ENVE2501

Question 1

Triple bottom line

Answer 1

environment > society > economy

Question 2

five capitals

Answer 2

natural, human, social, financial, manufacture

Question 3

natural capital

Answer 3

resources, sinks, processes, materials, energy

Question 4

human capital

Answer 4

enables productive work, health, knowledge, skills

Question 5

social capital

Answer 5

institutes which promote and support

Question 6

manufactural capital

Answer 6

material or fixed assets which support productivity

Question 6

financial capital

Answer 6

enables other types of capitals to be owned traded and transformed

Question 6

what are the planetary boundaries?

Answer 6

planetary boundaries are a framework describing the limits to the impact of human activity on Earth’s systems. Within the safe operating state humanity can thrive and develop. Once the boundaries are crossed the environment may not be able to self-regulate.

Question 7

Barriers to achieve sustainability

Answer 7

Political ideology, difference in values, personal agenda, economic impacts, complexity, patience, inequity, greed, denial

Question 8

What are the nine planetary boundaries?

Answer 8

Climate change - CO2 concentration (orange) and radiative forcing (red) -, novel entities (red), stratospheric ozone depletion (green), atmospheric aerosol loading (green), ocean acidification (green), biochemical flows - P (red) and N (red) -, freshwater use (orange), land-system change (orange), biosphere integrity - functional (red) and genetic (red),

Question 9

Which planetary boundaries are past safe operating?

Answer 9

Novel entities, biochemical flows, biosphere integrity, climate change

Question 10

Eutrophication

Answer 10

eutrophication is caused by erosion and run off of fertiliser, discharge of sewage, atmospheric deposition
it results in excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water causing high productivity, high levels of algae, limiting oxygen.
more algae means less oxygen and less sunlight so plants die

Question 11

equation for: ultimate BOD (L0) of the treated sewage before the discharge to the river

Answer 11

y(t) = L0(1-e^-kLt)

Question 11

concentration of lake equation

Answer 11

dM/dt = Pin - Pout –> Clake = Min/ (ks*V + Qout)

Question 12

mass balance to find initial oxygen deficit using saturation DO

Answer 12

Da = DOsat - (QwDOw + QrDOr)/(Qw+Qr)

Question 13

mass balance to find ultimate BOD (La) just downstream from the point of discharge (that is, immediately after mixing and before any other bio-reaction can occur).

Answer 13

La = (QwLw + QrLr)/(Qw+Qr)

Question 14

What are the different types of ecosystem services?

Answer 14

Provisioning foods and services, regulating services, cultural, supporting services

Question 15

what are provisioning foods and services?

Answer 15

products obtained from ecosystem - food, fibre, fuel, fresh water

Question 16

what are regulating services?

Answer 16

benefits from ecosystems - climate, pests, disease, floods

Question 17

what are cultural ecosystem services

Answer 17

non-material benefits from ecosystem - aesthetic, recreation, education, spiritual, tourism

Question 18

what are supporting services

Answer 18

services necessary for production of all other ecosystem services - soil formation, nutrient cycle

Question 19

Valuation of ecosystem services

Answer 19

cost benefit analysis
payments for providing services
compensation for damages
analysis of government regulations
assessment of opportunities

Question 20

issues with valuing ecosystem services

Answer 20

commodification of nature
implies substitutability
methodological difficulties

Question 21

revealed preference method to value ecosystem services

Answer 21

based on market values
what does it cost to buy or sell a good or ecosystem service to society (how much are society willing to pay)

Question 22

cost based method to value ecosystem services

Answer 22

replacement costs
costs to protect or replace ecosystem service
damage cost

Question 23

benefits transfer method to value ecosystem services

Answer 23

transferring values from other studies
benefits: cheap, fast,
issues: inaccurate, values change overtime

Question 24

resilience

Answer 24

the ability of a system to undergo disturbance and retain core structures and functions

Question 25

tipping point

Answer 25

if crossed recovery may not be possible and the system may shift into a new operating state with new restoring factors

Question 26

how to build resilience

Answer 26

maintain diversity and redundancy
manage connectivity
manage slow variables and feedbacks

Question 27

explain the N flow

Answer 27

most nitrogen in air
N fixation from atmosphere into soil and bacteria creating biologically available N
Biologically available N assimilated by plants and transferred through the food chain
N is decomposed into ground as waste or dead living things. can be assimilated back into the food chain
or denitrification can occur sending N back into atmosphere

Question 28

explain P flow

Answer 28

no P in atmosphere
P mainly in lithosphere in rocks from dead organisms
erosion of rock over time can cause P to dissolve in water
P assimilated by plants and eaten by animals - transferred around the food chain
leaves drop, animals poo and die - P decomposes back to soil
P can be reassimilated back to plants
or go to water where it will cycle through organisms until it eventually decomposes into rock