Sociology 360 - UTK Prof Jones

What percentage of the world's wealth do developed nations control?

75%

What percentage of available resources do developed nations use?

70%

What percentage of pollution and waste do developed nations generate?

70%

How many people live in developed nations?

1.6 billion

How many people live in developing nations?

6.7 billion

What percentage of global CO2 does the US produce despite being only 5% of world population?

24%

How many countries worth of CO2 emissions does the US produce?

146 countries or three quarters of the world's population

What is the IPAT model?

Impacts equal Population times Affluence times Technology

What percentage of Indians live on less than $2.50 per day?

76%

What fraction of humans live on less than $3 per day?

One half

How many people die each year from malnutrition?

1 million

How many children under age 5 suffer from malnutrition?

One third

How many children die from diarrhea due to inadequate sanitation each year?

5 million

What is the estimated cost to provide basic services globally according to the UN Development Program?

$120 billion

How much does the US spend on pet food annually?

$52 billion

What percentage of the world lacks adequate sanitation facilities?

38%

What percentage of the world lacks electricity?

29%

What percentage of the world lacks clean drinking water?

16%

Who is the founder of the environmental justice movement?

Robert Bullard

What book did Robert Bullard write in 1990?

Dumping in Dixie

What did Bullard's research find about toxic waste facilities?

They were more likely to be located in poor or minority neighborhoods

What is environmental justice?

A commitment to equal protection for all people from environmental degradation through regulations and policies

Who introduced the term ecofeminism?

French writer Francoise d'Eaubonne

What two pivotal works are associated with ecofeminism?

Susan Griffin's Women and Nature and Carolyn Merchant's Death of Nature

What movement did ecofeminism emerge from?

The women's movement

What event is Lois Gibbs associated with?

Love Canal

Who first recognized the greenhouse effect in the 1890s?

Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius

What did Arrhenius predict in 1896?

That burning fossil fuels would raise Earth's temperature by 5 to 6 degrees

When was the IPCC founded?

1988

What organization founded the IPCC?

The World Meteorological Organization

How many lead authors contributed to IPCC reports?

225 from 65 countries

How many scientific publications were assessed in IPCC reports?

14000

What do ice core samples show about CO2 levels?

The highest concentration in 650000 years

What was the hottest decade on record?

2015 to 2024

What year was the hottest on record globally?

2024

What are the immediate drivers of global climate change?

Burning fossil fuels and agriculture and livestock and land use and deforestation and waste production

What are the long term drivers of global climate change?

Rapid population growth and wasteful resource use and affluence and poverty and un-ecological worldviews

What is the estimated global CO2 emission in 2023?

50 billion tons

How fast are CO2 levels growing per year?

3% per year

How many years of data do ice core samples cover regarding CO2?

650000 years

What are the three sea level rise scenarios by 2100?

Low: 13 of 20 largest cities at sea level flooded / Medium: one third of US wetlands underwater / High: cities like Shanghai and New Orleans largely underwater

How many Americans live in drought-affected areas?

Over 130 million

What US coastal region is most vulnerable to sea level rise?

Southeast coastal areas including Florida and Alabama and Georgia

What hurricane hit the vulnerable Southeast coast in October 2024?

Hurricane Helene

When did public environmental awareness begin rising in the US?

1965

What shifted environmental protection from bipartisan to partisan?

The Bush era and post-9/11 political climate

As of 2024 what percentage of the public believes climate change severity is being underestimated?

39%

What percentage of the public believes climate change is being correctly estimated?

22%

What economic events shifted public attention away from environmental concerns?

Recessions in 1990 to 1992 and the 2008 Great Recession and inflation from 2022 to 2025

What have prominent Republicans like Trump and Ramaswamy called climate change?

A hoax

How many additional people were pushed into extreme poverty globally by COVID-19?

97 million

How many people did India's extreme poverty rise by due to COVID-19?

46 million

How many people in Nigeria were living in extreme poverty in 2020?

92 million

What is Kenneth Boulding's concept of spaceship earth?

Earth is like a spaceship with limited resources and not everyone is in first class

What is the tragic cycle of poverty?

Poverty leads to malnutrition which decreases resistance to disease which leads to high death rates

What are near future drivers of climate change?

Defunding of renewables and increased energy demand from AI and cryptocurrency

What percentage of global energy is AI and crypto expected to use in the next 20 years?

20 to 25%

What is the environmental impact of Americans compared to people in developing nations?

Americans have 50 to 100 times more impact on earth

How many Third World nations were under colonial rule and for how long?

Most from 1500 to 1950

What was the Cold War and how did it affect developing nations?

A conflict between communist and capitalist nations from 1945 to 1990 that destabilized many developing countries