AP Environmental Science Hans Rosling 2010 TED talk questions

1. In 1960, common terms were "developed" and "developing world". Compare goals for these, and what prejudices are inherent in these?

In 1960, the goal of the developed world was to afford a car while the developing world was wanting to just be able to buy footwear to walk in. The differences in goals reflect the gap in economic development between these two places, and it shows the inherent inequality in distribution of wealth in the world. The prejudice from this is that two terms have evolved to define the countries that have, and don't have: the West, and the rest.

2. In 2050, how old will you be?

In 2050, I will be 57.

3. Why are electric cars part of his solution? How sustainable are they compared to petro-cars?

The developing world will move up, but according to Rosling, only if the right green technologies are invested in. This is so that climate change can be avoided as well as to ensure that the price of energy stays low enough to encourage growth. Electric cars are sustainable as the means for producing electricity can be green and renewable, whereas petro-cars rely on oil, a nonrenewable resource that has been getting increasingly expensive and will only continue to go up in price as reserves of it start to be used up.

4. What elements does Rosling say will be needed to change population growth? Explain.

The poorest in the world need to get out of poverty, have an education, enjoy improved child survival rates, and be able to afford basic technologies (such as bicycles, cellphones...) for population growth to change. Other than that, according to Rosling, "nothing short of a nuclear war of the kind we have never seen" will change this growth.

5. Using gapminder.org, you can simulate his child survival (x axis) and children per woman (y axis). What do you see?

As child survival goes up, the number of children per woman goes down. Often the reason for a high fertility rate is high child mortality; many babies born don't make it to adulthood in these countries, and so women will have many children to ensure that at least some will grow up.

6. Using gapminder.org, list and explain three things you've discovered on your own.

(these are the same three things I put in my 2006 TED talk answers, let me know if you want me to find another three for a total of six things)

Qatar's income per person starts to go off the charts following World War II once oil starts to be in demand worldwide. As their population is so low, the wealth per person is really high. This value keeps growing right up until the 1973 oil crisis, which is where this number starts to flatline. Following the collapse of OPEC's control on oil (with the rise of other producers of oil such asVenezuela and Russia), income per person in Qatar drops until the First Gulf War, which is where it starts climbing slowly again.

For many of the Warsaw Pact countries (the Soviet Union included), per capita income grew very slowly during the Cold War years while they were still under the influence of communism. Following the shift to a market economy in these countries, the pace of economic growth picked up and has sustained itself at a new higher rate since then. A similar trend can be seen with China once they no longer followed a planned economy in the 1970s.

Japan's trail does some crazy things during the war years. Life expectancy and income per person took a huge drop from just 1943 to 1945 due to deteriorating conditions from the effects of World War II. 1945 to 1946 sees a huge jump again, this time in life expectancy due to the arrival of Allied forces and American occupation, bringing with them medical supplies and food. By the end of the decade, Japan is back on par with many of the developed countries in terms of both where it is on the graph and the eventual rate of growth that it reaches.