Environmental Politics

Midterm 1 Study Guide

Terms
1. Politics: the study of power
2. Environment: the physical world
3. Ecosystem:
4. Ecology: study of biological systems
5. Biodiversity: richness in plant and animal species
6. Endemic: species unique to a given ecosystem
7. Biome: specific ecosystem
8. Environmentalist: studies the environment with a political focus on industrialization’s
problems (more liberal)
9. Conservationist: studies the environment – economic, natural resources (older term)
10. Naturalist: studies the environment – aesthetic (older term)
o Ex: bird watcher
11. Outdoorsman: studies the environment – recreational
12. Macro physical forces: geological, climate
13. Micro physical forces: plant/animal communities, water, soil, keystone species, indicator
species
14. Keystone species: their loss leads to dramatic change in an ecosystem
o Ex: wolves
15. Indicator species: determine health of ecosystem
o Ex: oysters
16. Climax system: ecosystem at peak health
17. First great transformation/Neolithic revolution: cultivation of plants and animals
18. Hydraulic society: political control of water
19. Tragedy of the Commons: when there is a common good, individuals act for their own
good and not for the common good, therefore exploiting the resource through their
collective action
o Fisheries and the ocean today, whales, seal/otter fur in the 19th century
20. Second great transformation/industrial revolution: moving from renewable to
nonrenewable resources, urbanization
Dates
21. Mid 1800s: when the term ecology was coined
22. 1980s: political ecology
23. 7,000 years ago: first great transformation begins
24. 1400-1850: minor ice age in Europe
25. 1100-1300: warming period in Europe
26. 7th century: Arabs begin spreading agriculture
27. 15th century – present: Europeans spread agriculture through colonialism
 28. 19th century: industrial revolution
29. 15th – 19th century: European colonization
30. 1500 - ? : modern era
31. 1300-1500: Renaissance
32. 16th century: Protestant Reformation
33. 17th century – present: scientific revolution
34. 18th century: Enlightenment
35. 18th century: industrialization
36. 19th century: wildlife depletion began
37. 1900: Bison reduced to only 800
38. 1914: last passenger pigeon died in Cincinnati Zoo
39. 1920s: last flock of Carolina parakeets seen in Florida
40. 1930s: Carolina parakeets extinct
41. 1930s: Last ivory billed woodpecker seen for a while in Florida and Arkansas
42. 19th, 20th century: people became aware of the need for conservation efforts
43. 1800: 2.5% of the population was urban
44. 1700s, 1800s: Holland is the first country to urbanize
45. 20th century: suburbanization
46. Mid-1800s: quality of life began to really increase
People
47. Ernst Haeckel: coined the term ecology
48. Maimonides: Jewish thinker who stressed stewardship, balance, early conservation ideas
(pre-modern, minority thinker) (12th century)
49. Saint Francis of Assisi: nature was an important part of revelation; every part of nature
had a purpose; poverty is human ideal (12th century)
50. Saint Thomas Aquinas: the natural law; morality is natural (13th century)
51. Descartes: Saw nature as a machine (16th – 17th century)
52. Newton: Gravity (17th – 18th century)

Notes!
Lecture One
1. Politics
a. The study of power
2. Environmental Politics
a. The Environment – physical world
i. Scientific term
b. Ecosystem
i. Scientific – biology
 ii. Ecology: study of biological systems
1. Term coined in the mid-1800s by Ernst Haeckel
2. Biodiversity: rich in plant and animal species
3. Endemics: species unique to a given ecosystem
4. Biome: specific ecosystem
c. Cultural perspectives (religion)
i. Creation (sort of term needed to appeal to people)
ii. Nature
1. Note: this and creation hint at the cycle of life and death
iii. artist
d. Different types of people who study the environment
i. Environmentalist: political, focus on industrialization’s problems (more
liberal)
ii. Conservationist: economic, natural resources (older term)
iii. Naturalist: aesthetic (ex: bird watchers) (older term)
iv. Outdoorsman: recreational
3. Environmental Policy Contexts
a. Atmosphere
b. Water
c. Land
d. Plants and animals
4. Political Ecology
a. 1980s
b. Historians, anthropologists, political scientists
c. Areas of focus/research
i. Context of environmental change: how government policies affect the
environment
1. Policy and its impact
ii. Conflict over resources
iii. Consequences of environmental change
iv. Sustainable development: how do you harmonize economics and ecology

Lecture Two: People and the Environment

1. Physical forces
a. Macro
i. Geological
ii. climate
b. Micro
i. Plant, animal communities
ii. Water
iii. Soil
 iv. Keystone species: their loss leads to dramatic change in an ecosystem
v. Indicator species: determine the health of an ecosystem (ex: oysters)
2. Hunting-Gathering Societies
a. Overview
i. 500,000 to 1 million
ii. Extreme ecosystems
iii. Alertness (in the outdoors)
iv. Population control (to be able to stay mobile)
1. Infanticide
2. geronticide
b. Tools
i. Boat
ii. Bow and arrow
c. As environmentalists
i. Sacred sites/taboo sites
ii. Positive points
1. Knowledge about plants and animals
2. Low population
iii. Negative points
1. Wasteful
a. Maybe not managing resources for the future

Lecture Three: Agrarian Societies

1. The First Great Transformation
a. Began about 7,000 years ago
b. Neolithic Revolution – key feature: cultivation of plants and animals
i. Features:
1. Population/urban growth
2. Technical specialization
3. Emergence of bureaucracies (political, religious)
4. Creation of social hierarchies – slavery
5. Emergence of literacy
6. Private property
ii. Types of agriculture
1. Plow agriculture: grains (flat land, good soil)
2. Horticulture: in the tropics (forest), tubers
a. Small scale?
3. Slash and burn agriculture (shifting cultivation)
2. Core Areas of Transformation
a. Middle East
i. Wheat
 ii. Barley
iii. Lentils (pulses)
iv. Sheep/goats
v. Cattle
vi. Grapes – wine
vii. Olives – olive oil
viii. Horses
ix. coffee
b. China
i. Soybeans
ii. Chicken
iii. Rice
iv. Pigs
v. Tea
vi. Intensification revolution (manure fertilization?)
c. Meso-America
i. Corn
ii. Potatoes
iii. Tomato
iv. Avocado
v. Squash
vi. Peppers
vii. cocoa
3. Ecological Impact of Agriculture
a. Cutting forests, draining swamps
b. Creating new animals/plants though domestication
c. Land exhaustion (downfall of some civilizations)

Lecture Four: The Spread of Agrarian Civilization

1. Agricultural Intensifications
a. China: paddy field system
i. manure
b. Hydraulic societies: political control of water
2. Limiting Factors – Ecological
a. Climate change (macro)
i. Europe
1. Minor ice age (1400-1850)
2. Warming period (1100-1300)
b. Drought
i. Natural phenomenon (lack of rain)
 ii. Famine is a consequence (sometimes caused by disease)
1. Lack of water -> no food/water, disease
3. Spread of Agriculture
a. Arabs: beginning in the 7th century
i. Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe
b. Europeans: 15th century to the present (colonialism)
4. Modern Agricultural Intensification (Europe)
a. Holland
b. England
c. Use of fertilizer
d. 19th century: industrial revolution – chemical fertilizers and machines
i. Higher yield at higher energy cost
5. European Colonialism: 15th – 19th centuries
a. Britain, France
b. Spain, Portugal, Holland
c. Plantation economies
i. Slave systems – tropics
ii. Luxury goods (coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, palm oil)
1. More recently, drugs
iii. Industrial goods (later on)