Environmental Crisis: Causes, Impacts, and Resource Depletion
Environmental Crisis: Causes and Consequences
Technological advances and industrial development, while driving the economic system, have been developed outside of a sustainable framework. This has led to serious environmental problems with significant repercussions in the natural world.
This crisis threatens the future of the planet and our current way of life. Key factors contributing to this crisis include:
- Exponential Population Growth: Concentration in large cities like New York and Tokyo leads
17th Century Spain: Demographic and Economic Crisis
Demographic Crisis: Over the seventeenth century, the Spanish population stagnated. This zero growth was due to several factors:
- Successive subsistence crises, mainly caused by poor crops.
- Epidemics, exacerbated by malnutrition.
- Wars and forced recruitment due to a lack of mercenaries.
- The expulsion of the Moors, which impoverished the peasantry.
- Emigration to America.
Economic Problems
Reduced Agricultural Production
Agricultural production decreased, primarily in Castile, due to low labor, a heavy tax
Read MoreEnvironmental Conservation and Sustainable Practices
Key Environmental Concepts
- Rainwater Harvesting
- Collecting and storing rainwater for reuse.
- Methods: Rooftop harvesting, surface runoff collection.
- Soil Erosion
- Causes: Wind, water, deforestation.
- Control: Afforestation, contour plowing, terrace farming.
- Food Chain
- Sequence of organisms transferring energy (Producers → Consumers → Decomposers).
- Food Web
- Interlinked food chains showing energy flow.
- Pyramid of Energy
- Shows energy flow at each trophic level.
- Energy reduces as it moves up the levels.
- In-situ
British Industrial Revolution: Rise and Decline in the 19th Century
The British Primacy in the Industrial Revolution
Early Dominance and Global Impact
Britain was the first industrial country in the world, generating a quarter of the world’s production. With its global primacy, it also became the first industrial nation. In the 19th century, it maintained its industrial and commercial prowess. However, after 1870, it lost its primacy to other nations. The United States exceeded its total production, and Germany did the same in the first decade of the 20th century.
Read MoreSpain’s Industrial and Tourism Sectors: Key Insights
Dynamic Industrial Sectors
a) The automobile sector has undergone a transformation, since it was oversized and technologically outdated.
b) The chemical sector is one of the foundations of Spanish industry.
- The petrochemical or chemical base is organized in large complexes, usually integrated with refinery activity.
- The chemical structure transformation in small businesses located in the Basque Country, coastal Catalonia, and Madrid.
c) The food industry. Its objectives are to increase sales in the market
Read MoreBourbon Reforms and Industrial Revolutions: Spain and Beyond
Policy Reforms Under the Bourbon Dynasty
With the change of dynasty, the Bourbons imposed a new government model in Spain, inspired by French absolutism.
Key Features of Bourbon Rule
- The King, surrounded by his court, acted as the sole center of political power. Felipe V, the first Bourbon king, centralized power by abolishing the privileges or laws in force in the various territories of the Crown of Aragon through the Nueva Planta decrees.
- The old model of the Habsburg government, based on councils