ENV222H1 Lecture : Feb2

• School: UTSG
• Department: School of Environment
• Course: ENV222H1
• Professor: Geoffrey Mac Donald

Document Summary

From jan. 19 lecture notes: 160: means whereby humans use nature for their own benefit , machines + means of using them (organization, 107: enabler underpins growth of population and per capita consumption. We are defining enabler as: machine + energy = expanded human impact on nature; particularly as previously noted with the industrial revolution access to fossil-fuel energy. Ehrlich and ehrlich also present technology as chooser - technology has a strong influence on social activities; eg motor vehicle and low-density, urban-sprawl land use; digital communication technologies which facilitate information spread and thus influence governance (arab spring, Syria today: technology as cause of environmental problems. 2. 2 as source of accidental risk - reader pp. ; 136-138; risks of human error or machine failure in large, centralized systems; eg, chernobyl nuclear accident, 1986; walkerton 2000 drinking water pollution; japan fukushima nuclear accident, 2011.