Growth and Sustainability Lecture Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes regarding the historical development of the economy, the impacts of industrialization on ecosystems, economic indicators like GDP, and the various frameworks and models for sustainability.

Green Revolution

A period in the 1970s involving the engineering of new crop varieties, large scale irrigation projects, and the massive application of petroleum-based fertilizers to avert hunger due to stagnant yields.

Anthropocene

A proposed name for the present era where human activities dominate the Earth’s metabolic processes.

Rule of 70

A rule of thumb for estimating the doubling time of exponential growth, where the time to double is approximated by the formula $t \approx 70/r$.

Strong Sustainability

A perspective where trade-offs among natural, human, and social capital are not allowed or are very restricted, requiring the value of each specific form of capital to be maintained.

Weak Sustainability

A perspective where trade-offs are unrestricted, allowing the substitution of natural capital with human-made capital as long as the aggregate value of all capitals is maintained.

Maximum Sustainable Yield

The highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used without reducing its stock over time, occurring when the rate of use equals the rate of regeneration (renewability ratio $=$ $1$).

GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

A measure of the added-value of overall market production during a given period, which can be calculated via production, income, or expenditure approaches.

Nominal GDP

The sum of the quantities of final goods produced multiplied by their current prices.

Real GDP

The sum of quantities of final goods multiplied by constant prices from a specific base year to exclude the effect of inflation.

Easterlin Paradox

The observation that once basic needs are satisfied, higher income per capita does not increase happiness, as relative income matters more than absolute level.

Brundtland Report

A report by the WCED that defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Anthropogenic Mass

The mass of all human-made material accumulation (such as concrete, bricks, and plastic), which in 2020 was estimated to represent more than the mass of all living beings.

Renewability Ratio

A sustainability indicator that compares the rate at which a resource is renewed (inflow) to the rate at which it is used (outflow).

Linear Growth

A type of growth where a quantity increases by a constant amount in a constant time period.

Exponential Growth

A type of growth where a quantity increases by a constant percentage of the whole in a constant time period, often driven by positive feedback loops.

Positive Feedback Loop

A chain of cause-and-effect relationships where increasing one element in the loop triggers a sequence that further increases the original element.

Production Approach

A GDP calculation method that sums the value-added at each stage by subtracting the value of inputs from total sales.

Perpetual Resources

Resources such as solar energy that are continuously replenished at rates far exceeding human use, ensuring their future availability.

Club of Rome

An organization of experts who investigated global trends in industrialization and population, producing the influential book "The Limits to Growth."

Domestication of Solar Energy

The process achieved through agriculture and animal domestication where humans settle in fertile areas to produce and store grain energy.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

A global framework containing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty and inequality while protecting the environment.

Overshoot and Collapse Model

An ecological model where a population grows beyond its habitat capacity, leading to a long-term decline in carrying capacity due to resource exhaustion or toxic pollution.

Percentage Growth Rate ($\rho_t$)

The rate of change between two consecutive periods, expressed as $\rho_t = 100 \times (N_t - N_{t-1}) / N_{t-1}$ or $\rho_t = 100 \times (N_t/N_{t-1} - 1)$.

Biotic Resources

Renewable resources such as forests that depend on healthy ecosystems and can regenerate, but are susceptible to destruction by human activities.

Value-Added

The difference between total sales and the value of inputs into the production process, used to avoid double counting in GDP measures.