Chapter 1-2 Flashcards
To summarize chapters 1-2 of Environmental science: toward a sustainable future
What we perceive represent what?
An objective reality
How does Objective reality function?
According to basic principles and natural laws
Finish this sentence: Every result has a cause;
Every event will cause other events
What powers can we use to discover and understand the basic principles and natural laws by which the universe functions?
The power of observation, manipulation, and reason.
What is a hypothesis?
An educated guess concerning the cause of an observation.
Since the start of the industrial revolution, what concentrations have nearly doubled in our atmosphere?
CO2
50% of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere is a result of what?
Fossil fuel burning and land use change.
Besides the 50% of CO2 taken by the atmosphere, what else absorbs CO2?
25% is absorbed by the ocean and 25% is absorbed by the terrestrial biosphere.
The human population is expected to level out at what number by 2100?
At 10 billion
What is the average fertility rate?
2.4
What four countries have above average fertility rates?
Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Iraq, and Egypt.
What will be the top three largest cities in the year 2100?
Lagos, Nigeria, Kinshasa, democratic republic of Congo, and Dar es Salaam, united republic of Tanzania.
Is the (HDI) Human Development Index growing?
Yes
What does HDI measure?
Life expectancy, school enrollment, and per capita gross domestic product
What two countries have the highest HDI?
Germany with the USA in second
What country has the longest life expectancy?
Japan
What race is most likely to die in the United States during maternity?
Non-hispanic Blacks
What country has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries?
The United States of America
What is the likely cause of America’s high maternal mortality rate?
A lack of midwives and a lack of paid parental leave postpartum.
When do most maternal deaths occur in the U.S.?
50% occur postpartum
What country spends the most on healthcare per capita?
USA
What high-income country has the most children in poverty and people in prison?
USA
What percent of the USA’s net worth is in the 1%? The 10%?
38% is the one percent’s and 88.5% is the ten percent’s
Which of these explanations is false?
A Human well-being has actually been declining
B Enhanced food production has outweighed the effects of declines in other ecosystem services
C Human technology has made us less dependent on ecosystem services
D There is a time lag between ecosystem decline and the impact on human well-being
A.
What ratio of ecosystem services have humans degraded?
2/3
What percent of Ecosystem Services are mixed and what percent have been enhanced?
20% are mixed and 17% are enhanced.
What is stewardship?
Actions and programs that manage natural resources and human well-being for the common good.
Who founded the (GBM) green belt movement, a Kenyan tree planting program that planted over 51 million trees?
Professor Wangari Maathai
In 900 AD when Polynesians discovered Easter Island they deforested it of giant palm trees and 21 other species completely by 1400-1600, which ultimately contributed to their society’s collapse. Why did they deforest it, and what did their collapse look like?
The deforested Easter Island for boats, ropes, cremation, building supplies, clearing land, and transporting Moai statues. The collapse led to militarization and removal of priests, toppling of statues, population crash, starvation, and cannibalism.
How many birds went extinct on Easter Island?
24
Why do human societies exploit their fragile ecosystems?
Because they fail to anticipate, perceive, or solve their problems. Or they try but fail.
Why do CO2 concentrations fluctuate?
Because of photosynthesis.
Name one reason biodiversity is important?
Plants create compounds that can cure diseases, such as the Rosy Periwinkle from Madagascar, which cured the fatal condition of childhood Leukemia. There’s now a 99% chance of remission.
What is the theory of spontaneous generation, which was believed by Aristotle?
Complex living organisms generated from decaying organic matter.
Who discovered and what was the cause of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London?
John Snow discovered that the cause was a pump connected to the broad street pond.
How is Cholera treated?
By IV Saline treatments (sometimes even 6 gallons) that allow the immune system time to defeat Cholera
Globally, what is the fastest growing source of electricity?
Wind Energy
What country has 16 of the most polluted cities in the world?
China
What do sustainable solutions need to be?
They need to be Socially desirable, Economically feasible, and Ecologically viable.
China has how many of the world’s most polluted cities?
16
Is tap water safe to drink in China?
No
Name four polluted and or drying out water sources in China
Poyang Lake, Lake Taihu, Yangtze river, and the Yellow River which is being sucked dry for irrigation.
Name the largest river in the world?
The Amazon River in Brazil
What Chinese river saw the flow stoppages increase by nearly double?
The Yellow River
China and northern china’s freshwater supply is what percentage when compared to the world average for the former and when compared to southern china’s average for the latter.
25% former and 20% for the latter
China’s population is expected to be how much less by the end of the century?
Half less
What’s the difference between a centrally planned economy and capitalism? Give examples of both.
Rulers decide a centrally planned economy, and Cuba and North Korea are examples of that. The market decides a capitalist economy, and the U.S. and China are mixed examples of that.
What does GATT and WTO stand for, respectively?
GATT stands for global agreement on tariffs and trade, WTO stand the World Trade Organization.
What products does the USA refuse to accept imports of, much to the chagrin of the WTO?
Shrimp caught without using (TEDS) turtle excluding devices and products produced using child labor.
Name the three types of capital?
Produced capital, natural capital (mineral resources), and intangible human capital.
What percent of national wealth is intangible?
60%-80% is intangible
What does GPI and ISEW stand for?
Genuine Progress Indicator and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare.
What does GDP and GNP stand for?
Gross domestic product and Gross national product.
What factors does the GPI measure that the GDP doesn’t measure?
Social and environmental factors
What direction are mangrove trees migrating?
North
What is Sustainable development?
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
What treats polluted water?
Chlorine
Is CO2 higher in the summer or the winter?
The winter
What problems does air pollution cause?
2 million premature deaths annually, causes acid rain, and harms the ozone hurting crops, water, and human artifacts.
What issues do hazardous wastes cause?
Spreads diseases, blocks drains, and pollutes groundwater.
What issues does soil degradation cause?
Droughts, & reduced nutrition on soil for poor farmers
What percent of lands used for crops, grazing and forestry, have been degraded?
25% of lands have been degraded.
What issues does deforestation cause?
flooding causing death and disease, less sustainable logging and carbon storage for forests.
What solved the southern corn blight of 1970?
Chinese maize that was resistant to the blight
What does the drug Taxol used to treat cancer come from?
The Pacific yew and the English yew tree
What problems do atmospheric changes cause?
🌪️Natural disasters, 🤒skin cancers,🌊 rising sea level, and changes in 👩🏽🌾agricultural productivity.
Increasing temperature in Greenland will cause the ice on Greenland to melt in 500–1000 years. If it all melts, how much will the sea level rise?
7 meters
What is the policy cycle and the definition of its terms?
RFIC. Recognition: awareness of a problem, formulation of the policy, implementation of the policy, and control to monitor and evaluate the policy.
How will reverse mines work?
They will bury nuclear waste in steel canisters enclosed in copper capsules. Then plug the holes with water absorbing clay and fill the tunnels with bentonite, then sealed with concrete.
How much of the federal USA budget would have to be spent on compliance with environmental regulations?
A mere 5% in contrast to 20% on defense & security, 21% on medicare, medicaid, and children’s health insurance and 22% on social security.
Is minimizing industrial waste financially beneficial?
Generally yes
What are the benefits of preventing pollution?
❤️🩹Improved health, agricultural, commercial 🐟fishing,☺️ recreational opportunities, 🛟lifetime of materials, and🏠 real estate value.
What did phasing out leaded gasoline decrease by 90%?
Average levels of lead in the blood of children.
How many gasoline storage tanks have been cleaned up since 1988?
400,000
As opposed to the 25% of municipal solid waste recycled today, how much was recycled in 1970?
7%
How many states have passed bottle laws to encourage and facilitate recycling of bottles?
10 states
What season and what month has the lowest Co2 levels?
Summer as CO2 trends downwards throughout summer, September has the lowest Co2 levels of all.
What season has the highest CO2 levels?
Spring
What is the difference between illegal dumping and legal landfills.
Illegals dumps put waste on land other than where the trash was generated without permission, while land fills are area for the discarding of trash.
Why can’t you farm the Amazon soil for long?
Because water leeches the nutrients out of the soil, creating poor soil.
What is the most prescribed antitumor drug?
Paclitaxel
In roughly 10,000 years the ocean will take up all of what and how will that affect life in the ocean?
C02 concentrations and could cause extinction and killing of life in ocean.
When is Arctic ice’s minimum and maximum
Minimum September and maximum march
By what year at the end of summer will there be no ice on the Arctic Ocean?
2050
If the ocean rises 7 meters, how much of Louisiana at least will be submerged?
1/3 including Lafayette, Lake Charles and New Orleans.
Arctic Ice melting has slowed since what year?
2010
What the USA’S solution to acid rain?
Cap & trade
Pay as you throw means what?
A law that charges you for the amount of trash you throw away
What uses the most water in the USA?
Irrigation for farming
What was the Montreal protocol in 1987 about?
Phasing out the use of CFCS as they harmed the ozone layer, which were mainly used for refrigerators.
Since the Kyoto protocol in 1997 what is the only country that improved significantly?
USA
What is the only country with a solution to their nuclear waste?
Finland
What is the most toxic form of mercury?
Methyl mercury maybe lol
What is the main thing mercury is used for today?
Tooth fillings contain a mixture that includes mercury.
When plastic is recycled, what is an extra step?
Separating the types of plastic
In the short team eco-friendly production practices cost more money but in the long term
Costs decrease
Why did the underground gasoline tanks leak, and what issues did the leaking cause?
They leak, cause of rusting, and they cause water contamination
What specific laws do ten states have to encourage recycling?
Bottle bills that pay you to recycle
Name five countries with around average fertility rates from highest to lowest?
Haiti, India, Indonesia, US, and Sweden
Name six countries with below average fertility rates, from highest to lowest?
Canada, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, and South Korea
