Environment, Natural Resources, and Population: Lecture Notes - Prof. Ronald Wilfredo Luna, Study notes of Human Geography

Download Environment, Natural Resources, and Population: Lecture Notes - Prof. Ronald Wilfredo Luna and more Study notes Human Geography in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture 7: Environment and Natural Resources Natural resource- created through natural processes (limited and not recyclable) that people use and value oEx water oil air gold Renewable- ex solar energy, wind Non renewable- ex coal oil gas iron How are resources defined? o Cultural value o Technology o Economy system Views on environment  Environmental determinism- human activities are controlled by the environment Social development Economic development Behavior  Possibilism- environment creates opportunities  Sustainable development- development that increases wealth but avoids environmental destruction Industrial Revolution brought-  Discovery  Utilization  Dependency  Technology to use fossil fuel (coal oil natural gas)  Pollution  Consumption Deforestation- removal of trees without adequate replanting Desertification- extension of desert like conditions as a result of human activities Carbon trading market companies have to abide by rules about pollution Why is Brazil losing so much forest?  Cattle ranches  Small-scale subsistence agriculture Consequences of Biofuel: Brazil  Deforestation  Roots lie in worldwide demand for ethanol Haiti  Extremely deforested (not planting same tree after) only 2-4% left  Need to: Plant trees that can be used, understand concepts, issues, cultural elements for progress Lecture 8: Population Demographic Transition Model Population Pyramid Human Development Index Doubling Time Dependency Ratio Rates- frequency of occurrence of an event during a given time frame for a designated population Crude Birth Rate (CBR)- annual number of live births per 1000 people Crude Death Rate (CDR)- annual number of deaths per 1000 people Total Fertility Rate- average number of children a woman will have Natural Increase- growth of a population. Birth-Death=Natural Increase DOES NOT INCLUDE MIGRATION (X-FACTOR) Replacement Value- number of children per family to keep total population constant 2.1 (beyond should be population increase, below should be population decrease) World population resides in Asia, India…Developing countries (poor nations) Catalyst is the industrial revolution in the 1800s Natural resources and population growth Because of the elimination of germs meant lower death rate (people live yayyy) Demographic Transition Model Stage 1: high birth rate and high death rate means low natural increase Nothing happening Stage 2: high birth rate and declining death rate means rising natural increase “tidal wave” population momentum Stage 3: low birth rate means decrease natural increase… moving toward stabilization Stage 4: low birth rate low death rate means no natural increase/ population stable or declining Stages 1 and 4= catastrophic. Unstable or unsustainable Ranching- commercial grazing, arid or semi arid land Mediterranean- hot dry summers, cool rainy winters, most for human consumption, olives grapes, fruit Plantation- large amount of land, Latin America, Asia, Africa, coffee sugar cane, banana Animals of the Columbian Exchange: America Turkey Llamas Bison Buffalo Europe Cattle Horses Pigs Sheep Introduction of animals had a big impact on land use, economist lifestyles Latin America had no large domesticated animals Spatially Intensive Putting in a lot Crop that doesn’t need a lot of land, but you need to put a lot into the earth to maximize yield Tomato Spatially Extensive In order to make profit, you need more land Plantations Cattle Characteristics of Spatially Extensive in a Spatially restricted society  Productivity per unit of land is low  Per capital production is low  Inability of activities to support large populations (subsistent)  Inability of activities to withstand competition for land  Located (pushed) in large isolated areas that aren’t supposed to be used for agriculture  Crucial link with environment for survival  Have to constantly be moving (Amazon) to make sure can get enough yield  Structures are temporary due to movement o Ex. Hunting and gathering, slash and burn/shifting/swidden, nomadic herding Spatially Interdependent Societies- commercial agriculture Modern Agriculture Lecture 9 part II Why choose that crop?  Cost of alternatives  Location of resources (water, market)  Relative location  Point of consumption  Space requirements  Transport costs VON THUNEN MODEL: Location rent=revenue-transportation cost Farms closer to the market: higher rent Perishability plays a big role Agricultural Fringe- Distance at which agriculture rents equal zero Greater distance from the market less land values and intensity of land use *Distance perishability cost Bid rent curve- relationship between distance and cost Competitions for land need to be taken into account  Agriculture  Urbanization  Industry Crop characteristics  Value- how much will you get out of it  Portability- transport cost (ex. Milk weight vs. wheat weight)  Perishability  Get to the market!!! o Veggies- high value crop (not much land) high return o Potatoes- needs lots of land o Wheat- low value crop so need to increase yield and increase land Dairying and the Market  *Must be close  Not as many cheese farms Food security- Supply of food Future food supplies  New crop potential Preserving gene combos Cultural acceptance  Scientific Revolution Gene splicing GM Cloning  Resistance to Biotechnology Rel/cult/environ  Global warming  Wars Distribution of Supplies  Poor distribution Hunger/famine Political strife  Countries import and export food  Increase in production  Improvement in distribution  Wealthy countries make policies to protect Tariffs, subsidies Rising food price reasons 1. trade restrictions (tariffs) 2. Increased demand in Asia (want to eat like us therefore putting pressure on food supply) 3. Weather (too much water/rain) 4. Biofuels (increased demand for corn) 5. Fuel prices (crude oil) Industry and Transportation Lecture 10 1. Primary- extracting 2. Secondary- manufacturing 3. Tertiary- industrial