Europe, Asia and Africa have a greater % of the worlds population than they do fresh water supply.
Case Study - Katse Dam, Lesotho. Lesotho has no
direct access to the sea as it's 'landlocked'. It has a
fairly cool climate and is generally quite overcast and
has high rainfall. On the other hand, Johannesburg
has a much drier climate, only one local river and a
limited groundwater supply. Therefore Lesotho
trades its surplus of water to Johannesburg.
Case Study - Colorado Basin. With the population of the
sunrise states' population growing hugely, there is a
rising price for water. Agriculture around the area uses
80% of the water and is unsustainable.
Grey water - water from sinks and showers can be re-used in the home
to curb fresh water use. It would often be used again for hosepipe use
for irrigating gardens and washing cars etc. A number of other
techniques can be used to be more sustainable with water in the
home. This includes tap aerators and low flow rate shower heads.
These all help to reduce water consumption.
Leakage of
groundwater in
Australia where
evaporation is
high has led to
pipes being
capped to
reduce water
wastage and
increase the
useable
pressure.
Desalination (Sydney, Australia) gives the
population more useable drinking water and it
can be pumped short distances to be used in
other towns and cities. However, the water that
is replaced in the sea is 2 degrees warmer and
double the salt concentration. Another
disadvantage is that this technique can only be
used in coastal areas.
Lots of people can save water in the
home by, for example, only using the
dishwasher when full or using a more
energy and water efficient washing
machine. A water meter also alerts
people to their usage and often people
reduce their water usage when they
realise how much it costs.
FOOD
The majority of
Sub-Saharan Africa
generally eats less than
2400 calories per day,
wheras North Amercica
and most of Europe
consume 3000+ calories
per day. India has 231
million people that are
undernourished.
Often excessive
calorie consumption
can lead to obesity in
developed countries.
Can food production be
increased sustainably? Farm
machinery such as tractors
and combine harvesters have
significantly reduced labour
hours on farms in developed
countries. Chemical
fertilisers and pesticides and
antibiotircs all increase the
yield of crops and animals
alike.
Hydroponics - Growing plants with nutrients and water in a
medium other than soil. Thanet Earth has 7 huge
greenhouses that cost £135 million. It focuses on growing
salad crops such as tomatoes etc. and grows over 750,000
peppers every week.
Aeroponics - where
plants are suspended
in the air and
watered directly with
fine mists of water.
Because it's under
controlled
conditions, the
growth of a particular
plant is not
determined by the
season and therefore
this technique,
although initially
expensive, is useful
for developing
farming countries.
GM Crops - Replacing genes in crops with other
genes that lead to desrirable characteristics such
as enhanced Vitamin A production in GoldenRice.
Case Study -
Canada's Fish Farms
ENERGY
Peak oil is the peak usage of oil that has been used and may have occured from 2005-2010. The price of a
barrel of oil today is around $60.
Often the issue many people are concerned of is the danger of nuclear
power, as was highlighted in the Fukushima plant in Japan aftert the
Tsunami in 2011.
Electric cars don't produce any
carbon emissions, but still have
to be recharged and they're
often more expensive than the
petrol alternative. Until more
resarch is carried out into
better battery systems, they're
simply not a viable alternative
to conventionally fuelled
engines.
Alternative Energy supplies such as Wind Power, Solar power,
geothermal power, wave and tidal power are all being used
throughout the world.
Oil consumption can cause problems, as was
shown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Deep
water Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Lots of
wildlife was harmed including large
percentages of populations of particular bird
species. BP were fined $43 billion.
Wind Power is often regarded as the most common
renewable energy as it's fairly cheap to set up when
compared with other renewables and also produces a
relatively large amount of energy if they are built in 'farms'.
However, there are high maintenance costs associated with
the turbines.
CITIES
Cities are classified in 4 broad categories:
Old Established MEDC Cities - e.g. the
redevlopement of the La Defense area of Paris.
Edge Cities - e.g. Tyson's Corner,
Virginia, WA.
Modern NIC Cities - e.g. Singapore's
'One North Biomedical Park'.
Rapidly Expanding LEDC Cities - e.g. Lagos and its
housing challenge.
Cities are attempting to be sustainable in a number of ways: For
example, Londons Congestion Charge deals with the issues of transport
and pollution within the city and charges users of the inner city £10 per
day. The only disadvantage is that 79% of shops reported a fall in
takings when the congestion charging scheme was first introduced.
A programme called 'Favela Bairro' was
launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1994 and was a
slum upgrading programme that attempted
to alleviate the disparities of wealth within
the city. It tackled the issue through an
integrated approach and has improved
standards of living and lowered crime rates.
Curitiba has attempted to make public
transport more efficient and has launched
an integrated rapid transit system
throughout the city. This has cut
commuting times for those without
personal vehicles and also reduced the
pollution as more residents are
encouraged to use public transport.