Extreme Environments & Sustainable Development (SL IB Geography)

• The ecosystems of cold environments are naturally fragile and provide one of the last wilderness spaces on Earth
• Economic growth risks pushing these ecosystems into a decline that is impossible to recover from
• With careful management, it is possible to find a balance between economic growth and saving the cold environments
• Strategies include:
  • Use of technology to monitor wilderness areas
  • Using appropriate technology to increase sustainability in areas at risk of damage

Sweden

• Sweden is a heavy consumer of energy due to its development and cold climate
• However, it has some of the lowest carbon emissions of any developed country
• Sweden has invested money into renewable energy sources like solar and wind power
• Sweden gets more than half of its energy from clean sources such as wind, sun, and water
• 95% of these green energy sources come from hydroelectricity, but solar and wind power are becoming more important 

Solar panels in Stockholm

Photo by Nazrin Babashova on Unsplash

Nepal

• The population of Nepal is mainly rural, with only 16% of the population living in towns and cities
• Nepal has no coal, oil or gas reserves, so these have to be imported
• The landscape is mountainous and includes much of the Himalayas, which are an obstacle to providing modern energy
• Only 10% of the mountain villages have access to electricity, with the remaining villages relying on  fuelwood
• Nepal does have a good supply of water, enabling the use of small-scale hydroelectric projects
• Micro-hydro harnesses the power of water to produce electricity 
• Cheaper, faster and less damaging than large hydroelectric dams, these micro-hydro projects have improved the standard of living in the communities

• The reliance on kerosene and fuelwood has reduced and emissions have fallen

Method of cooking using a pressurised kerosene stove

Photo by Aalok Atreya on Unsplash

• The use of sustainable and suitable technology in arid regions involves major investments in projects that some countries would find difficult to fund
• Deserts are good for solar energy since they receive high levels of sun
• Solar panels are expensive to build and buy, so they are only affordable in wealthier nations or where governments or charities can fund them
• Instead of technology, traditional desert communities use passive cooling and convection currents to make their homes cooler
• HICs use solar energy more

New Mexico earthship homes

• Earthship homes in New Mexico's deserts are an example of sustainable housing 
• Earthship houses are passive solar homes made from natural and recyclable materials that are designed to be 'off-the-grid' and consume no fossil fuels or energy
• Earthship homes are thermal-mass constructed, which is when they are naturally insulated 
• To achieve this, walls made of thick mud bricks or old car tyres rammed with earth that are half-buried
• The design promotes natural convection and cross-ventilation, allowing air to enter the house through windows or louvres and leave through skylights, providing a nice breeze 
• The homes are oddly shaped to maximise solar energy
• In winter, sun-facing windows provide heat, while in summer they are shaded
• Earthship homes use water sustainably by collecting water from their surroundings
• Water is collected from occasional rain, winter snow, and condensation
• Water collects on house roofs and travels through a tiny gap into storage cisterns inside
• Wind energy supplements solar power, and each home has one or more wind turbines that produce electricity to store in batteries

Earthship house 

Photo by Natalia Blauth on Unsplash

Desalination

• Involves the removal of salt from seawater to make it drinkable
• It is a costly method of increasing fresh water supplies 
• Seawater, overland flow, and groundwater can be used for desalination
• The two main methods are:
  • Distillation
    • The traditional way
    • Seawater is heated and boiled
    • The steam produced is condensed 
    • The salt is left behind in the boiler
  • Reverse osmosis
    
    • Seawater is filtered at high pressure
      
    • Small tubes syphon off drinkable water
      
    • The saline solution left behind is pumped back to sea
• Both methods are still used but reverse osmosis is more modern and efficient
  
• Desalination plants are expensive to build and maintain, so they mainly operate in HICs in water-stressed regions
• Saudi Arabia: water desalination has doubled over the past decade to reach 2.2 billion ㎥ in 2021, up from 1.1 billion in 2010
  
• Oman, UAE, Australia and USA are the other big users of desalination
  
  

Pros and cons of desalination 

Hydroponics

• Hydroponics is a type of agriculture that grows plants without soil
• Plants can be grown indoors in carefully-controlled conditions
• Their roots are suspended into an aqueous solution that contains all the nutrients that they need to grow
• The solution flows around the greenhouse in channels so all the plants are well supplied with nutrients
• Lighting can be supplied via solar panels
• Conditions can be monitored carefully and yields can be improved
  • Yields are not dependent on good weather
  • Tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, lettuces and peppers are examples of hydroponically-grown crops
• This uses 90% less water than traditional farming methods
• Disadvantages of hydroponics
  
  • High setup costs
  • There is a high running cost for fertilisers, artificial light and perhaps heat
  • Disease can spread quickly around a hydroponic greenhouse and damage a lot of crop in a short space of time