AMSCO 9.3 Technology and the Environment Notes

Overview

AMSCO Topic 9.3, "Technology and the Environment" (AMSCO p. 649-656), covers the causes and effects of environmental changes from 1900 to the present, the heart of Unit 9 (Globalization, 1900-present). The chapter explains how population growth, urbanization, and industrialization drove deforestation, desertification, declining air quality, and rising fresh water consumption, and how those changes sparked debates about global warming, agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, and movements like the Green Belt Movement. The essential question to keep in mind: what were the causes and effects of environmental changes from 1900 to the present?

The big picture: more people, bigger cities, and global industry put unprecedented pressure on Earth's resources, and humans competed over those resources more intensely than ever before. Then the world started arguing about what to do.

Timeline of events for Technology and the Environment. Image courtesy of Samhitha.

Causes of Environmental Change

Three interconnected forces drove environmental change after 1900: population growth, urbanization, and the global spread of industrialization. Each one multiplied the others.

Population Growth

The numbers tell the story. World population went from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 2.55 billion in 1950 to 6.12 billion by 2000.

• Billions more people meant billions more mouths to feed, so demand for cropland exploded. Converting land to agriculture caused deforestation, soil erosion, and shrinking habitats for plant and animal species.
• Water resources suffered too. Overfishing led to the near disappearance of cod, and growing populations consumed more and more fresh water (a renewable resource, but not an unlimited one).

Urbanization

Cities got bigger and more numerous. By some estimates, 5.1 billion people will live in cities by 2025.

• More city dwellers pressures farmers to use intensive farming methods that deplete soil and cause erosion, or to clear more forests for agriculture.
• Cities also produce massive amounts of waste, some of which pollutes the water people depend on.

Globalization and Industrialization

As industry spread to developing countries, demand for energy and natural resources drew further on the world's reserves. Industrial jobs created a new middle class in those countries, and that middle class wanted consumer goods like cars, which require metals to build and contribute to pollution once on the road. This connects directly to the technology story in AMSCO 9.1 on advances in technology and exchange.

Effects of Environmental Changes

Humans have always competed for raw materials, but industrialization made that competition far more intense. The chapter highlights four major effects: resource depletion, inequality tied to scarce resources, changes in the atmosphere, and a counter-trend of renewable energy and environmental awareness.

Resource Depletion

• Petroleum extraction began in earnest in the mid-1800s and powered the Industrial Revolution. About half of Earth's finite petroleum reserves have already been used up.
• Some experts predict the remaining half could be used up within the next 30 to 40 years given rapid urban and industrial growth.
• Coal supplies will last longer, but if coal replaces petroleum, coal reserves could be depleted in 60 years.

Inequality and Water Scarcity

Scarce resources hit poor regions hardest, and water is the clearest example.

• According to the United Nations, 31 countries face water scarcity, and more than 1 billion people lack clean, accessible drinking water.
• The World Health Organization predicts that by 2025, half of the world's population will lack clean and safe drinking water.
• Water scarcity deepens gender inequality. Surveys in 45 developing countries show women and children bear primary responsibility for collecting water, time not spent earning income or attending school. A study in Ghana found that cutting water collection time by 15 minutes raises girls' school attendance by 8 to 12 percent.
• In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 goals for a better world by 2030, many addressing extreme poverty, inequality, and climate change.

Changes in the Atmosphere

Factories, automobiles, airplanes, and other products of industrialization emit huge amounts of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases let the sun's heat reach Earth but trap it from escaping. Meanwhile, Earth's natural carbon-trapping resources (forests and ground cover on unused farmland) are shrinking. So more heat gets trapped just as nature's ability to absorb carbon declines.

Renewable Energy and Environmental Awareness

The pushback started in the late 20th century and gained momentum fast.

• Worried about unsustainable demand for fossil fuels (coal, oil, petroleum, natural gas), companies and nations invested in renewable energy from continuously replenished sources: wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal power.
• High costs slowed development at first, but new techniques and technologies cut costs. Renewables provide only about 7 percent of the world's energy needs, but a 2018 study predicted that by 2050, half the world's electricity will come from wind and solar power.
• In 1968, the Club of Rome (scientists, industrialists, diplomats, and others) formed in Europe to promote solutions to global challenges, warning that resource depletion would limit economic growth.
• People in many countries joined Green Parties focused on environmental issues.
• The Green Belt Movement worked to protect wilderness areas from urban growth. By the 21st century, it had planted more than 51 million trees in Kenya, preserving ecosystems, lessening greenhouse gas effects, creating jobs, and improving soil quality. This movement also shows up in AMSCO 9.5 on calls for reform.

Debates About Global Warming

Most government leaders agree that global warming requires a global response, but countries disagree on how to reduce carbon emissions. That disagreement is the core of this section.

The Scientific Case and the Skeptics

• Scientists, including the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), cited data showing that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels were causing global warming, an increase in Earth's average temperature.
• Experts urged governments to reduce their carbon footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide each person produces. Without reductions, global warming would bring more powerful hurricanes, more severe droughts, and rising sea levels that could flood islands and coastal areas.
• Some activists argued "global warming" sounded too mild and used "climate emergency" or "climate crisis" instead.
• Climate-change skeptics questioned whether warming was happening and whether humans influenced it. Some in the energy industries resisted government interference, arguing market forces would push consumers to cut their carbon footprint if needed. Other energy company leaders began planning a shift to renewable fuels.

Kyoto Protocol (1997)

The first major international agreement to reduce carbon emissions. Developed nations in Western Europe and the United States argued that developing countries like China, India, Russia, and Brazil needed to curb their rapidly rising carbon dioxide output. The deal had two big weaknesses: the United States refused to ratify it, and China and India were not required to agree to the strictest terms.

Paris Agreement (2015)

In 2015, 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement, raising new hope for progress against global warming. Leaders of both the United States and China supported it, a big shift from Kyoto. However, in 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the agreement.

Climate Activism

• Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish activist, told world leaders at a 2018 UN climate conference, "You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes." Starting with a solo protest in Sweden, she eventually led a global climate strike with more than 1.6 million participants in over 125 countries.
• Extinction Rebellion, formed in 2018, used civil disobedience in London: blocking a main bridge and key intersections for over a week and chaining themselves to corporate headquarters. About a thousand people were arrested, but Members of Parliament called a citizens' assembly to discuss the climate emergency.
• Citizen groups in many countries continue pressuring lawmakers, drawing on IPCC reports predicting the consequences of continued warming. For more on grassroots pressure in this era, see AMSCO 9.7 on resistance to globalization.

A New Age? Holocene vs. Anthropocene

Some scientists argue humans have changed the planet so much that we need a new name for our geological epoch.

• Geologists traditionally call the current period the Holocene epoch, meaning "entirely recent." It began about 11,700 years ago at the end of the last significant ice age.
• Some scientists proposed the name Anthropocene, meaning "new man," because humans now affect almost the entire planet. In 2019, a panel of scientists voted to approve the name.
• The Anthropocene label captures the chapter's central idea: humans are now the strongest influence on Earth's climate and environment, for better and for worse.

Key Terms to Know

Practice and Next Steps

Pair these notes with the Topic 9.3 course study guide on debates about the environment after 1900 for the College Board framing, and browse the full set of AP World AMSCO notes to keep moving through Unit 9. The next chapter, AMSCO 9.4 Economics in the Global Age, shifts from environmental to economic globalization.

To check yourself, run some guided multiple-choice practice on Unit 9, try an environment-themed prompt with FRQ practice and instant scoring, or quiz yourself on vocab with the key terms glossary. Cause-and-effect questions about environmental change from 1900 to the present are exactly what this topic feeds on the exam, so practice framing population growth, urbanization, and industrialization as causes and resource depletion, climate debates, and activism as effects.