GEOGRAPHY 4.3

• Production chain


  Depletion of raw materials and energy plus environmental pollution
• If we want to deal with our raw materials in a sustainable way, we have to recycle them
• 2 things about our consumption pattern that are not very sustainable

  • The transport of the products
  • Their life span
• We have to do more with our waste
• Cradle to cradle


  Products can be produced in a sustainable way
• In order to make all the products that we use, raw materials are needed
• Natural resources


  Products from nature that humans use
• Types of natural resources

  • Renewable (e.g. food, wood)
  • Finite (e.g. gold, petroleum)
• We are doing our utmost to harvest, pump up and dig out all those raw materials
• Ecological footprint


  The amount of space you use to be able to live
• The size of your ecological footprint depends on your lifestyle
• An American has a huge ecological footprint compared to the average African
• On average, the Dutch ecological footprint is at least 5 hectares per person, exceeding the carrying capacity of the Earth of 1.8 hectares per person
• We have exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth since 1970
• The world population is growing, with projections of 11 billion people on Earth by 2100
• With a growing population, the available space per person will decrease from 1.8 hectares to 1.1 hectares
• The average ecological footprint is expected to increase as countries like China and India become more prosperous
• Sustainable


  Using natural resources on Earth no faster than they are replaced, so future generations can live on Earth in the same way as the current generation