Final Exam Flashcards
1
Q
Donora, PA
A
In the first 5 days, 20 people died
In 1 month, 50 more people died, 6,000 got sick, and 800 animals died
2
Q
When does inversion occur?
A
When temperature gradient is flipped
3
Q
Inversion
A
Warm air sits on top of cool air
- there is no flow
4
Q
Industrial smog
A
An irritating, grayish mix of soot, sulfur compounds, and water vapor
5
Q
Where does industrial smog occur?
A
In industrialized, cool areas that use coal
- China, India, Korea, eastern European countries
6
Q
Photochemical smog
A
A brownish, irritating haze in warm, sunny areas
7
Q
What causes photochemical smog?
A
When pollutants from vehicle exhaust are acted upon by sunlight
8
Q
Examples of photochemical smog
A
Nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds
9
Q
Where does photochemical smog occur?
A
In cities with huge freeway systems
10
Q
What do long-term temperature inversions allow pollutants to do?
A
build up to dangerous levels
- can cause air pollution
11
Q
Atmospheric brown cloud (ABC)
A
1 - 3 km blanket of pollution over south/central Asia
12
Q
What are ABC’s similar too?
A
North Temperate Zone’s aerosol pollution
13
Q
What are ABC’s made of?
A
black carbon and soot
14
Q
How long to ABC’s last?
A
year round
15
Q
Where do ABC’s come from?
A
burning biomass and fossil fuels (coal, diesel)
16
Q
Impacts of atmospheric brown clouds
A
dimming over large cities
less rainfall
heating of air
decreased reflection of snow and ice
17
Q
Lead
A
toxic, causes brain damage in children (from combustion of leaded fuels and manufacture of batteries)
18
Q
What was added to gasoline to reduce engine knock
A
Lead
19
Q
U.S. air concentrations have dropped by…
A
99% because we went to unleaded gasoline
20
Q
What does lead poisoning cause?
A
Mental retardation, learning disabilities in children, and high blood pressure in adults
21
Q
The major source of lead
A
leaded gasoline
22
Q
What dramatically reduced lead in the environment?
A
The EPA mandated elimination of leaded gasoline
23
Q
Acid precipitation
A
any precipitation (rain, fog, mist, snow) more acidic than usual
24
Q
Acid deposition
A
acid precipitation plus dry-particle fallout
25
What can acid precipitation leach?
heavy metals from solids as the water percolates through it, which are absorbed by organisms and are highly toxic
26
Limestone (CACO3)
obtained from soil
27
A natural buffer protecting many lakes
limestone
28
Anthropogenic
Environmental pollution and pollutants originating in human activity
29
Blue water
water in liquid form
30
Condensation
the collecting of water molecules in the gaseous state to form the liquid state
31
Rain shadow
the dry region downwind of a mountain range
32
Where do deserts occur on mountains?
The leeward side
33
Infiltration-runoff ratio
the amount of water that soaks into the ground compared with the amount that runs off
34
Gray water
slightly dirtied water from sinks, showers, tubs, and laundry
35
What does the drip irrigation method use?
pipes with holes to drip water at the base of each plant
36
What does the drip irrigation method do?
wastes less water, retards salination, increases yields
37
Why don't farmers switch to drip irrigation?
It's cheaper to use traditional method than switch
38
Why don't farmers switch to drip irrigation?
It's cheaper to use traditional method than switch
39
What do low-cost treadle pumps allow farmers to do?
irrigate fields
40
How does the dreadle work?
like a step exercise machine
41
Zoonotic diseases
spread from animals to humans
| - 61% of 1,415 pathogens are zoonotic
42
Epidemiology
the study of the presence, distribution, and prevention of deiseas in populations
43
Epidemiologic transition
decreasing death rates that accompany development
44
Cultural hazards
many factors that cause death or sidability are a matter of choice
45
Biological hazards
Humans have always battled bacteria and viruses (black plague and typhus killed millions)
- vaccinations
46
Physical hazards
natural disasters result from hydrological, meteorological, or geological forces
47
Chemical hazards
Toxicity, exposure is through ingestion, breathing, the skin, direct use, or by accident
48
r-selected species (r-strategists)
have high reproductive potential (r), short-lived, low parental care
49
K-seleced species (K-strategists)
remain close to carrying capacity (K), long life spans, older age at first reproduction, parental care, fewer offspring
50
Neolithic Revolution (12,000 years ago)
-people in the Middle East began to develop animal husbandry and agriculture (abundant food supply)
51
What did the Neolithic Revolution result in?
settlements and specialization of labor
| - technology produced tools, trae, cities, food storage (trade and commerce were born)
52
What did the Neolithic Revolution reduce?
mortality and reliable food production equals population growth
53
What led to the Industrial Revolution?
the birth of modern science and technology in the 17th and 18th centuries
54
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
55
Negatives of the Industrial Revolution
produced pollution and resource exploitation
56
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
57
The Medical Revolution (18th century)
1. Decreases in child and infant mortality
| 2. High birth rates and low mortality rates resulted in exponential population growth
58
What were the decreases in child and infant mortality due to?
1. vaccinations
2. cities and towns treating sewage and drinking water
3. penicillin cured pneumonia and blood poisoning
4. nutritional improvements
59
Green Revolution (industrialized agriculture)
Crops, fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides are all part of industrialized agriculture
60
What caused the Green Revolution?
concerns over producing food for the larger populations
- pesticides, irrigation, and fertilizer increased yields
- countries could feed growing populations
61
Costs of the Green Revolution
1. erosion, soil and water pollution, loss of native plants
2. soil and water being used faster than they can be replaced
3. pesticide resistance
62
The newest revolution
The Environmental Revolution
63
What will the Environmental Revolution come from?
1. efficient technologies, urban and regional planning
2. policy and industrial changes
3. personal decisions to reduce impact on planet
64
Which revolution has the greatest impact on the future quality of human life?
The Environmental Revolution
65
What is the best estimate for human carrying capacity?
7.7 billion
66
When are we expected to exceed this carrying capacity?
2024
67
What is the I=PAT formula?
Environmental Impact = Population x Affluence and Consumption x Level of Technology of the Society
68
What does the I=PAT formula describe?
human factors that contribute to environmental deterioration and resource depletion
69
How can developed nations severely impact the environment?
High A and T, but a small P
70
Ecological (environmental) footprint
estimate of the amount of land and ocean required to provide resources and absorb wastes
71
What can help estimate an environmental footprint?
IPAT formula
72
In the 1970s and 1980s, what did closing old landfills create?
A "solid waste crisis" that turned out to be temporary
73
What have many old landfills been converted into?
parks, golf courses, nature preserves
74
Municipal solid waste (MSW)
total of all materials thrown away from homes and small businesses
75
Examples of msw
trash, refuse, garbage
76
Who collects MSW?
local governments
77
Leaching
chemicals dissolve in and are transported by water
78
Leachate
water with various pollutants
79
What makes up leachate?
organic matter, heavy metals, chemicals
80
Why is leachate dangerous?
it can enter groundwater aquifers
81
Biogas
methane, CO2, hydrogen
82
An effect of biogas being highly flammable
they seep horizontally through soil, entering homes and causing explosions
83
Another problem with biogas
it kills vegetation
84
What can happen to biogas after they're captured
they can be purified and used as fuel
85
What happens to waste as it compacts and decomposes?
settles
86
Primary recycling
the waste is recycled into the same material
87
Secondary recycling
waste is made into different products that may or may not be recyclable
88
Bottle laws
require a deposit on all beverage containers
89
How many states have adopted bottle laws?
11
90
Threshold level
the level below which there are no ill effects
91
What do effects of the threshold depend on?
concentration and duration of exposure
92
Ignitability
substances that catch fire readily (gasoline)
93
Toxicity
substances that are injurious when eaten, inhaled, or touched (chlorine, pesticides, etc)
94
Reactivity
chemically unstable substances
95
Corrosivity
substances that corrode tanks and equipment (acids)
96
Heavy metals
are soluble in water and can interfere with enxyme functioning
97
Orphan sites
some companies or individuals stored wastes on their own property, then went out of business, abandoning the property and wastes
98
When ealry land disposal was not regulated...
deep wells injected wastes into groundwater
99
Deep-well injection
boreholes are drilled thousands of feet below groundwater into porous formations
100
Impoundments can receive wastes indefinitely if:
the bottom is well sealed, and evaporation equals input of wastes
101
Bisphenol A (BPA)
used in plastics
102
Why did the minamata disease occur in Japan?
Mercury bioaccumulated and biomagnified
103
Superfund list
sites where groundwater contamination threatens human health
104
What state has 145 sites on the Superfund list?
Florida
105
What supported the Superfund list?
Federal money
106
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
107
Treadle pumps do...
all of the above
108
What is not an example of gray water?
Water from a toilet
109
What would have most likely prevented the deadly 1948 smog in Donora, PA?
add scrubbers to the ssmokestacks used by the Donora industries
110
What is most associated with an air pollution disaster?
a temperature inversion
111
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
112
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
113
Best represents primary recycling
collecting up newspapers and reusing them to make more newspaper
114
Heavy metals can quickly move through ecosystems because they
are soluble in water as ions and as few other compounds
115
Hard plastic bottles commonly used by hikers often contain the chemical
BPA
116
What involves blue water?
Perlocation of water through soil
