Environmental Issues

1. Environmental Issues

2. Population Pressure • Population pressure is a circumstance that makes it harder for organisms to survive. There's always some kind of population pressure, but events like floods, droughts or new predators can increase it. Under high pressure, more members of a population will die before reproducing. • How can conflict or poverty lead to population pressures?

3. Refugee Camps • Sudan, Chad, Haiti

4. Depletion of Natural Resources • The indebtedness and poverty of many developing countries reduce opportunities for conservation. • Erosion is the process in which the materials of the Earth's crust are worn and carried away by wind, water, and other natural forces. The destruction of forests and native grasses has allowed water and wind greater opportunity to erode the soil. • Changes in river flow and seepage from human technology have shifted the runoff patterns of water and the sediment load of rivers that, in turn, deposit into lakes and oceans. • Erosion has become a problem in much of the world in areas that are over farmed or where topsoil cannot be protected, such as on coasts, which are often overdeveloped.

5. Erosion • Coastal erosion • Dried River Beds • Clear Cuts

6. Fossil Fuel Use • Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons such as coal, oil and natural gas, sourced from the organic remains of prehistoric organisms. • Advantages to fossil fuels: straightforward combustion process, relatively inexpensive, easily transported • Disadvantages to fossil fuels: thought to be a major cause of global warming, cause of acid rain, not sustainable in the long-term, politics and economics can cause major price increases, extraction can be very damaging to the landscape

7. Fossil Fuel Usage

8. Higher Rates of Consumerism • Bottled water (60 Billion/world), fast food (120 Billion/US), disposable paper products (14 Billion/China), vehicles (15 Billion on Ads, 67 million on lobbying, 19 million on campaign contributions/US), pet industry (42 Billion in pet food alone) • http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

9. What does this mean?

10. Consumerism Images

11. How do these things connect?

12. What are possible solutions? • Ban new coal fired and nuclear power plants • Harnessing the wind • Turn to the sun • No bottled water • Smarter cities and promote mass transit • Green Construction and CFL’s • Cap and Trade

13. Cap and Trade Explained • Cap and trade is one proposed solution to the global climate crisis. Climate legislation currently under consideration in the U.S. proposes a national cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. • Under a cap and trade system, individual governments or organizations, like the UN, set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions allowed within a given time period — that’s the CAP. • In order to keep carbon emissions below the cap, companies are given “carbon permits” that allow them to release limited amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If a company plans to pollute more than their limit, they can buy permits from companies that haven’t used all of theirs — that’s the TRADE.

14. Supporters of Cap and Trade • Supporters of cap and trade argue that innovative companies will invest in technologies that lower their pollution levels below their cap, giving them a surplus of permits they can sell to companies that need them because they are exceeding their own pollution limits. • The logic is that as long as we stay under the cap, it doesn’t matter who pollutes and who innovates.

15. Cap and Trader Haters • How carbon emission levels are set will be a political process and likely will benefit heavy polluters. (lobbying by big business) • Distribution of carbon credits will be determined based on previous levels of pollution. • Some businesses may be able to continue to be profitable through the purchase of credits. (they may not have to change their actions)

16. Cap and Trade Humor • What do these mean?

17. Earth Liberation Front • Monkey Wrench Gang published in 1975 • Based out of Eugene, Oregon • Preferred method of terror is arson

18. “Lord of War” and “Blood Diamonds” • Why Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicholas Cage are awesome, and relevant to this class.

19. Intro to Arms Sale Simulation • Two governments (OURLANDIA and YOURLANDIA) and Go Guns!, an arms manufacturer, have engaged in negotiations for 6 months for the purpose of securing an arms transfer from OURLANDIA to YOURLANDIA. • Political pressure to either close or abandon the sale is mounting. Human Rights Matter is working hard to pass national legislation in OURLANDIA preventing arms manufacturers from making sales to countries suspected of collusion with pariah states. • Time and patience are running thin, if a deal is not agreed upon soon, negotiations will fail. OURLANDIA is at the table because they must approve this sale before Go Guns! Can transfer the weapons to YOURLANDIA.

20. Intro to Arms Sale Simulation • THEIRLANDIA shares a border with YOURLANDIA. THEIRLANDIA is under a UN Arms Embargo. Additionally, THERLANDIA was recently visited by a Kimberley Process Review Mission, deemed non-compliant and therefore removed from participating in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. The Kimberley Process, an international diamond certification scheme to ban trade in conflict diamonds, was launched on 1 January 2003. • Armed opposition groups have used conflict diamonds to purchase arms and perpetrate violent acts against civilians. NGOs called for effective action to be taken at this meeting to strengthen four critical elements of the KPCS: monitoring; membership criteria; participant coordination; and accurate collection of trade and production statistics. • NGOs are encouraged by governments agreeing to establish rules of procedure, review countries' ability to implement the scheme and report statistics. This means that it is illegal under international law for any government or private person to provide THEIRLANDIA with weapons or purchase their diamonds.

21. Intro to Arms Sale Simulation • You’ll notice that only three teams are represented at the official negotiating table – OURLANDIA, Go Guns!, and YOURLANDIA. In a real arms deal, negotiations happen on and off the table, meaning that arms transfers flow through legitimate and illegitimate channels. Today we will be exploring different ways that arms can pass from country to country, business to country, arms trafficker to pariah country, etc. • To represent this, we have an NGO, Human Rights Matter, an international NGO located in OURLANDIA, and the friendly neighborhood Arms Traffickers. • If you do not have a seat at the negotiating team, you are free agents with few restrictions.

22. Rules • Only negotiators (2 people) are allowed to speak out loud during the negotiation. • Negotiators may communicate with representative on the same team by passing notes or speaking in low whispers. • Negotiators may not contact representatives of any other team (including free agents). • Representatives of one team may communicate with representatives of any other team using the note system • Representatives may communicate with negotiators on the same team by passing slips of paper or whispering. • Negotiators have the option to make a short opening statement when the negotiation begins. • Free agents may communicate with any team using whispers. • Free agents may not communicate with negotiators.