Patterns in resource consumption
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- Patterns of resource consumption
- Patterns of resource consumption
Evaluate the ecological footprint as a measure of the relationship between population size and resource consumption. Identify international variations in its size.
Discuss the two opposing views (neo-Malthusian and anti-Malthusian) of the relationship between population size and resource consumption.
Discuss the two opposing views (neo-Malthusian and anti-Malthusian) of the relationship between population size and resource consumption.
ExercisesDefine:
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Case Studies"It is an evident truth that, whatever may be the rate of increase in the means of subsistence, the increase of population must be limited by it, at least after the food has once been divided into the smallest shares that will support life. All the children born, beyond what would be required to keep up the population to this level, must necessarily perish, unless room be made for them by the deaths of grown persons."
Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, 1798 “Both the jayhawk and the man eat chickens, but the more jayhawks, the fewer chickens, while the more men, the more chickens.” 19th-century American economist Henry George “Our supplies of natural resources are not finite in any economic sense. Nor does past experience give reason to expect natural resources to become more scarce. Rather, if history is any guide, natural resources will progressively become less costly, hence less scarce, and will constitute a smaller proportion of our expenses in future years.” Julian Simon, Anti-Malthusian economist Case studies can include:
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- Changing patterns of energy consumption
- Changing patterns of energy consumption
Examine the global patterns and trends in the production and consumption of oil.
Examine the geopolitical and environmental impacts of these changes in patterns and trends. Examine the changing importance of other energy sources.
Examine the geopolitical and environmental impacts of these changes in patterns and trends. Examine the changing importance of other energy sources.
ExercisesDefine:
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Case StudiesUnconventional Oil: Fracking in Alberta, Canada
Unconventional oil and gaz http://www.energy.alberta.ca/oilsands/791.asp http://dangersoffracking.com |
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- Conservation strategies
- Conservation strategies
Discuss the reduction of resource consumption by conservation, waste reduction, recycling and substitution.
Evaluate a strategy at a local or national scale aimed at reducing the consumption of one resource.
Evaluate a strategy at a local or national scale aimed at reducing the consumption of one resource.
ExercisesDefine:
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Case StudiesPossible case studies:
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