AP Human
Geography
Ann Linsley
Bellaire High School
Houston ISD
Houston, Texas
“Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own
needs”
College Board AP Human
Geography:
VI.Industrialization and Economic Development
B.Contemporary patterns and impacts of
industrialization and development
1. Spatial organization of the world economy
2. Variations in levels of development
3. Deindustrialization and economic restructuring
4. Globalization and international division of labor
5. Natural resources and environmental
concerns
6. Sustainable development
7. Local development initiatives: government
policies
8. Women in development
Geographic Perspective of
Sustainable Development
The definition of sustainable development is
the same for science and social science.
In a Geographic context we would cover
economic, political, social, and spatial
development that allows for change/growth
without affecting future generations ability to
thrive. Geographers apply our unique
perspectives.
Geographic Perspective of Sustainable Development
con’t..
Geographers understand:
·
relationships between humans and environments;
·
the importance of spatial variability and the
place-dependence of processes;
·
that processes operate at multiple and
interlocking geographic scales; and
·
the integration of spatial and temporal analysis.
It is key to understand the idea that what might be
sustainable in one place may not be somewhere else-the place dependence of processes and the idea of
scale.
Dr. Sarah Bednarz, Texas A&M University;
AP Human Geography Test Development Committee
It is APHG & APES from Environment…
Academic Geography for Sustainability
The Advanced Placement (AP) program offered in
many U.S. secondary schools treats geography
somewhat differently than the British system. An
environmental science AP exam covers much of
the physical science aspects of geography, often
referred to as physical geography. A stand-alone
exam on human geography focuses on how
people interact with built environments and
across space with each other. Humanenvironment geography, which pertains to human
interactions with natural, environmental, and
agricultural features and processes, is somewhat
awkwardly divided between the two exams.
Sustainability – Sustainable
Development
• Sustainability is the potential of an
ecosystem to subsist overtime in a balanced
way
• Sustainable development includes
environmental considerations in the steering
of societal change
The Three Pillars of
Sustainable Development
• “The social: this relates to human mores and
values, relationships and institutions
• The economic: This concerns the allocation and
distribution of scarce resources
• The ecological: this involves the contribution of
both the economic and the social and their effect on
the environment and its resources” (Ekins 2000)
Characteristics of Sustainable
Development/SD
• SD is an ongoing process across
space, time, societies and cultures
• SD will be different in different
societies but needs common normative
principles
• SD is a dynamic, comprehensive
concept of modernizing living patterns
(Baker 2000)
Paradigm of Sustainable
Development
• Changing the quality of growth
• Reducing population growth
• Food security
• Maintaining biodiversity
• Establishing safe energy
• Ecological modernization of industry
• Guiding landuse and urbanization
• (Brundtland Report/WCED 1987)
Geographical Qualifications for
Sustainable Development
Knowledge and Understanding of
- Major natural systems and
-Major socio-economic systems
Skills in
- Using communication-, thinking-, practical
and
social skills to explore geographical topics
from
local to global scales
Attitudes and Values to
- Dedication to seeking solutions to local,
regional, national and international problems
(International Charter on Geographical Education 1992)
SUSTAINABILITY IS A
TRANSITION
From
To
•short-term thinking
•an economy outside of
nature
•a linear flow of resources
•fossil fuels
•keeping score with a
gross cash flow
•seeing Environmental,
social and economic
challenges as separate
and competing
•long-term thinking
•an economy Integrated with
nature
•a systems flow of resources
•solar-derived
•keeping score with a whole
systems balance sheet
•seeing Environmental, social,
and economic challenges as
an interconnected whole ed
energy
Taking the Planetary Pulse:
What is Non-sustainability?
• The great unraveling
• The great warming
• The great inequalities
The Great Unraveling
• Ecosystem decline
• Habitat loss
• Species extinction
• Human body burden and
chemical stressors
The Great Warming
• Disruption of the global heat engine
• The planet’s response
• Economic dislocation
• Climate refugees and
security
The Great Inequalities
• Concentrations of wealth
•Access to resources
and information
• Conflict and
national security
Global Sustainability…
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•
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1972 UNEP & Human Environment Conference
1975 Worldwatch Institute
1976 UN Conference on Human Settlements
1982 UNCLOS
1989 Stockholm Conference
1992 Rio Earth Summit
1995 Copenhagen Conference on global poverty
1995 Beijing Conference on women
1996 ISO 14001
2000 UN Millennium Development Goals
2002 Johannesburg Conference on Sustainable development
2005 Kyoto Protocol
2009 Copenhagen conference on Climate
1972 Stockholm Conference –
Declaration on the Human Environment
Principle 1: Man is both creature and molder of his environment, which
gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for
intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous
evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached
when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has
acquired the power to transform his environment in
countless ways and on an unprecedented scale.
Principle 3: Man has constantly to sum up experience and go on
discovering, inventing, creating and advancing. In our time man's
capability to transform his surroundings, if used wisely, can bring to all
peoples the benefits of
development and the opportunity to enhance the quality of life. Wrongly or
heedlessly applied, the same power can do incalculable harm to
human beings and the human environment.
1972 Stockholm Conference –
Principle 6: A point has been reached in history when we must shape
our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their
environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we
can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on
which our life and well-being depend. Conversely, through fuller
knowledge and wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our
prosperity a better life in an environment more in keeping with human
needs and hopes. To defend and improve the human environment for
present and future generations has become an imperative goal for
mankind-a goal to be pursued together with, and in harmony with, the
established and fundamental goals of peace and of world-wide economic
and social development.
Principle 11: The environmental policies of all States should
enhance and not adversely affect the present or future development
potential of developing countries, nor should they hamper the
attainment of better living conditions for all, and appropriate steps
should be taken by States and international organizations with a view to
reaching agreement on meeting the possible national and international
economic consequences resulting from the application of environmental
measures.
1992 UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (“Rio
Conference”)
Charged by the UN General Assembly to “elaborate strategies . . . to
promote sustainable and environmentally sound development in all
countries.”
Principle 1: Human beings are at the center of concerns for
sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and
productive life in harmony with nature.
Principle 3: The right to development must be fulfilled so as to
equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of
present and future generations.
Principle 4: In order to achieve sustainable development,
environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the
development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.
2002 Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable
Development
Principle 18:We welcome the focus of the Johannesburg
Summit on the indivisibility of human dignity and are resolved,
through decisions on targets, timetables and partnerships, to
speedily increase access to such basic requirements as
clean water, sanitation, adequate shelter, energy, healthcare,
food security and the protection of biodiversity.
Principle 19:We reaffirm our pledge to place particular focus on,
and give priority attention to, the fight against the worldwide
conditions that pose severe threats to the sustainable development
of our people, which include: chronic hunger; malnutrition; foreign
occupation; armed conflict; illicit drug problems; organized crime;
corruption; natural disasters; illicit arms trafficking; trafficking in
persons; terrorism; intolerance and incitement to racial, ethnic, religious
and other hatreds; xenophobia; and endemic, communicable and
United Nation Millennium Goals
Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed at the
United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000. Nearly
190 countries have agreed to these Goals by 2015.
The eight Millennium Development Goals are:
• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development
Millennium Development Goal: Target 7
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
* Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development
into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental
resources
* Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a
significant reduction in the rate of loss
Proportion of land area covered by forest
CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
Proportion of total water resources used
Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
Proportion of species threatened with extinction
Millennium Goal: Target 7 con’t.
* Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the
population without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation (for more information see
the entry on water supply)
Proportion of population with sustainable access to
an improved water source, urban and rural
Proportion of urban population with access to
improved sanitation
* Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant
improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slumdwellers
Proportion of urban population living in slums
The System of Sustainable
Practices
A system is any set of
interdependent or
temporarily
interacting parts.
Systems Thinking
What do we mean by
“system?”
What does a system need
to have?
What are the values of
seeing and
thinking in systems?
http://people.tribe.net
Elements of a Systems Framework -
•Seeing the whole and its parts
•Networks of mutuality
between the parts
(relationships)
•Self-organizing and selfsustaining
•Recognizing system
boundaries (limits)
•“Constant” creation and
destruction
•Time scales often long and
feedback loops hard to
observe
The Lessons of Working in
Systems
• Everything is connected to
everything else
• You can never do just one
thing
• There is no “away”
• Nothing grows forever
• There are no simple
solutions
• When there are serious
imbalances, don’t
fight positive feedback;
support negative
feedback instead
• Competition is often
cooperation in disguise
Our Responsibility as a Systems Thinker
• See the systems (product, process, system)
• See the parts
• See the relationships
• See and understand feedback loops
• Look for interdependencies (information flows)
• Expect unanticipated consequences
• Keep options open; value flexibility and resilience
• Can’t get economies of scale out of a system
• Understand the temporality of relationships
• Pay attention and give voice to the long term
In Conclusion:
Sustainable Development is an integrated systems approach
to “meeting the needs of the World’s population today, without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs.”
Sustainability can be summarized in four key principles:
First, benefits of economic activity must be considered in relation to
their respective social and environmental consequences;
Second, in using resources, we must consider the needs and
expectations of future generations;
Third, government, business and other segments of civil society must
act together to balance these needs;
Fourth, the corporate governance contributes to sustainable
economic development by enhancing the performance of the
company and increasing its access to land and capital.
www.mudcitypress.com/images/pattern1.jpg
Discussion Topics
How important is sustainable development to you?
Is it a hype or should we take it seriously?
What is being done to promote sustainable
development in your country and your own region?
Which energy sources can we use without
compromising the environment?
How could individuals contribute to a sustainable
future? What could your role be?
greeningwinnett.org