Unit 3.1 — Global trends in consumption

Poverty

- State of being extremely poor, lacking material possessions or money

- People around the world have different understandings of world poverty as they view it from a lense that is normal or abnormal for their own country

- It is a relative term as it depends on perception of wealth

Poverty line/ Poverty threshold

- Gov. use to define the minimum level of income required to secure the necessities of life

- Varies widely in different countries and between different people e.g. elderly, urban residents, rural residents

Extreme poverty threshold as defined by the World Bank

- US$1.90 per day

- Enables international comparisons

Middle class as defined by WB

- US$4 per day

Where are poverty levels high?

- LICs

- 80% of worlds extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

- UN 2015 found that women were more likely to be living in poverty than men in 41 countries

Poverty levels have been falling - stats

- From 1981-2015 % of people in the world living in absolute poverty fell by 32%

- Fall was sharpest in East Asia and Pacific - fell from 80% to 2%

- Fell in all parts of the world except from Europe and Central Asia - rose due to collapse of Soviet Union and fall of Berlin Wall

- Global figure of extreme poverty fallen to 10% - still represents a huge number of people: 790 million

Reasons for the decline in poverty

- Prolonged period of free international trade since 1980s - trade between developing countries generated wealth and employment

- Improved health, more access to education, better infrastructure - gov. factors have had an important role in reducing poverty

- Increased use of technology - basic machinery is improving the quality and quantity of production in LICs

Consequences of the reduction in poverty

-Incomes have risen for people in every continent

- Improvements in global health standards

- Decrease in malnutrition

- More access to education

- Better overall quality of housing

- GROWTH IN THE NEW GLOBAL MIDDLE CLASS

Growth of the middle class

- % of people in the middle class is growing

- Due to an increase in average incomes and a fall in the number of people living in absolute poverty

- Increase in MC is important economically - increases sales of goods - electrical, phones, cars

- Sales of cars and motors increased by 800% since 2009

- Not all middle-class have economic security - income of $4 per day = Still vulnerable to unemployment

- Uneven progress and reduction of poverty - disadvantage due to gender, ethnicity, disability, location

- 800 million people still live in extreme poverty

Resource

- Something that is useful to humans

- Differs according to a person's culture and technology

Natural Resource

- Naturally occuring material that can be used or exploited

- A society perceives as being useful to its economic and/ or social wellbeing

Biocapacity

- Ecosystem's capacity to produce resources that are used by people and to absorb waste materials produced by humans

Ecological Footprint

- Area of land needed to produce the resources consumed by a society, group or individual

- Uses net carbon dioxide emissions

- Measured in global hectares gha

- Model for measuring environmental impact

Use of ecological footprint

- Allows comparison between groups, individuals, LICs, HICs

- Highlight sustainable and unsustainable lifestyles

Earths total ecological footprint per capita

- We are consuming the equivalent of 1.64 Earths

- We are consuming resources at a level that is not sustainable

- UN estimates by 2030 we need X2 earth is to supply our population with resources

Countries with high ecological footprints are...

- Mainly HICs

- Dependent fossil fuels

- Increased rate of resource consumption

- More disposable income

- More waste and pollution - production byproducts

- Increase levels of imported goods

- Large per capita food consumption

- Meat-rich diet - uses more land and vegetations

- Large per capita carbon waste produced

Examples of countires with high ecological footprints

- Qatar has the world's highest EF per capita - heavy use of carbon-based fuels

- Australia 2nd largest - carbon emissions, large areas of cropland

- USA, Canada, Kuwait, Singapore

Countries with low ecological footprints are...

- Mainly LICs

- Some HICs that use technology to increase carrying capacity

- Smaller rates of resource consumption

- Recycle and reuse resources - informal economy recycles resources

- Less money to spend on consumption

- Increased rates of carbon dioxide uptake

- Low pollution

Limitations of ecological footprints

- Reliability of input of data can't be guaranteed - relies on stats that are difficult to measure and obtain

- Different countries use different methods to collect stats - international comparison is not always reliable

- Only carbon dioxide is included in the calculation - other GHG are ignored

- Includes use of renewable resources but not the use of non-renewable resources

- Consumption and use of freshwater not included

- Trade is oversimplified - assumes global averages for the carbon related contained in imported goods

- Impact of tourism not included

- Model assumes the rate of carbon absorption by forests in 0.97 tonnes of carbon per hectare of forest per year - realistically this fluctuates

- Only includes land and water areas in its calculations that supply biological productivity for humans - areas not used by humanity such as deserts, polar and glacier regions are not considered - over 40% of Earth's land surface excluded

- Overall - these shortcoming suggests the concept is still being developed and fine-tuned but do not negotiate its usefulness

Patterns and trends in the availability of water

- 71% of earths surface covered in water - only 0.79% of this is freshwater

- Earths freshwater distributed unevenly - some countries have fewer water resources than others

- Population growth exacerbates this problem

- Many rivers are shared internationally - leading to conflict over scarce resoruces

Patterns and trends in the consumption of water

- W population consumes approx. 4,000 cubic km of freshwater each year

- W average residential/domestic water use per capita per day is about 150 litres

- Most is used in agricultural and manufacturing activities

- Consumption related to levels of economic development and personal lifestyles

- Over the past century human use of water has doubled - reflection of heavy water demands for manufacturing, agricultural, irrigation for farming productivity

- Sometimes called virtual water

- Quantity of water used in the entire process of producing, selling and consuming a product

- 3 types of water considered: green, blue, grey

Green Water

- Precipitation that has fallen and is being stored temporarily as surface water, in plants etc

- Not available directly for human use

Blue Water

- Precipitation that is collected in lakes, rivers and groundwater

- Stored and available for human use

Grey Water

- Waste water produced by agricultural, manufacturing, household + service activities

Water scarcity

- People living in an area cannot obtain enough water resources to meet their needs

- 2 forms - physical and economic

- Physical: natural resources in an area cannot meet the needs of the people living there

- Economic: poor management of water resources in the area causes the demand to exceed the amount available

Countries that consume more water than they have available, so they have to import water from other countries

- Bahrain

- Egypt

- UAE

- Turkmenistan

- Saudi Arabia

- Libya

- Qatar

- All are arid or semi-arid - need water to irrigate farmland or supply the needs of a highly urbanised population

Patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of land/ food

- Area of land used for agriculture in LICs is increasing - importance of farming as a major component of their economies

- Largest increase in - Middle Easy, North Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa

-Area of land used for agriculture in HICs is decreasing - technological changes increase productivity so more crops can be produced in smaller areas of land

- Largest declines- Central Europe, Baltics, EU, North America

- World food production rose steadily = farm productivity has risen globally

Reasons for an increase in farm productivity

- Technological changes - increased level of mechanisation on farms

- Use of pesticides + chemical fertilisers - increases yields

- Farm sizes increased

- Increasing commercialisation of farms

- Improved spatial integration - construction of roads, railways - farmers can transport their produce cheaply and increase sales and profits

Changing diets in middle-income countries

- Diets are becoming increasingly similar - relying on a narrower range of food crops e.g. wheat, maize, soybean, meat + dairy products

- People are consuming more calories, protein and fat

- Changing pattern of demand for food

- Changing the nature of some food production

- Reduces the range of food crops grown - makes humanity increasingly vulnerable to climate change-related threats e.g. droughts, diseases + insect pests

Reasons for the changing diets in middle-income countries

- Rising incomes

- Western diets seen as more modern and fashionable

- Economic development in MICs = trade links develop and greater range of Western foods become available

- Rising farm productivity - makes food more affordable

Nutritional transition in China

- Increase in meat consumption

- Consumes about 28% of worlds meat

- If this trend continues China will have to import more grain to feed its cattle

- 2016 the gov. announced a plan to reduce meat consumption by 50%

Patterns and trends in availability and consumption of ENERGY

-Fossil fuels account for 80% of global energy consumption

- Biggest consumers are USA, China and Europe - together accounting for > 1/3 of FF consumption

- Middle east controls 50% of worlds oil reserves - Saudi Arabia controls 20%

- USA consumes more than 200 million barrels of oil per day but possesses less than 2% of oil reserves - has to source most of its oil from overseas

Since 2004 we have been in an era of energy insecurity due to...

- Increase demand - especially from newly industrialising countries

- Decreased reserves - supplies are being used up

- Global warming and natural disasters have increased awareness about the misuse of energy resources

- Terrorist activities and conflict e.g. Syria, Russia + Ukraine

How do countries that have oil have an advantage

- Advantage politically and economically - Middle East has this

- Countires that want oil have to stay of friendly terms with those that supply it so they help ensure political stability in the ME, maintain good political links with ME< involve ME in economic cooperation

- Situation is an incentive for rich countries to increase energy conservation and develop alternative forms

What creates energy security?

- Diversified energy mix

Non renewable energy

- Cannot be renewed at the same rate they are being used; resulting in a depletion of stock

- E.g. fossil fuels - coal, gas, oil

Trends in the use of non-renewable energy

- Majority of the W fuel comes from non-renewable sources

- Economies of HICs have been based on high energy generation from fossil fuel use

- LICs traditionally use much less fossil fuels as they are more reliant on natural resources such as burning wood or other biomass

- FF consumption is expected to increase in the future in LICs due to rising incomes and technological developments

Advantages of fossil fuels

- Relatively cheap and plentiful

- Advanced technologies have been developed to allow safe extraction

- Technology already exists for their use - combustion engine

- Technology for controlling pollution from the machines exists

- Highest generators of energy

- Oil + gas can be delivered over long distances by pipeline

Disadvantages of fossil fuels

- Release carbon dioxide when brunt - contribute to global warming

- Unsustainable - finite stock that will eventually run out

- Will become increasingly difficult to extract

- Extraction will become more dangerous as mines get deeper and oil rigs are placed further out at sea

- Oil spillages from tankers + burst pipelines can severely damage natural ecosystems + are very expensive to clear up

Renewable energy

- Can be sustainable as there is no depletion of natural capital

- E.g. Solar, hydroelectric, wind and tidal schemes

Why have renewable sources of energy been slow to grow globally?

- Non-renewable sources of energy are generally cheaper

- E.g. gas is cheap because it is relatively plentiful, can be burned directly without the need of refining, technology is already in place to access the gas and burn it in existing gas-fired power stations

- Renewables often require high set-up costs and may still be unreliable

Why will renewable sources of energy be used more in the future?

- Cost on non-renewable energy will be higher as...

- Stocks will become depleted

- The easiest and most accessible resources will have already been mined - only resources difficult to access will remain

- Environmental taxes to compensate for global warming will make fossil fuels more expensive

- Adoption of renewable energy will become more attractive

Renewable energy sources examples

- Hydroelectric power (HEP)

- Tidal power

- Solar energy - solar panels

- Wind power - wind turbines

- Geothermal

- Biofuel energy - burning plant material

Advantages of nuclear power

- Doesn't emit CO2

- Technology is readily available

- Large amount of energy generated in a single plant

- Very efficient

Disadvantages of nuclear power

- Non-renewable energy source - uranium

- Produces radioactive waste

- Associated risks are high if the plant fails

- Nuclear power plants can become targets for terrorist attacks

- Takes a lot of resources and time to build a plant