3000 midterm review

20 questions, mostly short answer be concise

current issues: ecosystem degradation, fishery overharvesting, water
scarcity and quality issues
No choice, on purpose, ignorance 3 main reasons
- No Choice: extreme poverty, must overuse their environment
or they die
- On purpose: government regulations promote these practices,
profits, belief future technologies will fix everything
- we are living beyond our means in a world with finite
resources
Climate Change
fossil fuels, plants and animals risk extinction, sea levels rising,
food production reduction (more heat less water)

Efficiency paradoxwhat it is/be able to define it

Efficiency Paradox
using resources more efficiently, effectively and with less
waste wont solve our problems
efficiency and optimization can lead to worse problems
Why?
optimal systems assume day-to-day conditions
assume that things are going to remain static
world is dynamic=potential disturbances
backups and redundancies are removedso in the case of a
disturbance, the system will fail

Resiliency
Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and still
retain its basic function and structure
addresses risk
Dealing with problems using same approaches that caused our
problems more control, intensification, efficiency
different way of understanding the world
different way to solve problems
*Efficiency cannot be the sole answer. Need options

Sustainabilitytriple bottom line (3 Es)

balancing economic, environmental, and equity
addresses present and future needs

Sustainability vs resiliency whats the difference?

-Sustainability does not account for unplanned disturbances
key lies in enhancing resilience of connected socioecological
systems

3 concepts of resiliency: interconnectedness, complexity, change

Inter-connectedness
live and operate in social systems linked with ecological
systems
Complexity
changes arent that obvious
can drive systems into unstability
Change
Resilience systems can absorb changes

Adaptive Cycle know the phases: rapid growth, conservation,

release, reorganization
when a disturbance happens, we arrive at one of these states
each phase differs by behavior, strength, flexibility, and resilience
Phase 1: Rapid Growth
People exploit new opportunities; weak connections, weak
regulations
-Business- innovators and entrepreneurs; start ups and producers of
new products; capture new markets, intense activity
Phase 2: Conservation
-Stable business, energy stored, materials accumulated; strong
connection and regulations
-efficiency becomes norm; people start to specialize
Phase 3: Release
-can happen quickly; long conservation phase = smaller shock
needed to move to release phase; disturbance breaks apart systems,
chaotic

Phase 4: Reorganization
-Uncertainty rules, all options are open; little changes can
become big things later on
-Business: new startups; entrepreneurs with novel ideas
-Transition options:
repetition of previous cycle
completely new cycle
collapse into degraded state

Matrix Exercise
Resiliency challenges
-Costly
-Increasing redundancies reduce efficiencies
Reduces short term gains/profits
As long as things dont go wrong, its more profitable to
decrease resilience
-Difficult to quantify and compare

3 step process in resiliency assessments: know the steps

describe the system
- scales (bounding the system)
- people and governance (who are the players)
Assessing its resilience
- known thresholds
- concerns of thresholds
Managing its resilience
-management
-financial intervention

What was the similar trend in development patterns?

Density development and poor stewardship

Problems when settlements got too big?

3 main problems: environmental pollution, deforestation, salinization
led to degradation of the land (no productive land for food or
water) and the failure of the community

What movements lend themselves/most influential to resiliency?

Hunter/gatherers
Middle ages small towns, but localized
New Urbanismdesigned neighborhoods focused on walking, public
spaces, mixed use

CHC v RLC (Conventional vs resilient)

CHC Conventional high carbon community
dispersed, uncontained growth;
segregated, uniform, separated single land use
roadway oriented
large setbacks, parking lots
RLC Resilient low carbon community
pedestrian and transit oriented;
mixed land use
pedestrian scale
walkable landscape

Transportation
Economy:
Local Economic multiplier
Prioritize grid resilience

Water:
CHC engineered water systems
RLC conservation, efficiency, reusing storm water
Dealing with stormwater in CHC and RLC
Green roofs to absorb rainwater
Waste Water
Graywater uses
Natural systems: leeching fields, land treatment systems, aquatic plant
systems, constructed wetlands

*Land conservation

land fragmentation
sustainable forestry
Green Infrastructure
greenways and trails linkages between communities
not infrastructure thats built in a sustainable way
benefits: habitat corridors, recreation, floodplain management