Society and Environment Notes For AMIE - 7

Surviving on the environment

In rural areas, wealthier farmers tend to have the best land and use modern technology. Poorer people end up Surviving on the environment

In rural areas, wealthier farmers tend to have the best land and use modern technology. Poorer people end up with the less fertile, more fragile land. Many are subsistence farmers, which means they can only grow just enough food for their families, with no surplus to sell.

Environmental changes have a huge effect on their ability to survive. Cutting down trees for farming or to provide fuel for cooking or heating leaves land prone to soil erosion. This not only means that crops don’t grow as well in the depleted soil, but that heavy rains or floods are more damaging. Where trees are cut down from slopes, the soil can become unstable and cause landslides. Communities that rely on fertile flood plains for their annual crop go hungry if the rain doesn’t come, or if too much comes.


Our actions affect other lives

The whole planet is interlinked, sometimes in very complex ways. We may not see the effect of environmental damage in our own surroundings, but the damage is causing problems in other places – even other countries.

Pesticides or industrial waste that get into the waterways are killing off oceanic fish stocks. This is especially affecting people in poor countries who rely on fishing to survive.

Deforestation, particularly on slopes, means more rainwater pours into rivers, causing floods further downstream – often in vulnerable communities who live on low-lying land.

Pollution from substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and methyl bromide – from increased car exhaust fumes and burning of fossil fuels in power plants – have contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer. Emissions of some of these substances have now been reduced, but recovery takes time.

Global warming is another major issue in the world’s growing environmental problems. Rising temperatures are already having an impact around the world. Sea levels are rising, threatening to swamp small island nations and erode coastal soils.

Global warming also affects rainfall patterns, contributing to heavy rain and floods in some regions, while causing droughts in others. (1)

Developed nations like Australia contribute significantly to the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Heavy use of motor vehicles and the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and industrial processes are mainly to blame.

All of these factors are making the environment worse for the world’s most vulnerable people who are already struggling.


Our ecological footprint


In mid 2005, the world’s population was 6.45 billion. In the next 50 years, it is expected to grow to nine billion. (2) Clearly, this is not good news for our environment and especially for poor people who already lack the resources they need to survive.
Every person uses up a certain amount of the Earth’s finite resources. A formula has been created to work out someone’s impact on the environment based on their levels of consumption. This is called the ‘ecological footprint’.

People in wealthy countries tend to use more resources than poor countries because they can afford scarce resources and have a higher standard of living.

Studies using the ‘ecological footprint’ formula show that if everyone in the world consumed resources at the same rate as people in the richest countries, humans would need at least three planet Earths to support everyone.