Core continued to burn for 10 days, releasing radiation continuously – radioactive plume was transported over large areas for Europe. - Immediate result: significant ecological harm due to the spread of the radioactive ions in the env. - Pripyat was evacuated and became a ghost town. - Negative health effects: cancer/ leukaemia/ circulatory diseases/ other chronic diseases - 600 000 lives claimed - Most affected area: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation (The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone) - Exclusion zone extends approx. 30km in radius, covering 2600Km2 of Ukraine - Deposition of radioactive iodine contaminated agricultural plants/ grazing animals/ and milk products in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and other parts Europe - Livestock/ reindeer/ mountainous and forest regions in Norway were still affected by exposure to soil which had been affected by radioactive 137-Cs particles in 2013. Learning Theme 2 – Population Growth and Resource Use 2.1 Introduction - Population growth and increases in the use of certain resources are key factors with are constantly at play in the Anthropocene Epoch - Prominent perspectives on the population growth resource use relationship are: o Malthusian o Neo-Malthusian o Cornucopian o Peakiest o Marxist - Some theories complement each other, while others are opposite 2.3 The Simon-Ehrlich Wager - 1980 – Julian L. Simon (prf. Business Admin.) & Paul Ehrlich (American Biologist) o Simon: claimed population growth provided a basis for renewed social innovation and for making more resources available o Wager: Ehrlich bet on the price of 5 commodity metals (chromium, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten), betting that by 1990 the prices would have increased (as expected should population growth increase demand for the resource) while Simon bet it would decrease (as expected if you believe population growth would lead to social innovation and the availability of alternate resources. o Simon won the bet - Most pressing challenge: the long-term availability of env. Resources Perspective Belief Person Malthusian In the contexts of rising population levels and the increasing relative demand for resources, that finite resources will eventually be exhausted Notions of absolute environmental limits can blind us to the complex processes by which resources are distributed and used. Ehrlich Cornucopian Technologies and market forces will work to ensure that in future humans will have adequate resources to meet their collective needs – Greek “horn of plenty” Recognises the role of technology/ politics/ markets in regulating and redirecting the human use of resources- however, fail to acknowledge the limits that do exist. Simon 2.4 Changing Patterns of Resource Use - Analysis outlines the major resource groups that human use, considers the geographical variations that exist in their relative levels of extraction and utilization, and outlines some of the environmental consequences associates with the exploitation of key resources Mineral Fuels - Pronounced increases during the Anthropocene - Mineral fuels include: coal, peat, dry natural gas, liquid natural gas, petroleum and uranium. - Provide energy which the Anthropocene is based. - These mineral fuels are non-renewable - Affluent nations of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), such as the UK, USA and Germany, have been the dominant consumers of global energy - The OECD share of global energy use is decreasing due to the rapidly expanding economies such as China and India - The geography of mineral energy extraction and use is complicated by the location of oil reserves. Given the concentration of oil reserves in the Middle East, it is no surprise that the region is very significant in terms of geopolitics - Metal and non-metallic minerals - Metal and non-metallic minerals are used to build things that we use and consume. - Non-metallic minerals e.g. potash, phosphate, nitrogen in ammonia, salt and sulphur - Society requires 100million tones of these minerals on an annual basis. - Key metallic resources have shown aggregate increases in their levels of extraction since 1980’s - The physical properties of metals mean that they can be used in a wide range of contexts - Open cast or strip mining can destroy landscapes and the ecological systems that have developed upon them. - The removal of minerals from the ground may release pollutants into the environment - Pollution from mining can affect the watercourses during rain/ flooding. - Examples of products which have caused an increase in the consumption of mineral resources: o Hydraulic cement used for buildings o Iron ore used in construction and infrastructure projects o Metals with high levels of conductivity (such as copper) are used in the production of electrical products o The metal nickel is used in the production of stainless steel, rechargeable batteries, coins and even electric guitar strings o Gold necklaces o Mobile phones o iPads Water - Air & water are the most important resources for day-to-day living - Global average water use is 150L per person per day - Major increases in rates of water use are because of increased food production, increased use of water to hydrate (lawns/ construction etc.) - Water is renewable, constantly reused and recycled - Excessive use is causing water shortages & climate change is affecting water supply CASE STUDY 2 – unconventional oil and gas extraction in SA - Unconventional oil and gas extraction – known as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) - Water/ other fluids (under pressure) are injected into the gas and oil reserves beneath the earth’s surface extracting the minerals - By 2030, at least 29,000 MW of additional electricity will be required to cater to South Africa’s growing energy needs; and with 10,900 MW of capacity due to be retired by then, new builds of more than 40,000 MW will be required. - UOG – unconventional oil and gas - The government has decided to proceed with the exploration and extraction of UOG. - CARBON EMISSIONS – SA 12th largest producer in the world because of our energy sector being carbon-based. - UOG are transitional fuels which can contribute to less carbon emissions therefore less greenhouse gases - SA is also water stressed country – receives average of 497mm rain per year compared to global average of 860mm - UOG & it’s impacts are controversial - There is an inextricable link between water availability and the energy resource development. - UOG extraction and its related activities (vegetation clearing for well pad construction, access roads, and pipelines) may furthermore have direct impacts on vegetation, with an associated loss of biodiversity - The scale of the impacts of UOG extraction spans both spatial and temporal dimensions and is cumulative. On a spatial scale, UOG extraction does not occur only within specific geographic boundaries, as is the case for localized mining operations, but includes an array of gas well sites that may cover vast geographic expanses. 2.5 Doomsters, Cornucopias and Everything in Between - Many of the theories/ worldview perspectives contradict each other, collectively they help us to understand the nature and likely consequences of the resource demands that we place on the planet PARSON MALTHUS AND THE NEO_MALTHUSIANS - 1798 English parson, Thomas Robert Malthus - Described a key difference in the nature of population growth and the development of new resources - While levels of resource discovery and availability tend to increase gradually, population tended to grow at much more rapid rates. - Exponential population growth leads to an increasing demand on key resources - Malthus was concerned that our ability to produce these resources could not match the demand. - Checks would be placed on population growth: o Positive: involve people proactively addressing the problems of excessive population growth through birth control and reducing the size of their families o Negative: increase in the rate of deaths - Excessive population growth would ultimately lead to food shortages, hunger, increases in human conflict and warfare - Criticism: o Prediction have not come true o Failure to account for technology - Neo-Malthusian: believe that despite the proven ability of technological developments to provide resources to an expanding population, there are still real limits on the biosphere’s ability to supply resources and absorb pollution - Some Neo-Malthusians believe that a Malthusian future may already be upon us due to seeing negative checks in the world around us e.g. Robert Kaplan – hunger and conflicts over scarce resources in West Africa - Neo-Malthusian researchers in Massachusetts, US (often referred to as the Club of Rome), published their views – that economic development would be severely restricted if levels of population growth and resource use continued to expand - in the Limits to Growth report. - Olphus claims 2 possible futures o Will see increasing conflict and associated anarchy as people scavenge for available resources o Will see the emergence of an increasingly authoritarian society which will restrict the usage and economic freedoms of individuals. CORNUCOPIANS AND THE CHICAGO BOYS - Cornucopians DO NOT believe that humanity is heading towards environmental resource tragedy - 2 key features:  A belief that increases in population lead to the discovery and development of more resources  Derived from Esther Boserup’s work – aka Boserupian  A Danish economist  Work was seen as the biggest challenge to Malthusian understanding  Boserup argued that food supply was determined by population growth (Malthusian other way round)  Increases in population create incentive for societies to develop new practises and technologies which could produce more food output  The presence of more people, increases the likelihood that new ways will be discovered to increase food production  “necessity is the mother of invention”  Operations of the free market ca help humanity avoid serious resource shortages  Neoliberalism WWII, University of Chicago  Tend to emphasize the broader creative opportunities that are generated within free markets  Closely assoc. to work of the Chicago boys (Hayek/ Friedman & colleagues)  Emphasized the great benefits that can be gained by organizing societies around free markets  Claim that markets provide economic incentive for people to innovate  Recognize that through the changing prices of commodities, markets provide an efficient way of showing the greatest demand and where to invest  Julian Simon – neoliberal HUBBERT’S CURVE AND THE PEAKISTS - Theories can be traced back to the 1950’s - Hubbert predicted that oil production in the US would reach a peak during the early 1970s. - He also predicted that the global production of oil would reach a peak around 1995, after which point the supply of oil would enter a terminal pattern of long-term decline. - While Hubbert’s prediction about the US peak oil production was accurate, his global prediction was less reliable. - Many “peakists” have argued that Hubbert’s curve could be applied to a range of other resources. - Some see the curve as another interpretation of Malthusian thinking - Doesn’t represent a prediction of when we will run out, rather when supply will reach a maximum MARXISM AND THE QUESTION OF RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION - Work of Karl Marx – 19th C - Marxism is concerned with the systems of ownership associated with a resource, who benefits from its exploitation, labour relations with extraction and systems of distribution. - Critical of Malthusian and Cornucopians perspectives on resource use and availability - Marxists claim that Malthusian concerns with resource shortages fail to recognise that there are often enough resources. - From a Marxist perspective, resource scarcity occurs since wealthy owners of a given resource tend to overexploit them for their own gain – by selling harvests to overseas markets, or placing oil revenues in overseas bank accounts. - Marxists are also critical of the cornucopian claim that the free market provides the basis for enhancing resource production, since they argue that it is the free market systems that are causing social and environmental problems. - Le Billon’s work illustrates that there is no simple connection between resources and conflict. Resource scarcity is not the only driver of conflict – the desire for power and wealth are strong motivators - The type of conflict that emerges around resources is caused by the economic and political situation of a geographical region. 2.6 Water Resources in the Nile Basin - Population growth along the Nile Basin have placed strain on the ability of the river system to deliver adequate supplies of water. - 1950 approximately 60.5 million, 1998 X3 = 206.6 million people. - As upstream states (Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan) build more dams and irrigation schemes on the Nile, downstream state Egypt is becoming concerned about its own ability to extract more water from the Nile. - Water withdrawals governed by the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement. o Limits the amount of water each state can withdraw from the river system in a year: o Sudan may withdraw 18.5 billion cubic metres - would like to withdraw more o And Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres annually. – trying to prevent using force - In 1999, the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) was established to compile the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) which involves countries along the Nile River Basin. o According to the NBI (2017) “…rather than quantifying 'equitable rights' or water use allocations, the Treaty intends to establish a framework to ‘promote integrated management, sustainable development, and harmonious utilization of the water resources of the Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of present and future generations’”. o By 2017, only the upstream states of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi had signed the agreement. o These countries would like to extract water for agricultural purposes and hydroelectricity since they were prevented from extraction in the past by Egypt. o Egypt has been refusing to sign the agreement which will reduce the amount of water it is allowed to extract from the Nile (Aman 2017; Mulisa 2017). - The example of the Nile Basin appears to lend itself to a Malthusian interpretation: o As population growth outstrips the supply of resources such as food and water, society will be subjected to severe limits to its development and conflicts over scarce resources. o The fact that population has continued to grow so rapidly in the Nile Basin suggests that there might be merit in the cornucopian perspective. o In this context, it could be argued that population growth and the pressure to withdraw more water from the Nile River system have led to the development of technological solutions, including the construction of dams and innovative irrigation schemes that have enabled continued economic growth in the region. o Marxists point out that when there are droughts in the Nile Basin, it is the poor and not the wealthy that experience water scarcity. o In addition, a Marxist perspective would question whether the building of dams and new irrigation systems in the Nile Basin is really solving water scarcity issues or securing water for the most powerful states (such as Egypt). - The water scarcity issues in the Nile Basin reflect two key features of the Anthropocene: o Problems associated with the accelerated extraction of resources from the natural environment; o And where humans are trying to exert technological control over the natural world through the building of dams and irrigation systems. Learning Theme 3 – Air pollution and Climate Change 3.1 Introduction - The atmosphere is the most transitory sphere – in a constant state of flux, a complex mix of gases and water vapour - Air pollution has many impacts - Main impact: climate change o Climate change is defined as “any natural or induced change in climate, either globally or in a particular area Examples include the natural climate change that has caused ice ages in the past, and global warming that many believe is now being caused by rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere” 3.3 Thomas Midgley and the Ultraviolet Century - Certain nations have disproportionately contributed too many of the env. Challenges we face today. Individual actions can affect significant forms of ecological change appears farfetched. - Thomas Midgley had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth’s history o First contributor: 1921, adding lead to petrol o While the addition of lead to petrol was beneficial for the operation of vehicles, it resulted in a spike in the levels of lead in the atmosphere. Lead, which is toxic, then entered human bloodstreams and ecological systems o Second: Improved the safety of fridges and cooling devices using chemical compounds of Freon – chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) o However, CFC production led to a decrease in the planet’s ozone layer. Ozone depletion has been linked to higher levels of skin cancer, plant damage and dwindling plankton populations in the oceans. - Cumulative forms of pollution are forms of pollution that gradually accumulate in the environment over long periods of time, for example the air pollution associated with leaded petrol. - Systemic forms of pollution refer to the ways in which certain pollutants can actually change the ways in which large-scale ecological systems (such as the ozone layer) operate. - In the Anthropocene, science and scientists are not only involved in generating atmospheric problems, but also in helping to identify and address them. 3.4 Air Pollution: From Mauna Loa to Mumbai - The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring process that is responsible for regulating the Earth’s temperature. - Greenhouse gases operate like a blanket that keeps the planet warm and suitable for life. - Without greenhouse gases Earth’s average temperature would dip to -18 ºCelsius - .Examples of greenhouse gases are the following: o Carbon dioxide (CO (CO2) o Methane (CH 4) o Water vapour (H 2O) o Ozone in the troposphere (O 3) o Nitrous oxide (NO x) o Aerosols (dust &smoke) o Sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6)(Cook The Keeling Curve and the history of CO2 - Charles David Keeling, an American geochemist, his scientific work contributes to our knowledge of the collective impact on the global atmosphere – took an interest in CO2 o Before his work, people held belief that greenhouse gases regulated the global temperature and there was nothing humans could do to decrease its impact. o Keeling developed the first reliable instrument to measure atmospheric carbonations o Keeling moved his scientific base to Mauna Loa (Hawaii) -3000m above sea level for its thin air o Keeling discovered & recorded the increase in CO2 Levels (310 parts per million – 400 parts per million) o Keeling curve  Shows increasing levels of carbon dioxide over time  With smaller seasonal fluctuations  1. Shows that not all the additional CO2 in the atmosphere was reabsorbed into the earth’s biosphere or hydrosphere  2. Rising global temperatures are connected to the rising levels of Carbon Dioxide (1.5deg over last 250 years) - Svante Arrhenius (Swedish chemist) o Discovered the greenhouse effect - Contributors to the increased combustion of coal & hydrogen chloride emissions: (17th C, London) o Population growth o The expansion of railways, textile. Steel and alkali production industries - The combustion of coal and petroleum releases sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrous oxides (NOx) into the air. - These gases react with water molecules to produce sulphuric or nitric acid. - Once produced, this acid can be transported over long distances before being deposited on ecosystems – known as acid deposition or acid precipitation. Park and Allaby (2017) explain that “acid precipitation can occur as dry deposition and as wet deposition in the form of rain, drizzle, snow, or mist. - Acid precipitation has a pH of less than 5.6, and the deposition of acidic material on the ground causes acidification of soils, water bodies, and vegetation”. - Acid rain can: o lead to biodiversity loss o inhibit the hatching of fish eggs o weaken trees by attacking their leaves and inhibiting their ability to absorb nutrients o deplete the soil of nutrients o damage tree roots o lead to impaired photosynthesis (Park and Allaby 2017) - Photochemical smogs are a product of sunlight reacting with NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are emitted from vehicular exhausts, producing ground-level ozone and airborne particles. - Photochemical smog may affect human health by increasing incidents of asthma, acute respiratory infections, cardiopulmonary disease and cancers of the lungs and trachea. - Unlike industrial cities where the cold air of winter associated with high-pressure weather systems trap air pollution, Los Angeles’s fog is a phenomenon of the late summer. - Inversion layer: o Los Angele’s location plays a crucial role in the development of photochemical smog in the city o Its coastal location often means that onshore breezes return the city’s air pollution to the metropolis as part of a cooler air mass. o The cooler air mass pushes the warmer air it encounters in the city upwards. This process results in what meteorologists term an inversion layer. o This inversion layer acts like a blanket trapping air pollution at low altitudes. o Given that Los Angeles is surrounded by mountains, inversion layers can become very difficult to break when they settle over the urban region. o These relatively stable atmospheric conditions provide time for the sunlight to stimulate chemical reactions at low altitudes within the city and the production of photochemical smogs. 3.5 Reflections on the Nature of Atmospheric Science - Modern science has two key characteristics – a commitment to objectivity, and a quest for a universal basis for the study of nature. - Taken together, the objectivity and universality of modern science are important because they enable the production of more reliable and trustworthy accounts of the real world. - A crucial factor within the production of scientific knowledge is the notion of scientific consensus. - Scientific research progresses through the development of consensus, in and through which particular ways of understanding the world become accepted wisdom, whereas other theories are rejected. - A paradigm is a scientific model that explains how a certain process works. - Paradigm shifts occur when two incompatible theories of scientific knowledge contest each other to be the accepted way of explaining how the world works. E.g. when theories of a flat Earth were rejected. - - The objectivity of smoke inspectors in London was compromised due to limited visibility, local terrain issues and interference by factory owners. - In addition, the decision to locate the majority of the UK’s sulphur dioxide monitoring stations in urban areas led to gaps in scientific knowledge concerning the extent of acid deposition in rural areas. - Recent trends in the scientific knowledge of the atmosphere indicate how scientific knowledge can be deliberately manipulated. - While an estimated 97% of scientists have reached the consensus that the human enhancement of the greenhouse gas effect is responsible for current climate changes, a range of institutions and individuals are trying to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change (Cook 2017). - Lewandowsky et al. (2015: 1) argue that “opponents of the scientific consensus on climate change…have often emphasized scientific uncertainty in order to forestall mitigative action. Those arguments often exaggerate, for political or ideological reasons, the actual degree of uncertainty in the scientific community or imply that uncertainty justifies inaction”. - It has been established that the opponents of the scientific consensus on climate change have received funding from ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil corporation. - In 2001 Danish academic Bjørn Lomborg published a book The Skeptical Environmentalist wherein he cast doubt on various scientific predictions that climate change would lead to serious socio-ecological problems in the future. - The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty felt that the dishonesty in the book was a product of Lomborg’s lack of scientific expertise the field of climate change. 3.6 Climate Change in Africa Case Study 3.1- Climate change in Africa - Africa is warming duster than the global average, with projections of a rise of 3-4deg C this Century. - Climate Change = a considerable health and economic challenge for the continent - Climate-sensitive diseases e.g. cholera/ meningitis/ malaria/ rift-valley fever are likely to spread faster. - The warming is likely to reduce crop yields and livestock productivity, and cause water scarcity. - Extreme weather and climate events e.g. droughts/ floods are expected to be more frequent with negative impacts on human life and health. - Climate change will also lead to wildlife migration due to habitat loss. - Sea level is expected to rise by 2100, approx. 10% higher than the global mean - These situations can be exacerbated by the increase in population growth and urbanisation along coastal regions of Africa. 3.7 Adaption to Climate Change Case Study 3.2 – climate resistance in Rwanda - Most vulnerable countries in the world: Burundi/ DRC/ Rwanda/ Ethiopia - RWANDA o Mountainous country in Great Lake region – known as the land of 1000 hills, terrain is characterised by steep slopes and green hills o Predominantly rural population relies on substance agriculture for livelihoods o About 45% of the land in Rwanda is arable, 22%forested, 18% pastureland o Significant economic growth averaging 7.1% in recent years, driven by high agriculture o Rwanda has a commitment to a strong green economy o Rwanda’s national climate and environment fund – known as FONERWA is ground breaking and envisaged to become the engine for the country’s growth in the next 50 years o Mitigation strategies:  Attempts to stabilise and reduce the human production of greenhouse gases  May include the establishment of carbon taxes, international climate change agreements, carbon markets and trading schemes, carbon offsetting programmes  Development of low carbon technologies o Adaption involves & includes :  Individuals/ communities/ states working to try and ensure that people are able to cope with the effects of climate change  flood protection  changes in agricultural production techniques  freshwater conservation  the construction of sea defences  responses to extreme weather events  treatment of climate sensitive health issues (e.g. cholera/ malaria/ meningitis/ rift valley fever) - although various international efforts to address climate change have been adopted, the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is widely regarded as the most important instrument in adapting to climate change - The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2deg C, above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5deg C. 3.8 Fugitive Emissions and Louisiana’s Cancer Alley - Scientists have struggled to assess and monitor the air pollution in Diamond, Louisiana. - The large scale of air pollution in the region means that it is impossible for scientists and regulators to monitor all air pollution events. - The work of scientists is also hindered by the activities of corporations who use the cover of mist, fog and darkness to hide their air polluting activities. - While corporations are expected to keep their own inventories of toxic air pollution releases, the leaks and associated forms of fugitive air pollution tend to go unrecorded and unmonitored. - Estimates suggest that in Diamond some 80 million pounds of VOC emissions go unreported due to leaks every year. Learning Theme 4 – Soil Degradation 4.1 Introduction - Soil is “the naturally occurring, unconsolidated, upper layer of the ground, made of humus and weathered rock. - Major factors affecting soil formation are; o Climate o Relief o Parent material o Vegetation o Time - Purposes of soil: o Soil is the medium on which we produce 99% of our food, o a major store of carbon – holds 2-3 times more carbon than the atmosphere o Regulator of climate o Regulator & purifier of water sources - - Population growth and agricultural activities have had a significant impact on soil resources 4.3 Getting Under the Planet’s Skin - The flat relief and fertile soils of the Great Plains of North America (also known as Prairie in Canada) are very beneficial to a range of agricultural activities. - During the 1930s a vast dust bowl developed in the southern section of the plains. - In the pursuit of the great profits that could be made from wheat cultivation, farmers engaged in ploughing up vast swathes of the natural grasslands found in the Prairies. - The so-called “Great Plow Up” left the soils of the southern Great Plains exposed to soil erosion. - Soil erosion made it very difficult to produce agricultural crops, leading to poverty and famine. - Big dust storms started blocking out sunlight and resulted in the migration of people away from the plains. 4.4 Soil and Environmental Transformations - During the Neolithic Revolution humans gradually moved away from a nomadic society that was based on hunting and gathering food and resources to an agricultural type of society. - Agricultural techniques enabled humans to settle in specific regions. - This resulted in population growth and an increased demand for food and thereby an increased demand for soil. - The increasing demand for soil led to deforestation and the application of inorganic fertilizers after the Industrial Revolution. - Between the 1950s and early years of the 2000s, it is claimed that inorganic fertilizer use rose 20-fold, with approximately 100 billion kilograms of nitrogen fertilizers being added to soils every year. - The use of inorganic fertilizers has been associated with the rapid increase of crop yields and global food supply. The Haber- Bosch process enabled the production of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. - Various compounds of ammonia could then be added to soils in order to improve their fertility. - Soil degradation involves a loss of organic matter, nutrients and water from land, can be from: o mostly due to overgrazing of pastures o over cultivation o forest clearances o bad agricultural management - Soil degradation leads to o biodiversity loss, o climate change o And the onset of human poverty. - Soil pollution occurs through the addition of toxic chemicals (such as lead, mercury and cyanide) or organic pesticides (such as DDT) to soil. - Rachel Carson documented how dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was rapidly absorbed through soils into plants and animals. - Carson’s work would ultimately lead to tighter regulations on the use of pesticides throughout the world. 4.5 Interpreting the Transformation of Soil: A Political Ecology Perspective - Before the emergence of political ecology, soil erosion was predominantly understood in three broad ways. 1. Soil erosion was interpreted as a natural phenomenon that – even when exacerbated by human activity – was largely driven by physical processes (drought and exposure to winds). 2. From a Malthusian perspective, soil erosion was associated with the pressures of overpopulation that forced farmers and landholders to overwork their land in order to feed the growing population. 3. Soil erosion was seen as the product of bad decision-making on the part of farmers and landholders. - Thus, soil degradation was interpreted as the outcome of farmers either being unaware of sustainable agricultural practices or deliberately overexploiting soil in the pursuit of profit. - The political ecology perspective developed by Blaikie and his colleagues challenged each of the established understandings of soil degradation. - Blaikie recognised that drought conditions did not always result in soil erosion. - In societies that are more affluent, droughts are routinely endured without significant forms of soil erosion. - In terms of Malthusian arguments, political ecologists claimed that advances in agriculture had over time enabled farmers to produce more food from the land without the degradation of soil. - In addition, Blaikie’s work in Nepal and Africa exposed a strong link between poverty and land degradation. - It appeared that the poorest farmers often only had access to the lowest quality soils. 4.6 Soil Degradation and restoration in China - Soil erosion is now affecting 17 per cent of China’s total land cover. - The eroded 4.5 billion tons of additional soil sediments are clogging up the country’s 80 000 reservoirs, reducing water storage capacity and increasing the threat of water scarcity. - China’s expanding economy and population growth have placed pressure on the country’s agricultural sector. - These pressures have contributed to the overuse and mismanagement of soil resources. In addition, a significant part of China consists of sloping land.