Environmental Economics: Challenges and Population

• Economics studies how to allocate scarce resources and make choices under scarcity.
• Economics applies to situations with constraints, not just profits or money.

Environmental Economics

• A field of economics that uses mainstream economic principles to address environmental and natural resource issues.
• Natural resources act as inputs for the economic system.
• Environmental resources are affected by the economic system.

Future Environmental Challenges

• Major environmental issues include resource scarcity and accumulating pollutants.

Population Growth

• Thomas Malthus in 1798 wrote about population growth exceeding the land's capacity to provide food, leading to starvation and death.
• Population grows geometrically (2, 10, 50, 250, 1250, etc.).
• Food production increases arithmetically (2, 5, 8, 11, 14, etc.).
• Environmental constraints causing rising death rates are likely responses to a crisis.
• UN projections suggest the world population could reach 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050.
• The population is expected to peak at 10.4 billion in the 2080s
• After that, the population is expected to remain at that level until 2100.

Pollution Problem (Climate Change)

• A pollutant is a substance that pollutes, especially air and water.
• Energy from the sun drives Earth's weather and climate; incoming rays heat the surface, which radiates heat back.
• Greenhouse gases trap heat within Earth's atmosphere.
• Without the natural rate of greenhouse gasses, the Earth would be much cooler.
• Problems with greenhouse gasses arise when its concentration increases beyond normal levels, which increases global temperatures.
• Since the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas emissions have increased, which is enhancing the heat-trapping capability of the Earth's atmosphere.
• Global warming is caused by increasing average global temperatures due to emissions from human activities.

Consequences of Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions

• Humans are susceptible to increased heat, as shown by thousands of deaths in Europe in 2003 due to abnormal heat waves.
• Rising sea levels cause warmer water expands and previously frozen glaciers melt
• Increased storm intensity is expected to flood coastal communities.
• Ecosystems include plants and other living creatures in a certain area and non-living physical environments influence growth and reproduction.
• Rising temperatures cause plants need more water.
• Desertification transforms non-desert ecosystems into desert-like conditions with less vegetation and drier soil.
• Main causes of desertification are drought and climate change.

Water Accessibility (Resource Scarcity)

• By 2025, about two-thirds of the world's population will live in areas facing moderate or severe water stress.
• Water stress is not uniformly distributed globally.
• 50% of Africa's urban residents and 75% of Asians are estimated to lack adequate access to safe water.
• 90% of sewage and 70% of industrial waste in developing countries are discharged without treatment.
• Climate change intensifies droughts while simultaneously increasing water demand and reducing water supply.
• Dry areas can import water or build large reservoirs.
• This solution can promote conflict if water transfer or relocation causes backlash.