Sustainability Studies Minor & Global Population–Environment Overview lecture

Sustainability Studies Minor at Ontario Tech University

Why Add a Minor?

  • Broadens future options & employability.
  • Usually completed by choosing appropriate electives (no extra courses required).
  • First university-wide minor at Ontario Tech:
    • Open to Engineering, Business, Health Science, Social Science & Humanities students.

Required Courses

  • Take three core courses using elective spaces in your major:
    • ENVS 1000U – Environmental Science
    • SOCI 1000U – Introductory Sociology
    • POSC 3300U – Building Sustainable Communities
    • POSC 3303U – Policies for Sustainability
    • COMM 3350U – Environmental Communication
    • POSC 3101U – Inequality and Development

Elective Options (Choose Four)

Social-Science & Humanities List

  • INDG 2000U – Introduction to Indigenous Studies
  • LGLS 2120U – International Law
  • LGLS 3230U – Law and Globalization
  • LGLS 3310U – Indigenous Peoples, Law & the State in Canada
  • LGLS 4040U – Law and the Environment
  • POSC 2300U – Mobilizing for Change
  • POSC 3100U – Political Economy of Global Development
  • POSC 3101U – Inequality and Development (if not taken as core)
  • POSC 3201U – Rural Communities
  • POSC 3203U – Urban Development
  • POSC 3301U – Eco-Justice
  • POSC 3302U – Environment and Globalization
  • POSC 3500U – Equity Policy
  • SSCI 1470U – Impact of Science & Technology on Society
  • SSCI 2020U – Issues in Diversity

Science, Business & Engineering List

  • BIOL 1020U – Biology II: Diversity of Life & Principles of Ecology
  • BIOL 1841U – Essentials of Biology
  • BIOL 3620U – Conservation Biology
  • BIOL 3660U – Ecology
  • BIOL 4080U – Bioethics
  • BUSI 1600U – Management of the Enterprise
  • BUSI 1700U – Introduction to Entrepreneurship
  • BUSI 2000U – Collaborative Leadership
  • BUSI 2050U – Managerial Economics
  • BUSI 2620U – Business Ethics
  • BUSI 3330U – The Management of Change
  • CHEM 3050U – Environmental Chemistry
  • ENGR 3420U – Energy & Environmental Impact
  • ENGR 3730U – Solar Energy Technologies
  • ENGR 3830U – Wind Energy Systems
  • ENGR 4480U – Emerging Energy Systems
  • ENVS 2010U – Introductory Environmental Science
  • ENVS 3110U – Economics & Politics of the Environment
  • HLSC 1811U – Social Determinants of Health
  • HLSC 3710U – Ethics
  • HLSC 3823U – Health & Indigenous People in Canada
  • HLSC 4803U – Global Health
  • HLSC 4809U – Environmental & Occupational Health
  • HLSC 4823U – Small-Business Practice & Entrepreneurship for Health Professionals
  • MANE 4380U – Life-Cycle Engineering
  • MECE 3260U – Introduction to Energy Systems
  • MECE 4430U – Sustainable & Alternative Energy Technologies
  • PHY 4040U – Solar Energy & Photovoltaics
  • PHY 4050U – Emerging Energy Systems

How to Declare the Minor

  • Download the form: https://shared.uoit.ca/…/Declaration%20of%20Specialization%20or%20Minor.pdf
  • Fill & sign electronically or in hard copy.
  • Email to Registrar: connect@uoit.ca or drop off in person.
  • Recommended: consult your academic advisor.

Population, Urbanization & Environment

Global Population Trends

  • Growth rates:
    • 8000\,\text{BC}\;\text{to}\;1\,\text{CE}:\;0.036\%/\text{yr}
    • 1\text{–}1750: 0.056\%/\text{yr}
    • 1750\text{–}1800: 0.44\%/\text{yr}
    • 1960\text{s–}1970\text{s}: 2\%/\text{yr}
    • Current: 1.2\%/\text{yr}
  • Absolute size milestones:
    • 1750: 800\,\text{million}
    • 1804: 1\,\text{billion}
    • 1974: 4\,\text{billion}
    • 1987: 6\,\text{billion}
    • 2050: 9\,\text{billion (proj.)}
    • 2100: 11.2\,\text{billion (proj.)}

Drivers of Rapid Growth

  • Industrial & Agricultural Revolutions (England first, then colonies).
  • Medical advances → sharp drop in infant mortality:
    • % of English children dying before age 5:
    • 1750: 75\% → 1830: 32\%
  • Life expectancy in England:
    • 1700 \approx 60
    • 1800 \approx 60
    • 2011 \approx 75
  • 20th-century fertility decline in developed nations once survival improved.

Theories of Population

Malthusian Perspective

  • Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) = Biological Determinist.
  • Core claim: population grows exponentially (1,2,4,8…) while food grows arithmetically (1,2,3,4…).
  • Leads to inevitable over-population, poverty & starvation.
  • Checks:
    • Positive: disease, famine, war (Malthusian catastrophe).
    • Negative: abstinence, restricting the poor.
  • Neo-Malthusians add modern population control (contraception, sex ed).

Wealth-Flow Theory (Caldwell)

  • In wealthy nations children are a net economic cost.
    • Canadian cost \approx \$213{,}000\; (0\text{–}17); some estimates \$400{,}000.
    • 10\% of Canadians plan to remain child-free → usually urban, well-educated, non-religious.
  • In poor nations children are an economic asset:
    • Cost \approx \$16{,}500.
    • If a child can earn >\$1000/\text{yr}, parents profit.
    • Provide old-age security; hedge against high mortality.
  • Conclusion: poverty causes high fertility, not vice-versa.

Population & Environmental Capacity

  • Estimated global food carrying capacity: 11.2\,\text{billion} (not reached until ≈2100, if at all).
  • Ecological limits (pollution, resource depletion) likely exceeded already due to:
    • Over-consumption & production patterns.
    • Poverty-driven unsustainable practices.
  • Major GHG sources:
    1. Food system, esp. meat industry.
    2. Energy sector.
    3. Transportation.

Ecological Footprint Inequality

  • Per-capita impact highest in wealthy nations (USA, Canada, UK) vs. very low in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia.
  • Countries with fastest population growth use the least resources.
  • Rising middle-income nations (Brazil, China, India) pose critical sustainability challenge as consumption soars.

Three Policy Paths Debated

  1. Curb development of poorer countries?
    • Ethical issues; enforcement would require coercion.
    • Poverty itself drives environmental harm (e.g., Amazon deforestation).
    • Deemed non-viable.
  2. Curb population growth?
    • Consumption is larger issue than sheer numbers.
    • Best levers: alleviate poverty, expand education (esp. women), pensions, urbanization.
    • Tools: financial dis-incentives, voluntary quotas; but risk missing root causes.
  3. Reduce consumption, extraction & pollution (preferred)
    • Technology alone insufficient (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).
    • Jevons Paradox / Rebound Effect: efficiency gains often increase total use.
    • Requires:
      • Strong political commitments & higher resource prices.
      • Eco-friendly tech + lifestyle change (less driving, shopping, meat).
      • Greater equity & community development.

UN DESA 2012: Preconditions for Success

  • Reason: scientific understanding.
  • Empathy: responsibility to vulnerable & future generations.
  • Fair Play: reduce footprints of the rich; fund sustainable dev in poor nations.

Climate-Science Warnings

  • Randers 2012 “2052” Forecast:
    • Per-capita food production declining.
    • Emissions twice natural absorption.
    • Humanity already uses 100\% of biosphere’s regenerative capacity (was 85\% in 1972).
    • Possible “apocalypse-like” mid-century; tipping points may be triggered.
  • IPCC 2014 & 2018:
    • Climate change since 1950 “unprecedented for millennia”.
    • Tipping threshold \approx 1.5\text{–}2^\circ\text{C} above pre-industrial.
    • 1^\circ\text{C} reached in 2019; 2^\circ\text{C} virtually certain by 2050 without drastic cuts.
  • 2017 study: only 5\% chance humanity stays below 2^\circ\text{C}.
  • Policy imperative: leave 80\% of known fossil carbon unburned.

Paris Agreement (2015)

  • Goal: legally binding universal pact.
  • Current country pledges aim for 3.5^\circ\text{C} outcome—insufficient for 2^\circ\text{C} path.

Individual vs. Systemic Change

  • High-impact personal actions (Wynes & Nicholas 2017):
    • Have one fewer child (\approx 58\text{–}60\,t\,\text{CO}_2e/\text{yr*} cumulative).
    • Live car-free (\approx 2.4\,t/yr).
    • Avoid trans-Atlantic flight (\approx 1.6\,t/flight).
    • Adopt plant-based diet (\approx 0.8\,t/yr).
  • Martin LuKacs (Guardian 2017): 100 firms (since 1988) emit 71% of industrial carbon → lifestyle tweaks alone inadequate; need collective political action against corporate power & neoliberal barriers.

Urbanization Dynamics

Push–Pull Factors

  • Push (rural hardships):
    • Land privatization & unequal distribution.
    • Mechanized agriculture reducing labour demand.
    • Population pressure & environmental degradation.
  • Pull (urban attractions):
    • Job prospects; modern ideology.
    • Surplus food enables city growth.

Historical & Projected Urban Share

  • 1800: 3\% urban → 1900: 14\%.
  • Rapid 20th–21st-century rise across all regions (UN Prospects 2007).
  • China’s urban fraction skyrocketing post-1980.
  • Over 1\,\text{billion} people now live in slums—unplanned, under-serviced but innovative.

Urban Sprawl & Density

  • Driven by transport tech; North American cities (e.g., Los Angeles) far lower density than 19th-century London/Paris.
  • Historical densities graph shows decline from >80{,}000 people/mi² (Paris 1800s) to <10{,}000 (LA today).

Urban Problems

Waste (Ontario Case Study)

  • 12.4\,\text{Mt} garbage/yr (≈80{,}000 Boeing 707s).
  • Only 3\,\text{Mt} diverted; 6\,\text{Mt} landfilled in Canada; 4\,\text{Mt} trucked to Michigan.
  • Many landfills full within \approx 20 yrs.
  • Crisis is over-generation, not disposal; packaging major culprit.

Air Pollution (Toronto)

  • Pollutants: ground-level ozone, NO₂, SO₂, CO, sulphates, particulates—mostly from cars.
  • Annual impacts:
    • 1700 premature deaths.
    • 6000 hospital admissions.
    • \$150\,\text{M} healthcare + \$128\,\text{M} lost productivity.
    • \$2.4\,\text{B} total economic damages.

Traffic Gridlock (GTA Projections)

  • Without action by 2031:
    • All travel times double; freeway speeds drop 20\%.
    • Average commute 82 min → doubles.
  • Metrolinx plan: 1200\,\text{km} rapid transit; 80\% population within 2\,\text{km} of service.
  • Funding via taxes (environmentalists favour taxing car use).

Note: Toronto still ranks among world’s cleanest cities despite issues.

Key Take-Away Connections

  • Sustainability minor equips students with interdisciplinary toolkit to engage with pressing global issues detailed above.
  • Population dynamics intertwine with economics, social policy & environmental science—exactly the cross-field insight the minor fosters.
  • Urbanization & climate change exemplify the need for combined technological, political, and ethical solutions—mirrored in course offerings (e.g., Energy Systems, Equity Policy, Environmental Communication).
  • Ethical dimension (Reason–Empathy–Fair Play) links to courses on Indigenous studies, global development & bioethics.

Ethical & Practical Imperatives

  • Tackle consumption inequity first; population stabilizes with prosperity & security.
  • Shift policy from individual “green” guilt to systemic corporate & state accountability.
  • Invest in sustainable urban planning to absorb inevitable urban growth humanely.
  • Education—core of Wealth-Flow Theory & sustainability—remains most potent long-term lever.