Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
210 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What is the frontier attitude?
|
The attitude of most Americans during the 1700s and early 1800s that, because the natural resources of North America were seemingly inexhaustible, there was no reason not to conquer and exploit nature as much and as quickly as possible.
|
|
|
What is a utilitarian conservationist?
|
A utilitarian conservationist is a person who values natural resources because of their usefulness for practical purposes but uses them sensibly and carefully.
|
|
|
What is a biocentric preservationist?
|
A biocentric preservationist is a person who believes in protecting nature because all forms of life deserve respect and consideration.
|
|
|
What is the Antiquities Act of 1906?
|
In 1906 Congress passed the Antiquities Act, which authorized the president to set aside certain sites that had scientific, historical, or prehistoric importance, such as the Badlands in South Dakota, as national monuments.
|
|
|
Discuss the works of the mid-20th century environmentalists Aldo Leopold, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson, and Paul Ehrlich?
|
?
|
|
|
Discuss Aldo Leopold and his works?
|
Aldo Leopold, Game Management (1933)
In A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold wrote about humanity's relationship with nature. His textbook Game Management, published in 1933, supported the passage of a 1937 act in which new taxes on sporting weapons and ammunition funded wildlife management and research. Leopold also wrote philosophically about humanity's relationship with nature and about the need to conserve wilderness areas. In A Sand County Almanac, published in 1949, Leopold argued persuasively for a land ethic and the sacrifices such an ethic requires. |
|
|
Discuss Wallace Stegner and his works?
|
Wallace Stegner, Wilderness Essay (1962)
Stegner's essay, written to a commission conducting a national inventory of wilderness lands, helped create support for passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964. |
|
|
Discuss Rachel Carson and her works?
|
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)
In this work Carson wrote against the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Silent Spring heightened public awareness and concern about the dangers of uncontrolled use of DDT and other pesticides, including poisoning of wildlife and contamination of food supplies. During the 1960s, public concern about pollution and resource quality began to increase, in large part because of marine biologist Rachel Carson Carson wrote about interrelationships among living organisms, including humans, and the natural environment. |
|
|
Discuss Paul Ehrlich and his works?
|
Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (1968)
The Population Bomb, which raised the public's awareness of the dangers of overpopulation. In it he described the unavoidable environmental damage necessary for Earth to support such a huge population, including soil loss, groundwater depletion, and extinctions. Ehrlich's book raised public awareness of the dangers of overpopulation and triggered debates on how to deal effectively with population issues. |
|
|
What is Earth Day?
|
There was no generally perceived environmental movement until the spring of 1970, when Gaylord Nelson, former senator from Wisconsin, urged Harvard graduate student Denis Hayes to organize the first nationally celebrated Earth Day. This event awakened U.S. environmental consciousness to population growth, overuse of resources, and pollution and degradation of the environment. On Earth Day 1970 an estimated 20 million people in the United States demonstrated their support for environmental quality by planting trees, cleaning roadsides and riverbanks, and marching in parades.
|
|
|
What impact does Earth Day have globally?
|
In the years that followed the first Earth Day, environmental awareness and the belief that individual actions could repair the damage humans were doing to Earth became a pervasive, popular movement. Musicians popularized environmental concerns, and many of the world's religions embraced environmental themes such as protecting endangered species.
By Earth Day 1990, the movement had spread around the world, signaling the rapid growth in environmental consciousness; an estimated 200 million people in 141 nations demonstrated to increase public awareness of the importance of individual efforts. Earth Day continues to be a popular event around the world, and many years include an organizing theme |
|
|
What is the EPA?
|
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Galvanized by well-publicized ecological disasters, such as the 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and by overwhelming public support for the Earth Day movement, in 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed |
|
|
What is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)?
|
By the late 1960s, much of the U.S. public had become increasingly disenchanted with governmental secrecy, and many did not trust industry to work in the public interest. This broad social transformation, which included opposition to the Vietnam War and resistance to racist policies, was reflected in environmental attitudes as well. Galvanized by well-publicized ecological disasters, such as the 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and by overwhelming public support for the Earth Day movement, in 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law. A key provision of NEPA required the federal government to consider the environmental impact of any proposed federal action, such as financing highway or dam construction. NEPA provides the basis for developing detailed environmental impact statements (EISs) to accompany every federal recommendation or legislative proposal.
|
|
|
Discuss environmental impact statements?
|
A document that summarizes the potential and expected adverse impacts on the environment associated with a project, as well as alternatives to the proposed project. Typically mandated by law for public and/or private projects.
A key provision of NEPA required the federal gov to consider the environmental impact of any proposed federal action, such as financing highway or dam construction. NEPA provides the basis for developing detailed environmental impact statements (EISs) to accompany every federal recommendation or legislative proposal. These EISs are supposed to help federal officials make informed decisions. Each EIS must include the following: 1. The nature of the proposal and why it is needed 2. The environmental impacts of the proposal, including short-term and long-term effects and any adverse environmental effects if the proposal is implemented 3. Alternatives to lessen the adverse effects of the proposal; generally providing ways to mitigate the impact of |
|
|
Environmental Impact Statements
|
These detailed statements help federal agencies and the public consider the environmental impacts of proposed activities. When anticipated impacts are likely to be high, decision makers will feel pressure to seek alternative actions.
|
|
|
Discuss environmental policies in the U.S. since 1980?
|
?
|
|
|
What is environmental justice?
|
Environmental justice is the right of every citizen, regardless of age, race, gender, social class, or other factor, to adequate protection from environmental hazards.
|
|
|
Provide an example of environmental justice in Houston?
|
?
|
|
|
Provide an example of environmental justice in Texas?
|
?
|
|
|
Provide an example of environmental justice in the Bronx, NY?
|
?
|
|
|
Describe environmental justice at the international level Specifically, the Basel Convention?
|
?
|
|
|
What was the Basel Convention?
|
In 1989 the U.N. Environment Programme developed a treaty, the Basel Convention, to restrict the international transport of hazardous waste. Originally, the treaty allowed countries to export hazardous waste only with the prior informed consent of the importing country as well as of any countries that the waste passed through in transit. In 1995 the Basel Convention was amended to ban the export of any hazardous waste from industrialized to developing countries.
|
|
|
Discuss the differences between the environmental worldview, the Western worldview, and the deep ecology worldview?
|
An environmental worldview is a worldview that helps us make sense of how the environment works, our place in the environment, and right and wrong environmental behaviors. The following are two extreme, opposing environmental worldviews: the Western worldview and the deep ecology worldview. These two worldviews, admittedly broad generalizations, are near opposite ends of a spectrum of worldviews relevant to problems of global sustainability, and each approaches environmental responsibility in a radically different way.
The Western worldview is an understanding of our place in the world based on human superiority and dominance over nature, the unrestricted use of natural resources, and increased economic growth to manage an expanding industrial base. The deep ecology worldview is an understanding of our place in the world based on harmony with nature, a spiritual respect for life, and the belief that humans and all other species have an equal worth. |
|
|
What is the environmental worldview?
|
An environmental worldview is a worldview that helps us make sense of how the environment works, our place in the environment, and right and wrong environmental behaviors. The following are two extreme, opposing environmental worldviews: the Western worldview and the deep ecology worldview.
|
|
|
What is the western worldview?
|
The Western worldview is an understanding of our place in the world based on human superiority and dominance over nature, the unrestricted use of natural resources, and increased economic growth to manage an expanding industrial base.
The Western Worldview is Anthropocentric (human centered) and utilitarian. This perspective mirrors the beliefs of the 18th-century frontier attitude, a desire to conquer and exploit nature as quickly as possible. The Western worldview also advocates the inherent rights of individuals, accumulation of wealth, and unlimited consumption of goods and services to provide material comforts. According to the Western worldview, humans have a primary obligation to humans and are therefore responsible for managing natural resources to benefit human society. Thus, any concerns about the environment are derived from human interests. |
|
|
What is the deep ecology worldview?
|
The deep ecology worldview is an understanding of our place in the world based on harmony with nature, a spiritual respect for life, and the belief that humans and all other species have an equal worth.
|
|
|
Discuss the differences between health and healthcare in HDCs and developing countries?
|
Differences in health and healthcare between highly developed and developing countries highlight the effects of different lifestyles and levels of poverty. In developing countries, about 146 million children are underweight, and 3 million of these will die this year. Meanwhile, more than 1 billion people are overweight worldwide (compared to 1 billion who are undernourished), and 300 million people are obese. In the highly developed countries of North America and Europe, about 500,000 people will die this year from obesity-related diseases.
|
|
|
Describe the health issues in HDCs and LDCs?
|
Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are health problems in the United States and other highly developed nations; many of these diseases are chronic health problems associated with aging and are caused in part by lifestyle choices involving diet, exercise, and smoking.
Child mortality is particularly serious in developing countries, where leading causes of death in children include malnutrition, diarrheal diseases, and malaria. |
|
|
Describe the health issues in HDCs?
|
By many measures, the health of people in the United States and other highly developed countries is good. Improved sanitation during the 20th century reduced many diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, and diarrhea, that previously made people ill or killed them. Many childhood diseases, such as measles, polio, and mumps, have been conquered. The average life expectancy in HDCs has increased.
|
|
|
Describe the health issues in LDCs?
|
There is good news and bad news regarding the health and well-being of people in developing countries. Many endemic diseases—those that are constantly present in a region or country—are being managed or eliminated. Gradual improvements in sanitation and drinking-water supplies in moderately developed countries are reducing the incidence of diarrheal diseases such as cholera. Mass immunization programs have eliminated smallpox and reduced the risk of polio, yellow fever, measles, and diphtheria in most countries. Despite these gains, malnutrition, unsafe water, poor sanitation, and air pollution still prevail in many less developed countries. In addition, research suggests that many unhealthy lifestyles associated with developed countries, including smoking, obesity, and diabetes, are increasingly common in less developed countries.
|
|
|
What are emerging diseases?
|
Emerging diseases are those that are relatively new to human populations. Because different strains prevail each year, influenza is often thought of as an emerging disease. AIDS was an emerging disease a few decades ago, but is now endemic in many places.
Emerging diseases are infectious diseases that were not previously found in humans; they typically jump from an animal host to the human species. |
|
|
What are some examples of emerging diseases?
|
HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus
|
|
|
What are reemerging diseases?
|
Reemerging diseases are infectious diseases that existed in the past but for a variety of reasons are increasing in incidence or in geographic range.
|
|
|
What are some examples of reemerging diseases?
|
The most serious reemerging disease is tuberculosis. Other important reemerging diseases include yellow fever, malaria, and dengue fever.
|
|
|
What are the main factors involved in the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases?
|
Health experts have determined the main factors involved in the emergence or reemergence of infectious diseases. Some of the most important are these:
• Evolution in the infectious organisms, allowing them to move between animal and human hosts • Evolution of antibiotic resistance in the infectious organisms • Urbanization, associated with overcrowding and poor sanitation • A growing population of elderly people who are more susceptible to infection • Pollution, environmental degradation, and changing weather patterns • Growth in international travel and commerce • Poverty and social inequality |
|
|
Discuss persistence, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification and How are they interrelated?
|
Some toxic substances exhibit persistence, bioaccumulation, and biological magnification. These substances include certain pesticides (such as DDT, or dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane), radioactive isotopes, heavy metals (such as lead and mercury), flame retardants (for example, PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers), and industrial chemicals (such as dioxins and PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls).
|
|
|
What is persistence?
|
A characteristic of certain chemicals that are extremely stable and may take many years to be broken down into simpler forms by natural processes
---Synthetic chemicals (those not found in nature) ---Ex: DDT Chemicals that exhibit persistence are extremely stable and may take many years to break down into simpler forms by natural processes. |
|
|
What is bioaccumulation?
|
The buildup of a persistent toxic substance in an organism’s body, often in fatty tissues
---Synthetic chemical do not metabolize well ---They remain in the body for extended periods of time Bioaccumulation is the buildup of a persistent toxic substance, such as certain pesticides, in an organism's body, often in fatty tissues. |
|
|
What is biomagnification?
|
The increased concentration of toxic chemicals in the tissues of organisms that are at higher levels in food webs
Diagram is example of biomagnification of DDT Biological magnification is the increased concentration of toxic chemicals, such as PCBs, heavy metals, and certain pesticides, in the tissues of organisms at higher levels in food webs. |
|
|
What are endocrine disrupters?
|
A chemical that interferes with the actions of the endocrine system (the body's hormones) in humans and wildlife.
Mounting evidence suggests that dozens of industrial and agricultural chemicals—many of which exhibit persistence, bioaccumulation, and biological magnification—are also endocrine disrupters. Examples include: PCBs, Dioxins Heavy metals – lead and mercury DDT Many endocrine disrupters appear to alter reproductive development in males and females of various animal species and are often sterile. |
|
|
Provide an example of endocrine disrupters in Lake Apopka, Florida?
|
1980 chemical spill into Lake Apopka, FL contaminated the lake with DDT and other agricultural chemicals known with estrogenic properties. Male alligators began to exhibit low testosterone levels and high estrogen levels
|
|
|
In general, are developed countries currently more urban (i.e., higher population living in cities than in rural areas) than developing countries or are developing countries currently more urban than developed countries?
|
Currently over 50% of the world's population lives in urban areas.
75% of urban populations in developed countries while only 46% in developing countries. |
|
|
In general, are developing countries currently experiencing higher rates of urbanization than developed countries or are developed countries currently experiencing higher rates of urbanization than developing countries?
|
The current urbanization rate in developing countries is much higher than in developed countries
|
|
|
What is an urban agglomeration?
|
an urbanized core region that consists of several adjacent cities or megacities and their surrounding developed suburbs
|
|
|
What is an example of urban agglomeration?
|
?
|
|
|
What are the four (4) variables that urban ecologists study?
|
Urban ecology uses the methods of both natural science and the social sciences to study urban processes, trends, and patterns. Urban ecologists study these processes, trends, and patterns in the context of four variables: population, organization, environment, and technology (POET)
The four variables (POET) do not function independently of one another; they are interrelated and interact much like the parts of natural ecosystems. For example, energy is needed for all parts of POET. Well-designed urban systems can have a substantial effect on the energy efficiency of the entire system, including how much energy is required to keep it functioning properly. |
|
|
What is an urban heat island?
|
An urban heat island is local heat buildup in an area of high population density.
Streets, rooftops, and parking lots in areas of high population density absorb solar radiation during the day and radiate heat into the atmosphere at night. Heat released by human activities such as fuel combustion is also highly concentrated in cities. The air in urban areas is therefore warmer than the air in the surrounding suburban and rural areas and is known as an urban heat island. Urban heat islands affect local air currents and weather conditions, particularly by increasing the number of thunderstorms over the city (or downwind from it) during summer months. The uplift of warm air over the city produces a low-pressure cell that draws in cooler air from the surroundings. As the heated air rises, it cools, causing water vapor to condense into clouds and producing thunderstorms. |
|
|
What is a dust dome?
|
A dust dome is a dome of heated air that surrounds an urban area and contains a lot of air pollution.
The local air circulation patterns of urban heat islands contribute to the buildup of pollutants, especially particulate matter, in the form of dust domes over cities. Pollutants concentrate in a dust dome because convection (that is, the vertical motion of warmer air) lifts pollutants into the air, where they remain because of somewhat stable air masses produced by the urban heat island. If wind speeds increase, the dust dome moves downwind from the city, and the polluted air spreads over rural areas |
|
|
How can land use planning promote compact development?
|
Land use planning is the process of deciding the best use of land. This can promote compact development (which uses land efficiently) because the best use of land in urban areas is compact to allow alternate transportation which offsets carbon footprints.
|
|
|
What is compact development?
|
Compact development is the design of cities in which tall, multiple-unit residential buildings are close to shopping and jobs, and all are connected by public transportation.
|
|
|
How has transportation affected the spatial structure of cities?
|
Transportation and land use are inextricably linked, because as cities grow, they expand along public transportation routes. Cars and trucks have increased the city's spatial scale: The interstate highway system and beltway “loops” have encouraged development far from the city's central business district.
|
|
|
Why is good governance so important in increasing sustainability in cities?
|
?
|
|
|
What problems are associated with water privatization in Asia and Africa?
|
?
|
|
|
Why is water important for humans?
|
Life on Earth would be impossible without water. All life forms, from unicellular bacteria to multicellular plants and animals, contain water. Humans are approximately 70% water by body weight. We depend on water for our survival as well as for our convenience: We drink it; cook with it; wash with it; travel on it; and use an enormous amount of it for agriculture, manufacturing, mining, energy production, and waste disposal.
|
|
|
What is surface water?
|
Surface water comes from precipitation that remains on the surface of the land as runoff and does not seep down through the soil.
|
|
|
What is a drainage basin?
|
A drainage basin, or watershed, is the area of land drained by a single river or stream (book); Land area that delivers water into a stream or river system (LS).
|
|
|
What are the 3 largest watersheds in the world?
|
(1) the Amazon Watershed in South America,
(2) the Congo Watershed in Africa, and (3) the Nile Watershed in Africa. |
|
|
Describe the distribution of water on Earth?
|
Only 2.5% of water on earth is freshwater, 2% of this is in the form of ice. Only ~0.5% of water on earth is available freshwater (LS)
|
|
|
What is groundwater?
|
Groundwater is the supply of fresh water under Earth's surface that is stored in underground aquifers.
|
|
|
Groundwater
|
Excess surface water seeps downward through soil and porous rock layers until it reaches impermeable rock or clay. An unconfined aquifer has groundwater recharged by surface water directly above it. In a confined aquifer, groundwater is stored between two impermeable layers and is often under pressure. Artesian wells, which produce water from confined aquifers, often do not require pumping because of this pressure.
|
|
|
What is an aquifer?
|
Underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel and rock in which groundwater is stored (LS)
|
|
|
What is the difference between an unconfined aquifer and a confined aquifer?
|
In unconfined aquifers, the layers of rock above are porous and allow surface water directly above them to seep downward, replacing the aquifer contents. The upper limit of an unconfined aquifer, below which the ground is saturated with water, is the water table. A confined aquifer, or artesian aquifer, is a groundwater storage area between impermeable layers of rock. The water in a confined aquifer is trapped and often under pressure. Its recharge area (the land from which water percolates to replace groundwater) may be hundreds of kilometers away.
|
|
|
What is an unconfined aquifer?
|
In unconfined aquifers, the layers of rock above are porous and allow surface water directly above them to seep downward, replacing the aquifer contents. The upper limit of an unconfined aquifer, below which the ground is saturated with water, is the water table.
|
|
|
What is a confined aquifer?
|
A confined aquifer, or artesian aquifer, is a groundwater storage area between impermeable layers of rock. The water in a confined aquifer is trapped and often under pressure. Its recharge area (the land from which water percolates to replace groundwater) may be hundreds of kilometers away.
|
|
|
What is a water table?
|
The water table is the upper surface of the saturated zone of groundwater.
|
|
|
Which regions of the U.S. have the most severe water-scarcity problems?
|
?
|
|
|
What is sustainable water use?
|
Sustainable water use is the use of water resources in a fashion that does not harm the essential functions of the hydrologic cycle or the ecosystems on which present and future humans depend.
|
|
|
What are some of the major problems and solutions associated with dams on the Columbia River?
|
Dams ensure a year-round supply of water in areas that have seasonal precipitation or snowmelt. The Columbia River, which has more than 100 dams, is used for shipping, hydroelectric power, and municipal and industrial water. Dams along the Columbia River have adversely affected salmon populations.
|
|
|
What is microirrigation?
|
Microirrigation is a type of irrigation that conserves water by piping it to crops through sealed systems. One of the most important innovations in agricultural water conservation is microirrigation, also called drip or trickle irrigation, in which pipes with tiny holes bored in them convey water directly to individual plants. Microirrigation substantially reduces the water needed to irrigate crops, usually by 40% to 60% compared to center-pivot irrigation or flood irrigation, and it also reduces the amount of salt left in the soil by irrigation water.
|
|
|
What is Gray Water?
|
Gray water, which is water that has already been used for light household applications, can substitute for fresh water where drinkability is not required. Gray water is water that has already been used for a relatively nonpolluting purpose, such as showers, dishwashing, laundry, etc. Gray water is not potable, but it can be reused for toilets, plants, or car washing.
|
|
|
Gray Water?
|
Like industries, regions and cities recycle or reuse water to reduce consumption. Homes and buildings can be modified to match water quality to water use, for example, by collecting and storing gray water. Gray water is water that was already used in sinks, showers, washing machines, and dishwashers. Gray water is recycled to flush toilets, wash the car, or sprinkle the lawn
|
|
|
Recycling water
|
Individual homes and buildings can be modified to collect and store gray water—water already used in sinks, showers, washing machines, and dishwashers. This gray water is used when clean water is not required—for example, in flushing toilets, washing the car, and sprinkling the lawn.
|
|
|
What is famine?
|
A temporary but severe shortage of food
|
|
|
What are the main causes of famine?
|
Crop failures caused by drought, war, flood, or some other catastrophic event may result in famine
|
|
|
What are world grain stocks?
|
World grain stocks are the amounts of rice, wheat, corn, and other grains stored by governments from previous harvests as a cushion against poor harvests and rising prices.
|
|
|
How do world grain stocks relate to food security?
|
According to the United Nations, world grain stocks supply a measure of food security if they do not fall below the minimum amount of 70 days' supply.
|
|
|
Why have world grain stocks declined in the last few years?
|
Rising temperature, Droughts, Ethanol production, More grain is going towards feeding livestock, increased meat consumption in developing countries
Cost money to store, produce, transport, and distribute food Getting food to those who need it, its political |
|
|
What are the leading causes of hunger and famine according to the economist, Amartya Sen?
|
“The leading cause of hunger is not the lack of food,…but rather, the leading cause of hunger is the type of gov’t.”
|
|
|
What is the root cause of undernutrition? Explain.
|
The root cause of undernutrition is poverty. Many of the world's poorest people—those living in developing countries in Asia and Africa—do not own land on which to grow food and do not have sufficient money to purchase food. More than 1.3 billion people in developing countries have incomes so low that they cannot afford to eat enough food or enough of the right kinds of food.
|
|
|
Name the three (3) most important food crops
|
Three cereal grains—rice, wheat, and corn—provide about half of the calories that people consume.
|
|
|
What is the difference between industrialized agriculture and subsistence agriculture?
|
Industrialized Agriculture: Modern agricultural methods, which require a large capital input and less land and labor than traditional methods.
Subsistence Agriculture: Traditional agricultural methods, which are dependent on labor and a large amount of land to produce enough food to feed oneself and one's family. |
|
|
What is industrialized agriculture?
|
Modern agriculture methods that require large capital input, and less land and labor
Most farmers in highly developed countries and some in developing countries practice industrialized agriculture, or high-input agriculture. Industrialized agriculture relies on large inputs of capital and energy, in the form of fossil fuels, to produce and run machinery, irrigate crops, and produce agrochemicals, such as commercial inorganic fertilizers and pesticides. Industrialized agriculture produces high yields, enabling forests and other natural areas to remain wild instead of being converted to agricultural land. The productivity of industrialized agriculture has not been without costs, however. Industrialized agriculture causes several problems, such as soil degradation and increases in pesticide resistance in agricultural pests. |
|
|
What is subsistence agriculture?
|
Traditional agricultural methods, which are dependent on labor and large amounts of land
Shifting cultivation, Slash and burn agriculture, Nomadic herding, Intercropping |
|
|
What is shifting cultivation?
|
Shifting cultivation is a form of subsistence agriculture in which short periods of cultivation are followed by longer fallow periods, during which the land is left uncultivated and reverts to forest. Shifting cultivation supports relatively small populations.
|
|
|
What is intercropping?
|
Intercropping is a form of intensive subsistence agriculture that involves growing a variety of plants simultaneously on the same field. When certain crops are grown together, they produce higher yields than when they are grown as monocultures. One reason for higher yields is that different pests are found on each crop, and intercropping discourages the buildup of any single pest species to economically destructive levels.
|
|
|
What is nomadic herding?
|
Nomadic herding, in which livestock is supported by land too arid for successful crop growth, is another type of land-intensive subsistence agriculture. Nomadic herders must continually move their livestock to find adequate food for them.
|
|
|
What are the effects of domestication on genetic diversity?
|
-domestication of crops and livestock causes a loss of genetic diversity
-farmers select animals with desirable agricultural characteristics |
|
|
What is the Green Revolution?
|
The use of modern cultivation methods and high yielding varieties of certain staple crops to produce more food per acre of cropland after WWII
|
|
|
Explain the roles of hormones and antibiotics in industrialized agriculture?
|
hormones: regulate livestock bodily functions and promote faster growth
antibiotics: gain weight faster bc they use less energy to fight infection -hormones used in US and Canada not Europe |
|
|
What is genetic engineering?
|
-manipulation of genes by taking specific gene from a cell of one species and placing it into the cell of other species
|
|
|
What are genetically modified food plants?
|
-are more nutritious because they will contain all the essential amino acids
-currently no single crop has this trait |
|
|
Why is golden rice being developed?
|
-prevent vitamin A deficiency
|
|
|
Describe the backlash against genetically modified foods?
|
-1990s-2000s opposition to GM food increased in many countries in Europe and Africa
-EU refused to buy US corn bc it might have been genetically modified -some opposition could stem attempts to protect the market for homegrown food by banning imports -fear of genes spreading into natural systems |
|
|
Discuss sustainable agriculture?
|
-agricultural methods that maintain soil productivity and a healthy ecological balance while having minimal long term impacts
|
|
|
What are some features of a sustainable farm?
|
-farms consist of field crops, trees that bear fruits and nuts, small herd of livestock, and tracts of forests
|
|
|
What is integrated pest management?
|
farmers who incorporate a limited use of pesticides with such practices as crop rotation, continual monitoring for potential pest problems, use of disease resistant varieties, and biological pest controls.
|
|
|
Discuss the problems and challenges for the fishing industry?
|
-over harvesting
-large predatory fish population decline -fisherman focusing on high commercial value fish species -ocean pollution -longlines, purse seine nets, trawl bag, drift nets (illegal) |
|
|
What ecosystem services does the atmosphere perform?
|
Blocks UV radiation
Moderates the climate Redistributes water in the hydrologic cycle |
|
|
What is air pollution?
|
Chemicals added to the atmosphere by natural events or human activities in high enough concentrations to be harmful
|
|
|
What is the difference between primary air pollutants and secondary air pollutants?
|
Primary air pollutants are emitted, unchanged, from a source directly into the atmosphere, whereas secondary air pollutants are produced in the atmosphere from chemical reactions involving primary air pollutants or other substances normally found in the atmosphere.
|
|
|
What is a primary air pollutant?
|
Harmful substance emitted directly into the atmosphere
|
|
|
What is a secondary air pollutant?
|
Harmful substance formed in the atmosphere when a primary air pollutant reacts with substances normally found in the atmosphere or with other air pollutants
|
|
|
What is solid particulate matter?
|
Solid particulate matter is generally referred to as dust, whereas liquid suspensions are commonly called mists.
|
|
|
Discuss the seven (7) major classes of air pollutants?
|
1. Particulate Material
2. Lead 3. Nitrous Oxides 4. Sulfur Oxides 5. Carbon Oxides 6. Hydrocarbons 7. Ozone |
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Particulate Material?
|
Particulate matter consists of thousands of different solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere.
Particulate matter includes a variety of pollutants, such as soil particles, soot, lead, asbestos, sea salt, and sulfuric acid droplets. Particulate matter reduces visibility by scattering and absorbing sunlight. Urban areas receive less sunlight than rural areas, partly as a result of greater quantities of particulate matter in the air. Particulate matter corrodes metals, erodes buildings and sculptures when the air is humid, and soils clothing and draperies. Particulate matter can be dangerous for one of two reasons. |
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Lead?
|
Lead, a soft metal that is used in industrial and chemical processes, has a variety of health impacts. Acute lead poisoning rarely results from outdoor exposure, but chronic effects can include permanently reduced cognitive ability, behavioral problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, and headaches. Airborne lead can be a problem both when it is inhaled and when it settles—in water and on surfaces including foods.
|
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Nitrogen Oxide?
|
Nitrogen oxides are gases produced by the chemical interactions between atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen when a source of energy, such as combustion of fuels, produces high temperatures. Nitrogen oxides inhibit plant growth and, when breathed, aggravate health problems such as asthma, a disease in which breathing is wheezy and labored because of airway constriction. They are involved in the production of photochemical smog and acid deposition (when nitrogen dioxide reacts with water to form nitric acid and nitrous acid). Nitrous oxide is associated with global warming (nitrous oxide traps heat in the atmosphere and is therefore a greenhouse gas) and depletes ozone in the stratosphere. Nitrogen oxides cause metals to corrode and textiles to fade and deteriorate.
|
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Sulfur Oxide?
|
Sulfur oxides are gases produced by the chemical interactions between sulfur and oxygen. Sulfur dioxide (SO2), a colorless, nonflammable gas with a strong, irritating odor, is a major sulfur oxide emitted as a primary air pollutant. Another major sulfur oxide is sulfur trioxide (SO3), a secondary air pollutant that forms when sulfur dioxide reacts with oxygen in the air. Sulfur trioxide, in turn, reacts with water to form another secondary air pollutant, sulfuric acid. Sulfur oxides cause acid deposition, and they corrode metals and damage stone and other materials. Sulfuric acid and sulfate salts produced in the atmosphere from sulfur oxides damage plants and irritate the respiratory tracts of humans and other animals.
|
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Carbon Oxides?
|
Carbon oxides are the gases carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas produced in the largest quantities of any atmospheric pollutant except carbon dioxide, is poisonous and interferes with the blood's ability to transport oxygen. Carbon dioxide, also colorless, odorless, and tasteless, is a greenhouse gas; its buildup in the atmosphere is associated with global climate change.
|
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Hydrocarbons?
|
Hydrocarbons are a diverse group of organic compounds that contain only hydrogen and carbon; the simplest hydrocarbon is methane
|
|
|
Major Classes of Air Pollutants: Ozone?
|
Ozone (O3) is a form of oxygen considered a pollutant in one part of the atmosphere but an essential component in another. In the stratosphere, which extends from 12 to 50 km (7.5 to 30 mi) above Earth's surface, oxygen reacts with UV radiation coming from the sun to form ozone. Stratospheric ozone prevents much of the solar UV radiation from penetrating to Earth's surface. Unfortunately, certain human-made pollutants (chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs) react with stratospheric ozone, breaking it down into molecular oxygen, O2.
|
|
|
Describe the two (2) main sources of outdoor air pollution?
|
The two main human sources of primary air pollutants are transportation (mobile sources) and industries (stationary sources), although intentional fires can also contribute significantly.
|
|
|
What is smog?
|
Air pollution localized in urban areas, where it reduces visibility, is often called smog.
|
|
|
What is industrial smog?
|
-smoke pollution, smoky fog
The principal pollutants in industrial smog are sulfur oxides and particulate matter. |
|
|
What is photochemical smog?
|
Brownish-orange haze formed by chemical reactions involving sunlight, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbons
|
|
|
Discuss the sources of smog in California?
|
Sources of smog in Los Angeles: Trucks, buses, and passenger vehicles account for more than half of the emissions that produce smog.
|
|
|
How does air pollution affect human health?
|
-emphysema
-chronic bronchitis -can suppress immune system Air pollutants irritate the eyes, inflame the respiratory tract, and suppress the immune system. Sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide constrict airways, impairing the lungs' ability to exchange gases. Carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin and reduces its ability to transport oxygen; carbon monoxide poisoning can cause death. Adults at greatest risk from air pollution include those with heart and respiratory diseases. |
|
|
Why are children particularly susceptible to the effects of air pollution?
|
-their lungs are still developing
-children breathe in and out 2x as much as an adult Air pollution is a greater health threat to children than it is to adults, in part because air pollution impedes lung development. Children with weaker lungs are more likely to develop respiratory problems, including chronic respiratory diseases. |
|
|
Describe the technologies that help reduce air pollution?
|
Electrostatic precipitators use electrodes to impart a negative charge to particulates in the dirty gas. These particles are attracted to the positively charged precipitator wall and then fall off into the collector. In a scrubber, mists of water droplets trap particulates in the dirty gas. The toxic dust produced by electrostatic precipitators and the polluted sludge produced by scrubbers must be safely disposed of or they will cause soil and water pollution. Phase I and II vapor recovery capture gasoline vapors that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Catalytic converters reduce the amount of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide released in automobile exhaust. Reducing sulfur content of gasoline, increasing fuel mileage, and requiring regular emissions inspections can all reduce pollution associated with cars, trucks, and buses.
|
|
|
Discuss the Clean Air Act?
|
-authorized EPA to set limits on amount of specific air pollutants permitted
-decreased air pollution (switch to unleaded gasoline) |
|
|
How has the Clean Air Act reduced outdoor air pollution?
|
Air quality in the United States has slowly improved since passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. This law authorizes the EPA to set limits on how much of specific air pollutants are permitted in the United States. The most dramatic improvement has been the decline in lead in the atmosphere, although levels of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ozone, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (many of which are hydrocarbons), and particulate matter have also been reduced.
|
|
|
What are the major sources of indoor air pollution?
|
-radon, cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide, lead, cleaning supplies, asbestos
|
|
|
What are the causes of global climate change?
|
-increased concentration of CO2
-burning fossil fuels -deforestation -burning of forests |
|
|
What are greenhouse gases?
|
A gas that absorbs infrared radiation; carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chloroflurocarbons, and tropospheric ozone are all greenhouse gases
|
|
|
What is the IPCC?
|
-intergovernmental panel on climate change (1988)
-offer scientific statements about global climate change |
|
|
What is the objective of the IPCC?
|
In response to the growing scientific agreement about both climate change and its human cause, governments around the world, through the United Nations, organized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. With input from and review by hundreds of climate experts, the IPCC provides definitive scientific statements about global climate change. The IPCC reviews all the published literature, especially that published over the previous five years, and summarizes the current state of knowledge and uncertainty as they relate to global climate change.
|
|
|
What is the aerosol effect?
|
-atmospheric cooling that occurs where and when aerosol pollution is the greatest
|
|
|
What are climate models?
|
-used to explore past climate events
-covers planet with lots of lat and long lines that monitor temp sunlight air pressure |
|
|
How do climate models project future climate conditions?
|
Climate models are computer models that describe the global climate as a system. The models divide the atmosphere and oceans into small, three-dimensional parts and evaluate the effects of changes in one part on adjacent parts. These models incorporate feedbacks that influence such factors as temperature, wind patterns, cloud moisture, and ice cover. Running these models based on different predicted levels of CO2 leads to projections of possible future climate conditions. Models include positive feedback, in which a change in some condition triggers a response that intensifies the changed condition, and negative feedback, in which a change in some condition triggers a response that moderates the changed condition.
|
|
|
How do melting ice and thermal expansion of water contribute to sea-level rise?
|
More than half of recent and projected sea-level rise is associated with the fact that water expands as it heats up; this is known as thermal expansion. How quickly the ocean absorbs increased atmospheric heat will significantly influence the rate of sea-level rise. Melting of glaciers and land-based ice sheets is the other major contributor to sea-level rise, as water previously “stored” on land shifts to the ocean.
|
|
|
How has climate change impacted precipitation?
|
-affects the availability of fresh water, more drought/snow in certain places
-frequency and intensity of storms might increase |
|
|
What other future precipitation changes do we expect?
|
Precipitation patterns will change, causing some areas to have more frequent droughts; at the same time, heavier snow and rainstorms are projected to cause more frequent flooding in other areas. Changes in precipitation patterns are likely to affect the availability and quality of fresh water in many locations. The frequency and intensity of storms over warm surface waters appear likely to increase.
|
|
|
How has climate change impacted agriculture?
|
Consequently, the impacts of global climate change on agriculture are difficult to anticipate. Agricultural productivity could increase because higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere could allow a higher rate of photosynthesis. The rise in sea level may cause water to inundate river deltas, which are some of the world's best agricultural lands. Certain agricultural pests and disease-causing organisms will probably proliferate and reduce yields. Scientists think global climate change will increase the frequency and duration of droughts, a problem that will be particularly serious for countries with limited water resources. It is likely that warmer temperatures will result in decreases in soil moisture in many agricultural soils.
|
|
|
What are some of the effects of climate change already experienced by organisms, including humans?
|
-species shift their geographic range
-migrating birds return home sooner -ecosystem at risk for species loss |
|
|
Discuss the international implications of global climate change, especially as it relates to HDCs and LDCs?
|
Dealing with global climate change is complicated by social, economic, and political factors that vary from one country to another. Although highly developed countries are the primary producers of greenhouse gases, the rate of production by certain developing countries is rapidly increasing (even though their per capita emissions remain well below those for highly developed countries).
|
|
|
Which country is the largest single contributor of carbon dioxide?
|
In 2007, China surpassed the United States as the largest single contributor of CO2, although the per capita rate in the United States remains about three times that of China.
|
|
|
Which country has the largest per capita rate of carbon dioxide?
|
The Per Capita Rate of Carbon Dioxide in the United States remains about three times that of China. Even though In 2007, China surpassed the United States as the largest single contributor of CO2.
|
|
|
Discuss the environmental situation in Kiribati?
|
-island is sinking
|
|
|
Discuss the Kyoto Protocol?
|
-international treaty that legally binds provides operational rules on reducing greenhouse gas emmisions
|
|
|
What are the eight (8) main types of water pollution?
|
1. Sewage:
2. Disease Causing Agents: 3. Sediment Pollution: 4. Inorganic Plant/Algal Nutrients: 5. Organic Compounds: 6. Inorganic Chemicals: 7. Radioactive Substances 8. Thermal Pollution |
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Sewage?
|
Sewage is the release of wastewater from drains or sewers (such as from toilets, washing machines, and showers); it includes human wastes, soaps, and detergents.
|
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Disease Causing Agents?
|
Disease-causing agents, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasitic worms, are transmitted in sewage.
|
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Sediment Pollution?
|
Sediment pollution, primarily from soil erosion, increases water turbidity, thereby reducing photosynthetic productivity in the water.
excessive clay silt gravel which can settle causing land formation |
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Inorganic Plant and Algal Nutrients?
|
Inorganic Plant and Algal Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, contribute to enrichment, the fertilization of a body of water.
nitrogen and phosphorous that stimulate growth of algae (cause dead zone) |
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Organic Compounds?
|
Many organic compounds, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, solvents, and industrial chemicals, are quite toxic to organisms.
chemicals contain carbon atoms (pesticides) |
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Inorganic Chemicals?
|
Inorganic chemicals include toxins such as lead and mercury.
contain elements other then carbon lead or mercury |
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Radioactive Substances?
|
Radioactive substances include the wastes from mining, refining, and using radioactive metals.
|
|
|
Main Types of Water Pollution: Thermal Pollution?
|
Thermal pollution occurs when heated water, produced during many industrial processes, is released into waterways.
|
|
|
What is biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)?
|
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of oxygen needed by microorganisms to decompose biological wastes into carbon dioxide, water, and minerals.
|
|
|
How is BOD related to sewage?
|
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of oxygen needed by microorganisms to decompose biological wastes into carbon dioxide, water, and minerals. A large amount of sewage generates a high BOD, which lowers the level of dissolved oxygen in the water.
|
|
|
What causes the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico?
|
A dead zone is a section of the ocean or a sea in which oxygen has been depleted to the point that most animals and bacteria cannot survive; it is often caused by runoff of chemical fertilizers or plant and animal wastes.
Nitrogen and phosphorus from the Mississippi River are largely responsible for a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The dead zone extends from the seafloor up into the water column, sometimes to within a few meters of the surface. Floods, droughts, and temperature change its size and shape. It generally persists from March or April, as snowmelt and spring rains flow from the Mississippi River into the Gulf, to September. It is most severe in June, July, and August. Although the size of the dead zone varies with weather conditions, overall it seems to be growing. |
|
|
How do point source and nonpoint source pollution differ?
|
Point source pollution is water pollution that can be traced to a specific spot. Nonpoint source pollution consists of pollutants that enter bodies of water over large areas rather than being concentrated at a single point of entry.
|
|
|
What is point source pollution?
|
Point source pollution is water pollution that can be traced to a specific spot.
Point source pollution is discharged into the environment through pipes, sewers, or ditches from specific sites such as factories or sewage treatment plants. Point source pollution is relatively easy to control legislatively, but accidents still occur |
|
|
What is nonpoint source pollution?
|
Nonpoint source pollution consists of pollutants that enter bodies of water over large areas rather than being concentrated at a single point of entry.
Nonpoint source pollution occurs when precipitation moves over and through the soil, picking up and carrying away pollutants that eventually are deposited in lakes, rivers, wetlands, groundwater, estuaries, and the ocean. Although nonpoint sources are diffuse, their cumulative effect is often huge. Nonpoint source pollution includes agricultural runoff (such as fertilizers, pesticides, livestock wastes, and salt from irrigation), mining wastes (such as acid mine drainage), municipal wastes (such as inorganic plant and algal nutrients), and construction sediments. Soil erosion from fields, logging operations, eroding stream banks, and construction sites is a major cause of nonpoint source pollution. |
|
|
Discuss water pollution in other countries?
|
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.4 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and about 2.9 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation systems; most of these people live in rural areas of developing countries. Worldwide, at least 250 million cases of water-related illnesses occur each year, with 5 million or more of these resulting in death—1.8 million from diarrheal illnesses alone.
Municipal water pollution from sewage is a greater problem in developing countries, many of which lack water treatment facilities, than in highly developed ones. Sewage from many densely populated cities in Asia, Latin America, and Africa is dumped directly into rivers or coastal harbors. Almost every nation in the world faces problems of water pollution. |
|
|
How much solid waste does an average person in the U.S. consume per day?
|
Each person in the United States produces an average of 1.98 kg (4.34 lb) of solid waste per day.
|
|
|
Briefly explain the 1987 Break of Dawn tugboat incident that towed a garbage barge from NY to NC, etc?
|
The solid waste problem was made abundantly clear by several highly publicized instances of garbage barges wandering from port to port and from country to country, trying to find someone willing to accept their cargo. In 1987 the tugboat Break of Dawn towed a garbage barge from New York to North Carolina. When North Carolina refused to accept the solid waste, the Break of Dawn set off on a journey of many months. In total, six states and three countries rejected the waste, which was eventually returned to New York to be incinerated.
|
|
|
What is municipal solid waste (MSW)?
|
Municipal solid waste (MSW) consists of solid materials discarded by homes, office buildings, retail stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals, prisons, libraries, and other commercial and institutional facilities.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a heterogeneous mixture composed primarily of paper and paperboard; yard waste; plastics; food waste; metals; materials such as rubber, leather, and textiles; wood; and glass. The proportions of the major types of solid waste in this mixture change over time. Today's solid waste contains more paper and plastics than in the past, whereas the amounts of glass and steel have declined. |
|
|
What does municipal solid waste include?
|
?
|
|
|
What is non-municipal solid waste?
|
Nonmunicipal solid waste consists of solid waste generated by industry, agriculture, and mining.
Nonmunicipal solid waste, which includes wastes from mining (mostly waste rock, about 75% of the total solid waste production), agriculture (about 13%), and industry (about 10%), is produced in substantially larger amounts than MSW (about 2%). Thus, most solid waste generated in the United States is from nonmunicipal sources. |
|
|
What does non-municipal solid waste include?
|
Nonmunicipal solid waste, which includes wastes from mining (mostly waste rock, about 75% of the total solid waste production), agriculture (about 13%), and industry (about 10%), is produced in substantially larger amounts than MSW (about 2%). Thus, most solid waste generated in the United States is from nonmunicipal sources.
|
|
|
What are open dumps?
|
Solid waste has traditionally been regarded as material that is no longer useful and that should be disposed of. The four ways to get rid of solid waste are to dump it, bury it, burn it, or compost it. The old method of solid waste disposal was dumping. Open dumps were unsanitary, malodorous places in which disease-carrying vermin such as rats and flies proliferated. Methane gas was released into the surrounding air as microorganisms decomposed the solid waste, and fires polluted the air with acrid smoke. Liquid that oozed and seeped through the solid waste heap ultimately found its way into the soil, surface water, and groundwater. Hazardous materials that were dissolved in this liquid often contaminated soil and water.
|
|
|
What is a sanitary landfill?
|
A sanitary landfill is the most common method of disposal of solid waste, by compacting it and burying it under a shallow layer of soil.
Open dumps have been replaced by sanitary landfills, which receive about 54% of the solid waste generated in the United States today. Sanitary landfills differ from open dumps in that the solid waste is placed in a hole, compacted, and covered with a thin layer of soil every day. This process reduces the number of rats and other vermin usually associated with solid waste, lessens the danger of fires, and decreases the amount of odor. If a sanitary landfill is operated in accordance with approved guidelines for solid waste management, it does not pollute local surface water and groundwater. |
|
|
What are “tipping fees”?
|
Sanitary landfills charge “tipping fees” to accept solid waste. This money helps offset the landfill's operating costs and lets the jurisdiction charge lower property taxes for homes and businesses located in close proximity to the landfill. Tipping fees vary widely from one state to another. Some jurisdictions cannot handle all their waste, so they export their solid waste to nearby states with lower tipping fees. For example, sanitary landfills in Ohio and Indiana accept solid waste from New York and New Jersey.
|
|
|
What are the problems associated with sanitary landfills?
|
- Methane gas production by microorganisms
- Contamination of surface water and groundwater by leachate - Not a long term remedy - Few new facilities being opened - Closing a full landfill is very expensive - Plastic - Tires |
|
|
What types of products are incinerated?
|
Glass does not burn, and when it melts, it is difficult to remove from the incinerator. Although food waste burns, its high moisture content often decreases the efficiency of incineration, so it is better to remove it before incineration. Removal of batteries, thermostats, and fluorescent lights is desirable because it eliminates most mercury emissions produced during combustion. The best materials for incineration are paper, plastics, and rubber.
|
|
|
What is composting?
|
One of the best ways is to convert organic waste into soil conditioners such as compost or mulch. Food scraps, sewage sludge, and agricultural manure are other forms of solid waste that can be used to make compost. Compost and mulch are used for landscaping in public parks and playgrounds or as part of the daily soil cover at sanitary landfills. Compost and mulch are also sold to gardeners.
|
|
|
What is source reduction?
|
Source reduction is an aspect of waste management in which products are designed and manufactured in ways that decrease the volume of solid waste and the amount of hazardous waste in the solid waste stream.
|
|
|
What are the benefits of recycling?
|
It is possible to collect and reprocess many materials found in solid waste into new products of the same or a different type. Recycling is preferred over landfill disposal because it conserves our natural resources and is more environmentally benign. Recycling also has a positive effect on the economy by generating jobs and revenues (from selling the recycled materials). However, recycling does have environmental costs. It uses energy (as does any human activity), and it generates pollution (as does any human activity). For example, the de-inking process in paper recycling requires energy and produces a toxic sludge that contains heavy metals.
|
|
|
What products are recyclable?
|
Glass bottles, newspapers, steel cans, plastic bottles, cardboard, office paper, Aluminum, Other recyclable metals include lead, gold, iron and steel, silver, and zinc, tires
|
|
|
What is integrated waste management?
|
Integrated waste management is a combination of the best waste management techniques into a consolidated, systems-based program to deal effectively with solid waste.
In integrated waste management, a variety of options that minimize waste, including the three R's of waste prevention (reduce, reuse, and recycle), are incorporated into an overall waste management plan. Even on a large scale, recycling and source reduction will not entirely eliminate the need for disposal facilities such as incinerators and landfills. However, recycling and source reduction will substantially reduce the amount of solid waste requiring disposal in incinerators and landfills. Source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting are part of integrated, systems-based waste management, in addition to incineration and disposal in landfills. |
|
|
What is hazardous waste?
|
Hazardous waste consists of any discarded chemical that threatens human health or the environment.
Hazardous waste accounts for about 1% of the solid waste stream in the United States. |
|
|
What does hazardous waste include?
|
Hazardous waste includes dangerously reactive, corrosive, ignitable, or toxic chemicals. The chemicals may be solids, liquids, or gases.
|
|
|
Discuss the 1977 Love Canal incident?
|
Love Canal: A small neighborhood on the edge of Niagara Falls, New York, that became synonymous with chemical pollution caused by negligent management after a large number of serious illnesses, particularly among children, were associated with buried industrial wastes.
|
|
|
Name the types of hazardous waste?
|
Hazardous chemicals include a variety of acids, dioxins, abandoned explosives, heavy metals, infectious waste, nerve gas, organic solvents, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, and radioactive substances
|
|
|
What is the Superfund National Priorities List?
|
The sites that pose the greatest threat to public health and the environment are placed on the Superfund National Priorities List, which means that the federal government will assist in their cleanup
|
|
|
Which five (5) states have the greatest number of sites on the Superfund National Priorities List?
|
As of 2011, a total of 1290 sites were on the National Priorities List. The five states with the greatest number of sites on the National Priorities List as of 2011 are:
1. New Jersey (112 sites), 2. Pennsylvania (95 sites), 3. California (94 sites), 4. New York (87 sites), and 5. Michigan (67 sites). |
|
|
Environmental Ethics?
|
the field of ethics that considers the moral basis of environmental responsibility and the appropriate extent of this responsibility
|
|
|
What are the Principles of the Deep Ecology Worldview?
|
1. All life has intrinsic value. The value of nonhuman life-forms is independent of the usefulness they may have for narrow human purposes.
2. The richness and diversity of life-forms contribute to the flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth. 3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs. 4. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening. 5. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease 6. Significant improvement of life conditions requires changes in economic, technological, and ideological structures. 7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating the quality of life rather than adhering to a high standard of living. 8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes. |
|
|
What are Megacities?
|
cities with more than 10 million inhabitants
|
|
|
What is Urbanization?
|
Urbanization involves the movement of people from rural to urban areas, as well as the transformation of rural areas into urban areas.
|
|
|
Variables that Urban Ecologists Study: Population?
|
Population refers to the number of people; the factors that change this number (births, deaths, immigration, and emigration); and the composition of the city by age, sex, and ethnicity.
|
|
|
Variables that Urban Ecologists Study: Organization?
|
Organization is the social structure of the city, including its economic policies, method of government, and social hierarchy.
|
|
|
Variables that Urban Ecologists Study: Environment?
|
Environment includes both the natural environment, such as whether the city is situated near a river or in a desert, and the city's physical infrastructure, including its roads, bridges, and buildings. Environment also includes changes in the natural environment caused by humans—air and water pollution, for example.
|
|
|
Variables that Urban Ecologists Study: Technology?
|
Technology refers to human inventions that directly affect the urban environment. Examples of technology include aqueducts, which carry water long distances to cities in arid environments, and air conditioning, which allows people to live in comfort in hot, humid cities.
|
|
|
What is an Urban Ecosystem?
|
A heterogeneous, dynamic urban area studied in the context of a broader ecological system
|
|
|
Water Pollution?
|
Water pollution is a global problem that varies in magnitude and type of pollutant from one region to another. In many locations, particularly in developing countries, the main water pollution issue is lack of disease-free drinking water. Water pollutants are divided into eight categories: sewage, disease-causing agents, sediment pollution, inorganic plant and algal nutrients, organic compounds, inorganic chemicals, radioactive substances, and thermal pollution. These eight types are not exclusive; for example, sewage can contain disease-causing agents, inorganic plant and algal nutrients, and organic compounds.
|
|
|
What are the three (3) ways of Disposing Solid Waste?
|
1. Sanitary Landfills
2. Incineration 3. Recycling |
|
|
The City as a Dynamic System
|
Figure 9.7 Like natural ecosystems, cities are open systems. The human population in an urban environment requires inputs from the surrounding countryside and produces outputs that flow into surrounding areas. Not shown in this figure is the internal cycling of materials and energy within the urban system. How might climate change affect the urban system?
|
|
|
Energy inputs in industrialized agriculture?
|
|
|
|
What is Polyculture?
|
Polyculture is a type of intercropping in which several kinds of plants that mature at different times are planted together. In polyculture practiced in the tropics, fast-and slow-maturing crops are often planted together so that crops are harvested throughout the year. For example, vegetable crops and cereal grains, which mature first, might be planted with papayas and bananas, which mature later.
|
|
|
Genetic Engineering?
|
Genetic engineering. This example of genetic engineering uses a plasmid, a small circular molecule of DNA (genetic material) found in many bacteria. The plasmid of the bacterium Agrobacterium introduces desirable genes from another organism into a plant. After the foreign DNA is spliced into the plasmid, the plasmid is inserted into Agrobacterium, which then infects plant cells in culture. The foreign gene is inserted into the plant's chromosome, and genetically modified plants are then produced from the cultured plant cells.
|
|
|
Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agriculture.
|
|
|
|
Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agriculture: Water Issues?
|
|
|
|
Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agriculture: Air Pollution?
|
|
|
|
Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agriculture: Land Degradation?
|
|
|
|
Environmental Effects of Industrialized Agriculture: Loss of Biological Diversity?
|
|
|
|
Some goals of Sustainable Agriculture.
|
|
|
|
Modern commercial fishing methods.
|
Modern methods of harvesting fish are so effective that many fish species have become rare. Sea turtles, dolphins, seals, whales, and other aquatic organisms are accidentally caught and killed in addition to the target fish. The depth of longlines is adjusted to catch open-water fishes, such as sharks and tuna, or bottom fishes, such as cod and halibut. Purse seines catch anchovies, herring, mackerel, tuna, and other fishes that swim near the water's surface. Trawl bags catch cod, flounder, red snapper, scallops, shrimp, and other fishes and shellfish that live on or near the ocean floor. Drift nets catch salmon, tuna, and other fishes that swim in open waters.
|
|
|
Air Pollutants?
|
|
|
|
Sources of Air Pollutants?
|
|
|
|
Controlling Air Pollutants?
|
Hybrid cars and natural gas–powered buses, for example, produce much lower emissions than do their predecessors. Technologies exist to control all the forms of air pollution include: Historically, “command-and-control” technologies have been used to reduce emissions. Usually this means equipment that limits the emissions after they have been generated. However, this technological approach can be more expensive than alternatives such as changing industrial processes to reduce emissions.
Smokestacks fitted with electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers, or other technologies remove particulate matter. In addition, particulate matter is controlled by careful land-excavating activities, such as sprinkling water on dry soil being moved during road construction. |
|
|
Controlling Air Pollutants: An Electrostatic Precipitator?
|
In an electrostatic precipitator, the electrode imparts a negative charge to particles in the dirty gas. These particles are attracted to the positively charged precipitator wall and then fall off into the collector.
|
|
|
Controlling Air Pollutants: Scrubber System?
|
In a scrubber, mists of water droplets trap particulates in the dirty gas. The toxic dust produced by electrostatic precipitators and the polluted sludge produced by scrubbers must be safely disposed of or they will cause soil and water pollution.
With a scrubber system in place, most particulate matter is removed, leaving only steam. |
|
|
Acid deposition?
|
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions react with water vapor in the atmosphere to form acids that return to the surface as either dry or wet deposition.
|
|
|
Acid deposition is one of several stressors that interact, contributing to the decline and death of trees. Acid deposition increases soil acidity, causing certain essential mineral ions, such as calcium, to leach out of the soil.
|
|
|
Sources of Household Air Pollution?
|
Homes may contain higher levels of toxic pollutants than outside air, even near polluted industrial sites.
|
|
|
Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Air Quality Benefits (3)?
|
Many air pollutants both cause immediate, local health effects and can contribute to climate change. Reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds, many of which are greenhouse gases, can have three air quality benefits. (1) there is a reduction in immediate health effects from people inhaling the compounds themselves. (2) stratospheric ozone formation is reduced. (3) climate change is reduced.
|
|
|
Enhanced greenhouse effect?
|
The buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases absorbs some of the outgoing infrared (heat) radiation, warming the atmosphere. Some of the heat in the warmed atmosphere is transferred back to Earth's surface, warming the land and ocean. The percent of incoming radiation absorbed is increasing, while the percent reflected is decreasing.
|
|
|
Building a climate model.
|
Climate models typically cover the planet's surface with many hundreds to thousands of latitude-longitude tiles, much like the tiles of a mosaic. At each location, the tiles are piled atop each other, creating stacks of a few dozen tiles extending up into the upper atmosphere and down into the ocean depths. The model's program considers how hour-by-hour (or even minute-by-minute) changes in sunlight, temperature, air pressure, currents or winds, and water vapor in one tile affect conditions in that tile and in each of the adjacent tiles. The computer continually performs calculations, taking into account the fundamental laws involving conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. These calculations can stretch out to centuries, specifying, as appropriate, any changes in the concentrations of greenhouse gases, solar radiation, or some other parameter.
|
