Wellbeing General
What is “human wellbeing”?
The quality of life people experience and their ability to access what they need to live happy, healthy, fulfilling lives.
What is an “indicator”?
A measurement used to assess a specific aspect of wellbeing or development.
What is the 'climate emergency'?
Refers to urgent action needed to prevent severe climate impacts caused by human-induced global warming
Name one environmental factor that affects wellbeing.
Climate, drought, or flood affecting food security.
Define environmental management and provide 3 examples
Plans and actions that people or organisations implement to handle and solve environmental problems to make the environment safer, protect communities, and ensure resources are used wisely.
•WA state-wide single-use plastic ban 1 Oct 2022 as a strategy to reduce the amount of plastic ending up in our landfills and waterways, where it does not biodegrade and contributes to harmful microplastics to the environment
•WA residential battery scheme: one-off rebates or no-interest loans to purchase a battery for your home solar-panel system = decreases fossil fuel emissions as most of WA’s energy still comes from burning gas and oil
•building barriers like flood walls to keep water out (hard engineering strategy) or creating early warning systems to inform people when a flood is coming (soft engineering strategy).
What is Australia's level of wellbeing? Is this is the same for everyone in the country?
What three factors make up the HDI?
Life expectancy, education (years of schooling), and income (GNI per capita).
What is meant by the 'Enhanced Greenhouse Effect'?
The enhanced greenhouse effect occurs due to human activity creating increased amounts of greenhouse gases (through burning fossil fuels, fertiliser, building industry, deforestation, animal agriculture) which trap more heat in Earth's atmosphere, warming the planet more than the natural effect.
Give one political and one historical factor that can reduce wellbeing.
Political – corruption or conflict; Historical – colonisation or past war.
What can governments do to fight climate change?
Governments can fund green infrastructure, set emissions targets, create laws to protect ecosystems, and invest in public transport and renewables.
Give two examples of high wellbeing indicators.
High literacy rate, long life expectancy, low infant mortality, good access to healthcare.
Give three examples of indicators we use to measure wellbeing.
Then explain what one of these examples would be for a high HDI country and a low HDI country.
Literacy rate; birth rate; GDP per capita
Literacy rate - high literacy rate in a high HDI country (Australia), low literacy rate in low HDI country (Afghanistan).
Birth rate - high birth rate in a low HDI country (Nigeria); low birth rate in a high HDI country (Japan)
GDP per capita - high GDP in a high HDI country (German); low GDP in a low HDI country (South Sudan)
Describe the relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperatures.
As we've seen increased carbon in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels for human activity, the global temperature has also risen due to the greenhouse effect.
How can social or cultural factors influence wellbeing?
Gender inequality or limited education restrict opportunities.
How can renewable energy reduce climate change?
They produce little or no greenhouse gases, replacing fossil fuels and lowering atmospheric CO₂. This in turn reduces the enhanced greenhouse effect which is causing rising temperatures which then causes increased strength and frequency of destructive storms, flooding, fires, etc.
Explain one reason why wellbeing varies between regions.
Differences in wealth, resources, education, and political stability affect wellbeing levels.
Why is HDI a better measure than GDP alone?
It includes social and educational dimensions, not just income, giving a fuller picture of wellbeing.
Describe the carbon cycle and carbon sinks.
The carbon cycle moves carbon through the atmosphere, land, and oceans. Carbon enters the atmosphere through human and animal respiration, decay of dead organisms, burning of forests and fossil fuels. Carbon sinks like forests, soils, algae/sea weed, plants, and oceans absorb CO₂, reducing warming.
How does Education impact wellbeing? Give examples for great access to education vs poor access to education. Think about what else it impacts.
What is land cover change, provide examples.
Alterations made to the surface of the earth. Humans change land cover via farming, urbanisation, war, and deforestation. Natural disasters like fires, floods or volcanoes also reshape landscapes.
Explain the difference between absolute and relative poverty, and give an example of each.
Absolute poverty = not having enough income to meet basic needs (e.g. food, shelter, water). Relative poverty = having less income than others in the same society (e.g. low-income households in Australia).
Thinking of a world map of HDI, describe the global pattern of wellbeing and identify one exception to the general trend.
HDI is highest in Europe and North America, and lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia. Exception: Some countries like Cuba or Costa Rica have high wellbeing despite lower GDPs.
Describe the 4 S’s of environmental functions.
Source: acts as a provision of natural resources like food water and raw materials, lumber from trees, gold and other minerals, fish
Sink: acts as waste absorption (e.g. CO₂), oceans, soil, trees are a carbon sink.
Service: provides life-giving cycles/benefits like pollination, water cycle, photosynthesis
Spiritual: value it holds in terms of recreation, pscyholoyg, aesthetics and spirituality, mountain biking, scuba diving, hiking, meditating, 'forest bathing'
Explain how two of the following factors might interact to influence wellbeing: political, environmental, or technological.
Example: Poor political leadership may limit investment in technology, reducing access to clean energy and worsening environmental conditions, which lowers wellbeing.
Name the three most important greenhouse gases and human/natural sources.
Methane - CH₄ – production of fossil fuels, cattle and sheep, wetlands
Carbon Dioxide - CO2 - burning fossil fuels, decomposing organic matter, volcanic eruptions, forest/bush fires, deforestation
Nitrous oxide - N2O - agricultural fertilisers, burning fossil fuels, industry