Environment

Question 1

Technology

Answer 1

application of scientific principles to improvement of life
•before = naïve optimism - technology can do no wrong
•progress picking up speed - tangible benefits
•post war started doubting technology
•thinking about it as frankenstein rather than saviour

Question 2

Normal accidents

Answer 2

mishaps because very complexity of modern technologies ensures they will inevitably fail, though in unpredictable ways
normal because inevitable

Question 3

risk society

Answer 3

social system in which tech distributes danger + advantage among all social groups, although some are more exposed than others are
risk doesn’t derive just from normal accidents there are also mounting environmental threats (more widespread, chronic, lasts longer, more ambiguous because we don’t know what to do about them)

Question 4

Global Warming and Polar Ice

Answer 4

1.Heat-trapping gases produced by human activity collect in atmosphere
•increasing fuel burning which release co2 + gases into the atmosphere
2.More heat enters atmosphere than escapes: some absorbed + some reflected back by blanket of heat-trapping gases
•solar radiation is trapped
•greenhouse effect increase global warming, gradual increase of surface

Question 5

Global Warming and Polar Ice

Answer 5

3. Heat melts ice, creating water + revealing tundra.
4. Tundra releases CH4 (methane), effective heat-trapping gas which traps even more heat
5. Water reflects less heat than ice does because it’s darker than ice speeding up global warming

Question 6

Average Annual Surface Air Temperature and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, 1880-2012

Answer 6

Safe upper limit by scientific consensus: 350 ppm - we reached this in 1980
Average annual surface air temperature in degrees Celsius
•rate of increase after 1975
•amount of co2 increase rapidly since 1880
•more water evaporates more rainfall
•more flooding, more erosion, ruins land
•droughts spread as land is eliminated = more famine
•oceans rise because warm water expands
•melting of ice = more water in ocean coastal regions flood

Question 7

Global Warming, 1880-2012

Answer 7

• a lot more concentration of warm spots especially at the poles
• polar ice cap to the point where permanent ice cap has become water

Question 8

Sólheimajökull Retreats

Answer 8

• 8 km x 1.5 tongue made of glacier that’s moving down a mountain
• at the end it starts melting into volcanic ash
• lots of melting, more moisture, bigger storms

Question 9

Worldwide Insured Losses Due to “Natural” and Human Catastrophes, 1970-2012 (in 2005 $US billions)

Answer 9

• collect data on total cost for all disasters
• scared of increasing costs
• we’re contributing to natural resources

Question 10

Ocean Acidification

Answer 10

high level of CO2 in atmosphere partly absorbed by oceans, causing them to acidify (lowering pH due to the formation of carbonic acid) faster

Question 11

Ocean Acidification

Answer 11

• 56 million years ago, ocean pH fell by .01 unit per century.
• Now, ocean pH is falling by .1 unit per century.
• Coral reefs, oysters, salmon + other species threatened by ocean acidification

Question 12

Global Fossil Fuel Reserves and the 2

Carbon Budget

Answer 12

2° C global warming would be catastrophic. We have already warmed the planet by 0.8°. The emissions potential of proven fossil fuel reserves is 2,795 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

Question 13

Environmental issues become social problems when…

Answer 13

1. policy-oriented scientists, environmental movement, mass media + respected organizations discover + promote issues
   Only 1980s when they expressed great deal, insurance companies
   •started getting a lot of attention from the media

Question 14

Environmental issues become social problems when…

Answer 14

2. people connect real-life events to info learned. If they can’t make a connection, it’s meaningless
   •drought in midwest got ppl scared, started to realize the things they experienced, suddenly able to connect the dots

Question 15

Environmental issues become social problems when…

Answer 15

3. scientists, industrial interests + politicians who dispute existence of environmental threats must fail to convince public that threat is illusory + human intervention is unnecessary
   •producers of coal + oil: industries fund some scientists that find holes, alternative theories
   •some places are effective in US, where they create widespread confusion

Question 16

Environmental issues become social problems when…

Answer 16

• become social issues only when these 3 conditions happen
• environmental issues only become social problem when it is socially constructed
• environmental risks are distributed
• mass media flock to poorest in trailer parks seeking biggest damage, after a sensational story

Question 17

Air Pollution and Poverty in Toronto Neighbourhoods

Answer 17

•poor areas of toronto = more pollution

Question 18

Top Carbon Dioxide Emitters, 201: developing countries

Answer 18

• rapid industrialization

* smog blanket cities

Question 19

Environmental racism is the
tendency to heap environmental
dangers on the disadvantaged.

Answer 19

• more aboriginals = more pollution in the air
• we place facilities in poor areas
• we supplied the uranium for the bomb, paid poor aboriginals $3 a day to haul in burlap bags down to states
• children were exposed to its dangerous radiant
• community has died of cancers from radiation poisoning
• racism that expose poor to put environmental degradation to poor

Question 20

Going for a walk in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 21 January 2013

Answer 20

•most polluted cities in China
•air quality deteriorating
•more fine particles
Trucks in China: dirty oil, high sulfur fuel, lots of trucks for heavy industrialization, pollution accumulated at night
•developing can’t afford much so lack environmental
•move dirtiest work south

Question 21

Why the market and high technology can’t solve the problems of environmental degradation on their own:

Answer 21

Price signals imperfect: price of oil triples, means we need to figure out a way to produce oil cheaply
•Price of gas low that covers only half of cost of damage
•Price signals hampered for political reasons
Political pressure needed: necessary for social movements to make demands by backing it up with lots of votes

Question 22

Why the market and high technology can’t solve the problems of environmental degradation on their own:

Answer 22

pace of change too slow: not moving fast enough

•They’re not enough

Question 23

Renewable Resources, World, Percent Decrease, 1990- 2010

Answer 23

•They are actually decreasing

Question 24

What needs to be done now

Answer 24

Reduce consumption of everything in rich countries.
Increase investment in energy-saving technologies + environmental cleanup
Subsidize environmentally friendly industrialization in developing countries
•We need to subsidize (rich) clean industrialization
•If it this requires more taxes, less consumption, more cooperation, more sacrifice

Question 25

What needs to be done now

Answer 25

Renew commitment to voluntary efforts, new laws + enforcement bodies to ensure compliance Raise taxes •We’re doomed to extinction, nature is gonna punish us

Question 26

What needs to be done now

Answer 26

Carefully assess risks associated with biotechnology projects + consult public before such projects go forward Share profits from genetic engineering with donors of genetic material •Disaster will prompt action •We need deaths + tragedies in order to act

Question 27

Precondition for action

Answer 27

Awareness of the gravity of the environmental problem | Belief in the capacity of people and their governments to solve the problem

Question 28

Precondition for action

Answer 28

Willingness to make substantial economic sacrifices to get the job done

Question 29

Environmental issues become social problems when...

Answer 29

* it is disadvantaged people that suffer the most, their circumstances render them most vulnerable * advantaged put disadvantage at risk so they don’t have to * oil companies set up shop at poor communities * they don’t have power to stop them and need the jobs

Question 30

Environmental issues become social problems when...

Answer 30

* zip codes with no hazardous had 12% minority * with dangerous facility had 24%-38% minority pop * 3/5 hispanics + blacks lived with hazardous site in mid 1980

Question 31

Nano by Tata

Answer 31

* burns dirty fuel * no pollution control * rich countries still doing more pollution, but we’re at a point where amount of fossil fuel is becoming dangerous * agronomists made it possible to feed everyone where crop production increased

Question 32

Nano by Tata

Answer 32

* looked for cleaner fuels driving market prices down * we will take action to drive down costs * market based view: human inventiveness + profit motive will create tech that will save us * took lead out of gasoline damaging brains * gas used in refrigerate caused damage on ozone layer, we developed a montreal protocol, no more production of these gases, new refrigerates

Question 33

Tragedy of the Commons

Answer 33

* Natural resources we share + depend on * maximize personal economic gain by exploiting commons * Externality: cost externalized from private company to state + society

Question 34

economic contingency

Answer 34

more ppl considers environ issue important during good economic times, while smaller issues important in recession

Question 35

Jevon’s paradox

Answer 35

become more efficient in use of natural resources, cost of using it falls + we use more of it

Question 36

Polluter pays principle

Answer 36

* Fire/tax serves as a discincentive, causing industry to reduce/eliminate environ impact of its activities * Pollution permits

Question 37

Kyoto Protocol

Answer 37

* Gov set absolute limit on total amount of certain pollutant can be emitted * Right to pollute must be purchased in form of permit from national/international agency that runs newly created market * Total # of pollution permits issued is fixed