Reading 1: Chapter 12

Reading 1: Chapter 12 The Environment Sustainable Development • Balance: the need to integrate the environment into our decision making • Ecosystem: environmental assessment should be completed; reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption; conserve biodiversity • Partnerships: access to information held by public authorities; opportunities to participate in decision making • Precautionary Principle: where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation Ecological Footprint: way to measure human consumption of the environment Responding to Global Climate Change Overview: The Science of Climate Change • Greenhouse Effect: a natural condition and necessary element in the earth o The increased absorption of long-wave radiation from the earth’s surface is the concern o This increased absorption is raising earth’s temperatures o This can also cause increased natural disasters • Positive Affects of Climate Change o More rainfall and longer growing seasons in high latitudes o Shifting agricultural land • Global warming will reduce latitudinal differences • Kyoto Protocol • Adapting to Climate Change o Perceptions, legal requirements, finances, new technologies o Adjustment Strategies § Mitigation: reductions in greenhouse gas emissions § Adaptive: how humans alter or adjust their activities in response to changing climates o Kyoto Protocol Article 10 § Promotes adaptation technologies to address climate change § Intent and purposefulness § Timing and Duration § Scale and Responsibility § Form: administrative, financial, technical, institutions, legal o Typology of Adaptation Options in Canadian Agriculture § 1. Technological Developments ú Crop Development ú Weather and Climate Information Systems ú Resource Management Innovations § 2. Government Programs and Insurance ú Subsidy and Support Programs ú Private Insurance ú Resource Management Programs § 3. Farm Production Practices ú Farm Productions ú Land Use ú Land Topography ú Irrigation ú Timing of Operation § 4. Farm Financial Management ú Crop Insurance ú Crop Shares and Futures ú Income Stabilization Program Long Range Trans-boundary Air Pollution (LRTAP): Acid Rain • Described