24.09.11 Environmental indicators

Alternate resource: https://elab.hpa.edu/apes/texts/fr3e/friedland-relyea-3rd-edition.pdf
Modules 1-3 are useful...
Please download while in the elab today, and look over modules 1-3
Energy->water->food->culture
With energy you can move/purify water
With water you can grow food
With food you can maintain a culture
Climate change map-try this out:
https://impactlab.org/map/#usmeas=absolute&usyear=2080-2099&gmeas=absolute&gyear=1986-2005&usyear=1986-2005&gmeas=absolute&gyear=1986-2005
Look up the sea level rise simulator as well:
Nebraska->Alberta by 2050; Why? Where should you buy land?
Terms:
Bio=life, so biotic means living, abiotic means not living (druids had a neat view on this)
Ecosystem services: can be economic, direct or cascading (fishing in the Gulf of Mexico impacted by offshore oil spills)
Environmental indicators: what we know and can observe that indicate the condition of a system
Biodiversity
Food production
Global warming
Human Population
Resource depletion
1. Biodiversity: Biological diversity (more about this later)
Robust systems (can be biological, racial, technological) all have strong diversity
Genetic Diversity: genetic variation within a population (corn for example)
Species: ducks vs. dogs
Species diversity: variation of species in an ecosystem
Speciation (more) vs. extinction (less) 
Background speciation rate (cosmic rays)
Background extinction rate (before humans, much higher in the anthropocene era)
Speciation: an adaptation based on stress (evolution)
Evolution needs three things:
some form of genetic variation
some stress that favors this variation
survivors have to reproduce and carry on the variationThink of giraffes as an example:
longer necks in some animals
drought that kills all short neck creatures (just like in land before time)
long neck animals survive to reproduce and carry on the variationCool stuff:
There is a theory that the background rate of mutation/speciation was much higher long ago because our atmosphere was thinner, and enabled more cosmic rays to penetrate, causing much higher rates of mutation/speciation.
In England, butterflies have adapted since 1850 to look more like soot from coal fires.
In NYC, a species of "subway mosquitoes" have been found that feed on humans in a dark, cool place
Huh.
Then there are the Darwin Awards:https://darwinawards.com/
Extinction is the opposite of speciation, where species die off (except in the film Jurassic Park)
There is such a thing as a "background rate of extinction", which we have surpassed by many times
Diversity is good: think of monoculture food crops: one pest kills everything
2. Food production: see Malthus and Norman Borlaug, e.g. Mexico famine (look this guy up)
grain variation and monoculture
regional grain production (e.g. Pearl river delta)
vegetarian vs. carnivores3. Global Warming
Man made, from burning fossil fuels (anything that was living, decayed capturing atmospheric carbon)
carbon dioxide was in the air, then captured as plants and animals
we burn their carbon with oxygen to make carbon dioxide
greenhouse gases: trap infrared radiation, warming the planet (cause and effect)
Not too many people know we need some CO2 to keep water above freezing-think of this as we search for exoplanets...
4. Human population
growth rates
dispersion due to climate change
access to water-where, how much, salty?
why was China’s one child policy eventually a problem for China?
education, reproductive rights and religion
5. Resource depletion
water is first
Resource depletion is hard to grasp, but resource constraints are easier:
If we had a major tsunami here that closed airports (all near the shore) and ports, how long would we have electricity?
water? (pumped by electricity)
food?
Sustainability: ability to sustain present conditions forever (not likely)
Ecological footprint: what you calculated
Homework:
2.1 Environmental indicators
Locate your home on the climate change map, and describe conditions when you are 50 years old
Hawaii is often noted as a “biodiversity hotstpot”. Why is this?
Create another example of how evolution favors survival
The Darwin awards are often nicknamed “chlorine for the gene pool" Why?
Look up the film “Jurassic Park” and do some research into recent real examples of this
Why will sea level rise challenge the food production of Asia?
Why is some carbon dioxide needed in the atmosphere for our survival?
What is the global trend for population growth?
Why did I list the energy-water-food-culture in that order?
What is your most important "why" for learning about APES?
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