The environment in which we live

Environmental space

Estimate the world’s carrying capacity:

Productive land available for agriculture
Max. harvest of sustainable resources without
depleting the stock
Max. rate at which the atmosphere can absorb
CO2 without causing global warming
etc.

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 Then consider how this carrying capacity is
distributed:
15 % of the world’s population live in high income
countries and account for 56 % of total
consumption
40 % of the world’s population live in low income
countries and account for 11 % of total
consumption

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 Environmental space is used to set practical
targets for sustainable rates of use of
environmental resources.
These targets should reflect real ecological
limits and the need for equitable access to
these resources.

Consider such studies carried out for the

Netherlands and for the UK.

Consider oil consumption…

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 Oil
Date of % ratio,
Country consumption population % oil
Information pop oil:pop
(bbl/day)
Singapore 800,000 2005 est. 4,492,150 1.0 0.1 14.5
Kuwait 305,000 2003 est. 2,418,393 0.4 0.0 10.3
Luxembourg 55,700 2003 est. 474,413 0.1 0.0 9.6
Canada 2,300,000 2004 33,098,932 2.9 0.5 5.7
United States 20,030,000 2003 est. 298,444,215 25.0 4.6 5.5
Saudi Arabia 1,775,000 2003 27,019,731 2.2 0.4 5.4
Netherlands 920,000 2003 est. 16,491,461 1.1 0.3 4.5
Japan 5,578,000 2003 est. 127,463,611 7.0 2.0 3.6
Australia 875,600 2003 est. 20,264,082 1.1 0.3 3.5
Hong Kong 293,000 2004 est. 6,940,432 0.4 0.1 3.4
Taiwan 915,000 2003 est. 23,036,087 1.1 0.4 3.2
France 2,060,000 2003 est. 60,876,136 2.6 0.9 2.8
Germany 2,677,000 2003 82,422,299 3.3 1.3 2.6
Italy 1,874,000 2003 est. 58,133,509 2.3 0.9 2.6
European Union 14,590,000 2001 456,953,258 18.2 7.0 2.6
United Kingdom 1,722,000 2003 est. 60,609,153 2.1 0.9 2.3
Russia 2,800,000 2005 est. 142,893,540 3.5 2.2 1.6
Brazil 1,610,000 2004 188,078,227 2.0 2.9 0.7
China 6,391,000 2004 1,313,973,713 8.0 20.1 0.4
Indonesia 1,084,000 2005 est. 245,452,739 1.4 3.8 0.4
India 2,320,000 2003 est. 1,095,351,995 2.9 16.8 0.2

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 Electric power consumption (kWh per capita)
Production of power plants - transmission, distribution, and transformation
losses and own use. IEA Statistics, http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp

Country 2008 2009 2010

Iceland 50,067 51,259 51,440
Norway 24,866 23,860 25,175
Luxembourg 15,936 14,424 16,834
Kuwait 16,740 16,351 16,759
Finland 16,350 15,242 16,483
Canada 16,450 15,120 15,137
Qatar 14,779 14,731 15,075
Sweden 14,869 14,143 14,939
United States 13,663 12,914 13,395
Australia 10,682 10,536 10,286
Bahrain 9,134 9,045 9,895
United Arab Emirates 10,810 9,998 9,828
Korea, Rep. 8,791 8,900 9,744
New Zealand 9,536 9,375 9,566
Brunei Darussalam 8,399 8,605 8,723
Japan 8,075 7,838 8,394
Belgium 8,521 7,903 8,388
Austria 8,192 7,956 8,356
Singapore 8,185 7,790 8,307
Switzerland 8,306 8,021 8,175

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 Energy use (kg of oil equivalent per capita)
Use of primary energy pre-transformation to other = indigenous production +
imports + stock changes - exports - fuels supply to vessels used in
international transport. IEA Statistics: http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp.
Country 2008 2009 2010 2011
Turkey 1,400 1,371 1,457 1,563
Mexico 1,575 1,500 1,511 1,566
Chile 1,801 1,735 1,803 1,872
Portugal 2,300 2,272 2,213 2,193
Greece 2,707 2,609 2,442 2,349
Hungary 2,636 2,480 2,567 2,514
Poland 2,568 2,464 2,657 2,663
Italy 2,942 2,739 2,815 2,720
Spain 3,052 2,776 2,773 2,727
Ireland 3,379 3,230 3,218 2,953
United Kingdom 3,394 3,188 3,252 3,012
Israel 3,131 2,876 3,005 3,133
Slovak Republic 3,385 3,086 3,280 3,138
Denmark 3,495 3,323 3,470 3,144
Switzerland 3,501 3,483 3,349 3,225
Slovenia 3,829 3,476 3,520 3,527
Japan 3,879 3,701 3,898 3,584
Germany 4,069 3,872 4,003 3,755
France 4,114 3,918 4,033 3,846
Austria 4,024 3,797 4,034 3,873
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 Ecological footprint

Shows how much productive land and water is

required to support a defined economy at a
specified standard of living.

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 According to ecological studies, the world average
ecological footprint is 21.9 ha per capita.

But:

Dividing productive land and sea areas by the

population of the world shows there are 15.7 ha
per capita of productive space available.

So we are exceeding the earth’s ecological

capacity by 39 % (2005 data).
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 Note:
These figures allow only for humans – if an
allowance is made for other species, then c. 12 %
of productive space should not be included in
these calculations.

For information on Australian eco-footprints:

http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/agc/home.html

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 So there are more people in the world than can
sustainably live there.
How do we see this in daily life?

Dirty air
Lack of water and dirty water
High fuel prices
Conflict between people
Climate change

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 Climate variability

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 El Niño

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 Climate Change

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 Simply the best…

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colo
ur=colour&time=latest&step=0&map=maxave&perio
d=12month&area=nat

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 What effect will this probable climate change have
on the population of Australia?

What effect will this probable climate change have

on schemes such as the Snowy Mountain Scheme?

What about Darwin? See excellent CDU material

from Campbell (RIEL) & Valentine (ex-SEIT):
http://riel.cdu.edu.au/sites/default/files/managed/downloads/beyond_evide
nce-free_environmental_policy.pdf

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 Ozone layer depletion

Ozone is a pale blue gas irritating to the nose and

throat; it is explosive and toxic. It is produced and
destroyed naturally in the atmosphere.
It is formed when oxygen molecules absorb UV
radiation with l < 240 nm and destroyed when it
absorbs UV radiation with l > 290 nm.

Until recently, these processes were in equilibrium.

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 Today, ozone depletion occurs over much of the
planet. This is due to sunlight activating chemical
reactions in which chlorine released from CFCs
rapidly destroys ozone molecules.

The depletion over Antarctica (the Antarctic

ozone hole) peaks in spring.
Ozone depletion allows more UV radiation to
reach the surface of the earth.

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