4. Key Concepts:
The Tragedy of the Commons
•“Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into
a system that compels him to increase his herd
without limit - in a world that is limited. Ruin is the
destination toward which all men rush, each
pursuing his own interest in a society that believes
in the freedom of the commons.” (Hardin, 1968)
5. Key Concepts:
Negative Externalities
•A [negative] consequence
of an economic activity that
is experienced by unrelated
third parties (i.e. factory
pollution).
Source: Investopedia.com
6. Key Concepts:
The Globality of Environmental Issues
•the global commons: the physical and
organic characteristics and resources of
the entire planet–the air in the
atmosphere and conditions on land
and sea–on which human life depends
and that is the common heritage of all
humanity.
•carrying capacity: the maximum number of humans and
living species that can be supported by a given territory.
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
7. Key Concepts:
Ecopolotics
•environmental security: a concept recognizing that environmental
threats to global life systems are as dangerous as the threat of armed
conflicts.
•cornucopians: optimists who question limits-to-growth perspectives
and contend that markets effectively maintain a balance between
population, resources, and the environment.
•neo-Malthusians: pessimists who warn of the global ecopolitical
dangers of uncontrolled population growth.
•politics of scarcity: the view that the unavailability of resources
required to sustain life, such as food, energy, or water, can undermine
security in degrees similar to military aggression.
•epistemic community: scientific experts on a subject of inquiry such
as global warming who are organized internationally as NGOs to
communicate with one another and use their constructed
understanding of “knowledge” to lobby for global transformations.
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
9. Global Ecological Crisis:
Global Warming/Climate Change
•The UN team of hundreds of atmospheric scientists from around the world
known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) first
conclusively stated in 1995 its belief that global climate trends are “unlikely to
be entirely due to natural causes,” that humans are to blame for at least part of
the problem, and that the consequences are likely to be very harmful and
costly.
•Effects: sea level rise, more heat waves, more deadly storms and hurricanes,
more drought, crop failure, species extinction, spread of tropical diseases, water
and food shortages.
Sources: World Politics: Trend and Transformation, EPA
10. Global Ecological Crisis:
Ozone Depletion
•ozone layer: the protective layer of
the upper atmosphere over the Earth’s
surface that shields the planet from the
sun’s harmful impact on living
organisms.
•Ozone depletion is caused by CFCs,
halons, and other chemical substances.
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
11. Global Ecological Crisis:
Deforestation
•deforestation: the process of clearing
and destroying forests.
•Over the past 8,000 years, the WRI
estimates that almost half of the forests
once covering the Earth have been
converted.
•In Brazil, deforestation roughly doubled
in 2008 alone due in part to the
dramatic expansion in agriculture aimed
at producing farm-grown fuels.
•“You can’t protect it. There’s too much
money to be made tearing it down.”
John Carter, founder of a nonprofit that
promotes sustainable ranching in the
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation Amazonian region.
12. Global Ecological Crisis:
Desertification and Water Shortages
•desertification: the creation of deserts due
to soil erosion, overfarming, and
deforestation, which converts cropland to
nonproductive, arid sand.
•Water demand and water use in many
areas already exceed nature’s ability to
recharge supplies, and demand seems
destined to exceed supplies since ground
water overdraft and aquifer depletion are
expected to increase 18 percent between
1995 and 2025.
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
14. Global Ecological Crisis:
Energy Supply and Demand
•The International Energy Agency predicts that the
world will be using 50 percent more oil by 2030.
•85 percent of the surge in oil demand is occurring
in emerging markets such as China, India, and the
Middle East.
•For every two barrels of oil pumped out of the
ground, the giant oil companies discover only one
new barrel.
•70 percent of the oil consumed today was found
twenty-five years ago or longer.
•The price of oil as a commodity is extremely
volatile. On July 11, 2008, the price of a barrel of oil
hit an all time high at $147.27, but just five months
Source: World Politics: Trend and
Transformation later the price had fallen to $32.40.
16. Global Ecological Crisis:
Energy Supply and Demand
Have we hit Peak Oil?
“The evidence is that in spite of the increases - very large increases - in oil prices over the last four
years, we haven't been able to match that with increasing capacity. So, essentially, we are on a plateau.”
Sadad al-Huseini - former head of exploration and production at Saudi Aramco, 31st October, 2007
Source: TheFuture.net.nz
17. Global Ecological Crisis:
Energy Supply and Demand
•BP Oil Spill (Gulf of Mexico, 2010): biggest oil spill in U.S. history; 200
million gallons spilled;16,000 miles of coastline affected; over 8,000 animals
(birds, turtles, mammals) reported dead six months after spill; close to $40
billion in fines, cleanup costs, and settlements.
Source: DoSomething.org
18. Global Ecological Crisis:
Overfishing
•overfishing: the overexploitation of
fisheries by subsistence, artisanal,
recreational and commercial fishing can
result in the mortality of target and non-
target species.
•A study published in the
journal Nature shows that 90 percent of
all large fishes have disappeared from
the world's oceans in the past half
century, a result of overfishing.
•Many Pacific societies, particularly those in Southeast
Asia, Central America and the South Pacific islands,
depend on commercial or artisanal fishing for daily
survival. Source: The Center For Ocean Solutions
19. Global Ecological Crisis:
Ocean Pollution
•Pollution can smother marine life, cause
harmful algal blooms and hypoxic zones,
and alter food web dynamics.
•Plastics pose a particularly severe
threat; an estimated 90% of floating
debris in the ocean is plastic, which can
take hundreds of years to break down at
sea.
•"Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is a
polluted area that covers approximately
8 million sq. km. — larger than the entire
United States.
Source: The Center For Ocean Solutions
20. Global Ecological Crisis:
Shrinking Biodiversity
•biodiversity: Earth’s variety of life.
•three basic levels of organization in
living systems: genetic diversity, species
diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
•German Environmental Minister Sigmar
Gabriel estimated that “up to 150
species become extinct every day.”
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
21. International Response:
•U.N. Environmental Programme (UNEP): an international institution that coordinates United Nations
environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and
practices.
•Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): UN team of hundreds of atmospheric scientists
from around the world; established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the UNEP.
•Kyoto Protocol (1997, 2005): an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, which commits its parties by setting internationally binding emission
reduction targets.
•Battle for Arctic resources and sea routes: geopolitical struggle between states over the natural
resources and waterways of the Arctic (includes Russia, Norway, Canada, the United States, and Denmark).
•Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer treaty (1987): ratified by 196 parties;
has led to a huge 90 percent reduction since the late 1980s in global atmospheric concentrations of CFCs.
• U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (1992): the convention recognized for the first time in
international law that the conservation of biological diversity is "a common concern of humankind" and is
an integral part of the development process.
•International Whaling Commission (IWC): an international body set up in 1946 to "provide for the
proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling
industry."
•Rio+20: the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the
economic and environmental goals of the global community; held in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
•Global North vs. Global South Sources: Wikipedia.org, World Politics:
Trend and Transformation, UNFCCC.int
22. In Search of a Sustainable Future:
•sustainable development: economic
growth that does not deplete the
resources needed to maintain life and
prosperity.
•Brundtland Commission (1987):
concluded that the world cannot sustain
the growth required to meet the needs
and aspirations of the world’s growing
population unless it adopts radically
different approaches.
•Solar, tidal, and wind power, as well as
geothermal energy and bioconversion,
are among the alternatives to oil most
likely to become technologically and
economically viable.
Source: World Politics: Trend and Transformation
