APES- Chapter #3- Guided Reading Assignment
The Big Picture: Systems of Change
Name: ________Diem Le___________Period: __1 _
Define the following and give examples of each:
• System: a set of components or part, that function together as a whole.
• Open System: Some energy or material (solid, liquid, or gas) moves into or out of the system.
• Closed System: No such transfers take place.
• Materially Closed System: One in which no matter moves in and out of the system, although energy and information can move across the system's boundaries.
• Static System versus Dynamic System: A static system (each birthday ballons), balloons are tied down and can't move vertically. A dynamic system (each hot air balloon), hot air generated by a heater fills the balloon with warm air, which is lighter than outside air, so it rises; as air in the balloon cools, the balloon sinks, and winds may move it in any direction.
• Steady-State System: The inputs (of anything of interest) are equal to the outputs, so the amount stored within the system is constant.
Why is the idea of equilibrium in systems somewhat misleading in regard to environmental questions? Is the establishment of a balance of nature ever possible?
It assumes that information about the transaction is perfectly known, does not examine initial distributions, assumes initial equilibrium, and assumes that their are no market failures.None of this is ever satisfied in real life... so no markets are ever truly Pareto efficient anyways. If you are talking about environmental resources/use then there will always be all sorts of market externalities (people outside of the transaction who are effected by their use), and even if the market could perfectly reflect the costs associated with everyone using the resource, animals and infinite future generations would not have their interests "priced" into the transaction.So there is no way to have an equilibrium for environmental issues.
Define: Average Residence Time (How is it calculated?)
By using rates of change or input-output analysis of systems, we can derive an average residence time-how long, on average, a unit of something of interest to us will remain in a reservoir. The average residence time (ART) is the ration of the size of a reservoir of some material-say, the amount of water in a reservoir- to the rate of its transfer through the reservoir.
Discuss the difference between positive and negative feedback loops. Give an example of
each.
negative feedback increase in output now leads to a later decrease in output. Positive feedback occurs when an increase in output leads to a further increase in output.
Define: Flow: An amount transferred; we also refer to the flux.
Flux: The rate of transfer per unit time.
• Lag Time : The delay between a cause and the appearance of its effect.
• Exponential Growth (What is the main idea- is it good or bad?):
Change is exponential when it increases or decreases at a constant rate per time period, rather than by a constant amount. It good because the greater the amount, the greater the interest earned, so the money increases by larger and larger amounts.
• Doubling Time: The time necessary for the quantity being measured to double.
• Overshoot and Collapse (draw and label the graph)
Why does overshoot occur, and what could be done to anticipate and avoid it?
Discuss the idea of Environmental Unity.
The idea that it is impossible to change only one things; everything affects everything else.
Discuss the idea of uniformitarianism
That geological and biological processes that occur today are the same kinds of processes that occurred in the past, and vice versa.
What is the Gaia Hypothesis?
The Greek goddess Mother Earth-has become a hotly debated subject. The hypothesis states that life manipulated the environment for the maintenance of life.
The Big Picture: Systems of Change
Name: ________Diem Le___________Period: __1 _
Define the following and give examples of each:
• System: a set of components or part, that function together as a whole.
• Open System: Some energy or material (solid, liquid, or gas) moves into or out of the system.
• Closed System: No such transfers take place.
• Materially Closed System: One in which no matter moves in and out of the system, although energy and information can move across the system's boundaries.
• Static System versus Dynamic System: A static system (each birthday ballons), balloons are tied down and can't move vertically. A dynamic system (each hot air balloon), hot air generated by a heater fills the balloon with warm air, which is lighter than outside air, so it rises; as air in the balloon cools, the balloon sinks, and winds may move it in any direction.
• Steady-State System: The inputs (of anything of interest) are equal to the outputs, so the amount stored within the system is constant.
Why is the idea of equilibrium in systems somewhat misleading in regard to environmental questions? Is the establishment of a balance of nature ever possible?
It assumes that information about the transaction is perfectly known, does not examine initial distributions, assumes initial equilibrium, and assumes that their are no market failures.None of this is ever satisfied in real life... so no markets are ever truly Pareto efficient anyways. If you are talking about environmental resources/use then there will always be all sorts of market externalities (people outside of the transaction who are effected by their use), and even if the market could perfectly reflect the costs associated with everyone using the resource, animals and infinite future generations would not have their interests "priced" into the transaction.So there is no way to have an equilibrium for environmental issues.
Define: Average Residence Time (How is it calculated?)
By using rates of change or input-output analysis of systems, we can derive an average residence time-how long, on average, a unit of something of interest to us will remain in a reservoir. The average residence time (ART) is the ration of the size of a reservoir of some material-say, the amount of water in a reservoir- to the rate of its transfer through the reservoir.
Discuss the difference between positive and negative feedback loops. Give an example of
each.
negative feedback increase in output now leads to a later decrease in output. Positive feedback occurs when an increase in output leads to a further increase in output.
Define: Flow: An amount transferred; we also refer to the flux.
Flux: The rate of transfer per unit time.
• Lag Time : The delay between a cause and the appearance of its effect.
• Exponential Growth (What is the main idea- is it good or bad?):
Change is exponential when it increases or decreases at a constant rate per time period, rather than by a constant amount. It good because the greater the amount, the greater the interest earned, so the money increases by larger and larger amounts.
• Doubling Time: The time necessary for the quantity being measured to double.
• Overshoot and Collapse (draw and label the graph)
Why does overshoot occur, and what could be done to anticipate and avoid it?
Discuss the idea of Environmental Unity.
The idea that it is impossible to change only one things; everything affects everything else.
Discuss the idea of uniformitarianism
That geological and biological processes that occur today are the same kinds of processes that occurred in the past, and vice versa.
What is the Gaia Hypothesis?
The Greek goddess Mother Earth-has become a hotly debated subject. The hypothesis states that life manipulated the environment for the maintenance of life.