8.

1 Human Population Dynamics

Demographics:​ study of dynamics of population change
Crude Birth Rate:​ (# of births/pop)*1000
Crude Death Rate: ​(# of deaths/pop)*1000
Natural Increase Rate: ​rate of human growth ((CBR-CDR)/10)
Doubling Time: time it takes in years for pop to double in size
Total Fertility Rate:​ avrg #of children/woman/lifetime
NIR of 1%= will double pop in 70 years Doubling Time = 70/NIR
MEDCs​: 2.03 (Italy, Japan) ​LEDCs:​ 2.16 (India)
Human Development Index: ​a measure of well being of a country
MEDCs LEDCs

Europe, North America, South Africa, Israel, Japan Sub-Saharan, Asian, South America
Industrialized nations + high GDP Less industrialized/barely any industries
Rich population Natural capital processed in MEDCs
No poverty/starving Lower GDP: high poverty
High resource use per capita Low standards of living
Low pop growth due to low CBR but high CDR High pop growth rates (falling CDR)
High ecological footprints Low ecological footprints
Why are we more flexible than other species: carrying capacity
- import food Reducing family size:
- adaptation/mitigation - education, health, enhance income
- Adop to food choices (microfinance), resource management
Reasons for large families:
- High infant mortality rate
- Security in old age
- Economic assets: agriculture
- Status of women
- Contraceptives
Demographic Transition Model:
Stage 1: ​high stationary (high birth due to no birth control,
high infant mortality rates, large families due to cultural
factors, high death rates due to famine and little medicine)
Stage 2: ​early expanding (death rate drops, disease
reduces, lifespan increases, birth rate still high, child
mortality falls)
Stage 3: ​late expanding (birth rates fall due to contraceptives, education, empowerment, pop
levels off, smaller families, low infant death rate)
Stage 4:​low stationary, low birth and death rates, industrialized countries, stable pop)
Stage 5: ​declining, fertility rate low, problems of ageing workforce
Limitations:
● Initial model didn’t have 5th stage - only recently countries have become part of this
(Germany, Sweden)
● Fall in death rate hasn’t been as steep
● Death from AIDS-related diseases can affect this
● Fall in birth rate assumes availability of contraceptives and allowances from religious
practices
● Assumes increasing education and literacy for women (not always the case)

Malthusian Theory: Boserup Theory:

- Food supply was a limit to pop growth
- Pop can never increase beyond food supplies
Necessary to support it.
- Too simplistic
- Ignores reality (only poor go hungry)
- Did not consider technology (globalization)
Technology to increase food production
pop growth leads to development
Assumption of closed community
Migration happens in overpopulated areas
Overpopulation can lead to bad farming

Case Studies & Video Links:

1. Sahel Africa: pop growth, overusing natural resources, degradation

8.2 Resource Use in Society

Renewable natural capital:​ can be generated/replaced as fast as it is being used
Non-renewable natural capital: ​either irreplaceable or only replaced over geological
timescales (fossils, minerals)
Natural capital: ​resource that has value to humans
Capital includes:
- Natural sources with value (trees, water)
- Natural sources that provides services (flood protection)
- Processes (water cycle)
 Renewable natural capital Non-renewable natural capital

Living species and ecosystems that use solar Finite amounts: not renewed/replaced after
energy and photosynthesis they’ve been used/depleted

Groundwater and ozone layer Alternatives need to be found

Recyclable resources: iron ore is non-renewable
Steel & iron in cars can be recycled
Iron extracted from ore = renewable
Arctic:
- Mineral riches surrounding Arctic Ocean (hydrocarbons)
- Climate change causing it to warm up (more ice-free days)
- Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, US have Arctic Ocean coastlines
- They are j​ostling for ownership of the region's frozen seas.
Antarctic:
- 98% covered in ice and snow
- Humans exploit it through tourism, fishing and whaling
- Nobody owns it but seven have staked territorial claims via “The Antarctic Treaty”
Changing value of natural capital
● Cork forests
- Previously used to seal wine bottles
- Being replaced by screw top bottles and plastic corks
- Forests losing value due to not being used as natural capital to humans
- Not a good thing because they are not biodegradable
● Lithium
- More than half of lithium reserves are under a desert salt plain in Bolivia
- Lithium production not enough to power electric cars if they were to replace cars with
petrol engines
Valuing Natural Capital
● Use Valuation - use natural capital we can put prices on
- Economic price of marketable goods
- Recreational functions (tourism)
● Non-use Valuation - natural capital that it is impossible to put a price on
- If it has intrinsic value (right to exist)
- If it has future uses we aren’t aware of (Science, Medicine)
- If it has existential value (Amazon rainforest)
8.3 Solid Domestic Waste:
- Trash, garbage, rubbish
- Something is waste when there is no value for the producer
Linear model of producing:​ take, make, dump
The circular economy aims to:
- Be restorative of the environment
- Use renewable energy source
- Eliminate or reduce toxic wastes
- Eradicate waste through careful design
Strategies to minimize waste
1. Reduce
- Change shopping habits, buy things that will last
- Buy energy efficient, recyclable goods
2. Reuse
- Compost food waste
- Use old clothes as cleaning rags
- Read E Books
3. Recycle
Strategies for waste disposal
1. Landfills
+ Cheap initial cost
+ Away from highly populated areas
+ Lined with special plastic liners to prevent liquid waste from leaving the area
+ Methane used to generate electricity
- Issues with leaking gases
- Contaminate groundwater & crops
- Cause health problems
2. Incinerators
- Burning waste causes air pollution (release harmful gases)
- Expensive
- Need a lot of waste to use this (does not discourage waste reduction)
+ Generates steam and powers heat powered buildings nearby
+ Ash can be used in road building
+ Space taken up is smaller than landfills
3. Anaerobic digestion: ​biodegradable matter broken down by microorganisms in the
absence of oxygen
+ Renewable
+ Methane used as fuel and waste used as fertilizer
- HIgh set up cost
- Feasible for large farms mainly
4. Domestic Organic Waste: ​ can be composted or put into anaerobic bio-digesters
+ Eco-friendly and methane produced can be used as fuel, improve soil health
- Takes up space, only organic matter can be used, health and safety concerns (smell)
8.4 Human Systems & Resource Use
Carrying capacity: ​the maximum number of species or load that can be sustainably supported
by a given area.
Difficulties in measuring human carrying capacity
- Greater range of resources used
- Substitution of resources if others run out
- Resource use varies person to person
- Import resources from outside our immediate environment
- Developments in technology
Importing resources —> increases carrying capacity for local population (no influence on global
carrying capacity)
Ways to change human carrying capacity
1. Ecocentric
- Try to reduce their use of non-renewable resources
- Use solar cells for electricity and rain water for water supply
2. Technocentric
- HCC can be expanded through technological innovation
- Reuse, recycle and remanufacturing
Ecological footprint: ​area of land and water required to support a defined human population at
a given standard of living
- The model estimates demands that human population place on the environment
- Vary country to country (due to lifestyle choices)
- 2012: EF of all people was equivalent to 1.5 Earths
Depends on several factors
- Area of land needed to absorb wastes (water, sewage, CO2)
- Pop size
- Cropland to grow food
- WORLD CARRYING CAPACITY DOES NOT CHANGE BUT LOCAL DOES.

Case Studies & Video Links:

1. Qatar and Kuwait are rich and use a lot of resources (above carrying capacity)
2. Japan: efficient but use a lot of resources
3. Thailand: below carrying capacity (there are more poor than rich)