GEOG 100

Introduction to
Human
Geography
Nature and Society 2
Dr. Alice Lee
Lecture Climate change
01
Outline
02 Paradigms of resource usage

Aims and principles of

03 conservation
 Climate change - Introduction

• Climate change: A change in the state of the

climate that persists for an extended period,
typically decades or longer. 02

• Global warming: increase in world

temperature and change in climate associated
with increasing level of CO2, methane and
other greenhouse gases.

Global warming is profoundly affecting water

resources in the Middle East
What are
some causes
and impacts
of climate
change?
Check this
video out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4H1N_yXBiA
What are some indicators of a
warming world?
02
 Climate change - Causes

• Natural causes eg. volcanic

eruptions, changes in ocean currents, El
Niño*
Why did CO2
• Human activities: 02 emission rapidly
increase since the
- Burning coal, oil and gas produces 1950s?
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and
nitrous oxide
- Deforestation
- Increasing livestock farming
- Industrial activities

…and a lot more!

*refers to a warming of the ocean surface in the central and eastern

tropical Pacific Ocean
Can you name
some countries
with high
annual CO2
emission?
What are impacts of global
warming?
 Projected impacts of global warming What are
some
impacts that
flooding
would bring
• Tropical cyclones will be more to the society?

intense

• Crop productivity: increase in mid to

02
high latitudes; decrease in some
other regions

• Sea level rise and coastal flooding

• Diseases and deaths

Effect of rising sea level on major cities

 ‘The 2015 National Climate
Assessment, a congressionally
mandated report, concluded that
hurricane intensity and rainfall are
projected to increase as the
climate continues to warm.’

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hurricane-ian-climate-change-2022_n_63345e68e4b03e8038b9ca89
 ‘We are living with flooding that
has become increasingly
frequent, so my concern is that
people haven’t really realized
we are in a climate crisis. We are
already living it now. It is not a
question of plans to deal with it
in the future. We need to have
solutions ready for today.’

https://www.afar.com/magazine/flooding-in-venice-is-getting-worse-with-climate-change
 ‘According to a 2022 study,
over half (58%) of infectious
diseases are aggravated by
climate change. Extreme
weather events put massive
amounts of stress on
the human body - for example,
your body has to work hard to
keep you cool during a
heatwave. But as climate
change bites, billions will live in
more difficult conditions.’

https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/10/20/most-diseases-worsened-by-climate-change-new-research-reveals-heres-what-we-can-do-about-i
Watch this
video to find
out what social
problems
global
warming
would bring to
our society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHF4HHeOtkc
 Climate change - solutions

• Individuals: 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle); buy local

products; conserve energy; purchase bulk food

• Government: Emission trading - an environmental

02
policy that seeks to reduce air pollution efficiently
by putting a limit on emission ; invest in renewable
energy; encourage green transportation

• International: co-operation and conferences; share

knowledge and technology

… and a lot more!

3/11/2024
17

Climate change Discussion

• You will be divided into groups.

• Each group will be given some scenarios, please discuss with your
group mates and make some estimations of the answers!

• Just guess. DON’T GOOGLE ☺

• Write your answer on the board!
3/11/2024
18

1. You decide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by

becoming a vegetarian for one year. Your friend doesn’t
want to change her diet, but decides to cut down by
purchasing only bulk foods (without any form of
packaging).

How many years would it take your friend to save the

same amount of greenhouse gases as you?
3/11/2024
19

2. Your house generates a lot of greenhouse gasses, but not all

the appliances and gadgets are equal.

How many hours could you leave a lamp with an LED light
bulb switched on and produce the same amount of
greenhouse gases as a single load in a clothes dryer?
3/11/2024
20

3. Say you’re taking a one-way, economy flight from

New York to London. You might want to make up for
those emissions by giving up quarter-pound
hamburgers.

How many burgers would you need to skip to offset

that flight?
3/11/2024
21

4. You have a midsize car and you’re environmentally

conscious, so you set yourself a strict limit of 100 miles per
week.

If you switched to a hybrid car, how many miles could you

drive while still producing the same amount of greenhouse
gases?
Lecture Climate change
01
Outline
02 Paradigms of resource usage

Aims and principles of

03 conservation
 Paradigms of resource usage - Introduction
Can you
name some
• Increasing population countries
with high
and consumption result energy use
in a heavy demand on per person?
resources

• Gross imbalance in
resource utilisation
where the poor majority
struggle to stay to live
and the affluent minority
consuming most of the
world’s resources
3/11/2024
24

Let’s take a
look at Delhi’s
air pollution
problem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPAV9kumNq8
What are some
reasons for the
high percentage
of death from
air pollution in
Africa and Asia?
3/11/2024
26
Paradigms* of resource usage

1. Tragedy of the commons

2. Spaceship Earth metaphor

3. Gaia hypothesis

*a set of belief or concept

1. Tragedy of the commons

• Relates to the depletion of a

resource owned by many
people in common

• If people enjoy unlimited access

to a resource such as water, they
will tend to over-use it, and may
end up destroying the
resource/natural environment
altogether

• Examples include rivers, lakes,

groundwater, fisheries, public
forests and grazing lands
3/11/2024
30

Find out some

examples of
tragedy of
commons in the
video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxC161GvMPc
2. Spaceship Earth metaphor

• All human beings were passengers on Spaceship

Earth, and, like the crew of a large ship, people
had to work together in order to keep the planet
functioning properly

• The problems are the same – a hostile

environment that you have to deal with, limited
resources that you have to share and there is a
need to get along with crew members and work
together to achieve common goals
Spaceship Earth is a
worldview encouraging
everyone on Earth to act as a
harmonious crew working
toward the greater good.
3. Gaia hypothesis (Gaia : Greek
Earth goddess

• Suggests organisms co-evolve with their

environment

• Stability of the global environmental

system evolved over long periods of
geological time, where short-term changes
can have a great impact

• Difficult to predict the consequences of

human activities
3/11/2024
36

Find out
more about
the Gaia
Hypothesis
in this
video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4gmL5-9IHU
Ultimately, the Gaia hypothesis posits that

• The earth has much capacity to look after itself

• Whatever humans do, the earth system will survive, but its
survival may not include humans!
[Previous mid-term question]

Discuss with your partner: Which paradigm of resource usage do

you believe in the most? Explain with specific examples in your
hometown.

• Tragedy of the commons: short term interests

led to tragedy for all
• Spaceship Earth metaphor: everyone on earth
faces the same problem and we have to act as a
harmonious crew working toward the greater good
• Gaia hypothesis: Suggests organisms co-evolve
with their environment; the earth has much
capacity to look after itself but its survival may
not include humans
Lecture Climate change
01
Outline
02 Paradigms of resource usage

Aims and principles of

03 conservation
The need for conservation

• Re-establish a state of harmony between

humans and the environment, and
maintain the health and beauty of the
environment

• Understand that humans have an ethical

obligation not to abuse the environment

• Act before it is too late - keeping in mind

the critical environmental threshold
beyond which changes are irreversible
 Concepts of conservation

• Have to consider not only human health but

also animal health and ecosystem health

• Direct management of living resources, such

as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and
wildlife, ensuring that all utilisations are
sustainable

• Indirect management of living resources,

such as health, energy, industry, in order to
ensure the fullest sustainable advantage is
derived from the living resource base, and
that activities are located and conducted so
that the resource base is maintained
Principles of conservation

• Deforestation must be stopped; encourage

afforestation
• Natural non-renewable resources must be utilized
properly
• Control pollution and population
• Create public awareness
• Recycle goods
• Adopt an environment-friendly lifestyle
• Adopt waste management techniques

… and a lot more!

 Understand your ecological footprint
• The Ecological Footprint measures how fast we consume resources and generate waste
compared to how fast nature can absorb our waste and generate resource
 Earth Overshoot Day

• marks the date when

human's demand for
ecological resources and
services in a given year
exceeds what Earth can
regenerate in that year
Understand your ecological footprint

www.footprintcalculator.org/
THANK YOU!
Next lecture: Food and Health