GEOG 1220 Chapter Notes -Carrying Capacity, Overexploitation, Hydrosphere
12 Feb 2013
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Document Summary
Nonrenewable natural resources: formed much slowly than we use them. In between (so long as they are not overharvested): Stock-and-flow resources: the importance of the balance of harvesting/replenishing in their management. Use of tools with stones to modify their environment. Transition from nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a settled, agricultural way of life. Shift from rural life, animal-powered agriculture, and manufacturing by craftspeople to an urban society powered by fossil fuels. Life improved: also marked the beginning of industrial-scale pollution and other environmental/social problems. Shift to modern agricultural practices: green revolution. Allows people to live longer, healthier lives. A measure of the ability of a system to support life. When carrying capacity of the land (or water) system is exceeded: population of that species with decline or collapse, the system will be altered, damaged or depleted. Resources that are open to unregulated exploitation inevitably become overused and, as a result, are damaged or depleted.
