Natural Resource Management questions with
verified answers
Progressive Era (early 20th century) Ans✔✔-Debate over conservation vs.
preservation. Gifford Pinchot wanted Roosevelt to see natural resources as part of
the public. People did not realise/believe extinction was a threat
Preservation Ans✔✔-A 'no use' or limited development view of natural resources
governed by the protection of wilderness. John Muir (founder of Sierra Club)
wanted Roosevelt to value & preserve resources.
Conservation Ans✔✔-The "wide use" of natural resources governed by an
extended utilitarianism of achieving greatest good, to the greatest number, for
the longest time. Early notion of sustainability. Pinchot succeeded and became
the head of the National Conservation Commission including water,
energy,agriculture, forests etc.
Case Study: TVA Ans✔✔-Conservation's prime example, created in 1933 was
designed to create jobs under the New Deal, control floods and modernise the US
South. The New Deal focused on comprehensive planning, wide use of resources
for everyone created this new entity. Part of American South had been
devastated by flooding so coordinated & comprehensive management was
important...
Case Study: TVA (2) Ans✔✔-Buildings of dams in region which in turn helped
generate electricity and there was the aim of electrifying the country. Aims
worked for some people however, conservation has never been seen about
equality and many were excluded from plans.
, High Modernism Ans✔✔-Theorising the regulation of Abundance. Conversion of
unruly 'nature' into manageable natural resources. Uses numerous geographical
techniques to install a vision of rationality on the environment. Uses a suite of
statistical measures and planning a vision of social order.
James C. Scott Argument Ans✔✔-Once nature and society are divided, state led
management combined both in social and natural engineering.
Command and Control Ans✔✔-- TVA was unique but its comprehensive approach
and its key features have now been replicated.
(1) Centralised, Bureaucratic decision making
(2) Focus on regulation, followed by enforced compliance e.g. on pollution
(3) However, this requires simplifying both social and natural systems in ways that
allow for social order to mirror natural order & vice-versa
Odum (1953) Ans✔✔-Wrote about characterising ecosystems as cooperative and
stable and pictures ecosystems as trending towards equilibrium.
Employing Ecoystem Approach Ans✔✔-Experimenting with entire ecosystems
begins (purposefully) in the 1950s & 1960s at two key sites: (1) Hubbard Brooks
Forest- looking at acid rain (2) Experimental Lakes- in Canada adding chemicals
looking at algae growth and eutrophication which helped make laundry
detergents phosphate free.
Maximum Sustainable Yield Ans✔✔-Goal is to harvest nature's "excess"
productive capacity. However, the reality is ecosystems are not linear or
intrinsically stable, so managing for optimal resource harvest has unintended
consequences.
verified answers
Progressive Era (early 20th century) Ans✔✔-Debate over conservation vs.
preservation. Gifford Pinchot wanted Roosevelt to see natural resources as part of
the public. People did not realise/believe extinction was a threat
Preservation Ans✔✔-A 'no use' or limited development view of natural resources
governed by the protection of wilderness. John Muir (founder of Sierra Club)
wanted Roosevelt to value & preserve resources.
Conservation Ans✔✔-The "wide use" of natural resources governed by an
extended utilitarianism of achieving greatest good, to the greatest number, for
the longest time. Early notion of sustainability. Pinchot succeeded and became
the head of the National Conservation Commission including water,
energy,agriculture, forests etc.
Case Study: TVA Ans✔✔-Conservation's prime example, created in 1933 was
designed to create jobs under the New Deal, control floods and modernise the US
South. The New Deal focused on comprehensive planning, wide use of resources
for everyone created this new entity. Part of American South had been
devastated by flooding so coordinated & comprehensive management was
important...
Case Study: TVA (2) Ans✔✔-Buildings of dams in region which in turn helped
generate electricity and there was the aim of electrifying the country. Aims
worked for some people however, conservation has never been seen about
equality and many were excluded from plans.
, High Modernism Ans✔✔-Theorising the regulation of Abundance. Conversion of
unruly 'nature' into manageable natural resources. Uses numerous geographical
techniques to install a vision of rationality on the environment. Uses a suite of
statistical measures and planning a vision of social order.
James C. Scott Argument Ans✔✔-Once nature and society are divided, state led
management combined both in social and natural engineering.
Command and Control Ans✔✔-- TVA was unique but its comprehensive approach
and its key features have now been replicated.
(1) Centralised, Bureaucratic decision making
(2) Focus on regulation, followed by enforced compliance e.g. on pollution
(3) However, this requires simplifying both social and natural systems in ways that
allow for social order to mirror natural order & vice-versa
Odum (1953) Ans✔✔-Wrote about characterising ecosystems as cooperative and
stable and pictures ecosystems as trending towards equilibrium.
Employing Ecoystem Approach Ans✔✔-Experimenting with entire ecosystems
begins (purposefully) in the 1950s & 1960s at two key sites: (1) Hubbard Brooks
Forest- looking at acid rain (2) Experimental Lakes- in Canada adding chemicals
looking at algae growth and eutrophication which helped make laundry
detergents phosphate free.
Maximum Sustainable Yield Ans✔✔-Goal is to harvest nature's "excess"
productive capacity. However, the reality is ecosystems are not linear or
intrinsically stable, so managing for optimal resource harvest has unintended
consequences.
