This model is an attempt to simulate what is commonly
referred to as the “pesticide treadmill” in agriculture and how it played out
in the cotton industry in Central America after the Second World War until
around the 1990s.
The cotton industry expanded dramatically in Central America
after WW2, increasing from 20,000 hectares to 463,000 in the late 1970s. This
expansion was accompanied by a huge increase in industrial pesticide
application which would eventually become the downfall of the industry.
The primary pest for cotton production, bol weevil, became increasingly
resistant to chemical pesticides as they were applied each year. The
application of pesticides also caused new pests to appear, such as leafworms,
cotton aphids and whitefly, which in turn further fuelled increased application
of pesticides.
The treadmill resulted in massive increases in pesticide
applications: in the early years they were only applied a few times per season,
but this application rose to up to 40 applications per season by the 1970s;
accounting for over 50% of the costs of production in some regions.
The skyrocketing costs associated with increasing pesticide
use were one of the key factors that led to the dramatic decline of the cotton
industry in Central America: decreasing from its peak in the 1970s to less than
100,000 hectares in the 1990s. “In its wake, economic ruin and environmental
devastation were left” as once thriving towns became ghost towns, and once
fertile soils were wasted, eroded and abandoned (Lappe, 1998).
Sources: Douglas L. Murray (1994), Cultivating Crisis: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America, pp35-41;
Francis Moore Lappe et al (1998), World
Hunger: 12 Myths, 2nd Edition, pp54-55.
ECONOMIC GROWTH feeds on itself, provided the growth engine is fed with materials and
finance. In this highly simplified representation some of the factors that influence economic growth
are show in the incircled green fields. Governments can influence economic growth positively
via investments and payouts. The most
obvious tool which governments can use to slow an overheated economy is
taxation.
Added several versions of the model. Added a flow to make C increase. Added a factor to be able to change the value 0.5. Older version cloned at IM-46280
Butterfly Effect Sensitivity To Initial Conditions (sensitive dependence on initial conditions) Navier Stokes Equations Lorenz Attractor Chaos Theory, Disorder and Entropy
Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unlikely behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill may roll into any of several valleys depending on, among other things, slight differences in initial position. Similarly the direction a pencil falls when held on its tip, or an universe during its initial stages.
These attractors apply to social systems and economics showing jumps between potential wells, and showing the strategic scaling behavior of rotating and cyclic systems whether they be social, economic, or complex spin or rotation of planets affecting weather and climate or spin of galaxies or elementary particles, or even a rock on the end of a piece of string.
What Playing with numbers is all about :)
If M is the state space for the map , then displays sensitive dependence to initial conditions if for any x in M and any δ > 0, there are y in M, with such that
Simple model of the global economy, the global carbon cycle, and planetary energy balance.
The planetary energy balance model is a two-box model, with shallow and deep ocean heat reservoirs. The carbon cycle model is a 4-box model, with the atmosphere, shallow ocean, deep ocean, and terrestrial carbon.
The economic model is based on the Kaya identity, which decomposes CO2 emissions into population, GDP/capita, energy intensity of GDP, and carbon intensity of energy. It allows for temperature-related climate damages to both GDP and the growth rate of GDP.
This model was originally created by Bob Kopp - https://insightmaker.com/user/16029 (Rutgers University) in support of the SESYNC Climate Learning Project.
Steve Conrad (Simon Fraser University) modified the model to include emission/development/and carbon targets for the use by ENV 221.
Simple model of the global economy, the global carbon cycle, and planetary energy balance.
The planetary energy balance model is a two-box model, with shallow and deep ocean heat reservoirs. The carbon cycle model is a 4-box model, with the atmosphere, shallow ocean, deep ocean, and terrestrial carbon.
The economic model is based on the Kaya identity, which decomposes CO2 emissions into population, GDP/capita, energy intensity of GDP, and carbon intensity of energy. It allows for temperature-related climate damages to both GDP and the growth rate of GDP.
This model was originally created by Bob Kopp (Rutgers University) in support of the SESYNC Climate Learning Project.
A Tragedy of the Commons situation exists whenever two or more activities, each, which in order to produce results, rely on a shared limited resource. Results for these activities continue to develop as long as their use of the limited resource doesn't exceed the resource limit. Once this limit is reached the results produced by each activity are limited to the level at which the resource is replenished. As an example, consider multiple departments with an organization using IT resources, until they've exhausted IT capacity.
This is to support a discussion on money flows and growth. Money as a lubricant for the flow of embodied energy in human systems. See also A Prosperous Way Down website
This model also shows the operation of a simple economy. It differs from Model 1 primarily in the representation of all goods in the economy by units of measure of a higher level of abstraction. Thus, the same model can represent economies at different levels.
The simulation demonstrates how differing rates of consumption affect Savings.
