Lecture 9

• renewable resources: 'natural' resources that are, or can be, replenished over a relevant (human) timescale e.g. plants and animals, fisheries, water (surface) and energy
• non-renewable resources: natural resources that cannot be replenished over a relevant (human) timescale e.g. fossil fuels; nuclear fuels and minerals
• partially renewable resources: those that can be replenished in part, but which are not renewed naturally over a relevant (human) timescale e.g. soil and groundwater
• 'dust bowl' of the 1920s and 30s led to some reassessment of agriculture in the eastern USA
• 'the tragedy of the commons' is an idea first described by the Rev. W.F. Lloyd (1832) in relation to cattle grazing on common ground
• Chelyabinsk meteor 0f 15/2/2013

  air burst at an altitude of 30 km of the ~19 m diameter object with an entry energy equivalent to 500 kilotonnes of TNT
• natural hazards can be regarded as being social constructs
• The “Risk” to populations (at different scales) and management of hazards will depend on development of societies, hierarchies, ideologies and conceptions of the world
• Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability