Chapter 4 Resources and EnvironmentLearning Objectives:

• World resources: nature, distribution & limits• Global food problems: their nature & extent,

difficulties in their solution• Strategic minerals: distribution & supply• The energy crisis: causes, consequences and

alternative energy options• Nature and causes of environmental

degradation

Thinking about the organization of this textbook

• First, a broad discussion of resources• Then, a detour into theory (finally)• Followed by a treatment of industry,

progressing from activities absorbing natural resources through service industries

• Cast in space – in cities, and in systems of trade

• First, though, let us think about the broad sectors of economic activity

The Economic System: An Industry Perspective (Fig 8.2)

• Primary: agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining

• Secondary: Manufacturing, Construction & Utilities

• Tertiary: Transportation, Trade, Business Services, Consumer Services, Public Services

• Quaternary Elements of tertiary except the channel of distribution (trade, transport)

Key LinesOf ServiceEmployment

The Economic System: A structural perspective

Primary

Activities:

Agriculture

Mining

Forestry

Fishing

SecondaryActivities:ManufacturingConstructionUtilities

TertiaryActivities:TradeTransportConsumer ServicesProducer ServicesPublic Services

CapitalStock

HOUSEHOLDS

Demand byAll Sectors

Indicates Transactions Within Industry Group

The Economic System: A structural perspective (Chapters)

Primary

Activities:

Agriculture

Mining

Forestry

Fishing

SecondaryActivities:ManufacturingConstructionUtilities

TertiaryActivities:TradeTransportConsumer ServicesProducer ServicesPublic Services

CapitalStock

HOUSEHOLDS

Demand byAll Sectors

Indicates Transactions Within Industry Group

Ch 4,6

Chapter 5

Ch 7Ch 8, 9

Ch 10: Cities Ch. 12-14: TradeCh 11

Foundational Issues and Resources and Population

• The constant specter of Malthus’ warning-Katrina & oil• Resource optimists vs. resource pessimists• The text contrasts a carrying capacity (?sustainable

development?) versus overpopulation approach to development– Patterns of growth with benefits to all, not just elites– Carrying capacity under particular technologies

• Alternatives to the current Western energy & material intensive production systems, based on (1) sun-based organic agriculture, (2) renewable energy sources, (3) greater reliance on local raw materials & labor intensive technologies, and (4) decentralized production to increase local self-reliance and reduce transport activity

Contrary to current institutions

Types of Resources and Their Limits

?CostOf Use?

EntireStock

“Natural resources have meaning only in terms of historically-specificTechnical and cultural appraisals of nature….” p. 99

For a specificTime period

NonrenewableVs. renewableResources.RenewableStocks (soil)Vs. renewableFlows (water)MaximumSustained yieldTragedy of thecommons

Food and Population

Globally food production has kept pace with population.Africa with major food supply problems; elsewhere problems of equityIn food supply distributions and nutritional quality. Obesity

Food and Population

Developing Countries With Food Security Issues

Food Resource Issues• Urbanization & food supply patterns• Poverty – esp. in Africa & other LDC’s. Chapter

14 revisits this topic; under-nutrition; chronic malnutrition

• Population Growth & Food Security issues – problems of transport, marketing and storage, mismatch between where grain supplies are produced and needed

• Civil Unrest and War• Environmental Decline – desertification &

deforestation• Government policy and debt

World Desertification – multiple causes – ?Role of Global Warming?

Increasing Food Production• Expanding Cultivated Areas

– Theoretically about 2X current area, but major environmental issues (desertification, deforestation, related climate change)

• Raising the Productivity of Existing Cropland– Green Revolution; inequitable pattern. Figure 4.9

• Other factors:- aquaculture, development of high-protein cereals, more efficient use of certain foods– Concerns about genetically engineered seed stocks– How to institutionalize more sustainable agriculture?

Countries Benefiting from the Green Revolution

Fig 4.10 Artificial Fertilizer Use

Pressure on Ocean Resources & AquacultureTragedy of the Commons

Natural Cycles

On-shore pollution

Natural disasters (KatrinaAnd Gulf Coast Oysters)

Side effects of aquaculture

Complex regulatory issues

Reference in text to Ellis:No data related to Fig 4.11