Chapter 3 - Current Pressures and Need for Action

Question 1

Air pollutants in Europe and North America went — from 1990-2014

Answer 1

decreased from 100% to 70-80% (relative to 1990)

Question 2

What was the name of the Act that decreased SO2 NOx Emissions in Germany?

Answer 2

Federal Immission Control Act in 1974

Question 3

And what did the federal emission control act do ?

Answer 3

Regulation for emission limitation. implementation of air quality management and integrated environmental protection

Question 4

Who are the biggest GHG emitters by Country(ish)?

Answer 4

China, US and the EU

Question 5

What includes the integrated approach of reducing GHG emissions?

Answer 5

Integrated approaches covering, multiple sectors , multiple pollutants, multiple effects, balancing local and regional global level

Question 6

Can you sense international effects of air quality in your own country?

Answer 6

yes most of the bad air quality comes from international (so other surrounding countries) and then 40% if your own countries fault

Question 7

How is high income and waste related?

Answer 7

The richer the income level the most waste is created

Question 8

what is MSW?

Answer 8

municipal solid waste (household trash)

Question 9

what is the source of the highest quantity of waste?

Answer 9

C&D - construction and demolition

Question 10

What part of the MSW Composition decreased the richer a country gets? and what increased

Answer 10

Organic Material decreases, Paper and Plastics increase.

Question 11

Are most metals recycled more than 1%

Answer 11

no , most are recycled less than 1% , some are recycled more than 50%

Question 12

Where is the biggest E-waste dumpsites in the world?

Answer 12

Ghana, 80% of kids living nearby have increased levels of lead in their blood

Question 13

Waste management hierarchy (what is the best to the worst)

Answer 13

Prevention,Minimization,
Reuse,Recycling,
Landfill,Controlled,
Uncontrolled disposal

Question 14

What is circular economy?

Answer 14

It seeks to rebuild capital, whether human social natural or financial or manufactures. this is for enhanced flows of goods and services.
so in nature its all a circular thing there isnt a linear trash chute. like packaging that has seeds in it and biodegrades(no resources has been lost in the making orf something) so for tech stuff, find a way that tech has more than one shelf life. goods of today are the resources of tomorow. products are disasembled and regenerated. like not owning smth but licensing that are reused.

Question 15

what is a cascade?

Answer 15

pass (something) on to a succession of others.

“teachers who are able to cascade their experience effectively”

Question 16

What are three consequences of bad waste management?

Answer 16

health impacts, environmental impacts, and economic losses

Question 17

what is the solution to the problem that ; Increase in global population, urbanisation and increasing income
levels will lead ceteris paribus to increasing amounts of waste

Answer 17

Demand for further development of waste management and circular
economy

Question 18

in circular economy, in terms of stock management what are examples how to minimise systematic leakage and negative externalities?

Answer 18

share tools with other manufacturers, maintain or prolong machines life, remanufacture (use factories for long), recycle

Question 19

In the global land status, what is most land?

Answer 19

most land is medium to strong degradation, and the second highest is even higher medium to strong degradation

Question 20

why is grassland, savannahs and forests turned into cropland? (net and gross expansion of cropland)

Answer 20

Net
expansion is a result of rising demand
for food and non-food biomass(food or biofuel) which
cannot be compensated by higher yields.
Gross expansion comprises also the shift
of cropland to other areas due to losses
by severe degradation and built-up land (where houses and man made cities are now) so current cropland is so degraded its useless so you have to make more by taking forests land

Question 21

in short, why is there an expansion of cropland?

Answer 21

more food and biofuel demand, current cropland is so degraded we also take more.

Question 22

is the net(higher demand for food and biofuel) expansion of croplands or the gross (degradation and build up) expansion predicted to be more?

Answer 22

gross expansion (expansion because of degraded and build-up of existing cropland)

Question 23

How to solve degraded cropland?

Answer 23

Large areas with degraded soils are in need of restoration and better
land use planning would help to avoid building on fertile land.

Question 24

How to get lower need for cropland?

Answer 24

Reducing excessive consumption provides high untapped potentials for
“saving” land.

Question 25

Can product certification help with lower demand for cropland?

Answer 25

no, Product certification cannot control the global expansion of cropland. For
that, countries should monitor and control the level of their global land
use.

Question 26

Another help to reduce cropland demand?(efficiency)

Answer 26

A more efficient use of biomass and its substitutes is necessary and
possible; it requires enhanced efforts toward sustainable resource
management at multiple scales

Question 27

In what countries is an alarming rate of withdrawal of freshwater resources even though they do not have a lot?

Answer 27

Saudi Arabia and north east Africa and that region up to India.

Question 28

What are the damage categories and impact categories of the waste management problem in Africa?

Answer 28

impact categories: ecotoxicity(ocean), waste generation, eutrophication and water pollution, open waste burning, greenhouse effect
Damage categories:
intrinsic: ecosystem and human health (toxic gas, water pollution), instrumental, ecosystem services, and natural resources (dying fish, job loss)

Question 29

what is eutrophication

Answer 29

enrichment of nutrients in the water, which lowers quality bc too many algae

Question 30

the proposed solution to waste management problems in Africa?

Answer 30

forbid single-use plastic bags, taxes on plastic bags. easy access to recycling, money in exchange for water, sell waste to recycling companies, recycling creates jobs