Table Of ContentHUMAN-
ENVIRONMENT
I NTERACTIONS
An Introduction
MARK R. WELFORD
AND
ROBERT A. YARBROUGH
Human-Environment Interactions
Mark R. Welford • Robert A. Yarbrough
Human-
Environment
Interactions
An Introduction
Mark R. Welford Robert A. Yarbrough
Department of Geography Department of Geology and
University of Northern Iowa Geography
Cedar Falls, IA, USA Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-56031-7 ISBN 978-3-030-56032-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56032-4
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V
Acknowledgments
We owe much gratitude and thanks to Rachael Ballard and Joanna O’Neill
at Palgrave Macmillan in London for their patience and guidance through-
out this process. We would also like to thank Brian Bossak who inspired
Mark to think about writing a book on human-environment. We must also
express our sincere thanks and appreciation for our families’ support over
the many years we worked on this project. We would not have been able to
complete this book without the continued support of Theresa Welford,
Mary Beth Yarbrough, Isabel Yarbrough, and Eleanor Yarbrough. Thank
you, and we love you!
VII
Contents
1 I ntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 .1 A nthropocene and Omnicide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 .2 Geographic and Environmental Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1 .3 Nature as Socially Constructed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1 .4 Semantic Challenges to Nature and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1 .5 Spatial Scales and Boundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1 .6 E nvironmental Determinism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1 .7 E nvironmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 C limate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 .1 Climate Change Is a Game-Changer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 .2 C limate Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 .3 Who Is Responsible for GHGs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2 .4 The Scale of Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 .5 0.5–2 °C above Pre-Industrial Levels: What Is Happening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2 .6 C limate change Vulnerabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2 .7 Nonhuman Responses to Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2 .8 Global Limits to Growth, a Warning to Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2 .9 Climate Change Denial and Other Assorted Environmental
Repudiations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2 .10 What Can Governments Do? What Can We Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3 E xtinctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3 .1 Extinction Is Forever a Game-Changer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3 .2 B iodiversity Crises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3 .3 P re-1600 Extinctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3 .4 O ceanic Island Extinctions—Post-1600. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3 .5 Coastal Islands near Continents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3 .6 C ontinental Extinctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3 .7 G lobal Extinctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3 .8 Emerging Crisis of Newly Threatened Species. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3 .9 Attempts to Stop Further Extinctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3 .10 From the Brink of Extinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4 T hresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4 .1 T hresholds and Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4 .2 Landscape Sensitivity and Complex Responses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4 .3 C arrying Capacity Exceedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
V III Contents
4 .4 Deforestation, Colonization, Emergence of New Diseases,
and Reemergence of Known Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4 .5 Can We Prevent a Future Pandemic?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4 .6 Global Climate Thresholds and Tipping Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4 .7 Climate, Tipping Points, and Mass Mortality Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4 .8 D eforestation Tipping Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4 .9 Soils and Crop Production Thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5 R esources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5 .1 Natural Resources: Their Historic Exploitation and Exhaustion . . . . . . . . . 124
5 .2 Geographic Scale and Resource Consumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5 .3 Oil and Coal and Our Carbon-Based Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5 .4 Societal and Government Responses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5 .5 Economic Development and Sustainability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5 .6 Nonrenewable Versus Renewable Energy and Climate Change. . . . . . . . . 137
5 .7 Conservation of Natural Landscapes and Ecosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5 .8 US National Park Conservation and Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5 .9 E cosystem Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
6 P opulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6 .1 Contemporary Geographies of Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6 .2 A Brief History of Global Population Growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6 .3 Perspectives on Population, Resources, and the Environment. . . . . . . . . . 161
6 .4 Environmental Implications of Population Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6 .5 C hapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
7 A griculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7 .1 G lobal Food Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7 .2 B iotechnology in Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
7 .3 Some of the Most Vulnerable—Smallholder Farmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8 U rbanization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
8 .1 S prawl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8 .2 U rbanization Versus Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8 .3 U rban Heat Islands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
8 .4 The Built Environment and Weather Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8 .5 Climate Adaptation in Cities Worldwide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8 .6 B rownfields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
IX
Contents
9 P ractical Solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
9 .1 Are There Practical Solutions to the Crises We Face? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
9 .2 Contingency, Resilience, Recovery, and Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
9 .3 W hat Can Individuals Do to Mitigate Climate Change,
the Sixth Mass Extinction, and Natural Resource Exhaustion? . . . . . . . . . . 220
9 .4 We Must Support NGOs that Promote Sustainable Food
Production and Conserve Natural Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9 .5 W hat Can Groups Do to Mitigate Climate Change, the Sixth
Mass Extinction, and Natural Resource Exhaustion?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
9 .6 Recycling, Energy Usage, and Alternatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
9 .7 W hat Can Legislators Do to Mitigate Climate Change,
the Sixth Mass Extinction, and Natural Resource Exhaustion? . . . . . . . . . . 235
9 .8 Looking Back, to Look Forward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
9 .9 Overcoming Looming Global Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
9 .10 Who Is Going to Survive the Crises of Climate Change,
Oil Shortages, and Environmental Services Collapse
If We Do NOT Adapt or Mitigate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Supplementary Information
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
1
1
Introduction
Contents
1.1 Anthropocene and Omnicide – 3
1.2 Geographic and Environmental Concepts – 6
1.3 Nature as Socially Constructed – 7
1.4 Semantic Challenges to Nature
and Society – 8
1.5 Spatial Scales and Boundaries – 10
1.6 Environmental Determinism – 14
1.7 Environmentalism – 14
References – 16
© The Author(s) 2021
M. R. Welford, R. A. Yarbrough, Human-Environment Interactions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56032-4_1
2 Chapter 1 · Introduction
n Learning Goals
1
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
5 Define fundamental geographic concepts like globalization, spatial scale, and
environmental determinism.
5 Illustrate how fundamental concepts in geography aid in evaluating contempo-
rary human-environment issues.
5 Explain how the organizational structure of this book can contribute to your
learning of contemporary human-environment processes, patterns, issues, and
potential solutions.
Has our drive to build an advanced global civilization exhausted our planet’s
resources and polluted our planet to such a degree that we are in fact destroying the
very civilization we are trying to build? Does our example explain why we have not
located any evidence for life elsewhere? Are we an example of the Fermi paradox
and the Great Filter where the Great Filter is an abiogenesis? In other words, is the
rise of technological human-level intelligence ultimately self-destructive before we
make contact with other alien civilizations? If so, then Gene Roddenberry, the
creator of Star Trek, would be very depressed!
We hope not, and tragic major global crises such as the global economic crisis
of 2007/2008, SARS, and COVID-19 suggest that downturns in the global econ-
omy yield positive environmental impacts! For instance, as of March 2020, nitrate
oxide levels in China and within the Po Valley of Italy are down as much as 10–30%.
As of March 27, congestion in and around Los Angeles is down and the traffic is
moving 53% faster. Indeed, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s
(EPA’s) air quality index, by the end of March 2020, Los Angeles had recorded
three straight weeks of “Good” air quality, which indicates little to no risks of air
pollution. Contrast this with summer 2019, when EPA’s air quality index in LA was
in the “Unhealthy” range or worse every day for two straight months. Similarly, in
the San Francisco Bay Area, air quality has improved markedly, with the number
of vehicles crossing the Bay Bridge having dropped 40%, as has the number of
vehicles driving into Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta have seen similar trends, with
massive downturns in numbers of vehicles on the roads.
Please note we do not advocate for emergent diseases and are horrified by the
death toll of COVID-19.
Yet, this does illustrate that as people stay at home, consumption decreases,
factory outputs decrease, transportation (including shipping, but also individual
car drivers, trucks, etc.) decreases, and with this there is significant reduction in air
pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We hope, from this evidence, that
people (especially rich people) realize that reducing personal consumption (by a
relatively small amount) can have an immediate impact on GHG emissions, and
that we should, as a global society, explore zero-growth policies coupled with con-
certed efforts to reduce local, regional, national, and global socioeconomic
inequalities.
As we noted in the last sentence, the onus is really on rich people to change their
consumption patterns, particularly when it comes to flying. Oswald and coauthors
