GEOG 1220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Global Warming, Positive Feedback, Ecocentrism
Document Summary
Week 1 human impact on the environment. Critical balances occur in the lithosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere (eg. we release too much carbon in the atmosphere, so the earth can"t absorb it fast enough: life depends on sustainability of the environment. No resources = no life? (cid:223) question of humans, true or not: all resources are limited. Our species can be found anywhere on earth, even in technology space: negative feedback maintains the stability of ecosystems (dampens change, positive feedback amplifies change. It almost always leads to a population crash. September 8th, 2014: population, size, distribution, density, growth rate, resources, supply, demand controlled by humans, acquisition controlled by humans, use controlled by humans, environmental change, abiotic non-living environment (atmosphere, biotic living environment (biosphere) I (human impact) = population x affluence x technology. Factors influencing population, resources and the environment: per capita consumption. Political: definition of anthropocentric: resource does not refer to just a thing, but it refers to a thing"s function.