Chapter 4 Resources and Environment
Learning Objectives:
• World resources: nature, distribution & limits
• Global food problems: their nature & extent,
difficulties in their solution
• Strategic minerals: distribution & supply
• The energy crisis: causes, consequences and
alternative energy options
• Nature and causes of environmental
degradation
Thinking about the organization
of this textbook
• First, a broad discussion of resources
• Then, a detour into theory (finally)
• Followed by a treatment of industry,
progressing from activities absorbing
natural resources through service industries
• Cast in space – in cities, and in systems of
trade
• First, though, let us think about the broad
sectors of economic activity
The Economic System: An
Industry Perspective (Fig 8.2)
• Primary: agriculture, fishing, forestry,
mining
• Secondary: Manufacturing, Construction &
Utilities
• Tertiary: Transportation, Trade, Business
Services, Consumer Services, Public
Services
• Quaternary  Elements of tertiary except
the channel of distribution (trade, transport)
Key Lines
Of Service
Employment
The Economic System: A
structural perspective
Indicates Transactions Within Industry Group
Primary
Activities:
Agriculture
Mining
Secondary
Activities:
Manufacturing
Construction
Utilities
Forestry
Fishing
Tertiary
Activities:
Trade
Transport
Consumer Services
Producer Services
Public Services
Capital
Stock
Demand by
All Sectors
H
O
U
S
E
H
O
L
D
S
The Economic System: A
structural perspective (Chapters)
Chapter 5
Indicates Transactions Within Industry Group
Primary
Activities:
Agriculture
Mining
Forestry
Fishing
Ch 4,6
Ch 10: Cities
H
Tertiary Ch 8, 9
O
Secondary
U
Activities:Ch 7 Activities:
Trade
S
Manufacturing
Transport
E
Construction
Consumer Services
H
Utilities
Producer Services
O
Public Services
L
Capital
D
Stock
S
Demand by
Ch 11
All
Sectors
Ch. 12-14: Trade
Foundational Issues and
Resources and Population
• The constant specter of Malthus’ warning-Katrina & oil
• Resource optimists vs. resource pessimists
• The text contrasts a carrying capacity (?sustainable
development?) versus overpopulation approach to
development
– Patterns of growth with benefits to all, not just elites
– Carrying capacity under particular technologies
• Alternatives to the current Western energy & material
intensive production systems, based on (1) sun-based
organic agriculture, (2) renewable energy sources, (3)
greater reliance on local raw materials & labor intensive
technologies, and (4) decentralized production to increase
local self-reliance and reduce
transport
activity
Contrary
to current
institutions
Types of Resources and Their Limits
Entire
Stock
Nonrenewable
Vs. renewable
Resources.
?Cost
For a specific
Renewable
Of Use?
Time period
Stocks (soil)
Vs. renewable
Flows (water)
Maximum
Sustained
yield
Tragedy of the
commons
“Natural resources have meaning only in terms of historically-specific
Technical and cultural appraisals of nature….” p. 99
Food and Population
Globally food production has kept pace with population.
Africa with major food supply problems; elsewhere problems of equity
In food supply distributions and nutritional quality. Obesity
Food and Population
Developing Countries With Food
Security Issues
Food Resource Issues
• Urbanization & food supply patterns
• Poverty – esp. in Africa & other LDC’s. Chapter
14 revisits this topic; under-nutrition; chronic
malnutrition
• Population Growth & Food Security issues –
problems of transport, marketing and storage,
mismatch between where grain supplies are
produced and needed
• Civil Unrest and War
• Environmental Decline – desertification &
deforestation
• Government policy and debt
World Desertification – multiple
causes – ?Role of Global Warming?
Increasing Food Production
• Expanding Cultivated Areas
– Theoretically about 2X current area, but major
environmental issues (desertification, deforestation,
related climate change)
• Raising the Productivity of Existing Cropland
– Green Revolution; inequitable pattern. Figure 4.9
• Other factors:- aquaculture, development of highprotein cereals, more efficient use of certain foods
– Concerns about genetically engineered seed stocks
– How to institutionalize more sustainable agriculture?
Countries Benefiting from the Green Revolution
Fig 4.10 Artificial Fertilizer Use
Pressure on Ocean Resources & Aquaculture
Tragedy of the Commons
Natural Cycles
On-shore pollution
Natural disasters (Katrina
And Gulf Coast Oysters)
Side effects of aquaculture
Complex regulatory issues
Reference in text to Ellis:
No data related to Fig 4.11