Human Environment Geography

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Human Environment Geography by Mind Map: Human Environment Geography

1. Environmentalism

1.1. Early 1900's

1.1.1. Urbanization

1.1.2. Romanticizing the wilderness

1.1.3. Preservation

1.1.4. Awareness of over exploitation

1.2. 1960's + 70's

1.2.1. Middle class support

1.2.2. Downside of economic growth

1.2.3. First Earth Day on April 22nd !970

1.2.4. UN conference on human environment in 1972

1.2.4.1. Ignorance

1.2.4.2. lack of technical expertise

1.2.4.3. population growth

1.3. 2000's and Beyond

1.3.1. Climate change

1.3.2. Food, agriculture, energy efficiency

1.3.3. To eat or not to eat organic

1.3.4. Impact on farmers in developing countries

1.4. Sustainable Development

1.4.1. "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

1.4.2. Economic growth and development not necessarily at odds

1.4.3. Biological diversity

1.4.4. "Green Imperialism"

1.4.5. 2 viewpoints

1.4.5.1. Human needs paramount, development must adapt

1.4.5.2. Development and environmental stewardship is complimentary

2. Environmental History

2.1. Early Theories

2.1.1. Environmental determinism

2.1.1.1. Environments determine human behavior and capacities

2.1.1.2. Ellsworth Huntington

2.1.1.3. Ellen Churchill Semple

2.1.2. Social darwinism

2.1.2.1. Humans are also affected by "survival of the fittest"

2.1.3. Cultural possibilism

2.1.3.1. Environment sets limitations but social conditions also play a part

2.2. Gathering History

2.2.1. Data

2.2.1.1. Historical and geographical (archival - written records)

2.2.1.2. Government documents

2.2.1.3. Settlement maps, photos, forestry records

2.2.1.4. Oral histories

2.3. Question of Power

2.3.1. Who controls the narrative?

2.3.2. Who writes the books and archival records?

2.3.3. Landscape archaeology

2.3.4. What is being left out of the narrative?

2.3.4.1. Whose voices are being catalogued, documented, narrated in environmental histories?

3. Themes Prominent in Cultural Ecology

3.1. Modernization Theory

3.1.1. European innovation is key to economic growth

3.2. Dualism

3.2.1. The Development of one area/group at the expensive of another

3.2.2. Analyzed at different scales

3.2.2.1. international

3.2.2.2. regional

3.2.2.3. local

3.2.3. Farmers in commercial agriculture and small scale substinence farming

3.2.4. Formal and informal work in urban areas

3.3. Political Ecology

3.3.1. A concern with scale

3.3.2. Understanding processes which lead marginalization

3.3.3. Consideration of social differentiation

3.3.4. Importance placed on power (in discourse)

3.4. Chains of Explanation

3.4.1. Help to understand proximate and ultimate causes

3.4.2. Commodity chain

3.4.2.1. Opaque and untraceable

3.5. Marginality

3.5.1. Social, economic, environmental

3.5.2. European settlers in African countries

3.5.2.1. Africans forced on to marginal lands

3.5.2.2. Helps to explain land degradation

3.6. Critiques of of Political Ecology

3.6.1. What are the critiques of PE?

3.6.1.1. deterministic

3.6.2. Agents of social change

3.6.2.1. Counter narratives

3.6.2.2. local resistance/local power

4. Hazards Geography and Human Vulnerability

4.1. Hazards

4.1.1. Situations that can cause injury, diseases, economic loss, or environmental damage

4.2. The political economy argument

4.2.1. The "choice" is influenced by place in society and structure of the economy

4.2.2. Natural hazard means different things to different communities

4.2.3. Nature/society interwoven

4.2.4. Technological hazards

4.3. Hazards and society

4.3.1. Risk

4.3.1.1. How do we measure risk?

4.3.1.2. Is risk equally shared?

4.3.2. Risk perception

4.3.2.1. Socio-cultural and economic factors that influence risk perception

4.3.2.2. Fast moving natural hazards and slow ones

4.3.2.3. Prior experience with a natural hazard

4.4. The element of power

4.4.1. Risk perception shapes by value and power based constructions of individual/community structure

4.4.2. Vulnerability

4.4.2.1. Short term and long term effects of risk

4.4.2.2. Varies over space and time

4.4.2.3. Depends on access to resources

4.4.2.3.1. Women, elderly, children, ethnic minorities, physically and mentally disabled

4.4.2.4. Material, institutional, attitudinal

5. Population, Consumption, Technology

5.1. Theory

5.1.1. exponential - J Curve

5.1.2. carrying capacity - S Curve

5.2. Structualist Perspective

5.2.1. Engels

5.2.1.1. individuals are a net benefit through labor

5.2.1.2. Outcome = poverty

5.2.2. Neo-structuralists

5.2.2.1. scarcities are an outcome of hoarding resources by countries and segments of society and unequal consumption levels

5.2.3. Esther Boserup

5.2.3.1. population increase led to greater productivity (food as dependent variables

5.2.4. David Harvey

5.2.4.1. why consider only population and resources

5.3. The Cornucopian or Technocratic

5.3.1. Technology will overcome resource constraints

5.3.2. Julian Simon

5.3.2.1. free markets, rising prices will lead to innovation

5.3.2.2. Focus on the economic concept of substitute

5.3.3. Bjorn Lomborg

5.3.3.1. skeptic - global environmental issues not supported by relevant data

5.3.4. IPAT Equation

5.3.4.1. impact = (population) (consumption/per person) (impact/per unit of consumption)

5.4. Criticisms

5.4.1. Double population does not mean double impact

5.4.2. Humans are predators on the environment

5.4.2.1. does not consider conservation and preservation

6. Biodiversity, Conservation, Protected Lands

6.1. Environmental Goverance

6.1.1. who decides what gets conserved?

6.1.2. who decides what the outcomes of conservations are?

6.1.3. who manages the conservation zones and why?

6.1.4. how do we conserve without an impact on local communities?

6.2. Biodiversity

6.2.1. genetic

6.2.2. species

6.2.3. habitat

6.2.4. genetic bottlenecks

6.2.5. minimum viable population

6.2.6. habitat fragmentation

6.3. Invasive Species

6.3.1. can work in an environment when the introduction is slow and gradual

6.4. Efforts at Conservation

6.4.1. value placed on human use

6.4.2. intrinsic value

6.4.3. couched in management principles during the colonial period

6.4.4. now: endangered species act and convention on biological diversity

6.5. Cultural and National Biodiversity

6.5.1. conservation

6.5.1.1. indigenous identity

6.5.1.2. local use

6.5.1.3. role of ecotourism

6.5.1.4. democratize and empower

6.5.1.4.1. local ability to manage resources

6.5.1.5. shared benefits

7. Approaches

7.1. Eccocentric

7.2. Constructivist

7.3. Holistic

8. Biophysical environment

8.1. Terra Preta Soil

8.1.1. Fertile man-made soil found in the Amazon basin

8.1.2. Pre-Columbian Soils dating back to 450 BC to 950 AD

8.1.3. Biochar - charcoal produced from plant matter

8.2. Physical Geography

8.2.1. The study of the Earth

8.2.2. Not just about "where" but also "why"

8.2.3. Definition of geography: what is where and why is it there?

8.3. Four Realms

8.3.1. Hydrosphere

8.3.1.1. All of the waters on the Earth

8.3.2. Atmosphere

8.3.2.1. Gases that surround the Earth

8.3.3. Lithosphere

8.3.3.1. Rigid outer part of the Earth consisting of the crust and upper mantle

8.3.4. Biosphere

8.3.4.1. Regions of the Earth occupied by all living organisms

8.3.4.2. Biogeography

8.3.4.2.1. Study of the patterns and relationships in the biotic environment

8.3.4.3. Ecology

8.3.4.3.1. Branch of biology that deals with relations of organisms to one another and their physical surroundings

8.4. Albedo

8.4.1. Fraction of the received solar radiation that is reflected by a surface

8.4.2. Ice/snow absorbs while water reflects

8.4.3. Darker surfaces will absorb more, lighter surfaces will reflect more

8.5. Dew point

8.5.1. Saturated air

8.5.2. Hot air can hold a lot of moisture

9. Culture and Political Ecology

9.1. The Birth of Cultural Ecology

9.1.1. Emphasis on technology in the 50's +60's

9.1.2. Independence of the Global South

9.1.2.1. Faults with local, native, indigenous production

9.1.2.2. Belief that production should be market based and not for substance

9.1.3. European Colonialism

9.1.3.1. Control over cultural habits, imaginations, the way of thinking

9.1.4. 2 Primary contributions

9.1.4.1. Emphasis on the ecological and economic rationality of these systems

9.1.4.2. Questioned the use, implementing, adoption of temperate techniques in tropical and equatorial environments

9.2. Themes Prominent in Cultural Ecology

9.2.1. Society and nature intimately connected

9.2.1.1. Resource management techniques through diet, production, technology, etc

9.2.1.2. Emphasis on micro-climates and environmental variability

9.2.2. Cultural practices and behaviors

9.2.2.1. Seeking the functional aspects of cultural traditions

9.2.3. Food production and population dynamics

9.2.3.1. Mesoamericans

9.3. Political Ecology

9.3.1. Critique of cultural ecology

9.3.2. Recognition of the political economy

9.3.2.1. Decision making structures

9.3.2.2. Hierarchies of power

9.4. Development Studies

9.4.1. Modernization theory

9.4.2. European innovation is key to economic growth

9.4.2.1. Technical expertise, know-how attitude, capital growth inevitable

9.4.2.2. Import ideas to tropical countries

9.5. Dependency Theory

9.5.1. 1960's - emphasis on "structure"

9.5.2. Underdevelopment because of European colonialism

9.5.2.1. Production of commodity crops for European markets

10. Climate, Atmosphere, Energy

10.1. Acid Deposition

10.1.1. Acid rain - nitric acid and sulfuric acid

10.1.2. burning of fossil fuels

10.2. Climate Change and Global Warming

10.2.1. climate and weather

10.2.2. Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Water Vapor, Nitrous oxides, CFC's

10.2.3. Carbon dioxide emissions

10.2.4. greenhouse effect

10.3. Carbon Sequestration

10.3.1. Carbon sinks - tropical forests, vegetative matter, soil

10.3.2. REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

10.3.2.1. market incentives

10.3.2.2. biodiversity

10.3.2.3. issues (rights of locals, faulty carbon markets and methods of compensation)

10.4. Big Concerns

10.4.1. sea level rise

10.4.2. droughts and shifts in agricultural areas of the world

10.5. Policies

10.5.1. Earth summit 1992 - reduce carbon emissions

10.5.2. Kyoto Protocol - emissions trading

10.5.3. Copenhagen Accord 2009

10.6. Paris Climate Talks - 2015

10.6.1. Keep global temps >2 degrees C

10.6.2. goal of zero net emissions

10.6.3. 187 countries agreed to "intended nationally determined contributions"

11. Agriculture and Food Systems

11.1. Intensification

11.1.1. more labor and energy = higher yields

11.1.2. intensive agriculture systems have low external outputs and rely on labor

11.2. Traditional systems

11.2.1. global south

11.2.2. subsistence

11.2.3. polycultural

11.2.4. agroforestry: mixing crops and trees

11.2.5. shifting cultivation

11.2.6. intensive traditional agriculture

11.2.6.1. high yields, heavy inputs

11.2.7. pastoralism

11.3. Industrial Agriculture

11.3.1. global north

11.3.2. commercial

11.3.2.1. family and corporate farms

11.3.3. monocultural

11.3.4. uses fossil fuels, GMO's, fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides

11.3.5. CAFO's

11.3.5.1. Continental Animal Feeding Operations

11.4. Seed Development

11.4.1. hybrid seed varieties

11.4.2. GMO's

11.4.2.1. can get a copywriter on a seed

11.4.2.2. seeds are hard to contain

11.4.2.3. destroys native species

11.5. Green Revolution

11.5.1. 1960's - industrial revolution of agriculture

11.5.1.1. very successful around the world

11.5.2. hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides

11.5.3. mixed: industrial and traditional systems

11.5.4. agricultural dual economy

11.5.5. plantation agriculture

11.5.6. urban agriculture

11.6. Agrosystems

11.6.1. interactions between pests and plants

11.7. Constraints of Traditional Agriculture

11.7.1. reduced fallow time

11.7.2. alternative employment - urban areas

11.7.3. return to polycultural systems difficult

11.7.4. absence/ lack of livestock for manure

11.7.4.1. diseases

11.7.5. green manure

11.7.6. soil erosion

11.7.6.1. power grabs

11.7.6.2. overgrazing

11.8. Constraints with Industrial and Plantation Agriculture

11.8.1. high yields, high energy inputs

11.8.2. pesticides, herbicides, fungicides

11.8.2.1. broad spectrum pesticides

11.8.2.2. persistent chemicals

11.8.2.3. circle of poison

11.8.3. bioaccumulation

11.8.4. biomagnification

11.8.5. pesticide resistance

11.8.5.1. bt cotton

11.8.6. genetic escape

11.8.7. integrated pest management

11.8.7.1. biological, mechanical, and chemical control

11.8.8. groundwater and surface water contamination

11.8.8.1. eutrophication

11.8.9. investments in dams, canals, irrigation infrastructure

11.9. Agriculture and Food Policy

11.9.1. low food prices, less pressure on wages

11.9.2. overproduction

11.9.3. subsidies

11.9.3.1. water

11.9.3.2. public land

11.10. Famine and Hunger

11.10.1. explained in environmental / resource management terms

11.10.1.1. natural events

11.10.1.2. declines in food production

11.10.2. food access

11.10.3. food availability

11.10.4. food sovereignty - relying on what your own country can produce

11.10.5. food self-sufficiency - different means by which food is produced

11.10.6. food security - being able to secure enough food

11.11. "Food Access" is Key

11.11.1. solution to hunger is not grow more food

11.11.2. structural failure to access food

11.11.2.1. poor and low income households

11.11.3. appropriate food production technologies

11.11.4. income - generating projects

11.11.5. cooperative grain banks

12. Water Resources and Fishing Livelihoods

12.1. Ancient Water Systems

12.1.1. Shaduf

12.1.2. Dike

12.1.3. Canals

12.1.4. Irrigation channels

12.2. Uses

12.2.1. Agriculture

12.2.1.1. uses the most

12.2.2. Domestic use

12.2.3. Industry

12.3. Water scarcity

12.3.1. Physical

12.3.2. economic

12.3.3. Privatization of water

12.3.3.1. neoliberal economics 80's

12.3.3.1.1. IMF

12.3.3.1.2. World Bank

12.3.4. Resistance

12.3.4.1. Global Water Justice Movement

12.3.4.2. water maps

12.4. Common Property Resources

12.4.1. tragedy of the commons

12.4.2. Elinor Ostrom

12.4.3. Documents instances of humans adapting to and collaboratively pursuing solutions to environmental problems through collective action