Resource Consumption - Concepts and Case Studies

Global and regional progress towards poverty reduction, including growth of the “new global middle class” and consumption (patterns, implications)

• Global Trends:

  • Development in Asia → especially China and India

  • Sub-Saharan Africa has increasing number of people in poverty, but also increasing number moving into the middle class

  • increased productivity of global trade leads to growth in emerging economies

    • Decrease in reliance on subsistence agriculture, rapid urbanisation, and modernisation

• Relationship between Rise in Global Middle Class and Increased Consumption

  • People are left with disposable income after essentials, and can buy their wants

  • Significant increase in the number of people worldwide who achieve a certain level of income, education and consumption capacity

  • Trends fuelled by economic development and globalisation, particularly in developing countries

  • Non-manual class - still have 33% of their income left over after essentials→ left with disposable income

  • Growing middle class drives economic development and social changes

    • Eg. the more educated citizens, the more people will participate in political processes

  • Middle-class consumers prioritise quality, convenience and lifestyle choices, willing to pay for products that offer better features, durability and status symbol

    • Growing interest in experiences like travel, dining out, cultural events

  • POSITIVE: economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction

  • NEGATIVE: increased consumption of goods and energy has put pressure on the environment and natural resources production and disposal of consumer goods contribute to waste generation and pollution

How ecological footprint is measured + definition

• A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires in order to produce all the resources it consumes, and absorb all the waste to generate

  • if consumption exceeds biocapacity, we will be in an ecological overshoot

• Biocapacity: earth’s ability to reproduce land and sea - forests, rivers etc…

• Current consumption habits→ takes 1.6 planets to meet demand we put on nature

  • Demand on nature is 60% more than what Earth can renew

• Biocapacity increased over last 50 years by 20%

• Demand: considers the amount of productive land we need to provide our resources and space for our infrastructure

Limitations of ecological footprint

• The reliability of data is hard to measure and obtain

• In calculating GHGs, only CO2 was included

• Consumption of freshwater is not included

• Impact of trade is diminished

• Impact of tourism is not included

• Only considers land and water areas that are usable by humans, all others, wetlands, deserts, etc not included

individual ecological footprint

• used to measure impact of one’s lifestyle on planet’s resources

• allows individuals to measure the scale of their impact

• an educational tool

local ecological footprint

• At the city and regional scale

• Helps governments track a city or region’s demand for natural capital, and compare this demand with the natural capital available.

• Informs a broad set of policies, ranging from transportation to building codes to residential development.

• Highlights the significance of long-term infrastructure decisions, amplifying future opportunities or risks.

• Adds value to existing data sets on production, trade and environmental performance by providing a comprehensive framework to interpret them

• Helps understand the link between local consumption and global environmental impact.

• Raises sustainability awareness and engagement among citizens.

factors that increase/decrease national ecological footprint

• Governments can benefit from the metric as it is an accurate measure of resource use and can guide their policies towards sustainable development

• factors increasing ecological footprint at national level include

  • relying heavily on fossil fuels

  • large per capita production of carbon waste

  • increasing use of technologies

  • large per capita consumption of food

  • high lvl of imported resource

  • meat rich diets

• ways to reduce ecological footprint

  • reduce amount of resources used

    • recycling and reuse

  • improve efficiency of resource use

  • transporting waste to other countries

  • reducing population to reduce resource use

Describe the availability of freshwater

• 2.5% of water is freshwater (made up of)- Permanent ice, Groundwater, Freshwater

• 70% of freshwater - Glaciers, Permafrost, Perennial snow

• 0.5% of freshwater subsurface water - 0.25% freshwater lakes, 0.04% atmosphere, 0.04% soil moisture, 0.05% swamps/marshes/wetlands, 0.006% rivers

• 30% of freshwater = ground water

• only 0.007% of water is safe for consumption

Types of water (green, grey, blue)

• grey water = waste water

• green water (60%) = precipitation absorbed into soil and plants

• blue water (40%) = water collected in lakes, rivers, wetlands, and groundwater

Explain virtual and embedded water

Embedded or virtual water is water embedded in a product; all products require water to create, and therefore is the water used to create the good consumed. (ex. 2,700 litres of virtual water is in a t-shirt)

Distinguish physical and economic water scarcity

Water scarcity occurs when the demand for water form all sectors is higher than the available resources

Physical Water Scarcity - when the demand for water is higher than the supply of water. Physical Water scarcity does not have to be in an arid environment, because there, the demand for water is normally low, so there wouldn’t be a shortage. Economic Water Scarcity - when there is water available but for some economic reason it is not possible to fully utilise the source of water. This might be because extraction or transportation costs are too high, or because water is polluted and is not possible to treat.

Explain causes of physical and economic water scarcity

• physical

  • arid environment

  • drought/climate change

  • overpopulation

• economic

  • water is polluted

  • lacking infrastructure to access water supplies (ex. pipes to extract ground water)

  • high water transport costs

Global patterns in water availability/scarcity

• Little to no water Scarcity

  • USA, Canada, Most of South America, Europe and West Russia, Japan, South Korea

• Physical water scarcity

  • North Africa + Middle East = Desert ⇒ physical water scarcity

  • Middle of China

  • South of India

  • central asia

• Economic Water Scarcity

  • North of India

  • Sub-Saharan Africa (availability ground water, but lacking infrastructure )

  • Peru

Identify reasons for Water Scarcity

• Population Growth

• Pollution

• Domestic Demand

• Agricultural Demand

• Industrial Demand

• Sewage

• Climate Change - water sources dried up

• Political - water sources are shared

• Mismanagement - not sustainably managed, causing shortages

• Ground water depletion

• Energy Production

Consequences of Water Scarcity

Water Shortages & pollution can lead to:

• crop failure

• drought

• livestock death

• famine

• refugees

• conflict

• Saltwater intrusion into ground water

• biodiversity lost

• eutrophication - excess growth of algae due to fertilisers going into water sources, this can cause water to not oxygenate properly, or let enough light in, leading to deaths of animals and plants underwater

Global patterns in consumption of water (Global, HIC, LIC)

• World

  • Global demand of water expected to increase by 70% by 2050

  • Domestic Use 8%

    • 8% of water is for domestic use ⇒ laundry, showers, toilets

    • Urban areas require water for drinking, sanitation and drainage

  • Industrial Use 22%

    • 22% of water consumption

  • Agricultural 70%

    • primary sector- extraction of natural resources (agriculture, mining)

• HIC

  • Domestic use 11% ⇒ slightly higher as they have reliable infrastructure to provide clean water.

  • Industrial use 59% ⇒ move to secondary industries and manufacturing (ex. Tech requires a lot of water), industrialisation

  • Agricultural use 30% ⇒ import food from MICs/LICs, move away from primary/agricultural as the main industry.

• LIC

  • Domestic uses 8% ⇒ have less reliable access to water systems causing domestic water use to be more limited

  • Industrial use 10% ⇒ less secondary industries

  • Agricultural use 82% ⇒ prevalence of subsistence farming and agriculture/primary sectors being the main source of income and industry in lower income countries

Global patterns in embedded water imports and exports (mostly Europe)

• More virtual water is being imported rather than it being exported

  • Strong import flows

  • From all around the world, most notably Brazil, the USA, Argentina, India, China, Russia, etc.

  • Virtual water imports are very high at net 100-305 Gm^3/year

  • High demand for water-intensive products

  • Reliance on virtual water imports → needs imports as not as water rich.

• Europe mainly exports virtual water to the USA ⇒ trade relations

  • Concentrated into one place for exports

  • Export of virtual water relatively low overall.

• this allows Europe to protect their domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products

The Nutrition Transition based on increased development

Causes of increasing and decreasing food production

Increase in Food Production

• Technological innovation

• Increase of demand

• Climate change

• Increased export demand

• Increased use of agrochemicals

• Agribusiness

• GMOs

Decrease in Food Production

• Arid Land

• Soil Erosion

• Decrease in Demand

Brazil food case study: Food production ⇒ Land used for agriculture

• Agricultural production mostly concentrated in southern half of Brazil, especially for crop growth

• For pastures, land used is more scattered, some in the south half, but some also near the northern coasts

• A large majority, around 50% of Brazil’s land is dedicated to agriculture

Brazil food case study: 4Ps ⇒ place, processes, possibilities, power

• power

  Proffiters in Power - Western big businesses such as Nestle, PepsiCo, General Mills

  • Expanding in developing countries as growth slows in wealthier countries

  • Rise in availability of of inexpensive processed food (sugary, high in calories + fat)

  • Transforming local agriculture

    • Favouring farmers growing commodities such as sugar cane, corn, soybeans…

    • Moving away from subsistence crops (variety, self sustain)

  • Abundance of marketing and perceived benefits leads to citizens believing that products from Nestle are “good” for you

  President - Michel Temer

  • Ties to large corporations and support for fast food businesses

    • Stop limiting their advertisements and less encouragement of health eating/propaganda

  • These food and beverage conglomerates have political power in these countries

    • Millions of dollars in donations to Brazil congressional candidates (leverage → change policies in favour of fast food conglomerates)

  • Government banning KFC and Pepsi from sponsoring sports and cultural events

• places

  • Brazil is a microcosm of how growing incomes and government policies have led to longer, better lives and largely eradicated hunger. But now the country faces a stark new nutrition challenge: over the last decade, the country’s obesity rate has nearly doubled to 20 percent, and the portion of people who are overweight has nearly tripled to 58 percent.

• processes ⇒ how are diets changing

  Rise of middle class/disposable incomes → Availability of affordable inexpensive processed food → people can afford to pay for food, but opt for cheaper/efficient options → becomes a staple in diet → rising rates of obesity

  Economic changes ⇒ increasing middle class in Brazil, epidemiological, and demographic changes.

  • Afford more food → overeating

  • Less time to cook → Fast food

  • Fast food/buying from western food businesses = status

  Nestle Door to Door programme

  • Serves 700,000 “low income consumers each month”

    • Serves those who don’t always have ready access to supermarkets Nestle products for main food source

    • Advertises only nutritional benefits while omitting potentially harmful or unhealthy aspects (omission bias)

    • Though nestle has reformulated many products (they are actually healthier), clients in this programme are more interested in the unhealthy ones like kitkat and pudding

  “‘On one hand, Nestlé is a global leader in water and infant formula and a lot of dairy products,’ said Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina. ‘On the other hand, they are going into the backwoods of Brazil and selling their candy.’”

  • This is part of a greater effort to integrate their company into the lives of those living in Brazil → growth and makes money for company

• possibilities ⇒ consequences

  • malnutrition due to not lack of food, but lack of food with proper nutrients

  • Increase in diabetes, chronic illness, heart disease

    • 300,000 diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every year

  • Rise in obesity → more people are obese than underweight.

    • 1 in 7 obese individuals are children

    • Stunted growth in children due to high salt, sugar and fats diets

  • Prevalence of obesity has doubled in 73 countries since 1980

  • 4 million Premature obesity related deaths since 1980

  • In brazil obesity has increased by 2.5 times, percentage of 7% to 18% since 1980 to 2015

    • 9% children obese

  • Children with impaired cognitive abilities, physical abilities due to their diets or parents during pregnancy

Patterns in crude petroleum imports and exports

Exports

• The Middle East is one of the Largest Exporters of Crude Oil in the world.

• E.g amount of crude oil in barrels: Saudi Arabia (212 billion), Iran (143 billion), Oman (5.2 billion), UAE (107 billion), Qatar (25.2 billion), Iraq (145 billion)

• All of these countries' primary sources of income is their oil.

Imports

• USA, Japan, South Korea, India, Europe ⇒ most imports

  • mostly HIC countries except India

  • Over 80% of India's crude oil demand is met through imports (large population and not enough oil reserves)

• Lower imports ⇒ South America, Africa

  • demand is lower, and less developed communities have less access to electricity and efficient transportation

• Lower imports ⇒ Canada, China, Russia

  • These are countries that are oil producers and have enough reserves and produce enough to sustain themselves without requiring exports

Geopolitical influence from + importance of having energy security

• energy ⇒ vital component of a developed and industrialised economy and therefore it is of huge geopolitical importance.

• source regions of energy (ex. Middle East) are of huge geo-strategic importance to powerful countries (ex. USA, Russia)

  • priority to secure safe production and supply routes

• how countries prioritise energy:

  • USA has huge capital investments into shale gas fracking, which now accounts for about 30% of its energy mix and 94% of it natural gas use, providing it with energy independence.

  • Oil and gas exports for Russia represented 68% of its export revenues in 2013.

    • This economic dependence has led to Russia's militarisation of the Arctic beyond that of all other Arctic nations combined.

    • Its influence over energy supplies to Europe is also a geopolitical tool over the region, which provides it with leverage over European policy. Therefore energy security can be seen as a critical factor in many countries' foreign policies

global trends in consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy

Energy Consumption Trends

• Economies of HICs are based on high-energy generation primarily from fossil fuels.

• LICs have traditionally lower energy demands due to less technology and reliance on natural resources (e.g., wood burning, biomass)

• Future fossil fuel consumption in LICs is expected to increase due to rising populations, incomes, and technological development.

Renewable Energy Growth

• over 20% of global energy production = renewable

  • 5% solar energy

  • 6% wind energy

  • 16% hydropower

• Global adoption of renewable sources has been sluggish for several reasons:

  • Non-renewable energy is generally cheaper than renewables; gas is abundant and can be burned directly without refining.

  • Existing infrastructure allows for gas extraction and use in gas-fired power stations.

• Wind power and other renewables often require significant investment for new infrastructure (e.g., wind turbines).

• Some renewable sources may still be unreliable compared to established fossil fuel technologies.

future trends in consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy

• Future non-renewable energy costs are expected to rise as stocks deplete and easier-to-access resources are exhausted.

• Increasing scarcity of resources means remaining non-renewable resources will be harder to access, leading to higher costs.

• Implementation of environmental taxes to address global warming will further increase fossil fuel prices.

• As non-renewable energy becomes more expensive, renewable sources will become more appealing.

• Increased use of renewables is likely to have significant positive effects on the planet.

trends in consumption of nuclear power

Nuclear Power Consumption Trends

• Global Nuclear Power Consumption: Approximately 10% of global electricity comes from nuclear power as of 2023.

• United States: Largest producer of nuclear energy, contributing about 19% of total electricity generation.

• China: Rapidly expanding nuclear capacity, aiming for 70 gigawatts by 2025, up from 56 GW in 2023.

• France: Relies heavily on nuclear energy, with around 70% of its electricity generated from nuclear power.

• Japan: post-2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident, Japan suspended operations at 48 nuclear power stations between 2011-13

  • global impact: after the accident, many countries began to reduce their nuclear power usage

  • germany: permanently shut down eight of its nuclear reactors

  • switzerland and spain: banned the construction of new nuclear reactors.

advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power

Nuclear power generation has the following advantages:

• no GHG emissions

• The technology is readily available.

• efficient: 1 kg of uranium contains 20,000 times more energy than 1 kg of coal.

Nuclear power generation has the following disadvantages:

• The radioactive waste from nuclear power stations is highly radioactive, stays like that for 1000s of years ⇒ cannot dispose

• potential for nuclear accidents are disastrous ⇒ possible if reactor is destroyed, or failure in technological components occurs

• The energy source for nuclear energy is uranium, which is a scarce and non-renewable resource.

• The time frame needed to plan and build a new nuclear power plant is 6-8 years

The water–food–energy “nexus” and impacts on water security

• better management of water supplies → solve issues in the world

  • food security, better health, liveable cities, climate change

• strain on water supply → population growth, unsustainable econ growth, pollution, mismanagement

• Water crisis is result of bad water governance

  • Water is a shared resource

  • Countries need to agree on how to manage water supply to share costs + benefits

• Shared water resources can cause tension + conflicts

• Water diplomacy ⇒ solutions to address needs of countries

• Joint water management ⇒ improve relations between countries, enhance security/stability, and protect environment

impacts:

• threats to water availability:

  • water used for the intensive agricultural processes of food

  • safe drinking water

  • water used in intensive energy production process

• Agriculture accounts for 70% of total global freshwater withdrawal.

• 35% of water is in industrial sectors, including mining, transport, processing or energy

• High exploitation of domestic shale gas is seen as a way to reduce energy security concerns by dependency on energy imports

  • Uses a lot of water

• Water can get contaminated → eg Pollution from cattle threatens water safety

• Large-scale water, and hydropower infrastructure projects can have positive Nexus impact by providing water storage for irrigation in urban uses

The water–food–energy “nexus” and impacts on food security

• Nearly one billion people go to bed hungry every day

• Millions of farmers (mostly women)

  • Struggle to feed family

  • Lack of access to quality seeds, markets, innovations, water

• Solutions:

  • Irrigation systems, Improved fertiliser

  • Alliance between farmers → marketplace, sell products

  • Education programmes on vitamins → more nutritious foods for their family

impacts:

• threats to food security:

  • resource consumption of food can lead to conflicts with agricultural needs

  • large volume of water to produce food

  • water for energy production in extraction of food and agriculture

• Many agricultural centres are threatened by water scarcity

• Most Megacities suffer from water stress

• High land use for biofuels takes up land that can be used for agriculture

• Marine pollution from oil spills can harm fish stocks

• Fossil fuel extraction impacts food prices in supply

The water–food–energy “nexus” and impacts on energy security

• Energy security of specific systems: electricity, energy, oil used in transport

• Vulnerability:

  • Sovereignty: who controls energy (oil all imported or produced domestically)

  • Robustness: how long will it last, will we run out, will the infrastructure hold up

  • Resilience: how fast can the system respond and recover from disruptions

impacts:

• Food, production and supply chain currently consume, about 30% of total energy consumed globally

• Energy is required to produce transport and distribute food as well as to extract, pump, lift, collect, transport and treat water

• Surface mining of coal leads to the position of large amounts of rock and soil waste running into productive land, or impacting water quality from run-off

• Run-off of acid mine drainage

• Clean water supply requires energy

• Food-processing requires energy

Summarise the water-food-energy nexus approach (energy+food, food+water, water+energy)

• the complex interrelationships that exist between energy, food and water

  • important for understanding how to develop sustainably + reasons to implement renewables/stop using fossil fuels

• Nexus has emerged as a policy concept as a response to global crises concerning energy, water, & food demand

• Nexus of food, water, and energy is all interlinked

Energy + Food

• food production is energy intensive

• irrigation, harvesting, processing, transporting

• resource intensive foods such as meat, dairy

  • requires more energy

• some food crops may be turned to fuel for vehicles

Food + Water

• production of food is water intensive

  • water is used in irrigation, livestock, crop growth

• agriculture is responsible for 70% of freshwater consumption

Water + Energy

• water is required for energy production → eg in thermal power plants for cooling, fracking shale gas

• hydropower also requires water to produce energy

• energy is also required for water management

  • eg pumping, water treatment

• creates dependency on these two factors

impact of climate change on food/water/energy security

impact on food and water

• Climate change can lead to adverse and extreme weather, making agricultural land more prone to drought, floods, wildfires, natural disasters etc. ⇒ impact/destruction of crops, contaminate water/no more water

• glaciers melting ⇒ less available freshwater

• inconsistent weather ⇒ lowered quality of produce

UAE Nexus Case Study

• Context

  • one of the richest countries in the world

  • population: 9.441 million

  • GDP PPP per capita 75,600 USD

  • rich in oil ⇒ economy based on oil, has 107 billion barrels of oil

• water security

  • annual precipitation: 140 – 200 mm

  • High usage of water and using tech to maximise amount of drinking water

  • Releasing small amounts of potassium, chloride and sodium chloride from planes to stimulate rainfall

  • water insecure, desert country

  • Little water but one of the world’s biggest consumers

  • Desalination plants: powered by fossil fuels

    • Suck up a huge supply of seawater and energy

• Food security

  • 23/113 countries in the global food security index

  • Food consumption growing due to pop growth and an increase in tourists

  • Not self-sufficient

  • 80% of the UAE's agricultural products are imported

  • Lack of natural resources

• Energy security

  • Largest oil producers (member of OPEC) — has 107 billion barrels of oil in reserves

  • Prosperity lies heavily in the oil sector

  • Strait of Hormuz:

    • world’s most important oil chokepoint

    • 17 million barrels of oil per day (2011)

  • almost 100% of energy from gas power plants

  • Highly energy, secure

  • Trying to move towards renewable energy

    • has capacity to move towards solar power (hot environment)

    • 4.5% of energy currently from solar power

Switzerland Nexus Case Study

• Context

  • alpine state

  • population of 8.341 million

  • direct democracy

  • HDI 0.962 (rank 1)

  • highest nominal wealth per adult, and highest per capita gdp

    • $88,000 (PPP, 2023)

• Water security

  • High usage of water

  • Use tech to maximise amount of safe drinking water

  • Waste treatment plants

  • NoMix toilets, that separate urine, and faecal matter from water

    • purifies water and is used for crops

  • Highly water secure as there is a lot of rain in large water reserves

  • Has 340 km^3 reserves of water (lakes, glaciers, natural groundwater)

  • 80% of drinking water is from natural springs, groundwater and lakes

• Food security

  • Not self-sufficient

  • Lacks natural resources + land area

    • Only small area for cultivation

    • Trying to promote and prioritise locally grown food

  • Produces only 50% off all food ⇒ a lot of imports

  • High resilience in food security

    • Ranked 11/113 in the global food security index

• Energy security

  • Consumes, large amounts of energy

  • domestic energy prduction

    • Hydroelectricity power (62%)

    • Nuclear power (29%) in electricity production

  • imports hydrocarbons, mainly oil and natural gas

  • Wants to move towards renewable energy by 2050

  • energy consumption

    • 36% of energy from oil, 13% of energy from natural gas

    • around 30% of energy produced domestically

    • around 70% of energy sources imported

Incineration — disposal method

• converts waste into ash and gas particulate

• The heat, in turn, can be used to generate electricity

• Can reduce the volume of the original waste by as much as 80-90%

• significantly reduce the volume of waste for which landfill disposal is necessary.

• Incineration has particularly strong benefits for the treatment of certain types of waste

  • notable clinical and hazardous waste → safe disposal of these products

E-waste — disposal method

• Contains toxins and released when burned or taken apart has negative impacts on health and environment

• Destinations of e-waste

  • Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Philipines

• Illegal flows

  • Developing nations are primary receivers of exported e-waste

• Basel convention

  • Initial goal to develop framework to control, cross border movement of hazardous waste and to identify and define an environmentally sound management system for hazardous waste

• Threats of e-waste

  • Over 18 million children and teens involved in informal industrial structures

  • High lead in Mercury levels impacts mental intelligence

  • Bad for health

Agbogbloshie, Ghana

• Ewaste sent to Agbogloshie, Ghana

  • E-waste imported as secondhand E products

  • Purchase by e-waste plants

  • Workers, burn the waste to extract gold and other valuable metals to sell

  • All handpick with no safety

  • Many people from northern Africa come here for better opportunities for their families

• LIC’s import waste because they receive money for it

  • valuable metals

• Some countries with strict environmental laws export waste because they cannot dispose of it domestically

  • Eg: EU exports waste to countries with less stringent environmental policies, where disposal costs are lower

• recycling is cheaper in these locations

Recycling — disposal method

• Case study: China

• Waste is sent to China

  • Eg: UK sends 66% of its waste to China

  • countries have insufficient recycling facilities

• mostly plastic waste. there are 24 types of solid waste

• China introduced a ban on solid waste from foreign countries

  • established in 2018

  • reasons for introducing a ban: environmental concerns, plastics contain non-recyclable components, enforce stricter import standards on low quality recyclables

• this has impacted international flows of waste by:

  • forced other countries to adapt their recycling systems, instead of relying on China

Denmark - SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy (7.1 + 7.2)

• 7.1: universal access to modern energy

  • 100% access to energy in Denmark

  • 66% of Danish homes have access to district heating systems (uses biomass/municipal waste)

  • subsidies on electricity for low income homes

• 7.2: increase global percentage of renewable energy

  • over 83% of Denmark's electricity comes from low-carbon/renewable sources:

  • with 60% generated from wind energy, nearly 13% from biofuels, and just over 10% from solar power

  • accountability: set legally binding targets to reduce GHG emissions by 70% by 2030

  • high taxation on use of fossil fuels (reduces incentive) — has the most expensive petrol prices in Europe

Limited Progress in Saudi Arabia + South Sudan - SDG 7 (7.1 + 7.2)

• South Sudan - 7.1: universal access to modern energy

  • 8% access to modern electricity

  • no operational oil refineries and it depends on imported diesel for electricity generation

  • LIC = limited capability to import energy sources for population

• Saudi Arabia - 7.2: increase global percentage of renewable energy

  • exported USD 236 billion in crude petroleum in 2022

  • 2nd largest exporter of oil in the world

  • extracts 13.39 million barrels per day

South Korea - SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production (12.3 + 12.4)

• 12.3: halve per capita food waste

  • mandatory food waste recycling

  • reduced food waste by 10% between 2013-9

  • avg. food waste per capita per year: 33kg (versus 79kg global avg.)

  • food waste recycling rate grew to 95%

• 12.4: responsible management of chemicals and waste

  • recycles 86% of all municipal waste

  • volume-based waste fee: taxes households based on volume of waste produced; ₩16.5 per litre of waste.

  • 1994-2013: buried waste rate fell from 81.2% to 9.6%

  • gov provides phone apps that educates public on waste separation practises

Limited Progress in India + USA - SDG 12 (12.3 + 12.4)

• USA - 12.3: halve per capita food waste

  • U.S. generates approximately 60 million tonnes of food waste per year

  • 22% of all municipal solid waste in landfill is food waste

  • on average 100-150 kg of food waste per capita per year

  • Limited food recycling platforms

• India - 12.4: responsible management of chemicals and waste

  • insufficient public bins and open top rubbish trucks + lacking awareness of issue

  • 31 of 43 million tonnes of waste collected untreated of toxic chemicals

  • chemicals from industrial discharge: 38.3 billion liters of wastewater produced daily, 60% untreated

Neo-Malthus — criticisms, characteristics, Paul Ehrlich’s theory

• expands on malthusian ideas

• emphasises population control programs → ensuring sustainability for present + future

• proactive and resolved measures: supports contraception use, concerned with widespread famine + env degradation

Limits to growth model

• Five basic factors

  • Population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production, and pollution

• Created by the Club of Rome: nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues

• Growth till the limit is reached the limit and results in a decline

• Need for preventative checks

• One child policy in china

• predicted that limits to growth will be reached in 2070

  • ability of resources, food, env, etc to meet human needs will be reached

• beyond this if population not controlled naturally, it will decline due to increased deaths

Paul Ehrlich’s theory

• overpopulation — a disaster for humanity

• 1970’s would see 10 million deaths/year due to starvation

• US can only support 150 million ppl

• nothing can be done to stop in 1960’s

• suggested that

  • luxury tax be placed on children’s items

  • prizes for men w/ vasectomies & ppl w/ no kids

Criticisms:

• inaccuracies

  • eg US currently has 334.9mil ppl

• overly alarming

  • incite too much fear

Malthusian — checks, criticisms, characteristics, evidence of theory

Created by Reverend Thomas Malthus (1766 - 1834) in ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ (1798)

“The available farmland was insufficient to feed the increasing population”

• Human Population grows geometrically/exponentially

  • hypothesised to double every 25 years by Malthus

• Food production grows arithmetically/linearly

• population crash as numbers exceed the ability of the environment to provide.

2 types of checks

• preventative or negative checks : within people’s control

  • delayed marriage, sexual abstinence, reduced marriage

• positive checks: outside of people’s control

  • disease, death, starvation, war, famine

• These checks occur when human population exceeds food supply.

• They would return the population to a lower, more sustainable level —argued to be evident in LICs, but not HICs

Criticisms

1. Underestimates the role of technology and innovation and Growth rates are not as rapid ⇒ likely the reason why pessimistic predictions do not usually occur in HICs

2. Limited to food as the only resource, countries with wealth are not limited to the resources produced (carrying capacity) of their own land/ immediate surroundings

3. Living standards are set by subsistence farming which is outdated and no longer as prevalent, especially in HICs

4. Assumes that increased living standard is correlated with increased birth rates, which is obviously not true

EVIDENCE: Irish Potato Famine

• A blight in potato crops caused widespread famine in Ireland.

• Great Britain did not come to Ireland’s aid during this famine, because:

  • they believed it was caused by the rapid population growth, not a potato crop disease

  • Thought the Great Famine that Malthus had theorised was occurring

  • Thought that they should allow the famine to reduce the Irish population, as it was necessary to restore the balance or population to a sustainable level

Boserup — criticisms, characteristics, evidence of the theory

Ester Boserup was a economist who focused on agricultural development in low and middle income countries

• Believe that people have the resources of knowledge and technology to increase food supply

• Population growth will stimulate developments in technology to increase food production

• Theory assumes we knew of techniques required by more intensive systems and use them when population grew

• Demographic pressure promote innovation in higher productivity in the use of land and labour

• More efficient resources will be discovered/used

• Renewable resources will replace non-renewable

• EVIDENCE

  • Green Revolution

    • between 1950-1984 grain production increased by 250% → in pace with population growth

  • famine is due to poor distribution of food, NOT inadequate production

    • the world has enough food to feed the global population

    • The world produces 150% more food on only 13% more land compared with 1960 → enough food to feed 10 billion ppl

• Criticisms

  • Highly simplified and generalised

  • Based on a closed society, with no migration

  • This pattern is not sustainable

  • not applicable to those economies where the urban industrial sector is less developed, The U.S. A. or Canadian economies even, if it is sparsely populated as compared to many other economies is, thus, no longer a test case for this theory.

characterstics resource stewardship and sustainable development

• Resource Stewardship

  • Encourages a sustainable and responsible approach to managing resources that look towards the needs of future generations, rather than seeking short-term outcomes

  • Stewardship is an ethical stance that promotes responsible, planning and management of resources ⇒ the appropriate allocation of resources.

  • Can be applied to natural resources, human resources, money and information

  • The idea is that these resources will be available for subsequent generations. Sustainability is similar to its ability to continue a particular behaviour indefinitely

• Pillar of Sustainable Development

  • Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:

    • the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given

    • the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisations, on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

  • society: this will benefit the community in some way, by forming a safe social system that ensures that everyone has equal opportunities

    • safety

    • health

    • community + equal rights

    • education

  • environment: this will not have a negative impact on the environment and rather benefit it by bringing in biodiversity.

    • clean air and water

    • climate protection

    • healthy soil ⇒ use less inorganic chemicals

    • nutritious food

  • economy: this will benefit the economy in some way or be economically realistic to run

    • good jobs

    • fair wages

    • fair prices

    • opportunity

Case Study: Issues with Conservation - Turkey ⇒ SUCCESS

• Too many fishers and NOT ENOUGH suppy ⇒ fishing practises were unsustainable and unfair

• Fishermen created a system, where limited areas where people could fish in order to allow for fish migration

• created a list of licensed fishers, allowed to only fish in certain areas ⇒ don’t disrupt fish migration.

• fishers rotated fishing spots east each day

• had a rotation system to ensure that this rotations and boats were monitored every day

• organised ⇒ the system was simple, ex. each boat had its spot, if someone is in you spot, its obvious

• monitoring was easy due to rotation system and organised guidelines

  • fishermans carried out punishments themselves to ensure fair fishing practises, ex. cutting nets, or removing fisherman license

  • system was beneficial, as everyone got to fish in all spots due to rotation, and ensured fair fishing practises to avoid exhausting the fish supply

Case Study: Issues with Conservation - Nepal ⇒ FAILURE

• overall: conservation failed

• population rise = forest degradation

  • attempt to alleviate the issue ⇒ government took control forest land in 1957

  • aimed to count trees, decide on carrying capacity, give ppl permit to take from forest based on this

• Did not communicate well with people ⇒ locals considered the forest as personal property ⇒ used to conserve on their own private land or with the village

• Everything taken requires a license ⇒ increases competition, ppl don’t work together

  • When the resources are public to people out act of their own interest

  • This resulted in the tragedy of commons as getting a permit was inefficient, most took illegally

  • monitoring the resources was impossible ⇒ covers too much area

• government had right to take land if it was not used for longer than 2 years

  • often land was left to regenerate to avoid degradation

  • but ppl don’t want land taken away ⇒ degrade land to preserve ownership

circular economy: goal is to minimise output (waste)

• make, use, recycle

• biological materials - items we consume/eat

• when the items we use is made/designed

• waste can go back to the user

  • maintenance

  • reuse/re-distrubuted

  • refurbish/remanufacture

  • recycle

• waste can cascade back to the consumer, or it can:

  • composting/anearobic digestion (create feed for animals)

  • back to the biosphere (replenish soil)

  • biogas (burn food for energy)

  • farming/collectiontechnical materials - items we use

• key principles

  • there is no such thing as waste

  • biological cycle components are composted/go back into the biosphere, while technical cycle components are durable

  • energy to drive circular economies should be infinitely renewable

• the idea behind the circular economy is to mimic the natural ecosystem cycle. Nature’s ecosystem is the community of flora and fauna interacting together in the environment. It is the only system that doesn’t create waste that isn’t used as a resource elsewhere.

A circular economy can be seen as an economic ecosystem with the interaction of the biological and technical cycles. It is human’s way of copying nature’s system.

• energy that drives the circular economy should be renewable to increase resilience of the systems and reduces the dependance on finite resources. circular economy:

  • make → use → recycle → make → use → recycle

  • products and system is designed to be upgrade, maintain, refurbish, redistrubute… all the items we consume, to reduce output/output becomes input

  • change of ownership from user to service provider ⇒ leasing resources, rather than owning a resource, so that the resource can go back to the service provider to be reused or refurbished instead of the resource becoming waste.

Apeel Case study of circular economy 

Reusing food waste, the company Apeel has created a layer of edible, plant-based coating applied to fresh products that mimics and enhances the natural defences of fruit and vegetables (biomimicry).

It acts an extra layer of coating on the food, slows down the two main things that cause spoilage – water loss and oxidation. Apeel Sciences uses the building blocks that exist in the peels, seeds, and pulp of all fruits and vegetables – lipids and glycerolipids.

These natural substances retain moisture in the food and keep oxygen out, preventing spoilage. Maintaining moisture and reducing oxidation slows the rate that fruits and vegetables spoil, and supports the plant’s natural abilities to protect itself. 

Apeel is biodegradable and can be thus disposed of in the biosphere, acting as natural plant nutrients.