ENV 101

Monday 12 March

Demography and Biodiversity Issues

Feeding the Child in the Balkans

 

 

Admin

·       Oral Presentation?! J

·       PES Chapter Four Today…and then Specific Earth and PES pages Wednesday

·       Second Environmental Project Due Wednesday March 28-Questions?

·       WHAT’S NEW AND GROOVY IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES?

                       

                        National Research Council and North Slope

 

 

 

I.                  ETHICS – SCIENCE  - SOCIETY   (Cross Media Issues)

Recharging ***THE ECOSPHERE***              Ecosphere?

 

 

                                   

 

 

SCIENCE >> POLICY >> ETHICS

 

Biotic Potential v. Carrying Capacity

 

                                   

I.                Population – The child on the Balkan Peninsula in October, 1999

Humans – Six Billion People with # to be 9.3 to 12 billion in 50 years

Other Species – “r”       Their intrinsic capacity for increase (ls v. es )

 

R = Growth Rate

 

The rate of population growth at any instant is given by the equation

dN = rN
dt

where

An Exercise:

II.           Doubling Times

When a population has doubled, N = N0 x 2.

Putting this in our exponential growth equation, 2N0 = N0ert
ert = 2
rt = ln (natural logarithm) of 2 = 0.69
doubling time, t = 0.69 / r

 

Two Exercises: 

So Sri Lanka with an r of 1.3% (0.013) has a doubling time    t = 0.69/0.013 = _a____.

With a 2006 rate of natural increase in Mexico of 1.7%, its population would be expected to double in __b__40 years (0.69/0.017 = __b__) from its 108 million people now to some 216 million in __c__. Will it?

 

 

II.           HUMAN DEMOGRAPHY

 

Humans

 

J-Curve v. S-Curve , lag phases and the carrying capacity gap

 

Low r = K-strategists          High r=r-strategists  (Pages 62 and 63)

 

N>K = ________?   K>N  __________?      N=K __________?

 

Population Growth – Environmental Resistance = Actual Growth

                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Density Dependent or Independent Factors)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(TFR) = Total Fertility Rate

Rate of Natural Increase = Birth Rate – Death Rate (crude death rate  d/1,000)

A = 53

B = 40.6

C= 2046

So can we precisely predict RNIncrease:  NO – only good guesses - No one knows for certain. What actually happens to population growth depends on a number of factors. Some of these can be estimated with some confidence, some cannot

National Growth Rate =  What???

Age Structure

 

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html#Exponential_Growth

 

 

 

Demography Site I – specs of “The 100 people”

 

Demography Site II – UN FPA

 

Demography Site III – “Supermarket to the World”

 

Demography Site IV – Disease

IVB - US

Demography Site V

 

III.      Good Morning Representatives of the Planetary Population Conference

IV.       LINKING POPULATION TO GREEN AGRICULTURE AND TOXINS

Today we are to determine a “world population policy” that will deal with issues affecting life on the planet.

Humans

Other Species

The Environment

 

The United Nations (UN), an accepted authority on population levels and trends, estimates that the world population reached 6 billion in 1999, and is increasing annually by more than 77 million persons. The rate of increase, 1.3 percent per year, has fallen below the peak rate of 2 percent per year attained by 1970. By the late 2040s, the UN estimates, the growth rate will have fallen to about 0.34 percent annually, at which time more than 50 countries will experience negative growth. 

 

And who are all of these people?  In the April 1997 issue of Women's Press the following summation was made.  If we divided the world's population by 60 million there would be 100 humans, of whom:

·                     57 are Asian

·                     21 are Europeans

·                     14 are Hispanics from the Western Hemisphere

·                     8 are Africans

·                     51 are females

·                     70 are non-white

·                     70 are non-Christian; 30 are Christian

·                     6 individuals control 50% of the world's wealth--all Americans

·                     70 are unable to read

·                     50 suffer from malnutrition

·                     1 is near death and 1 is about to be born

·                     and only 1 would has a college education

WHAT SHOULD THIS PPC Do????

 

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & GREEN  AGRICULTURE

 

Q.           You own and operate a 10,000 acre farm.  You are part of the “Green Revolution.” 

  What issues (except green agriculture) must you consider in order to effectively operate your farm?

 

AGRICULTURE

Organized food production using plants

 

Chinese and Native/Indigenous Peoples were first farmers

Subsistence agriculture

LANDRACES

 

Incorporation of Science into agriculture

 

Gregor Mendel and crossbreeding – first understanding of genetics

CULTIVARS = Cultivated Varieties

 

Norman Borlaug and high-yield wheat (rust resistant and resistant to lodging)

cross-pollination and self-pollination (hybrids)

 

Q.           HOW WAS LODGING A PROBLEM WITH EARLY CULTIVAR ATTEMPTS OF MEXICAN WHEAT?

 

Annual Yields and Total harvests

 

THE GREEN REVOLUTION

 

Ø   Mechanization

Ø   Soil and HEL

Ø   Irrigation

Ø  Pesticides and Fertilizers and LD50    and bioaccumulation and biomagnification

Ø  FOOD AND PESTICIDES

Ø   ???

 

Ogallala I

Ogallala II

 

Water on the High Plains

 

MONOCULTURE

 

WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF CULTURAL LINKS to AGRICULTURE?

 

 

 

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)…………………. SEX! – made you look.

 

Bioengineering and Transgenic Crops – (Genetically Modified Crops)

Terminator Seed Technology

Wondering…and worrying…about water.

POINT v. NONPOINT Issues

HOW DOES RECOVERY OCCUR OF CULTURAL DAMAGE OF WATER RESOURCES?

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Water Treatment…

OR

Be “nice” to the water prior to cultural use - Ogallala

US Ground Water