Final Exam Flashcards
Donora, PA
In the first 5 days, 20 people died
In 1 month, 50 more people died, 6,000 got sick, and 800 animals died
When does inversion occur?
When temperature gradient is flipped
Inversion
Warm air sits on top of cool air
- there is no flow
Industrial smog
An irritating, grayish mix of soot, sulfur compounds, and water vapor
Where does industrial smog occur?
In industrialized, cool areas that use coal
- China, India, Korea, eastern European countries
Photochemical smog
A brownish, irritating haze in warm, sunny areas
What causes photochemical smog?
When pollutants from vehicle exhaust are acted upon by sunlight
Examples of photochemical smog
Nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds
Where does photochemical smog occur?
In cities with huge freeway systems
What do long-term temperature inversions allow pollutants to do?
build up to dangerous levels
- can cause air pollution
Atmospheric brown cloud (ABC)
1 - 3 km blanket of pollution over south/central Asia
What are ABC’s similar too?
North Temperate Zone’s aerosol pollution
What are ABC’s made of?
black carbon and soot
How long to ABC’s last?
year round
Where do ABC’s come from?
burning biomass and fossil fuels (coal, diesel)
Impacts of atmospheric brown clouds
dimming over large cities
less rainfall
heating of air
decreased reflection of snow and ice
Lead
toxic, causes brain damage in children (from combustion of leaded fuels and manufacture of batteries)
What was added to gasoline to reduce engine knock
Lead
U.S. air concentrations have dropped by…
99% because we went to unleaded gasoline
What does lead poisoning cause?
Mental retardation, learning disabilities in children, and high blood pressure in adults
The major source of lead
leaded gasoline
What dramatically reduced lead in the environment?
The EPA mandated elimination of leaded gasoline
Acid precipitation
any precipitation (rain, fog, mist, snow) more acidic than usual
Acid deposition
acid precipitation plus dry-particle fallout
What can acid precipitation leach?
heavy metals from solids as the water percolates through it, which are absorbed by organisms and are highly toxic
Limestone (CACO3)
obtained from soil
A natural buffer protecting many lakes
limestone
Anthropogenic
Environmental pollution and pollutants originating in human activity
Blue water
water in liquid form
Condensation
the collecting of water molecules in the gaseous state to form the liquid state
Rain shadow
the dry region downwind of a mountain range
Where do deserts occur on mountains?
The leeward side
Infiltration-runoff ratio
the amount of water that soaks into the ground compared with the amount that runs off
Gray water
slightly dirtied water from sinks, showers, tubs, and laundry
What does the drip irrigation method use?
pipes with holes to drip water at the base of each plant
What does the drip irrigation method do?
wastes less water, retards salination, increases yields
Why don’t farmers switch to drip irrigation?
It’s cheaper to use traditional method than switch
Why don’t farmers switch to drip irrigation?
It’s cheaper to use traditional method than switch
What do low-cost treadle pumps allow farmers to do?
irrigate fields
How does the dreadle work?
like a step exercise machine
Zoonotic diseases
spread from animals to humans
- 61% of 1,415 pathogens are zoonotic
Epidemiology
the study of the presence, distribution, and prevention of deiseas in populations
Epidemiologic transition
decreasing death rates that accompany development
Cultural hazards
many factors that cause death or sidability are a matter of choice
Biological hazards
Humans have always battled bacteria and viruses (black plague and typhus killed millions)
- vaccinations
Physical hazards
natural disasters result from hydrological, meteorological, or geological forces
Chemical hazards
Toxicity, exposure is through ingestion, breathing, the skin, direct use, or by accident
r-selected species (r-strategists)
have high reproductive potential (r), short-lived, low parental care
K-seleced species (K-strategists)
remain close to carrying capacity (K), long life spans, older age at first reproduction, parental care, fewer offspring
Neolithic Revolution (12,000 years ago)
-people in the Middle East began to develop animal husbandry and agriculture (abundant food supply)
What did the Neolithic Revolution result in?
settlements and specialization of labor
- technology produced tools, trae, cities, food storage (trade and commerce were born)
What did the Neolithic Revolution reduce?
mortality and reliable food production equals population growth
What led to the Industrial Revolution?
the birth of modern science and technology in the 17th and 18th centuries
Industrial Revolution
- technology energized by fossil fuels
- coal, oil, and natural gas let people do much more work than by human or animal power
- the extra energy let people produce more food
Negatives of the Industrial Revolution
produced pollution and resource exploitation
What led to the Medical Revolution?
- diseases hit infants and children the hardest
- Epidemics killed adults
- humans had high reproductive rates and high mortality rates, resulting in low population growth
- scientists were able to tell that diseases were caused by infectious agents
The Medical Revolution (18th century)
- Decreases in child and infant mortality
2. High birth rates and low mortality rates resulted in exponential population growth
What were the decreases in child and infant mortality due to?
- vaccinations
- cities and towns treating sewage and drinking water
- penicillin cured pneumonia and blood poisoning
- nutritional improvements
Green Revolution (industrialized agriculture)
Crops, fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides are all part of industrialized agriculture
What caused the Green Revolution?
concerns over producing food for the larger populations
- pesticides, irrigation, and fertilizer increased yields
- countries could feed growing populations
Costs of the Green Revolution
- erosion, soil and water pollution, loss of native plants
- soil and water being used faster than they can be replaced
- pesticide resistance
The newest revolution
The Environmental Revolution
What will the Environmental Revolution come from?
- efficient technologies, urban and regional planning
- policy and industrial changes
- personal decisions to reduce impact on planet
Which revolution has the greatest impact on the future quality of human life?
The Environmental Revolution
What is the best estimate for human carrying capacity?
7.7 billion
When are we expected to exceed this carrying capacity?
2024
What is the I=PAT formula?
Environmental Impact = Population x Affluence and Consumption x Level of Technology of the Society
What does the I=PAT formula describe?
human factors that contribute to environmental deterioration and resource depletion
How can developed nations severely impact the environment?
High A and T, but a small P
Ecological (environmental) footprint
estimate of the amount of land and ocean required to provide resources and absorb wastes
What can help estimate an environmental footprint?
IPAT formula
In the 1970s and 1980s, what did closing old landfills create?
A “solid waste crisis” that turned out to be temporary
What have many old landfills been converted into?
parks, golf courses, nature preserves
Municipal solid waste (MSW)
total of all materials thrown away from homes and small businesses
Examples of msw
trash, refuse, garbage
Who collects MSW?
local governments
Leaching
chemicals dissolve in and are transported by water
Leachate
water with various pollutants
What makes up leachate?
organic matter, heavy metals, chemicals
Why is leachate dangerous?
it can enter groundwater aquifers
Biogas
methane, CO2, hydrogen
An effect of biogas being highly flammable
they seep horizontally through soil, entering homes and causing explosions
Another problem with biogas
it kills vegetation
What can happen to biogas after they’re captured
they can be purified and used as fuel
What happens to waste as it compacts and decomposes?
settles
Primary recycling
the waste is recycled into the same material
Secondary recycling
waste is made into different products that may or may not be recyclable
Bottle laws
require a deposit on all beverage containers
How many states have adopted bottle laws?
11
Threshold level
the level below which there are no ill effects
What do effects of the threshold depend on?
concentration and duration of exposure
Ignitability
substances that catch fire readily (gasoline)
Toxicity
substances that are injurious when eaten, inhaled, or touched (chlorine, pesticides, etc)
Reactivity
chemically unstable substances
Corrosivity
substances that corrode tanks and equipment (acids)
Heavy metals
are soluble in water and can interfere with enxyme functioning
Orphan sites
some companies or individuals stored wastes on their own property, then went out of business, abandoning the property and wastes
When ealry land disposal was not regulated…
deep wells injected wastes into groundwater
Deep-well injection
boreholes are drilled thousands of feet below groundwater into porous formations
Impoundments can receive wastes indefinitely if:
the bottom is well sealed, and evaporation equals input of wastes
Bisphenol A (BPA)
used in plastics
Why did the minamata disease occur in Japan?
Mercury bioaccumulated and biomagnified
Superfund list
sites where groundwater contamination threatens human health
What state has 145 sites on the Superfund list?
Florida
What supported the Superfund list?
Federal money
A farmer extending his farm field bulldozes the bank of a creek, greatly disturbing the creek bed and stirring up clay and humus. The higher levels of clay and humus in the water just downstream will most likely result in…
fewer plants, fewer fish, cloudy water
Treadle pumps do…
all of the above
What is not an example of gray water?
Water from a toilet
What would have most likely prevented the deadly 1948 smog in Donora, PA?
add scrubbers to the ssmokestacks used by the Donora industries
What is most associated with an air pollution disaster?
a temperature inversion
The greatest public health concerns about the HSNI bird flu virus, as recently highlighted in the potentially dangerous dual-use experiments, is that it will
spread from person to person
What is a good example of a chemical hazard to public health?
Before the switch to unleaded gas, kids living near highways had high lead exposure
Best represents primary recycling
collecting up newspapers and reusing them to make more newspaper
Heavy metals can quickly move through ecosystems because they
are soluble in water as ions and as few other compounds
Hard plastic bottles commonly used by hikers often contain the chemical
BPA
What involves blue water?
Perlocation of water through soil
