International Environmental
Problems and Policy
Office hours
PROFESSOR ZOLTÁN GROSSMAN
258 Phillips Hall
10:00-10:50 am MWF
836-4471
E-mail: grossmzc@uwec.edu
Web: www.uwec.edu/grossmzc
Regions of the “World Village”
East
Asians
South
Asians
Africans
European
Latin
Amer.
North
Amer.
Oceania
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
333 East Asians
274 South Asians
132 Africans
120 Europeans
86 Latin Americans
50 North Americans
5 from Oceania
Where we live
• 452 in town
Urban
Rural
• 548 in country
Ages
• 310 children
Under 14
15-65
Over 65
• 70 elderly
• 610 between
Demographics
• 22 children born
• 9 people die
• One-third of deaths are children under 5.
• Numbers of elderly increasing rapidly.
Human Population at 6 billion
Food shortages/famines
•Water quality
•Fossil fuel burning
•Air and water pollution
•Landscape destruction
•Loss of biodiversity
•
Languages
• 500 speak one of six
languages
6
languages
6,000
languages
–
–
–
–
–
–
Chinese
English
Hindi
Spanish
Russian
Arabic
• 500 speak one of 6,000
languages
Household income
• Average annual
income $4,890
Less than
$650
$650$35,000
Over
$35,000
• 600 poor
• 300 marginal
• 100 well-off
Ownership/consumption
• 200 richest villagers
own and consume
80% of goods
200
richest
800
others
• Other villagers own
and consume
remaining 20%
Affluent lifestyles
Material World:
A Global Family Portrait
Iceland
Guatemala
Japan
Land use
Cropland
Pasture
Forest
Noneconomic
• Average of 6 acres for
each person
–
–
–
–
700 acres cropland
1400 acres pasture
1900 acres woodland
2000 acres desert,
other noneconomic
land
Land ownership
The richest 270 people control:
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Cropland
Grain for
food
People
fed
Fertilizer
Richest
270
Other
730
– 40% of the cropland
– 72% of the foodgrain
but feeds 27% of the
people
– 83% of the fertilizer
United States Population
• 45 people live in
U.S.
United
States
Other
countries
• 955 live elsewhere
United States Consumption
• Oil 26%
• Aluminum 24%
•Copper 20%
•Nickel 19%
•Steel 13%
United States Share
of World Pollution
• Toxic wastes 50%
• Nitrogen oxides 26%
•Carbon dioxide 26%
•Sulfur oxides 25%
•Chloroflurocarbons 22%
Rich/poor divisions
• Wealthy countries tend to be located in the
Northern Hemisphere.
• About 1/5 of world population live in countries
with per capita income > $25,000.00 (U.S.).
– Poor people exist here as well.
• Gap between rich and poor continues to increase.
– Wealthiest 200 people in the world have combined
wealth of $1 trillion - more than total wealth of poorest
half (3 billion) of the world’s population.
Environmental challenges
• Wealthy countries exploit natural resources
in poor countries (often through corporations).
• Elites in poor countries often cooperate with
wealthy countries and interests.
• Poor exploit natural resources, because socio-economic
conditions (dictated by rich countries and domestic elites)
create a struggle for survival.
• Poor in wealthy countries also face economic blackmail.
Philadelphia Infant Mortality
Red area high than
at least 28 Third
World countries,
including:
Jamaica
Cuba
Costa Rica
Malaysia
Panama
Sri Lanka
South Korea
Taiwan
Uruguay
Argentina
Chile
Adult Literacy
• 310 adults can read and
write
Literate
Illiterate
• 310 adults cannot read or
write
• Girls half as likely as boys
to attend school
Access to TV
• 10% without access
Access to
TV
No access
• 90% with access
Access to fresh water
• 30% of rural residents
without access
Rural
access
No rural
access
• 7% of urban residents
without access
Women and girls
• Two-thirds of manual
labor
120
100
Total
numbers
Manual
labor
Wages
80
60
40
20
0
Female
Male
• One-tenth of wages
Property
• One-hundredth of property
% of
poor
• Make up 70% of the poor.
Life expectancy
• Not age lived to,
but affected by infant
mortality rates.
90
80
70
Average
age
Richest
families
Poorest
families
60
50
40
30
20
• Richest familes:
women 80, men 78
• Poorest families:
48 for both
10
0
Female
Male
“North/South” Divisions
• Poor countries tend to be located in Southern
Hemisphere.
• World Bank estimates more than 1.3 billion
people (1/5 world population) live in acute
poverty of < $1 (U.S.) per day.
– 70% women and children
– Self-Sustaining
• Daily survival necessitates over-harvesting resources thus
degrading chances of long-term sustainability.
Former world “divisions”
• First World - Industrialized, market-oriented
democracies of Western Europe, North America.
• Second World - Centrally-planned socialist
countries such as former USSR.
• Third World - Ex-colonial nations such as
India, Malaysia, Iran, etc.
• Fourth World - Poorest nations (and indigenous
communities within wealthy nations).
Current world system
• Core - Industrialized, market-oriented
democracies of Western Europe, North America,
East Asia, Australia.
• Periphery - Poor, ex-colonial nations such as
Kenya, Bolivia, Pakistan, etc.
• Semi-periphery - Partially industrialized
ex-colonial nations (South Africa, Brazil,
Mexico, South Korea, etc.)
Indigenous peoples
• Indigenous (Native)
people are often least
powerful, most neglected
people in the world.
– At least half the world’s
6,000 distinct languages are
dying.
– Indigenous homelands may
harbor vast percentage of
world’s biodiversity.
– Recognizing Native land
rights and political rights
may often be a solid
ecological safeguard.
– Who is “Indigenous”?
Human Development Index
• United Nations releases Human Development
Index (HDI). Based on social factors - ranges
from 0-1.0.
– In 2000: Canada had highest with 0.96 and Sierra
Leone had lowest with 0.19.
• Aggregate numbers hide many important
inequity issues:
– Gender
– Race
Sustainable Development
• “Meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.”
• Benefits must be available to all humans, not just
sub-set of privileged group.
• Economists: continual growth for people
• Ecologists: non-renewable resources, limited
waste capacity
Signs of hope
• Progress had been made on many fronts.
– Population has stabilized in many industrialized
countries; population growth slowing in others.
– Incidence of life-threatening diseases has been
reduced in some countries.
– Average life expectance nearly doubled.
World Summit on
Sustainable Development
• Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug.-Sept. 2002
• Ten years after 1992 Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio + 10).
• International grassroots NGOs
used as opportunity for networking.
WSSD websites
Earth Summit 2002
Girona Declaration
www.earthsummit2002.org
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/un/gironadecl.html
UN site
Global Indaba
www.johannesburgsummit.org
www.globalindaba.org.za
Linkages
Independent Media Center
www.iisd.ca/wssd/portal.html
http://southafrica.indymedia.org/
Radio Earth Summit
http://www.radioearthsummit.org/
Ideas for class website?