REM 100 Lecture Notes - Our Common Future, Flue Gas, Rio Declaration On Environment And Development

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Resource & Environmtl Mgmt
• Course: REM 100
• Professor: Neil Braganza

Document Summary

Impact = population * affluence * level of technology. Affluence (consumption per person) primarily developed world problems. Technology (throughput per unit of consumption) impact of specific technology depends on various factors. Affluence and technology are related, but affluent societies can finance new technologies to ameliorate environmental problems. So increasing levels of technology do not automatically increase environmental impact. Locally and regionally: caused by some combination of natural increase (surplus of births over deaths) First stage birth rates and death rates fluctuate, with some overall increase. Second stage death rates decline and birth rates stay high. Third stage birth rates drop to close to replacement levels. Parents depend on children to look after them. Improvements in social power of women and overall standard of living can lead to decrease in the birth rate. Population-environment links are not a simple one-way street, as in: Instead, population growth has a complex role in environmental change ( e. g. compounding factor )