Resource Issues

1. Resource Issues

2. Objectives • Describe how geography and geographic analysis helps us understand environmental issues. • Define and apply environmental and geographic terminology to environmental issues. • Explain the state of nonrewable and renewable energy sources. • Evaluate the various areas of environmental degradation.

3. Why Study Environmental Issues in a Human Geography class? • Uneven environmental impacts, consumption and distribution of resources • Energy • ½ of the world’s energy consumption occurs in MDCs • Per capita consumption in MDCs is 3x higher • North America uses ¼ of the energy supply • Human-environment relations • Connections

4. People without access to modern energy services by region, 2010

5. Environmental Concepts • Environment – includes the living and non-living surroundings in which we coexist with other organisms. • Scale – ecosystems (includes organisms, their surroundings, and the processes that connect them) • Interconnected ecosystems comprise the biosphere

6. Cultural ecology and human-environment relations Nature and society are interconnected • Natural capital – goods and services provided by nature: renewable and nonrenewable resources, biodiversity, and ecosystems • Goes back to integrated systems approach

7. Nonrewable Resources • Do not replenish or take extremely long amounts of time. • Economic depletion – more expensive to extract the resource than its value. 80% of resource extracted • Finite resources • Uneven distribution • Uneven economic gains • Political problems / power

8. US Total Energy Flow, 2011 Quadrillion BTU US Energy Information Administration

9. Oil Reserves – Figure 12.6 2008 & 2009 data At the current reserves-to-production ratio, we have enough oil to last 41.6 years. If Canada’s oil sands were included, they would move to 2nd place.

10. Uneven Distribution of Fossil Fuels • The location of most of the reserves is also where consumption tends to be lowest. • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) created in 1960 • Coordinates oil production & influences price through supply. • Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Nigeria, and Venezuela • Political power • 1973 OPEC states limited sale of oil to states that supported Israel in their 1973 war w/ Egypt, Jordan, and Syria

11. Oil Production Vs. Consumption 2008 & 2009 Data Figure 12.8a Between 1997 and 2007 oil consumption in China increased by 88% and 50% in India. Current rankings from the US Energy Information Administration

12. Coal • Partially decomposed and compressed plant and tree materials from swampy areas. • Largest source of energy, most widespread, 2nd in rate of consumption • US, Russia, and China • Reserves-to-production ratio – 133 years • China is largest producer and consumer

13. Mountain-top Removal • NASA Earth Observatory – West Virginia Mountain-top Removal • 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act – requires restoration of mined land. • Coal combustion adds mercury to the environment

14. Holt, Reinhart, and Winston

15. Uranium • Nuclear Energy – Reserves-to-production 100 years • Concentrated in industrial regions – knowledge, costs, infrastructure • Easily stored and efficient, minimal air pollution • Risk of nuclear accidents • Problem of waste disposal – Not In My Backyard! • Material for bombs • Limited uranium • Expensive (building, safety, transport of uranium) North Anna Power Station Dom.com

17. Renewable Options Replenished through natural or human activities. --Sustainable yield vs. ecologically sustainable yield–how much can be harvested without impacting resource renewal? Remember impacts on the ecosystem. • Biomass burning • Direct and Indirect (create a gas or fuel) • Very important for cooking in developing regions • Efficiency? • Forest depletion • Gendered division of labor – impacts opportunities • Indoor air pollution • Changes to agricultural production

19. Renewable Options • Wind power • Site specific • Minimal environmental impact • Can be loud and hurt animals • Geothermal energy • Using energy from heated groundwater • Site specific – plates meet • Solar energy • Passive- energy for heat captured by building design • Active-panels, mirrors or photovoltaic cells generate electricity from energy • Expensive and need to ^ efficiency

20. Environmental Degradation Occurs when: • A resource is used faster than it can replenish itself • Long-term productivity / biodiversity of an area is impacted • Pollutant concentrations exceed maximum allowable levels

21. Destruction of Resources:Pollution • Air pollution can be analyzed at different scales • Globally • Greenhouse Effect – natural process that warms the Earth • Carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation • Leads to global warming through the greenhouse effect • Increased temps from trapped radiation • Seeing glacial melt • Changes in climate zones • March 2013: 396.52 ppmMarch 2012: 393.57 ppm at Mauna Loa • Atmospheric CO2 concentrations • Atmospheric Methane Concentrations http://www.cbc.ca

22. Carbon Dioxide Outputs NASA

23. Global Warming – A global issue NASA Earth Observatory Arctic Sea Ice But the emissions are geographically uneven

24. Forest Impacts and Adaptation – EPA.gov

25. Air pollution • Globally, cont’d • Stratospheric ozone depletion • Result of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) • Ozone is supposed to absorb UV rays, but they are getting through • NASA • Regionally • Acid deposition • The acidification of precipitation by nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides • Not restricted to geographic borders! Shipping Lane Clouds, NASA

26. Air Pollution • Locally • Impacts of pollution worse in urban areas • Largest impact from fossil fuel use • Smog closed the Beijing Airport in China 12/5/11. NASA https://confluence.furman.edu

27. Land-Use and Land-Cover Change • An interdisciplinary approach to studying human-environment relations based on the linkages between ecosystem processes and social conditions. • Amazon Deforestation

28. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

29. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html Shrinking Aral Sea

30. Water Pollution • Pollution from point and non-point sources • Greater in LDCs than in MDC despite higher levels of waste in MDCs • Non-point agricultural runoff impacts aquatic life • Increased nitrogen in water increases # of algae and phytoplankton • Increased competition for oxygen (decomposition of biotic materials) • Impacts temperature of water • Dead zones can result TED talk: Sailing the Great Pacific Garage Patch

31. Aquatic Dead Zones http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/44000/44677/dead_zones_lrg.jpg

32. Soil • Deforestation, erosion, agriculture all impact topsoil

33. Land Pollution • Solid wastes can accumulate • US concentrates solid wastes into sanitary landfills • Wastes can leach into the soils • Incineration becoming more popular • Recycling programs do help • EPA Superfund sites Tar Creek In OK, Sierra Club

34. Review • Why did we discuss environmental issues in a geography course? How does geography help us analyze environmental problems? Be specific. • Differences between renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. • Describe the state of nonrenewable energy sources, and the geography of reserves, consumption, and production where appropriate. • Describe renewable energy options and the challenges associated with them. Difference between sustainable yield and ecologically sustainability yield? • What are three different ways of looking at environmental degradation? • How can we use scale to examine the consequences of air pollution? • What is the greenhouse effect? • What is a Land-Use and Land-Cover Change analysis? • What are some of the issues facing our water and land resources? • Terms: Environment, ecosystems, biosphere, natural capital, biodiversity, carbon footprint, Kyoto Protocol, open-access resources