Question | Answer |
Virtual Water | The water embedded in the food or other products we consume |
Cultural Ecology | Cultural Ecologists look at food production, demographic change and its impact on ecosystems and ecological sustainability. Case Study: Impact of Spanish agricultural innovations on the culture of the indigenous people of the Central Andes |
Political Ecology | Political ecologists stress that human-environment relations can be understood by the connection between the patterns of resource use and environmental practices to political and economic forces. |
Henry David Thoreau | Illustrates the Western incorporation of North American Indian concepts of nature - mid 19th century US. He studied the natural world, famous for writing Walden, 2 years of solitude in a house he built on Walden Pond - impressed with the power of nature |
Why was Cuba a model for hurricane preparation? | Hurricane Ivan - 2005 hurricane, category 5, 1.5 million Cubans successfully evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm, evacuated pets, TVs and refrigerators so people weren't reluctant to leave, houses were destroyed but no one died |
Romanticism | a European philosophy that Thoreau embraced - emphasized the interdependence of humans and nature. Believed that all creatures, humans and others were infused with a divine presence that commanded respect and humans were just average creatures |
Transcendentalism | A branch of Romanticism. Emerson supported it best. Encouraged people to attempt to rise above nature and the limitations of the body to the point where the spirit dominates the flesh. |
George Perkins Marsh | Wrote a treatise called Man and Nature, first work to suggest that humans are significant agent of environmental change, considered one of the most important advances in 19th century geography - founded US environmental movement in 20th century |
Conservation | Holds that natural resources should be used wisely and that humans should serve the natural world - inspired environmental organizations like the Sierra Club - takes opponents to court |
Preservation | advocates that certain species and resources should remain off limits to human use, regardless of whether the use maintains or depletes the resource in questions - inspired organizations such as Earth First! - guerilla tactics |
Peak Oil | At the point when the highest global rate of oil production is reached - many experts believe that if it is reached too soon, it will bring a worldwide energy crisis |
Acid Rain | The wet deposition of acids upon Earth through the natural cleansing properties of the atmosphere |
Conversion vs. Modification in Land-Use Change | Conversion is the wholesale transformation of land from one use to another. Modification is an alteration of existing cover (ex: when a grassland is overlaid with railroad line) |
Desertification | |