Course Summary

Question 1

NEPA review: what are environmental impacts? indicators? NEPA’s goals?

Answer 1

impacts: any alteration of current env, or creation of a new one
indicators: tracking measures
goals: productive harmony, env values receive thought, EIS

Question 2

Describe the ‘Action Cycle’

Answer 2

impacts interact with human activities and strategic policies

Question 3

Ecological footprint

Answer 3

measure of human demands on the ecosystem

Question 4

select activities and impacts in cities

Answer 4

rapid urban growth - insufficient land and housing
uncontrolled industrial effluent - polluted water and env
increased transportation - air pollution

Question 5

effects of climate change, and a note about the distribution of climate change effects`

Answer 5

higher max temps, higher min temps, more intense precip events

small shift in mean temperature can change the frequency of extremes by a lot

Question 6

differentiate between mitigation and adaptation

Answer 6

mitigation is stopping the problem at the source (i.e., reducing emissions), adaptation is dealing with the effects (i.e., increased water treatment to deal with increased water pollution)

Question 7

long lived greenhouse pollutants? medium lived? short lived?

Answer 7

long - CO2, N2O, F11, F12
medium - CH4
short - CO, NMVOCs, NOx, SO2, BC/EC, OC

Question 8

In the lens of critical global environmental health challenges, what are the forcing factors?

Answer 8

new technology, increased importance of the private sector, removal of tariffs and subsidies

Question 9

In the lens of critical global environmental health challenges, what are the EH impacts?

Answer 9

easy transfer of hazards, growing exports leads to depleted stocks, less biodiversity, fewer forests, rush to the bottom

also the digital divide

Question 10

To achieve policy goals and objectives we need …

Answer 10

authority, institutions, information, communication, accountability, and participation

decision-making mechanisms at policy, program and project levels

appropriate planning, management and assessment tools

Question 11

why is it important to focus on preconception exposures?

Answer 11

they have long ranging effects

Question 12

what is the groningen criteria?

Answer 12

graph showing the zones of acceptability between probability of more than n fatalities per year and number of fatalities

Question 13

describe sustainable development

Answer 13

awareness: better env management is critical to poverty reduction and economic development
science and evidence based actions

intersection of social development, economic development, environmental protection

DO Not choose between env protection and economic development

Question 14

Describe the key features of Sustainability Assessment and Management

Answer 14

comprehensive and systems based, intergenerational, stakeholder involvement and collaboration. use a “suite of technical tools for dynamic and quantitative analysis”

Question 15

categories of Planning/Assessment and Management tools

Answer 15

data collection, analysis (energy and materials flow, design, environmental risk science / management, accountancy), communication, decision science, management and finanacing

Question 16

Describe goals of EIA

Answer 16

predict positive and negative env impacts, evaluate various options (including no action), reduce/mitigate adverse impacts, obtain public input and provide

Question 17

Problems and potential upgrades to EIA

Answer 17

reactive (pro-active), assess effects of proposals (assess effects of env of development needs), address a specific project (address regions), finite (continuing), direct impacts (cumulative impacts), mitigation of impacts (maintenance or improvement of quality), narrow (wide) perspective

Question 18

Life cycle assessment: definition and principles.

Answer 18

def: calculation, evaluation of environmentally relevant inputs and outputs,
principles: comprehensive, multicriteria evaluation, multi-stakeholder

Question 19

LCA steps

Answer 19

1. Goals/scope - cradle to grave
2. Inventory - quantify env burdens from emissions and consumption
3. Impact Assessment - inventory is linked to impact categories
4. Life Cycle Improvement Analysis: product improvement, product design, formulation of company policy, product information
   * for vehicles use-phase dominates life cycle

Question 20

LCA critique

Answer 20

strengths: encourages life cycle thinking, build capacity and teaming, tracks pollution between media, scoring
weaknesses: data intensive, impact assessment is incomplete, no extremes considered, only criteria is “less is better”, time consuming and costly

Question 21

Health Impact Analysis: def and aims

Answer 21

def: potential effects of a policy, program, on health on population are judged
aims: maximize health gain, multidisciplinary, focus on health inequalities, quantitative and qualitative evidence, process which emphasizes sustainability and promotion of health

Question 22

Descibe the HIA process

Answer 22

Screening, Scoping, Risk Assessment, Preparation of report/recommendations, Submission of report/recommendations to decision makers, monitoring and evaluation

Question 23

Describe HIA scoping

Answer 23

key issues, aims, objectives, articulate underlying values, identify affected populations or communities. identify potential health concerns. profiling describes baseline demographics & health status of affected populations

Question 24

Describe HIA risk assessment/appraisal

Answer 24

determine positive and negative health impacts, input by stakeholders, can use surveys, epid evidence

Question 25

Describe HIA monitoring and Evaluation

Answer 25

process evaluation - how successful the process of carrying out the HIA was,
impact evaluation - monitors acceptance and implementation of recommendations
outcome evaluation - monitors indicators and health outcomes after proposal has been implemented

Question 26

Critique of HIA

Answer 26

strengths: evidence based, long term goals, reflected people-centered outcomes, ecompasses technical tools, systematic and learning process
weaknesses: few legal requirements for use, no definitions for what an adequate HIA is, accuracy of predictions is limited, data and time intensive

Question 27

Integrated Environmental Assessment

Answer 27

a participatory and structured approach that links knowledge and action: trend analysis with policy analysis, global and sub-region perspectives, historical and future concerns,

Question 28

What is the participatory approach?

Answer 28

comprehensive peer review with multiple stakeholders, advisory groups provide conceptual and methodological guidance

Question 29

How to look at EIA going forwards?

Answer 29

to deal with the complexity, scale, and dynamics you need:

interdisciplinary teaming, ongoing surveillance and monitoring, and a systems approach

Question 30

3 Bases for effective policy

Answer 30

awareness, key metric is health, science and evidence based actions. mitigation and adaptation needs assessment