Ecological and social Footprint

Question 1

What is mining

Answer 1

The removal of minerals and metals from the Earth (aluminium)

Question 2

Give a positive of mining

Answer 2

Can create a huge amount of employment and income for countries

Question 3

Give some disadvantages of mining

Answer 3

Damages the environment - contaminates the the water supplies and threatens communities and indigenous people

Trees and vegetation are cleared and burned in order to make space for mining

In order to separate metal from their ore, chemicals such as cyanide and mercury are used. This can often end up in rivers and streams contaminating water supplies and poisoning marine life and local fish.

Question 4

What is river dredging

Answer 4

Moving along a river using a suction hose to collect gravel and mud.

This travels down pipes where metal fragments are collected.

This can disrupt the flow of fish causing them to die

Question 5

What is drilling

Answer 5

Used to extract liquids or gas from underneath the earth’s surface, either on land or on sea.

Question 6

How can drilling affect the trees

Answer 6

Causes disruption as roads have to be created in order to make way for large machinery and camps of people

This encourages the arrival of other companies to do stuff like logging

So companies like logging ones now have access to forests that might of once be protected

Question 7

How does drilling harm the surrounding environment

Answer 7

Dangerous chemicals are used to extract the oils

This material id difficult to disposed of, so companies have been found to dump these materials into wells and pipes, leading to huge impacts to those who live there

Oil harms wildlife when touched, inhaled or ingested.Damage can occur in the central nervous system, liver and lungs and animals often die. If oil comes into contact with a birds feathers it can prevent them from flying and even drown them when on water. It also prevents them insulating themselves which can lead to hyperthermia and death.

Drilling leads to atmospheric pollution when exes is burnt and carbon dioxide is produced, contributing to global warming.
(methane produces -greenhouse gas).

Question 8

When does fishing have to be stopped

Answer 8

Oil spills - marine life is poisoned

Question 9

How can oil spills affect tourism

Answer 9

If the oil devastates huge areas and makes water dangerous and unattractive to swimmers.

Question 10

How much of the Earth’s usable land has been transformed into farming land

Answer 10

50%

Question 11

Give a disadvantage of the amount of land for farming

Answer 11

Huge impact in the earth’s natural resources and habitats

e.g destruction of areas of rainforests for palm oil plantations. This dramatically reduces the natural habitats of the Sumatran rhino and tigers, and the Asian elephant in places such as Maylasia and Indonesia.

Question 12

Describe the soil erosion from farming

Answer 12

Farming uses 7% of the worlds usable water supply, so less water available for other purposes

Causes huge large scale erosion, where large rooted trees that help to hold areas of soul together are replaced by crops.

Large areas of nutritional top soil are often blown or washed away leaving fewer nutrients necessary for successful crop growth

Soil is eroded away to silt up rivers and destroy important water supplies. This can lead to flooding.

Question 13

Whats the problem with pesticides and fertilisers

Answer 13

These chemicals kill insects and threaten the produce

Question 14

If there are fewer trees and less vegetation in forests, wild animals have…………..to live and the population……..

Answer 14

Fewer places
Decreases

This also applies to the indigenous people

Question 15

How much rainforest is the Amazon losing per year

Answer 15

200,000 acres per year

Due to mining, logging and farming for products such as palm oil or soybean cultivation.

Question 16

How much of the logging in the Amazon is illegal

Answer 16

60-80%

Question 17

What are the 6 R’s

Answer 17

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Rethink
Repair
Refuse

Question 18

Give some guidelines that designers have to ensure when making a product

Answer 18

Employment should be a choice and no-one should be forced to work

Working conditions should be safe and hygienic

Workers should be paid a living wage which is high enough to maintain a normal standard of living

Child labour should not be used

Working hours should not be excessive

Question 19

Give a positive of plastics

Answer 19

Useful or relatively cheap material that can be formed into a range of objects

Question 20

Give some disadvantage of plastics

Answer 20

Plastics is becoming one of the biggest problems in terms of iconic pollution

It does not degrade quickly and when disposed of, washes into our oceans and stays there for many years

Can create huge problems for marine life and birds can be potentially harmed too.

Microbes can end up into our water systems and are ingested by marine life, so it ends up in us too

Question 21

Oceanic pollution - How much plastic ends up in the ocean every year

Answer 21

8 million metric tonnes

This is the same as 5 shopping bags filled with plastic for every 300m of coastline.

this will double by 2025

Question 22

How can we solve plastic in the ocean

Answer 22

Making them bio-degradable

Made of barley and wheat - can be eaten by marine life

Question 23

What is atmospheric pollution

Answer 23

Gas is in the air which is in a big enough quantity to cause damage to health of people or animals, kill or damage plants or effect buildings

Question 24

Give some types of pollution

Answer 24

Sulphur dioxide - Coal burnt in power stations

Carbon monoxide - Cars, boilers not functioning properly

Carbon dioxide - Burning fuels

Question 25

Give the effects of atmospheric pollution

Answer 25

Changes the quality of the air we breathe in and can cause problems to our health.

Affects crop yield, farming and create problems in our ozone layer.

Question 26

Give some impacts that designers have to consider

Answer 26

The extraction of raw materials

The manufacturing processes used

The treatment of workers

Transportation of materials and products

How easy it is to repair the product

The disposal of the product

Question 27

Why are timbers reused

Answer 27

To reduce the amount of trees cut down

Question 28

Give examples of rescuing timbers

Answer 28

Building industry - Beams and structural pieces of timbers may be refused into things like floorboards.

Old railway sleepers often used in landscape gardening

Question 29

Using temporary fixtures such as nuts, bolts and screws means………………..

Answer 29

Products can be easily be dismantled

Question 30

Where is bauxite ore (for aluminium) found

Answer 30

Generally found in tropical forest areas, which are among the most threatened ecosystems

Question 31

What is good about aluminium

Answer 31

It can easily be recycled without damaging the material

Question 32

Polymers are an important material that allows for…….manufacture of complex shapes that would be………or difficult to make in other materials

Answer 32

Mass

Expensive

Question 33

Many plastics are……recycled, ending up in the ground or oceans

Answer 33

Not

Question 34

How can we make polymers more eco friendly

Answer 34

They can be mixed with additives to help them break down more quickly

Or they can be made from biodegradable materials such as corn starch

Question 35

What often happens to polymers at the end of their life

Answer 35

They are burnt, releasing harmful gasses including carbon dioxide

Question 36

What is being done to help the recycling of plastics

Answer 36

Councils now have roadside collections just for plastics and products now include a stamp so plastics can be sorted and recycled with other plastic products made form the same material

Question 37

When mining - give the impacts of the chemicals used

Answer 37

The chemicals can cause her to humans particularly when ingested in large quantities and the locals don’t have medical assistance near by.

When people of the area know the water is contaminated, they can’t use it for drinking, washing or bathing etc.

Question 38

Give some disadvantages of river dredging

Answer 38

Once the raw material has been extracted, it has to be melted down. This requires energy generally in the form of charcoal which is made form trees, causing them to be cut down in the local area - further deforestation