Chapter 9

Which pattern of consumption is recommended to reduce humanity's global footprint?

Choosing less harmful products

What is biodiversity?

the number and variety of species and the range of their genetic makeup.

Both large and small businesses have adopted sustainable practices to what advantage?

- Cost savings from operational efficiency - Opportunity to serve emerging economies - Reduction of regulatory risk

Disadvantages of Economic Development

- Economic development has also contributed to the growing ecological crisis. - Rising incomes bring higher rates of consumption and waste. - In many instances, environmental regulations have lagged the pace of development.

Advantage of Economic Development

- Reducing poverty and slowing population growth. - Development is often accompanied by rising incomes.

How can human society restore balance between Earth's carrying capacity and society's demands?

- Technological innovation - Changing patters of consumption - "getting the prices right"

What are two critical factors that combined to accelerate the ecological crisis facing the world community and to make sustainable development more difficult?

- The population explosion. - Economic development.

What is Anthropocene?

-Humanity has entered a new era - human activity has become the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Reasons for the destruction of rain forests include:

- Commerical logging - Cattle ranching - Conversion of forests to plantation

Depletion of the ozone layer, destruction of the rain forests, and species extinctions all have an impact on:

All of society

By promoting the use of clean cookstoves in developing nations, a global alliance hopes to reduce:

Black carbon

The core idea(s) of sustainable development is (are):

Both of these answers are correct: Economic development must be accomplished sustainably; and poverty is an underlying cause of environmental degradation.

What is climate change?

Changes in the Earth's climate caused by increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other pollutants produced by human activity.

A thin layer of gas that protects the Earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation from the sun is:

Ozone

Which of these factors has accelerated the current ecological crisis?

Rapid industrialization

Rapid economic development is often accompanied by:

Rising incomes, bringing higher rates of both consumption and waste.

Natural capital refers to the world's:

Supply of geology, soil, air, water and all living things.

Global Environment Issue: Commons

a shared resource, such as land, air, or water that a group of people use collectively.