GEOG 4400: Resource Use

1. GEOG 4400: Resource Use Lecture 3 Resource Scarcity

2. Student Discussion #1 • Human Impact Model • Environmental Impact = P * A * T • Population * Affluence * Technology • People Overpopulation

3. Student Discussion #2 • Human Impact Model • Environmental Impact = P * A * T • Population * Affluence * Technology • Consumption Overpopulation

4. Student Discussion #3 • Cycle of environmental, resource, and social problems

5. Resource Scarcity • The unavailability of environmental resources • Symptoms include famine and starvation • Responses include: • Go without; starve • Environmental deterioration • Frontier expansion • Migration • Annexation • New technologies and substitutes

6. Classification of Resource Scarcity • Absolute vs. Relative • Absolute scarcity: when insufficient physical quantities of the resource are available to meet the demand for it • Relative scarcity: when the physical quantites of the resource are sufficient to meet demand, but problems arise over quality of supplies

7. Student Discussion #4 • Absolute Scarcity • Egypt’s Plagues • Series of tragedies that impacted Egypt • Did the plagues really happen?

8. Student Discussion #5 • Absolute Scarcity • Little Ice Age in Europe • Period of global cooling between 13th and 19th centuries • Cooler, cloudier summers reduced crop production and promoted crop rot • Major famines across Europe including 1315-17 • Year Without a Summer, 1816, caused by volcanic eruption in Indonesia

9. Student Discussion #6 • Absolute Scarcity • Drought in the Sahel • Frequent variability in monsoon activity affects millions of inhabitants of the Sahel • Droughts limit crop production, defeat grazing, and help advance desert migration • 1984-5 famine in Ethiopia killed almost 1 million

10. Student Discussion #7 • Absolute Scarcity • Bison Removal • There were government initiatives at the federal and local level to starve the population of the Plains Indians by killing off their main food source, the bison. The Government promoted bison hunting for various reasons • to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines • to weaken the Plains Indian population and pressure them to remain on reservations • The herds formed the basis of the economies of local Plains tribes of Native Americans for whom the bison were a primary food source. Without bison, the Native Americans would be forced to leave or starve.

11. Student Discussion #8 • Absolute Scarcity • Overfishing

12. Malthusian vs. Ricardian • Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) • Fixed amount of land with environmental limits • Costs of production may remain constant up to the time when the resource is fully used

13. Malthusian vs. Ricardian • David Ricardo (1772-1823) • Focused on quality of resources • Population growth means pressure on poorer resources • Determined by prices

14. Student Discussion #9 • Relative Scarcity • French Revolution • Harsh winters in 1788 &89 caused poor harvests of grain • Peasants moved into the cities where they became dependent upon government granaries • High taxes on bread were seen as an assault on commoners • Potatoes were disfavored • Mal-distribution of bread led to the “Great Fear”

15. Student Discussion #10 • Relative Scarcity • Great Leap Forward • China Premier Mao Zedong promoted industrial growth to put China on par with western industrial nations in mid-1950’s • A series of 5-year-plans sacrificed agricultural commodities at the expense of factories and assembly lines • More than 15 million perished from misdistribution of resources • Famine of 1959-61

16. Student Discussion #11 • Relative Scarcity • OPEC Embargo • Oil-producing countries limit production to raise prices and gain political control • Impact in western countries is devastating • OPEC Embargo

17. Types of Resource Scarcity • Physical scarcity • Economic scarcity • Geopolitical scarcity • Other forms of scarcity

18. Physical Scarcity • Resource base is limited • Land, water, minerals • Whether resource is scarce depends on quantity within Earth and level of consumption • Can fluctuate • Cycles of scarcity and abundance

19. Physical Scarcity • Depends on technology • Actual • Potential • Possible (speculative)

20. Economic Scarcity • Supply and demand • Lag time • Farm prices vs. need for food, water, and fuelwood

21. Geopolitical Scarcity • OPEC • Other measures

22. Ecological Scarcity

23. Environmental Deterioration

24. Student Discussion #12 • Environmental Degradation

25. Significance of Resource Scarcity • Scarcity and limits • Responses • Go without

26. Frontier Expansion • Migration • Annexation

27. New Technologies

28. Student Discussion #13 • Hobbes’ Leviathan • Ophuls: 191

29. Student Discussion #14 • End of the Great Frontier • Ophuls: 192

30. Student Discussion #15 • Tragedy of the Commons

31. Student Discussion #16 • Altruism Is Not Enough

32. Student Discussion #17 • Democracy vs. Elite Rule

33. Student Discussion #18 • The Ecological Contract

34. Sustainability