TOPIC 8

8.1 HUMAN POPULATION DYNAMICS

Crude birth rate: number of live births per 1000 people in a population
(CBR: total population of births / total population x 1000)
Crude death rate: number of deaths per 1000 people in a population

Outline factors that could contribute to increase death rate/a reduction in population in the
countries
- Increasing emigration due to war
- Increasing emigration due to few job opportunities
- Increasing deaths due to natural disaster
- High number of women in the workforce decreases fertility
- Access to contraception decreases fertility
- Advanced healthcare decreases fertility
- A country’s anti-natalist population policy decreases fertility
Natural increase: CBR - CDR / 10
(Expressed in percentage)
Total fertility rate: average number of births per woman of childbearing age
Highest fertility rates are found among the poorest countries, especially in sub-saharan
Africa, and every few LEDCs have made the transition from high birth rates to low birth
rates. Most MEDCs have brought the birth rate down. In MEDCs, fertility rates have fallen as
well.

Outline reasons for the decrease in total fertility rate

- Increased level of education
- Empowerment of women economically
- Increased economic cost of large families
- Decrease in need to use children for labour (due to increased mechanization of agriculture)
- Spread of contraception
- Reduced child mortality (due to health improvements) would allow having less childre
Doubling time: the number of years needed for a population to double in size
(70 / natural increase)
Expressed in years
Factors influencing birth rates:
1. Level of education: the higher level of parental education, the fewer the children. Poor
people with limited resources often have large families. Affluent people can afford large
families. Middle income families with high aspirations but limited means tend to have the

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 smaller families. They wish to improve their standard of living, and limit their family size
to achieve this.
2. Political policies: most governments in LEDCs have introduced some programs aimed at
reducing birth rates. Their effectiveness is dependent on: a focus on general family plan-
ning not specifically birth control, investing sufficient finance in the schemes, working in
consultation with the local population.
Where birth controls have been imposed by government, they are less successful (except in
china). In the MEDCs, financial and social support for children is often available to encour-
age a pro-natalist approach. However, in countries where there are fears of negative popula-
tion growth (as in Singapore), more active and direct measures are taken by the government
to increase birth rates.
3. Economic prosperity: the correlation between economic prosperity and the birth rate is
not total, but there are links. As the gross national product (GNP) per capita increases, so
does the birth rate increases. Economic prosperity favors an increase in the birth rate,
while increasing costs lead to a decline in the birth rate. Recession and unemployment are
also linked with a decline in the birth rate. This is related to the cost of bring up children.
4. The need for children: in some agriculture societies, parents have larger family’s to pro-
vide labour for the farm and as security for the parents in old age.
Factors affecting mortality:
1. Age structure: some populations (those in retirement towns and especially in the older in-
dustrialized countries) have very high life expectations and this results in a rise in the
CDR. Countries with a large proportion of young people, have much lower death rates.
2. Social class: poorer people within any population have high mortality rates than the more
affluent. In some countries, for example, South Africa, this is also reflected in racial
groups.
3. Occupation: certain occupations are hazardous (military, farming, oil extraction, and
mining). Some diseases are linked to specific occupation, for example, mining and respi-
ratory disease.
4. Place of residence: in urban areas, mortality rates are higher in areas of relative poverty
and deprivation, such as inner cities and shanty towns. This is due to overcrowding, pol-
lution, high population densities, and stress. In rural areas where there is widespread
poverty and limited fame productivity, mortality rates are high.
5. Child mortality and IMR: while the CBR shows small fluctuations over time, the IMR
can show greater fluctuations and is one of the most sensitive indicators of the level of
development. This is because: high IMRs are only found in the poorest countries, the
cause of infant deaths are often preventable, IMRs are low where there is safe water sup-
ply and adequate sanitation, housing, healthcare, and nutrition.
Human population growth is rapid and unprecedented in recent years, majority taking place
in low income countries, it stresses water, food, agricultural and energy systems.
Exponential growth: is a growth rate that is increasingly rapidly (an accelerating rate of
growth) The impact of exponential growth is that a huge amount of extra resources are
needed to feed, house, clothe, and look after the increasing number of people.

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 There is a need to develop more sustainable agricultural systems, more sustainable energy
systems and more sustainable water systems. However, without accurate population projec-
tions, it is difficult to know exactly how large the demand for these products will be.

Economic implications of the highest projection for world population

• lack of sufficient jobs (for increasing number of people) leading to unemployment
• unemployment leading to greater demand for unemployment insurance
• unemployment leading to growth in crime requiring more investment in police force
• increase in the number of people in poverty
• increase in workforce contributing to economic development
• greater demand for schools/health care increases cost to government
• greater demand for housing increases economic cost in building

Environmental implications of the highest projection for world population

• clearance of land for agricultural production to feed the larger population
• use of marginal lands for agriculture and increased soil degradation
• loss of habitat to land development
• loss of species from loss of habitats
• increase in hunting/poaching
• increase in pollution (from increased numbers of people)
• increased extraction of water (for drinking/agriculture) leading to water shortages for other
species

Why a national government may choose not to attempt to control the growth of its population
1. up to individuals to decide
2. goes against religious beliefs
3. belief that technology will provide a solution to rising populations
4. otherwise parents have little support in the fields or anyone to look after them in future
years
5. country has large amount of resources to support increase in population
6. expect growth rate will decline as country develops
7. population growth is required for development
8. cost of implementing policy
Age/sex Pyramids
Population structure or composition refers to any measurable characteristic of the population.
This include age, sex, ethnicity, language, religion and occupation of the population. These
are usually shown by population pyramids.
Population pyramids can tell us a great deal of information about the age and sex structure of
a population. For example:

- a wide base: high fertility rate

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- narrowing base: falling birth rate
- straight or near vertical sides: low death rate
- concave slopes: high death rate
- bulges in the slope: baby booms or high rates of immigration or in-migration. (e.g excess
males age 20-35 years will be economic migrants looking for work excess elderly, usually
female, will inundate remitment resorts)
- slices in the slope: emigration or out-migration or age-specific or sex-specific deaths (epi-
demics or war)
The Demographic Transition Model
The demographic transition model (DTM): shows the change in population structure from
LEDCs to MEDCs

Describe how demographic tools can be used to study a human population.

- Demographic tools provide quantitative measures of changes occurring in the growth of
populations
- Can be useful in making comparisons between populations and predictions of future
changes

- Crude birth rate (CBR) is the number of live births per 1000 population per year, indi-
cates rate at which births are occurring in a population
- Crude death rate (CDR) is number of deaths per 1000 population per year, undicates rate
at which deaths are occurring in a population

- Total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman would have in her
lifetime in a given population, indicates the rate at which women are producing children
- Natural increase rate (NIR) is the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate, indicates
the rate at which a population is growing (ignoring migrational changes)
- Doubling time (DT) is the number of years a population will take to double in size at its
current rate of growth, indicates how quickly a population is growing compared to its cur-
rent size

- Demographic Transition Model (DTM) is based on historical population trends showing

how populations tend to go through stages of changing birth and death rates as they de-
velop economically
- It can be useful for identifying a country’s stage of development and making predictions
about its future growth

How a country’s stage in the demographic transition model (DTM) might influence its natio-
nal population policy.
The DTM can help a country to predict its future population growth based on current demo-
graphics, identify whether birth rates are increasing/decreasing, suggest appropriate policy to
redress unwanted change

9. If in stages 1/2:
- it might implement programmes to improve living standards such as

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- improve health care access
- vaccination policy to reduce child mortality
- invest in campaigns informing people on hygienic measures
- fight poverty
- ask for international medical aid

10. If in stages 2/3:

- it might implement programmes to slow population growth
- such as anti-immigration policies
- policies that increase the empowerment of women
- increase access to contraception
- support family planning programs
- put a limit in number of children per family
11. If in stages 4/5:
- it might implement programmes to increase population growth such as
- pro-immigration policy
- economic incentives for additional children eg. baby bonuses
- social incentives for larger families eg. maternal and paternal leaves, flexible work sched-
ules, public office for parents of more than 3 children, free schooling

State the strengths and limitations of the demographic transition model

- Provides a theoretical basis for comparing other societies
- Can be applied to a wide range of societies
- Allows predictions to be made regarding transitions & population growth
- It is based on historical data
- Indicates relationship between multiple factors

- Relationships are quite simplistic

- Eurocentric model might not apply to all countries
- Does not take into account events such as migration/war/rapid spread of disease that
may have limited impact on populations

Advantages and disadvantages of modeling future human population sizes

• allows projections to be made for planning purposes (e.g. schools/hospitals)
• allows changes to be proposed to policies to slow population growth
• allows policy makers see what impact a policy might have on population
• can help with decisions on resource management to meet the needs of the popula-
tion
• models are simple to understand

• all models are a simplification and therefore incorrect

• the data on which the modelling is based may be unreliable

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• the model used may be imperfect
• human behaviour can change, so that the prediction is not fulfilled
• many factors in the environment can change, making projections uncertain
• it cannot foresee natural disasters or international conflicts
• potential for human error in calculation

Stage 1 (high & variable)

- birth rates and death rates are high and variable, population growth fluctuates, no counters
but only some indigenous tribes are at this stage
Stage 2 (early expanding)

- birth rate remains high but the death rate comes down rapidly, population growth it rapid
Stage 3 (late expanding)

- brith rate drops and the death rate remains low, populating growth continues but at a
smaller rate
Stage 4 (low & variable)

- birth rates and death rates are low and variable, population growth fluctuates
Stage 5 (low declining)

- the birth rate is lower than the death rate, the population declines
Reasons for high birth rates (stage 1 & 2):
• for labour & prestige
• lack of family planning & availability of contraceptives
• to look after them in old age
• to continue the family name.
Reasons for high death rates (stage 1):
• poor hygiene & sanitation
• poverty
• overcrowding

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• lack of food & clean water
Reasons for low birth rates (stages 3,4 & 5):
• children are very costly
• the government looks after people thorough pensions & health services
• more women want their own career
• better access to contraception
• urbanization and change in need for large families
• increased affluence so fewer children
• decline in influence of religious prohibitions on birth control in some cultures
• national strategies such as China‟s one child policy
Reasons for low death rates (2,3,4 & 5):
• reliable food supply & clean water: through better technology, farming techniques, the abil-
ity to farm more areas than before, we can transport food across the world,
• Improving healthcare: knowledge of proper medical practices, diseases prevention,
vaccines, Improved hygiene & sanitation: sewer systems, knowledge of good hygiene. im-
proved health care/sanitation
• better diet
• greater affluence
Population Dynamics
The range of factors which affect population growth is varied and differs with different
scales.
Influences on population dynamics (the birth rate): cultural, religious, social, political, and
economic factors.
1. Cultural: in some cultures, especially in agricultural ones, there is an advantage in having
more children to work on the land. In contrast, in cultures where women are employed in
the workforce, such as Singapore, the birth rate may be very low.
2. Religious: religious reasons may include beliefs about family planning. Most religions
are pro-natalist, although many catholic countries in Europe have low birth rates.
3. Social: there may be social pressure on women in more traditntal societies to bear more
children. Many women may not have control over how many children they have.
4. Political: increasingly, national governments are influencing population size, govern-
ments may be pro-natalist or anti-natalist, and they may influence population dynamics
by having an open migration policy.
5. Economic: economic factors also have an influence. Some people may feel that the cost
of childcare is too much, and so reduce the number of children that they have.
Similarly, the death rate is affected by many factors. These include: age-structure of the pop-
ulation, availability of clean water, sanitation, adequate housing, reliable food supply, preva-
lence of disease, provision of healthcare, civil conflict and war.
Poor people are far more vulnerable to the risk of early death, due to the combination of poor
living conditions, poor diet, lack of access to clean water, and sanitation.
National Population Policies
Population policies: official government actions to control the population in some way.

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1. Pro-natalist policies: in favor of increasing the birth rate
2. Anti-natalist polices: attempt to limit the birth rate
Pro-natalist policy: The One Child Rule was introduced in 1979 due to China’s high popula-
tion.
It was a population policy which aimed to discourage birth & population growth.
Chinese couples were restricted from having more than one child. The one child policy was
then abolished in 2016, then the Chinese government replaced the policy with the two-child
rule due to an aging population and a great decline in birthrate.
It was a successful policy as 400 million births were prevented. The total fertility rate also re-
duced from 5.8 (1970) to 1.8 (2009).
However, it caused a gender imbalance 118 males:100 females (people preferred to abort or
abandon their female babies), it also increased dependency ratio, aging population, violation
of human rights; women had forced abortions, smaller, future working force to provide for
those dependents

International Development Plans

In 2000, the United Nations published the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), these in-
cluded 21 measurable targets:
Millennium Development Goal Targets

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - reduce by 50% the proportion of people living on
less than US$1 a day
- reduce by 50% the proportion of people suffering
from hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education - ensure all children complete a full course of primary
schooling
3. Promote gender equality & empower women - eliminate gender disparity in primary & secondary
education by 2005 (all levels by 2025)
- ensure literacy parity between young men &
women
- women equal representation in national parlia-
ments
4. Reduce child mortality - reduce two-thirds the under-five mortality rate
- universal child immunization against measles
5. Improve maternal health - reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75%
- Increase access to reproductive health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases - halt and begin to reverse the spread of HID/AIDS
- halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria
- halt and being to reverse the incidence of tubercu-
losis

7. Ensure environmental sustainability - reverse loss of forests

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 Millennium Development Goal Targets

- halve proportion without improved drinking water

in urban & rural areas
- halve proportion without sanitation in rural & ur-
ban areas
- improve the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020
8. Develop global partnership for development - reduce youth unemployment
- Increase internet use

Resource Use in Society 8.2

Renewable natural capital
Renewable natural capital is defined as a resource generated and/or replaced naturally as fast
as it’s being used. It includes living species and ecosystems that use solar energy and photo-
synthesis. It also includes non-living items, such as groundwater and ozone layer.
Non-Renewable natural capital
Non-renewable natural capital a resource that is either irreplaceable or can only be replaced
over geological timescales, for example, fossil fuels, soil, and minerals.
Sustainable and unsuitable use of renewable natural capital
• Sustainability means using global resources as a rate that allows natural regeneration and
assimilation of pollution.
• When human well-being is dependent on the goods and services provided by certain forms
of natural capital, then long-term harvest and pollution rates should not exceed rates of cap-
ital renewal.
For example, a system harvesting renewal resources at a rate that enables replacement by nat-
ural growth shows sustainability.
Sustainability is living within the means of nature and ensuring resources are not degraded so
that future generations can continue to use the resource. The concept can be applied in our
everyday lives.
An example of irresponsible use of a resource concerns groundwater. Pollutants from agricul-
tural products and run-off from storage tanks, landfills and septic tanks are reducing the water
quality.
Unsustainable extraction from groundwater sources (aquifers) means that water tables are
lowered, which can lead to the intrusion of saltwater in coastal areas and further contamina-
tion of the supply.
Excessive use of surface water, often for agriculture, means that groundwater supplies are not
replenished. The effect of groundwater pollution and reduction is decreased availability of

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water resources. This has a known-on impact on agriculture-less water is available for irriga-
tion, so yields decline. At the same time, the cost of water for industry and agriculture in-
creases, which has serious implications for the economy.
Water shortages can lead to tensions and conflict over the limited resource.

EVS LINKED WITH THIS TOPIC

People with a techno-centric worldview see humanity as being ultimately able to solve shortages of natural
capital by finding alternative technological solutions. Such people tend to be from MEDS, where continuation
of the lifestyle enjoyed in these countries depends on such solutions being found. People form cultures in
closer contact with the environment would seek to find solutions by limiting our use of non-renewable natural
capital and replacing therewith renewable and sustainable resources (an ecocentric approach)

SUSTAINABILITY

The impact of extraction, transport, and processing of a renewable natural capital may cause damage making
this natural capital unsustainable. For example, the removal of forests may have many impacts. Decreased tree
cover could lead to: increased soil erosion, a reduction in habitat, climate change, and increased risk of flood-
ing

Types of ecosystem service

1. Supporting services: these are the essentials for life and include primary productivity, soil
formation, and the cycling of nutrients. All other ecosystem services depend on these.
2. Regulating services: these are a diverse set of services and include pollination, regulation
of pests and diseases, and production of goods, such as food, fibre, wood. Other services
include climate and hazard regulation and water quality regulation
3. Provisioning services: these are the services people obtain from ecosystems and from
which they obtain goods such as food, fibre, fuel (peat, wood and non-woody biomass),
and water from aqua fires, rivers and lakes. The production of such goods can be within
heavily managed ecosystems (intensive farms and fish farms) or from semi-natural ones
(hunting and fishing)
4. Cultural services: these are derived from places where people interact with nature, enjoy-
ing cultural goods and benefits. Open spaces such as gardens, parks, rivers, forests-pro-
vide opportunities for outdoor recreation, learning, spiritual well-being, and improve-
ments in mental health

Natural capital has various values. We usually, rightly or wrongly, access both in monetary
terms.
1. Economic value can be determined from the market price of the goods and services a re-
source produces.

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2. Ecological values, however, have no formal
market price: soil erosion control, nitrogen fix-
ation, and photosynthesis are all essential for
human existence but have no direct monetary
value.
3. Aesthetic values, for example, the appreciation
of a landscape for its visual attraction have no
market price.

Ecological and aesthetic values do not provide eas-

ily identifiable commodities, so it is difficult to assess the economic contributions of these
values using traditional methods of accounting. They are usually undervalued from an eco-
nomic viewpoint:

Ethical, spiritual, and philosophical perspectives tend to give organisms and ecosystems in-
trinsic value (value in their own right, irrespective of economic value). They are valued re-
gardless of their potential use to humans. The evaluation of natural capital therefore requires
many diverse perspectives that lie outside the remit of conventional economics.
- Direct use values are ecosystem goods and service that are directly used by humans, most
often by people rising or residing in the ecosystem.
- Consumptive use includes harvesting food products, number for fuel or housing, medicinal
products and hunting animals for food or cloth.
- Non-consumptive use includes recreational and cultural activities that do not require har-
vesting of products.

- Indirect use values are derived from ecosystem services that provides benefits outside the
ecosystem itself, for example, natural water filtration which may benefit people down-
stream.
- Optimal values are derived from potential future use of ecosystem goods and services not
currently used:
Either by yourself (option value) or your future offspring (bequest value).

- Non-use values include aesthetic and intrinsic values, and are sometimes called Existence
values.
Other ways of measuring the value of resource (besides calculating the direct price of its
products) include calculating or estimating:
• the cost of replacing it with something else
• the cost of mitigating its loss
• the cost of averting the cost of its degradation
• its contribution to other income or production
• how much people are prepared to pay for it
these are attempts to acknowledge these diverse valuations of nature

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Natural resources have recreational value, as holiday destinations and places for people to re-
lax. Ecotourism is a growing source of revenue for countries with natural resources that are
attractive to tourists, and can provide an alternative income that is sustainable and does not
deplete the source of natural capital.
For example, rainforests are under threat from logging which is non-sustainable and damages
the original stock; however, the ecotourism provides income at the same time as requiring the
resource to remain intact so as to attract tourists. The income is therefore sustainable.
CASE STUDY: VALUING OCEANS-THE $2 TRILLION QUESTION
Economics at the Stockholm Environment Institute had estimated that the cost of climate
change on the oceans will amount to nearly $2 trillion annually by 2100, or about 0.4% of
global GPD. The estimate was based on five measures:
loss of fisheries
reduced tourism revenues
the economic cost of rising sea levels
the cost of increased storm activity
the ocean acidification
If temperatures rise by 4 degrees cel by 2100, they estimate the total cost will come to $1.98
trillion whereas if temperates by only 22 degrees cel, it will be $612 billion.
Estimates of the worlds GPD a century from now depend on too many variables to calculate
with any precision. The same is true for the use in temperature by 2100, the time-scale is too
great to suggest an accurate prediction.
Dynamic Nature and Concept of a Resource
The value of a resource should be seen as dynamic, with the possibility that its status may
change over time.
As humans advance culturally and technologically, and our resource base changes, the impor-
tance of a resource may be transformed. Resources become more valuable as new technolo-
gies need them.
For example, flint-once an important resource was a hand toll is now redundant; it was super-
seded by the development of metal extraction from ores (i.e technological progress)
Uranium, in contrast, was of little value before the advent of the nuclear age. Nuclear fission
involves the bombardment of uranium atoms with neutrons. A neutron splits a uranium atom,
releasing a great amount of energy as heat and radiation.
A different process, nuclear fusion, powers the Sun. In nuclear fission, the nuclei of atoms
(tritium & deuterium, both isotopes of hydrogen) fuse together, causing much greater release
of energy than in nuclear fission. If we ever learn to generate power by harnessing the energy
from nuclear fission, uranium, like flint before it, will lost its value.
Solid Domestic Waste 8.3
Types of solid domestic waste

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The amount of waste produced by the global population is steadily increasing. The world
faces an ongoing problem in how and where to dispose of this waste. Household waste is
composed of a wide variety of materials: wood & furniture, kitchen waste, garden waste, pa-
per & board, metal packaging etc.

General domestic waste

The volume of waste varies by society and over time. MEDCs generate more waste than
LEDCs. It also changes over time-there is now more non-biodegradable waste (e-waste &
plastics).
It increases as countries become more developed. It also increases where there are festivals
such as Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, Diwali, birthdays, and so on.
Up to half of the worlds population lack access to the most basic of waste collections and safe
disposal. Almost 40% of the world’s waste ends up in huge rubbish tips, mostly found near
urban populations in LEDCs, posing a serious threat to human health and environment.
The worlds largest dumps are increasingly polluting rivers, groundwater, air and soil, and are
having an adverse impact of those who live and work nearby or on the dump. Waste pickers
often have no protective clothing. The most common health problems are gastro-intestinal
(stomach) disorders, skin disorders, respiratory disorders, and genetic disorders.
CASE STUDY: PLASTIC WASTE IN THE THAMES
Scientists from London collected rubbish over a 3-month period at the end of 2012 from 7 lo-
cations, along the Thames estuary. They collected over 8,400 items including plastic cups,
food wrapping, and cigarette packaging.
The two most contaminated sites were close to sewage treatment works, and could suggest
that plants were not filtering out larger wastes, or were letting sewage overflow when heavy
rains created extra waste. However, the scientists were unable to estimate the volume of littler
that was actually entering the North Sea.
The potential impacts this could have for wildlife are far-reaching, not only are the species
that live in and around rivers affected, but also those in seas that rivers feed into.
Larger pieces of plastic are being continuously rolled backward and forward by tidal move-
ments and broken down into smaller and smaller fragments that are easily ingested by birds,
fish, and smaller species such as crabs. The toxic chemical they contain, in high doses, could
harm the health of wildlife.

CASE STUDY: NAPPIES

Some waste material is more problematic than others. Nappies are a particular problem.
Nappy waste is harmful and expensive, it costs 40 million pounds a year to dispose an esti-
mated 1 million tonnes of nappy waste, of which 75% is urine & feces. Most nappy waste are
taken into landfill sites, where nappies can take an estimated 500 years to break down, and
add to the build-up of methane gas. Environmentalists say that using washable nappies would
represent a saving of 500 pounds per baby.

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About 1 million tonnes of absorbent hygiene products are generated in the UK each year. In
2011, Knowaste set up the UK’s first recycling facility for absorbent hygiene products such
as disposable nappies. The company isolates plastics and fibers from products, operating
them from human waste so that the nappy or incontinence pad can be recycled. The recycled
material can be used as an additive for concrete, plastic sheets, flood defense systems, and
containers used for disposable nappies.
Electronic Waste
E-wastes goods are made up of hundreds of different materials and contain toxic substances
such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and flame retardants.
Once in landfill, these toxic materials seep out into the environment, contaminating land, wa-
ter, and the air. Those who work at these sites suffer frequent bouts of illnesses.
The increase in e-waste is happening because there is so much technical innovation. TV’s,
mobile phones and computers are all being replaced more and more quickly.
Most phones contain precious metals. The circuit board can contain copper, gold, zinc, beryl-
lium and tantalum. The coatings are typically made of lead and phone-makers are now in-
creasingly using lithium batteries.
Part of the problem is that computers, phones and other devices are becoming increasingly
complex and made of smaller and smaller components. The failure to recycle is also leading
to shortages of rare-earth minerals to make future generations of electronic equipment.

Strategies for managing Solid Domestic Waste

• Altering human activity: includes reduction of consumption and composting of food waste
• Controlling release of pollutant: governments create legalization to encourage recycling
and reuse initiatives and impose tax for SDW collection, impose taxes on disposable items.
• Reclaiming landfills: use of SDW for trash-to-energy programs, implanting initiatives to
remove plastics from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (clean-up and restoration)
These may be influenced by cultural factors (is it acceptable), economic factors (is it afford-
able), technological factors (can it be achieved), and political factors (is there support for the
strategy)
Summarization for pollution management
Waste management options How it works

Reduce the amount of waste - producers think more about the lifespan of goods
and reduce packaging
- consumers consider packaging and lifespan when
buying goods
Reuse goods to extend their lifespan - bring-back schemes, where containers are refilled
- charity shops pass on goods to new owners

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 Waste management options How it works
recover value - recycle goods such as glass bottles and papers
- incinerate waste-collect electricity & heat from it

Dispose of water in landfill sites - put waste into a hole (natural or the result of quarry-
ing) or use to make artificial hills

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garage Patch is an area of marine debris. It shifts its exact position every
year; it remains within the North Pacific Gyre (a system of circular ocean currents) as its con-
fide by ocean currents.
Plastics never biodegrade. They do not break down into natural substances. Instead they go
through a photo-degradation process, splitting into smaller and smaller particles that are still
plastic.

Strategy’s for the removal of plastics from GGP

- Map distribution of plastics using satellite imaging
- Develop technological means for collecting plastic debris like appropriate nets
- Achieve financial support from UN
- Get political support from all countries bordering the relevant oceans
- Solicit assistance of fishing industry in using boats for collection shipping of waste to
countries that can recycle the waste

Problems caused by plastic

• Plastic fouls beaches throughout the world and reduces potential income from tourism and
recreation
• Plastic entangles marine animals and drowns them, strangles them, and makes them immo-
bile.
• Plastic garbage when washed ashore destroys habitats
• Plastics gets inside ships propellers and keels making ship maintenance more expensive
• Plastics produced in huge quantities due to usefulness
• Degraded smaller particles can be easily and widely dispersed
• Degraded plastic may become more toxic by absorbing other toxins
• Microparticles can be absorbed by species causing biomagnification and damage to food
chains
• Plastic does not degrade; it also makes an ideal medium for the transfer of invasive species
Hence, on account of its sheer size and the small nature of some of its content, it is nearly im-
possible to clean up the Garbage Patch. Plastic garbage can be collected when washed up on
beaches; but there are relatively few beaches in the region of the GPGP.

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State reasons for the decrease in total solid waste
- Government incentives for reuse
- Economic changes leading to reduced consumption
- Greater awareness of environmental issues leading to less wasteful consumerism
- Changes in methods of data collection
- Reduction in amount of packaging
- Reduction in production/use of single-use items
Carrying Capacity and Ecological Footprints 8.4
Carrying capacity

Carrying capacity: the maximum number of a species, or “load” that can be suitably sup-
ported by a given area.
The figure below shows 3 models of a population growing exponentially and approaching
carrying capacity.

1. Model 1: there is no reduction in the rate of increase until the ceiling is reached at which
point the increase drops to zero. This highly unlikely situation is supported by evidence
from either human or animal populations
2. Model 2: the population increase begins to slow down at the carrying capacity is ap-
proached and levels off when the ceiling it reached. It is claimed that populations which
re large in size, have long lives, and low fertility rates to conform to this S-curve pattern
3. Model 3: the rapid rise in population overshoots the warring capacity trusting in a sudden
check (for example, famine & birth control). The population then receives and fluctuates
eventually settling at raw carrying capacity. This J-shaped curve appears more applicable
to populations which are small in number, have short lives and high fertility rates.

Identify reasons why carrying capacity can be difficult to estimate.

Species
• There are many different potential limiting factors for natural populations

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• Populations’ needs may change through time due to genetic changes
• Environmental conditions may change eg climate change
• It takes extensive study to identify a precise relationship between a species and given envi-
ronmental factor
Humans
• Human populations exploit a far greater range of different resources than most other
species
• Humans are able to substitute one resource for another
• Variations in lifestyle between human populations mean different resources
• The importation of resources from other ecosystems can offset a lack of resources in an
area
• Technological developments cause changes in resources required over time
Optimum, Over, & Under population
1. Optimum population: number of people who, when, using all the available resources, will
produce the highest per capita economic return.
It is the point at which the population has the highest standard of living and quality of life. If
the size of the population increases or deceases from the optimum, the standard of living will
fall.
This concept is dynamic and changes with time as techniques improve, as population totals
and structures change, and as new materials are discovered
Standard of living is the result of the interaction between physical and human resources and
can be expressed as: SOL: natural resources x technology / population
2. Over-population: occurs when there are too many people relative to the resources and
technology locally available to attain the optimum standard of living. Countries like
Brazil and India are over-populated countries as they have insufficient food and materi-
als, and suffer from natural disasters such as drought and famine and are characterized by
low incomes, poverty, poor living conditions, and a high level of emigration.
3. Under-population: occurs when there are far more resources in an area (food production,
energy & minerals) than can be used by the people living there in order to reach the opti-
mum population.

Changing Carrying Capacity

Human caring capacity of the environment is determined by:
• rate of energy and material consumption
• level of pollution
• interference with environmental life-support systems
Reuse and recycling can increase human carrying capacity of the environment.
Ecological footprints
An ecological footprint is an area of land (and water) required to support an individual or
population (providing all resources and absorbing waste)

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The ecological footprint is a theoretical area, whereas carry capacity refers to a real area.
These concepts are therefore the inverse of each other. Carrying capacity involves sustainable
support of a population, whereas ecological footprints are not necessarily sustainable.
An ecological footprint can act as model monitoring environmental impact. It can also allow
for direct comparison between groups & individuals, such as compared LEDCs and MEDCs.
It can highlight sustainable and unsustainable lifestyles: populations with a larger ecological
footprint than actual lands area they are in, are living beyond sustainable limits.

Factors that affect the ecological footprint:

• an individual’s EVS
• the productivity of food production
• the use of land
• the amount of industry
• the consumption of goods
Ecological footprint is increased by:
• greater reliance on fossil fuels
• Increased use of technology, and therefore, energy (but technology can also reduce EF)
• high levels on imported resources (which have high transport costs)
• large per capita production of carbon waste (i.e high energy use, high fossil fuel use)
• large per capita consumption food
• a meat rich diet
• increased level of industrialization uses more resources & produces more waste
• improved standard of living resulting in greater car ownership and more pollution
• Limited primary productivity to absorb CO2
Evaluate a vegetarian diet
• Vegetarian means eating at the first trophic level
• Second law of thermodynamics explains that energy is lost at each transfer as heat, so re-
ducing the length of food chains, reduces energy loss & maximizes efficiency (of energy
transfer)
• Less land area/water is needed when only first trophic level is consumed
• Less land being used for agriculture means less loss of biodiversity and snfenvironmental
degradation
• Meat production results in large amounts of greenhouse gases being released: global warm-
ing
• More efficient use of the energy fixed by photosynthesis
• Less energy lost to respiration and wastes
• Ecocentrics may support vegetarianism as it may reduce exploitation of resources
• Ecocentrics support self-sufficiency which is more easily supported in an urbanized envi-
ronment through growing vegetables rather than managing livestock

• Vegetarianism may be worse in some locations if supply requires long-distance transport

• Some animals eat the leftovers of human food production eg pigs and chickens reducing
waste

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• Open water fish farming and wild fish harvesting can be practised sustainably providing
better quality protein
• Technocentrics believe that humans are ingenious and could resolve impacts of meat pro-
duction through technology eg genetically modified cattle
How the size of the ecological footprint of individuals may be affected by their diet
1. footprint for a meat eater is likely to be much larger than for a vegetarian
2. production of meat requires a greater energy input than growing crops
3. meat eater’s eating at a higher trophic level; means land is required to create feed for
livestock and for raising livestock
4. transport of meat for processing will increase the footprint size
5. diet based on imported goods will lead to a bigger footprint
6. more fossil fuel consumed in process of transportation
7. increase in material consumption for packaging
8. greater (food) consumption will mean a bigger footprint
9. more natural resources (land, fossil fuel, irrigation) required for meeting increased de-
mand

local biomes with high productivity produce a lower footprint as they absorb carbon dioxide
(net mission of carbon dioxide is used in the calculation of footprint size)
Ecological footprint can be reduced by:
• reducing amount of resources used
• recycling & reusing resources
• Improving efficiency of resource use
• reducing amount of pollution produced
• transport waste to other countries
• Improving technology to increase carrying capacity
• reducing population to reduce resources use
Ecological footprints of MEDCs and LEDCs
LEDCs tend to have smaller ecological footprints than MEDCs. MEDCs generally have
much greater rates of resource consumption than LEDCs. This is partly because people have
more disposable income, and demand for energy resources is high.
Consumption is also high because resource use is often wasteful.
- MEDCs produce far more waste and pollution a by-products of production.

- LEDCs are often characterized by lower consumption because people have less to spend.
The impact of economic development on the ecological footprint of a human popula-
tion
Increasing Ecological Footprint (EF):
• Economic development may increase the use of resources and desire for material goods and
thus increase the EF of a population

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• As demand for power from electricity, if electricity generation is from fossil fuels or nu-
clear power, EF will increase due to area needed for waste assimilation
• As population becomes richer meat consumption usually increases, (increasing the area of
land needed agriculture), increasing EF
• Waste generation increases with increased consumption, increasing EF
Decreasing EF:
• Economic development may mean a move to renewable energy production(reducing need
for land to assimilate waste)
• Economic Development may increase use of technology to reduce waste production de-
creasing EF
• ED may increase education level of population about environmental problems leading to a
reduced EF
• ED may slow or decrease population growth and thus reduce impact of population on EF
• ED normally associated with increasing urbanisation which leads to greater efficiency of
the population, thus reducing EF
• Countries with strong cultural/religious/ecocentric values may be more likely to regulate
their ED to reducing EF

How developments in technology may increase or decrease the ecological footprint of

a human population.
Technological development may decrease the EF through
- agricultural technologies for irrigation increasing productivity
- increased productivity of genetically engineered crops
- technology for hydroponic agriculture requiring less resources
- increased energy efficiency reducing CO2 waste
- alternative energy sources (eg wind/solar/ etc) reducing CO2 waste
- hybrid vehicles reducing CO2 waste
- technology to recycle materials from waste

Technological development may increase the EF through

- fossil fuel dependent technology increasing CO2 waste in use
- increasing demands for resources used in manufacture of technology
- pollution produced by manufacture of technology requiring more waste assimilation
- reducing limits to population growth thereby increasing demand for resources

Advantages of using ecological footprint as a model for assessing sustainability.

1. methodology simple and easy to use allowing for wide application e.g. allows for compa-
risons between groups
2. information can be used to inform policies/legislation promoting sustainability
3. easy to communicate/understand
4. allowing more people to appreciate factors affecting their ecological footprint/how they
can change their ecological footprint
5. good marketing tool so can be easily disseminated to public promoting changes leading
to more sustainable actions

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6. allows assessing relationships between different impacts, provides a holistic view which
assists in urban sustainability planning
7. allows countries to identify areas where change is needed to become more sustainable

Environmental value system:

People in MEDCs generally have a techno-centric world view, which encourages continued
high consumption of resources, in the expectation that technology will provide solutions to
minimize the environmental impact.
LEDCs have not only had a historically low consumption of non-renewable resources, but
have also adopted environmental value systems that have encouraged working in balance
with nature, particularly where failure to do so would result in direct negative impact in the
community, for example, cutting down a forest on which you directly depend for food &
shelter.
CASE STUDY: REDUCING THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN CALGARY,
CANADA
Calgary is an urban area in Canada. In 2005, it had the dubious distinction of having the
larger ecological footprint for a large urban area in Canada (9.9 gha). By 2012, it had trans-
formed its footprint. Calgary now buys all its electricity from renewable sources, having built
a windpack to produce energy. In addition, Calgary has:
improved the efficiency of energy-intensive systems such as water-treatment plants
upgraded and modernized public transport
used smart, energy-efficient street lightning
generated electricity from methane recovered from rubbish tips
Although Calgary’s ecological footprint has been reduced to 9.5 gha, it is still much higher
than that Canadian average footprint of 7.1 gha.

Distinguish between a human carrying capacity and an ecological footprint of a population.

• Carrying capacity is defined as the maximum number of a species that can be sustainably
supported by an environment
• Human carrying capacity can exceed the “natural” carrying capacity through importing
goods, use of technology

• The ecological footprint of a population is defined as the area of land and water required to
support a human population at a given standard of living
• The measure takes account of the area required to provide all the resources needed by the
population, and the assimilation of all wastes
• An ecological footprint may exceed the amount of land directly available to a given human
population

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• Ecological footprints are the inverse of carrying capacity

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