Sustainability Concepts Overview

Sustainability

• Tragedy of the Commons: the overuse of shared resources, leading to their destruction (forests, atmosphere, fisheries, rivers, land). Individuals prioritize their own self-interest, ignoring environmental and economic consequences. Examples include ocean gyres and atmospheric pollution.
• Ecological Footprint: a measurement of human impact on Earth, calculated in global hectares (land area needed to sustain one person). This represents the cost of sustaining human activity.
• Carrying Capacity: the maximum number of individuals a given environment can support without harming it.
• Sustainable Development: aims to meet present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs.
• Waste Production: household waste composition varies by culture. High-income countries produce more than lower income countries, leading to more waste in landfills.
• Waste Issue: Increasing global middle class, consumerism, and finite resources lead to greater waste. This creates environmental and human hazards (pollution and toxic chemicals).
• Consumerism: Encourages people to buy and consume numerous items, often at the expense of item longevity and repair. This contrasts with the concept of reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Waste Solution

• Rethink: change our choices and innovations to think about societal, environmental, and planetary impact.
• Reduce: decrease waste to conserve resources and money and reduce pollution.
• Reuse: change habits to use products repeatedly, repairing, or repurposing them rather than discarding them.
• Recycling: Separating and reprocessing materials to conserve resources and reduce pollution. Compostable materials decompose into soil that can be reused.
• Waste Management includes actions such as sorting and storing waste for further use and recycling

Fashion Industry

• Fast Fashion: garments produced quickly and unsustainably, often discarded quickly with a short life cycle, relying on cheaper products and mass production

Physical Geography

• Plate Tectonics: Earth's layers (Lithosphere - solid crust; Asthenosphere - semi-solid; Mantle; Outer core - liquid iron; Inner core - solid). Tectonic plates move through different forces including internal heat flow and conduction (transfer of heat across the material).
• Continental Drift(1912 Alfred Wegener): The theory that all continents were once joined together and have moved over time. Evidence of this is the shape of continents that appear to fit together.
• Continental Crust: is thicker than oceanic crust (less dense)
• Oceanic Crust: thinner layer (more dense).
• Internal heat flow: results convection currents, and transfer of heat by contact (conduction). Convection currents move as heat from Earth’s processes rises and falls, resulting in pressure and temperature differences in the mantle.

Rock Cycle

• Key Terms: Magma and Lava; weathering and erosion (sediments); compaction, and cementation(form rock); Magma (underground lava (aboveground), different types of rock (Igneous - from the cooling of magma, metamorphic - from heat and pressure on existing rock, sedimentary - from sediment).

Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic Rock

• Igneous rocks occur from the cooling of magma in Earth's interior or at its surface. Different regions of Canada have different types of rock.
• Sedimentary rocks originate from the weathering and erosion of other rocks (small sediments).
• Metamorphic rocks are created when existing rock type is altered by heat and pressure.

Volcanoes

• Volcanoes are openings in Earth's crust where magma erupts. Magma (molten rock beneath the earth's surface) turns into lava when it reaches the earth's surface.
• Various types of eruptions (explosive or effusive), and different types of volcanoes (shield, composite, cinder cone).

Earthquakes

• About Earthquakes: Series of seismic vibrations or shock waves. Focus: point where plates release tension. Epicentre: point on Earth's surface above the focus. Fault: fracture in the Earth where movement has occurred.
• Wave Types: Primary(P-Waves) and Secondary (S-Waves) causing vertical and horizontal ground movement.
• Earthquakes/Plate Boundaries: Occur at plate boundaries, larger earthquakes at subduction zones and smaller quakes at rifting areas.
• Hazards: seismic waves (shaking), landslides, liquefaction (saturated soil loss), and tsunami (large water waves).
• Magnitude: earthquake strength is measured using Richter Scale and Moment Magnitude Scales (0-10).

Canada's Physical Geography (Landforms and Vegetation)

• Canada has various landforms (Shield, Lowlands, Interior Plains, Highlands, Cordillera) and different vegetation regions (Boreal Forest, Taiga, other types of forest, grassland, and tundra). These regions are determined by factors like climate, soil, geology.

Forestry in Canada

• Forests in Canada are a renewable resource that provide economic, social, and environmental benefits.
• The value of forests relies on their use, and management for long-term sustainability.
• There are differing types of cut methods employed to manage trees (clear cutting, shelterwood, selective).
• Forestry issues include factors such as various insects, and wildfire dangers. Sustainable forestry practices aim to mitigate negative impacts.

Mining in Canada

• Mining is a significant contributor to Canada's economy, producing valuable minerals and metals. Types of mines include underground and open-pit. Underground requires vertical shafts and horizontal shafts; open pit involves removing overburden and using explosives to extract the raw material.
• Extracting ore, processing for extraction and further refinement produces materials that can be used for manufactured products.
• Mining can also negatively impact the environment via land damage and habitat loss.

Canadian Agriculture

• Types of farming (intensive, extensive); factors influence farming methods including cost and value, land quality, market proximity, and competition (supply and demand.)
• Canada’s agriculture depends on its natural resources (land, soils, water etc. as well as human-made structures such as buildings and equipment.
• Important agriculture areas include Annapolis Valley, Niagara Fruit Belt, and Okanogan County.

Human Geography

• Population density (number of people per km2).
• Factors shaping population distribution include physical factors (landforms, climate, water, soil, vegetation) and human factors (economics, politics, history, culture, and communication.)
• Demography is the study of population dynamics and its changes: Birth rate (number of births per 1000 per year), Death rate (number of deaths per 1000 per year), Natural Increase/Decrease Rate.
• Replacement level is the number of children needed for a couple to have to replace themselves and others. Approximately 2.1 children per couple.
• Migration: factors include push (war, disasters) against pull (persecution). Obstacles include costs, border restrictions, and leaving families. Different types of migration (Economic, Family, and Refugee).

Climate

• Earth’s atmosphere absorbs energy from the sun, distributes that energy globally, and acts as a protective shield. Weather is the atmospheric condition for a short period of time. Climate describes atmospheric conditions for a span of 30 or more years. Factors affecting climate are Latitude, Ocean currents, Wind, Elevation, Relief, Near water.

Resources and Industries

• Resources: naturally occurring materials used to benefit human life. Different types of Industries include Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary, and Quinary.
• Primary: Takes raw materials from the environment.
• Secondary: manufactures materials
• Tertiary: Provides services to support primary and secondary industries (services).
• Quaternary and Quinary: specialized knowledge based services.
• Industries vary by location based on resources. These are essential to the global economy and Canada’s economy.