IB ESS SL
Ecocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Holistic ideal, ecology and nature central to humanity, less
materialistic approach, prioritizes biorights, encourages education and human self-restraint
Anthropocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Humans must sustainably manage the global system,
(taxes, regulation, legislation), pragmatic approach in solving environmental issues
Technocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Technological developments can provide solutions,
optimistic view for humans improving the world, scientific research encouraged to form policies
EVSs - correct answer ✔✔Vary depending on cultures, time periods, individual
Discuss the view that the environment can have its own intrinsic value. - correct answer ✔✔Value for its
cultural, aesthetic, spiritual or philosophical (moral) value - e.g. ecotourism, sacred places, traditional
customs
Evaluate the implications of two contrasting EVSs in the context of given environmental issues. - correct
answer ✔✔Problem: hydro electrical power plant - building of a large dam across a river -> flooding
upstream, regulation of flow downstream. Reservoir provides water supply for locals.
Approach
Deep ecologist = destroys habitats, prevents flow of nutrients and migration routes, flooding forests
produces methane, disturbs food chains
Cornucopian = creates employment, green energy production that helps locals + provides them with
water, helps economy
Justify, using examples and evidence, how historical influences have shaped the development of the
modern environmental movement. - correct answer ✔✔Silent spring - Rachel Carson, 1962 (writes
about use of DDT in USA - groundbreaking people started to care about ecology)
,Paris Agreement 2015 (in effect 2016) - main aim to reduce global warming below 2 degrees Celsius -
first time when so many states agreed on taking action
MEDCs to help LEDCs
System approach - correct answer ✔✔a way of visualizing a complex set of interactions, storages and
flows (flows inputs and outputs of energy and matter, transfers and transformations - change in chemical
nature)
Open system - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges both energy and matter, e.g ecosystems
Closed system - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges only energy, only exists experimentally
Isolated systems - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges nothing but is only hypothetical
Model - correct answer ✔✔Simplified version of reality, can be used to understand how a system works
and how it will respond to change
Evaluate the use of models as a tool in a given situation, eg climate change predictions. - correct answer
✔✔Pros: easier to work with than complex reality, can be used to predict the effect of a change of input,
can be applied to similar situations, helps us see patterns, used to visualize really small/large things
Cons: Every model involves approximation and loss of accuracy. If assumptions are wrong, the model is
wrong and predictions can be inaccurate.
First law of thermodynamics - correct answer ✔✔Principle of conservation of energy - energy in an
isolated system can be transformed but cannot be created or destroyed
Second law of thermodynamics - correct answer ✔✔The entropy of a system increases over time (the
measure of disorder in a system) - entropy causes loss of energy in each transformation (along food
chain)
,Negative feedback - correct answer ✔✔Stabilizing - counteracts deviations (predator prey relationship)
Positive feedback - correct answer ✔✔Destabilizing - amplifies changes, drives the system toward a
tipping point where a new equilibrium is adopted
Resilience - correct answer ✔✔Tendency to maintain stability (diversity and size of storages within
systems contribute to their resilience)
Explain the implications of the laws of thermodynamics to ecological systems. - correct answer ✔✔1st
law = energy can be transferred but not created ->
2nd law = large proportion of the chemical energy (approx 90%) transferred between trophic levels is
converted to heat energy - inefficient transfer of organic matter
Discuss the resilience in a variety of systems - correct answer ✔✔
Evaluate the possible consequences of tipping points. - correct answer ✔✔New equilibrium created -
can disrupt diversity, environmental factors such as food chains
E.g. eutrophication, extinction of a keystone species, coral reef death (acidity)
Sustainability - correct answer ✔✔Use and management of resources - allows full natural replacement
of those resources and full recovery of the ecosystems affected by their extraction and use
Natural capital - correct answer ✔✔Natural resources - can produce a sustainable natural income of
goods or services
Services: water replenishment, flood and erosion protection
Goods: timber, fish, crops
Environmental indicators - correct answer ✔✔Biodiversity, pollution, population, climate
Natural income - correct answer ✔✔Yield obtained from natural resources
, Environmental impact assessment - correct answer ✔✔Baseline studies before a development project -
assess environmental, social and economic impacts of the project, predict and evaluate possible impacts
and suggest mitigation strategies
Ecological footprint - correct answer ✔✔Area of land and water required to sustainably provide all
resources at the rate at which they are being consumed by given population (unsustainability is when
ecological footprint is greater than area available to the population)
Explain the relationship between natural capital, natural income and sustainability. - correct answer
✔✔Natural income comes from natural capital available, the sustainability regarding the use of natural
capital determines the natural income. Additionally, natural capital provides services.
Discuss the value of ecosystem services to a society. - correct answer ✔✔Maintain life on earth.
Ecological/sociocultural/economic or intrinsic values.
Discuss how environmental indicators such as MA (millennium assessment) can be used to evaluate the
progress of a project to increase sustainability. - correct answer ✔✔The goals of the assessment add to
the measurability of the outcome.
Evaluate the use of EIAs. (Environmental Impact Assessments) - correct answer ✔✔Cons: include the
lack of a standard practice or training for practitioners, the lack of a clear definition of system
boundaries, the lack of inclusion of indirect impacts.
Pros: provide some analysis to change the development plans to reduce the impact, improve long-term
viability of many projects, offer alternative projects which may have more positive outcomes, provide an
opportunity to learn from experience of similar projects and avoid the (often high) costs of subsequently
mitigating unforeseen negative and damaging impacts
Explain the relationship between EFs and sustainability. (Ecological footprint) - correct answer ✔✔If EF is
greater than the area available to the population, it indicated unsustanability.
Pollution - correct answer ✔✔The addition of a substance or an agent to an environment through
human activity at a rate greater than it can be rendered harmless by the environment.
Ecocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Holistic ideal, ecology and nature central to humanity, less
materialistic approach, prioritizes biorights, encourages education and human self-restraint
Anthropocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Humans must sustainably manage the global system,
(taxes, regulation, legislation), pragmatic approach in solving environmental issues
Technocentric viewpoint - correct answer ✔✔Technological developments can provide solutions,
optimistic view for humans improving the world, scientific research encouraged to form policies
EVSs - correct answer ✔✔Vary depending on cultures, time periods, individual
Discuss the view that the environment can have its own intrinsic value. - correct answer ✔✔Value for its
cultural, aesthetic, spiritual or philosophical (moral) value - e.g. ecotourism, sacred places, traditional
customs
Evaluate the implications of two contrasting EVSs in the context of given environmental issues. - correct
answer ✔✔Problem: hydro electrical power plant - building of a large dam across a river -> flooding
upstream, regulation of flow downstream. Reservoir provides water supply for locals.
Approach
Deep ecologist = destroys habitats, prevents flow of nutrients and migration routes, flooding forests
produces methane, disturbs food chains
Cornucopian = creates employment, green energy production that helps locals + provides them with
water, helps economy
Justify, using examples and evidence, how historical influences have shaped the development of the
modern environmental movement. - correct answer ✔✔Silent spring - Rachel Carson, 1962 (writes
about use of DDT in USA - groundbreaking people started to care about ecology)
,Paris Agreement 2015 (in effect 2016) - main aim to reduce global warming below 2 degrees Celsius -
first time when so many states agreed on taking action
MEDCs to help LEDCs
System approach - correct answer ✔✔a way of visualizing a complex set of interactions, storages and
flows (flows inputs and outputs of energy and matter, transfers and transformations - change in chemical
nature)
Open system - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges both energy and matter, e.g ecosystems
Closed system - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges only energy, only exists experimentally
Isolated systems - correct answer ✔✔Exchanges nothing but is only hypothetical
Model - correct answer ✔✔Simplified version of reality, can be used to understand how a system works
and how it will respond to change
Evaluate the use of models as a tool in a given situation, eg climate change predictions. - correct answer
✔✔Pros: easier to work with than complex reality, can be used to predict the effect of a change of input,
can be applied to similar situations, helps us see patterns, used to visualize really small/large things
Cons: Every model involves approximation and loss of accuracy. If assumptions are wrong, the model is
wrong and predictions can be inaccurate.
First law of thermodynamics - correct answer ✔✔Principle of conservation of energy - energy in an
isolated system can be transformed but cannot be created or destroyed
Second law of thermodynamics - correct answer ✔✔The entropy of a system increases over time (the
measure of disorder in a system) - entropy causes loss of energy in each transformation (along food
chain)
,Negative feedback - correct answer ✔✔Stabilizing - counteracts deviations (predator prey relationship)
Positive feedback - correct answer ✔✔Destabilizing - amplifies changes, drives the system toward a
tipping point where a new equilibrium is adopted
Resilience - correct answer ✔✔Tendency to maintain stability (diversity and size of storages within
systems contribute to their resilience)
Explain the implications of the laws of thermodynamics to ecological systems. - correct answer ✔✔1st
law = energy can be transferred but not created ->
2nd law = large proportion of the chemical energy (approx 90%) transferred between trophic levels is
converted to heat energy - inefficient transfer of organic matter
Discuss the resilience in a variety of systems - correct answer ✔✔
Evaluate the possible consequences of tipping points. - correct answer ✔✔New equilibrium created -
can disrupt diversity, environmental factors such as food chains
E.g. eutrophication, extinction of a keystone species, coral reef death (acidity)
Sustainability - correct answer ✔✔Use and management of resources - allows full natural replacement
of those resources and full recovery of the ecosystems affected by their extraction and use
Natural capital - correct answer ✔✔Natural resources - can produce a sustainable natural income of
goods or services
Services: water replenishment, flood and erosion protection
Goods: timber, fish, crops
Environmental indicators - correct answer ✔✔Biodiversity, pollution, population, climate
Natural income - correct answer ✔✔Yield obtained from natural resources
, Environmental impact assessment - correct answer ✔✔Baseline studies before a development project -
assess environmental, social and economic impacts of the project, predict and evaluate possible impacts
and suggest mitigation strategies
Ecological footprint - correct answer ✔✔Area of land and water required to sustainably provide all
resources at the rate at which they are being consumed by given population (unsustainability is when
ecological footprint is greater than area available to the population)
Explain the relationship between natural capital, natural income and sustainability. - correct answer
✔✔Natural income comes from natural capital available, the sustainability regarding the use of natural
capital determines the natural income. Additionally, natural capital provides services.
Discuss the value of ecosystem services to a society. - correct answer ✔✔Maintain life on earth.
Ecological/sociocultural/economic or intrinsic values.
Discuss how environmental indicators such as MA (millennium assessment) can be used to evaluate the
progress of a project to increase sustainability. - correct answer ✔✔The goals of the assessment add to
the measurability of the outcome.
Evaluate the use of EIAs. (Environmental Impact Assessments) - correct answer ✔✔Cons: include the
lack of a standard practice or training for practitioners, the lack of a clear definition of system
boundaries, the lack of inclusion of indirect impacts.
Pros: provide some analysis to change the development plans to reduce the impact, improve long-term
viability of many projects, offer alternative projects which may have more positive outcomes, provide an
opportunity to learn from experience of similar projects and avoid the (often high) costs of subsequently
mitigating unforeseen negative and damaging impacts
Explain the relationship between EFs and sustainability. (Ecological footprint) - correct answer ✔✔If EF is
greater than the area available to the population, it indicated unsustanability.
Pollution - correct answer ✔✔The addition of a substance or an agent to an environment through
human activity at a rate greater than it can be rendered harmless by the environment.
