Carrying Capacity Definition

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Carrying Capacity Definition
Transition Training 2007
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Carrying capacity - notes

• Main points
• Carrying capacity is the population that can be
  sustained, at a given level of consumption, on a
  given area
• The global population passed the planets
  carrying capacity in about 1980
• Additional Notes
• What the carrying capacity is depends on how much
  natural resource is taken by humans, how much we
  allow for other species
• The current human population of the earth is 6.5
  billion. Best estimates are that earths long
  term sustainable population is 2 billion (if
  everyone had a low level of Western consumption
  and technology), and maybe less.
• Quote from Vandana Shiva the best way for a
  population to make good decisions about carrying
  capacity is for the people to own their land.

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Ecological footprint
Transition Training 2007
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Ecological footprint

• Wackernagel and Rees introduced the concept of
  ecological footprints.
• The idea can be applied to any item, person or
  activity
• The footprint is the total area required to
  sustainably supply all the energy and resources
  needed, and to absorb all the waste produced by
  the item, person or activity

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The UK living beyond our means
ghost acres taking from others
fossil acres taking from the past (ancient
sunlight)
draw down taking from the future
Transition Training 2007
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Overshoot

• Main Point
• If we are living beyond our means ecologically
  speaking How is that possible?
• Because we use three sources of extra inputs and
  waste removal
• Ghost acres. We import food, trees, clothing,
  minerals and other resources as raw or finished
  goods from other countries.
• Fossil acres. Our one-off legacy from the past,
  mainly in the form of fossil fuels for energy
  but also the most easily mined metals and other
  minerals
• Draw down. We use renewable resources without
  regard to the time for them to renew. We pass on
  an increasingly degraded world to our children
  with less water, forest, fish, wilderness, trees,
  species, land etc
• Additional Points
• Ghost acres can be seen as a post-colonial form
  of empire taking from those less powerful than
  us. The other two are like a business using up
  its capital as if it is income. The Last hours
  of ancient sunlight is a wonderful book about
  this.
• In exchange for importing goods and exporting
  waste to other countries? We provide services
  such as financial markets, and sell debt. 97 of
  the money circulating in the world is debt,
  issued by rich countries

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Global inequality is growing
Transition Training 2007
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Global inequality

• Main points
• Each horizontal band shows 20 of the worlds
  population, the horizontal width shows their
  income
• The richest 20 earn 82 of the worlds income
  and the vast majority of this is earned by the
  top 10
• Additional points
• This trend is becoming more extreme.

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A diagram of everything
Transition Training 2007
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A diagram of everything
Main Point The model of the industrialised growth
system is that there are unlimited resources as
inputs and an unlimited sink for receiving
outputs - waste Although we focus on climate
change and peak oil and some people have
questions about the analysis of these problems, a
closer look reveals that every part of this
system is in crisis. (following slides go into
each aspect in more detail)
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The solution closing the loops
Transition Training 2007
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The solution closing the loops

• This slide shows the concept of thinking in terms
  of cycles
• Solutions to our disconnected resources in
  rubbish out system would include ideas such as
• Relocalisation the output from one system is an
  input somewhere else. E.g. waste card as biofuel
• Permaculture is a very helpful thinking tool for
  designing closed systems
• Indigenous living systems also show us how to
  close these loops
• You might like to think of some examples of
  closing loops..

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The Age of Cheap Energy is Over

• Peaks in oil production follow peaks in
  discoveries- usually 25-40 years later
• Of 98 producers, 64 countries have already peaked
• When Peak Oil Climate Change are considered
  together, solutions to each cancel each other
  out. The whole system needs to be redesigned- a
  low energy, re-localised and resilient system is
  the only viable future
• The current human population of the earth is 6.5
  billion. Best estimates are that earths long
  term sustainable population is 2 billion (if
  everyone had a low level of Western consumption
  and technology), and maybe less.