Geography - Unit 3

Question 1

What is ecological balance?

Answer 1

Equilibrium among human societies and their activities and the natural environment. It is broken when the natural environment is transformed or used faster than it can regenerate, exceeding environmental limits.

Question 2

Define environmental degradation.

Answer 2

Total or partial disappearance of the natural environment as a result of human occupation.

Question 3

What is overexploitation?

Answer 3

Removing or using natural resources faster than they can regenerate.

Question 4

What is pollution?

Answer 4

Discharging or emitting waste into the environment as a result of human activity.

Question 5

What is sustainable development?

Answer 5

Model based on generating economic growth while maintaining social equality and adequate environmental protection.

Question 6

Who advocates for sustainable development?

Answer 6

The United Nations promotes sustainable development through Earth Summits and Climate Change Conferences.

Question 7

What is a natural resource?

Answer 7

Any natural element from which we can obtain some benefit.

Question 8

Define non-renewable resources.

Answer 8

Natural resources with a slow rate of replenishment; their overuse means they will run out.

Question 9

What are renewable resources?

Answer 9

Natural resources that replenish themselves naturally but can become non-renewable if overexploited.

Question 10

Fill in the blank: Water management is a fundamental resource for human life and their activities, with main environmental problems including _______.

Answer 10

Higher consumption, water pollution, uneven distribution of drinking water.

Question 11

Fill in the blank: Higher consumption due to the rising
population and the urban concentration,________

Answer 11

the intensive irrigation, the industrial uses and services

Question 12

Fill in the blank: Uneven distribution of potable water, making it necessary to build _______.

Answer 12

infrastructures for water storage and
transport.

Question 13

Fill in the blank: Water pollution caused by _______.

Answer 13

industry, agriculture and human activities (example: Microplastics).

Question 14

What are the three types of waste?

Answer 14

• Solid waste
• Liquid waste
• Gaseous waste

Question 15

What are leachates?

Answer 15

Solid waste that is dissolved in water or other liquids and contaminates aquifers and their groundwater.

Question 16

What is eutrophication?

Answer 16

Abundance of nutrients in surface water that causes excessive algae growth, decreasing oxygen and killing fish and plants.

Question 17

What are the main causes of air pollution?

Answer 17

• Use of fossil fuels in industry
• Transport
• Domestic heating

Question 18

What is acid rain?

Answer 18

Precipitation that occurs when pollutants like nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide acidify water.

Question 19

What are fossil fuels?

Answer 19

Non-renewable energy sources such as gas, coal, and oil formed from plant and animal remains millions of years ago.

Question 20

What is the greenhouse effect?

Answer 20

Natural process where gases like CO2 retain heat from the sun, maintaining suitable temperatures on the planet.

Question 21

Fill in the blank: Global warming is the steady rise in temperature since the Industrial Revolution due to _______.

Answer 21

Human economic activity and large-scale burning of fossil fuels.

Question 22

What is biodiversity?

Answer 22

All of the living beings on our planet and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Question 23

List some environmental problems caused by human activities.

Answer 23

• Finite amount of natural resources
• Upsetting the ecological balance
• Effects on economy, environment, and society

Question 24

What are the three main effects of humans upsetting the ecological balance?

Answer 24

• Effects on economy (lack of supplies)
• Effects on th environment (natural hazards)
• Effects on society (wars for resources)

Question 25

What is waste?

Answer 25

Useless materials that become trash after they have been used or performed their function. There are three types: solid, liquid and gaseous waste.

Question 26

What is liquid waste?

Answer 26

Liquid waste: water is contaminated by liquid waste from industry, domestic use and irrigation (with dissolved chemicals).

Question 27

What is solid waste?

Answer 27

Solid waste: Products mainly generated in urban industrial areas. Uncontrolled disposal in landfills and dumps can lead to problems

Question 28

What are CFCs?

Answer 28

CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) are chemical substances used in some industrial processes, like aerosols and refrigeration systems, that destroys ozone molecules, as they interact with the ozone layer. Air masses have concentrated the CFCs emissions in the atmosphere over the polar regions, where the atmospheric ozone have reduced more than in other areas.

Question 29

What is the ozone layer? Its importance?

Answer 29

The ozone layer is a level of the stratosphere that naturally filters out the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. The thickness of the ozone layer decreased as a result of the accumulation of CFCs over the poles: hole in the ozone layer.

Question 30

What is smog?

Answer 30

In cities, there are accumulations of pollution in
the lower layers of the atmosphere when the pollutant emissions coincides with stable meteorological conditions (high pressure weather). If there is little wind, pollution cannot be dispersed. This produces smog, causing health problems for citizens. The suspended particulates PM10, and PM2.5 (and other ultra-fines) are the most harmful form of air pollution due to their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs, blood streams and brain, causing health problems including heart attacks, respiratory disease, and premature death.

Question 31

Consequences of acid rain

Answer 31

• Damage to trees, plants and crops.
• Acidification of terrestrial and marine water, affecting the fauna.
• Corrosion of limestone and marble buildings and monuments.

Question 32

Natural climate change variations

Answer 32

The evolution of the climates of the Earth in a cyclical way across the geological history: the cold periods are called ice ages and the warm periods are called interglacial.

Question 33

Loss of biodiversity

Answer 33

• Species extinction
• Deforestation
• Desertification

Question 34

Biodiversity protection

Answer 34

• Protecting endangered species: limiting or prohibiting hunting, fishing, felling trees…
• Protecting their habitat: with protected natural areas (national parks, nature reserves…)

Question 35

Liquid waste problems are:

Answer 35

• Surface and groundwater are contaminated by run-off and dumping: fauna and vegetation die.
• Eutrophication (eutrofización).
• Petrol spills in ocean water: causes oil slicks, that is an environmental catastrophe in the contaminated areas.
• Run-off of amurca: highly polluting substance produced when olives are processed to make olive oil.
• Liquid manures from pigs and other animals, that may lead to eutrophication and contamination of
  water.

Question 36

Solid waste problems

Answer 36

• Landfills and dumps: source of infections and unpleasant odors (due to decomposition gases).
• Degradation of areas: accumulation of waste alters ecosystems and threatens biodiversity.
• Leachates (lixiviados).

Question 37

Non-renewable sources _________

Answer 37

• 88% of energy comes from fossil fuels: petrol, coal and
  gas.
• They are used for agriculture, industry, transport, plastic,
  fertilizers…