The Mayans Easter Island Mesopotamia Biosphere 2

1.3

1.4

In 2000: Global population 6.1 billion, up from 2.5 billion in 1950 95% of population growth in developing countries 1.2 billion in severe poverty (<$1/day) More than 1 billion people overweight (in the US, 61% adults

overweight, 27% obese) 1.1 billion without access to safe water 3 million people died of AIDS (cumulative total now almost 22

million) and 58 million had HIV On average a person was infected with HIV every six seconds In Botswana, one in three adults was infected with HIV

1.5

United States: Fordham University ‘index of social health’ 44% lower in 1996

than in 1973, despite stock market highs Now the world’s largest penal colony (nearly five million men in

the US awaiting trial, in prison, on probation or on parole) There is no cost difference between incarceration and an Ivy

League education

Australia: In 1996, 2 million lived below the poverty line Top 20 percent of households had 44 percent of private income

while the bottom 20 percent had just 3 percent Now one of the most unequal of all developed countries (having

slipped from 7th to 15th on the UN Index of Human Development)

(continued)

1.6

12% of 9,900 bird species in the world threatened with extinction Over the last 200 years, 103 bird extinctions have been already

documented – rate more than 50 times “background” rates of extinction

27% of the world’s coral reefs were severely damaged by 2000, compared to only 10% in 1992

In the last 100 years, Earth has lost over half its wetlands – in South-east Australia this figure is 89%

Aquifers are being depleted worldwide, with water tables in many parts falling by as much as a metre a year

1.7

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) is 30% higher than pre-industrial times and highest in at least 420,000 years

Strong scientific consensus that most warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities

10% decrease in snow cover since the 1960s Global average sea level has risen 10-20 cm IPCC projections - by the year 2100:

globally averaged surface temperature will warm by 1.4 to 5.8ºC (relative to 1990)

global mean sea level will rise by 9 to 88cm (relative to 1990)

(continued)

1.8

In 2000, foreign debt of developing and former Eastern bloc nations stood at US$2.57 trillion ($2,570,000,000,000) (1999 dollars)

During the 1990’s the economic toll of natural disasters topped US$608 billion, more than the previous four decades combined

Of the US$9 trillion spent every year in the United States, US$2 trillion is wasted

1.9

Between 1996 and 2001:

Additional 500,000 hectares of land became salt affected (bringing total to at least 2.5 million hectares or 5% of our cultivated land

Further 5.7 million hectares identified as having a high potential for developing dryland salinity

Common cause of dryland salinity has been changes to water tables from inappropriate land use

1.10

Predicted that without significant action, within 20 years Adelaide’s drinking water would fail World Health Organisation standards in two days out of five

Predicted if nothing is done, salinity will cost $1 billion a year by 2100

Many coastal areas have poor water quality from sediment, resulting from soil erosion. 11.7 million tonnes/sediment/year enter Great Barrier Reef alone. In North Queensland, grazing lands product about 66% of estimated annual sediment to rivers

(continued)

1.11

Air quality generally improved or remained constant Threatening processes to biodiversity include salinisation, land

clearing, fragmentation of ecosystems, exotic organisms and changing hydrological conditions

Australia has 10% of world’s endangered species, second only to the US

Net loss in vegetative cover since 1996 In 1999, 469,000 hectares of woody vegetation cleared nationally

(425,000 ha in Queensland) Many heritage buildings damaged through inappropriate

development Decline in Indigenous languages

(continued)

1.12

Wealth is:“something that that has real value in terms of meeting our needs and fulfilling our wants: the natural productive systems of the planet and physical things like factories, homes, farms, stores, actual transportation and communications facilities, as well as the people who work to produce the goods and services that sustain us. Modern money is only a number on a piece of paper or an electronic trace in a computer, that by a social convention gives its holder a claim on that real wealth. In our confusion, we’ve concentrated on the money, to the neglect of those things that actually sustain a good life.”

David Korten

1.13

‘Ecosystem services’ include: photosynthesis pollination nurseries for commercial fish species (in mangroves and coral

reefs in particular) regulation of climate soil production and protection storage and cycling of essential nutrients absorption, breakdown and dispersal of organic wastes and

pollutants control of crop and livestock pests through predation Services provided globally by the environment estimated at least

US$36 trillion annually. In Australia, services estimated at $1.3 billion annually

1.14

Measurement of the amount of raw materials consumed in the United States(WW I – World War I, WW II – World War II)

Source: Matos and Wagner

1.15

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.

- Margaret Mead

1.16

1.17

Atmosphere surrounding the earth a mixture of gases Greenhouse gases (eg water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane)

so called because they trap heat, leading to warming lower atmosphere. This process occurs naturally and is essential to sustaining life on earth

Human activities in last 200 years (e.g. burning fossil fuels) have increased concentration of greenhouse gases, resulting in increased warming of the lower atmosphere - the enhanced greenhouse effect

1.19

Some gases, e.g. those used in air conditioning, have strong global warming potential

Other sources of emissions include agriculture (methane from animals and rice paddies), and waste in landfills (methane)

Plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen so land clearing

diminishes this potential

(continued)

1.20

Contributors to greenhouse gasemissions in Australia, 2000

Stationary energy use(49.3%)

Agriculture (18.4%)

Transport (14.3%)

Land use change andforestry (7.1%)

Fugitive emissions(5.9%)

Waste (3.1%)

Industrial processes(1.9%)

(continued)

1.21