Human Impact on earth - Pollution from gases to plastic

Question 1

What are the three main types of pollution?

Answer 1

Answer: The three main types of pollution are air, water, and land pollution.

Question 2

Question: What are the impacts of noise pollution?

Answer 2

Answer: The impacts of noise pollution include terrestrial and marine disruption, such as anti-warfare sonar, oil rigs, and impact on coral reefs.

Question 3

Question: What are the impacts of light pollution?

Answer 3

Answer: The impacts of light pollution include:
Disruptions in birds’ circadian rhythms, Attraction of moths to street lights
Possible benefit to bats

Question 4

Question: What are the impacts of plastic pollution?

Answer 4

Answer: The impacts of plastic pollution include:
Microplastics - can be digested and cause organ puncture
Macroplastics - can cause entanglement e.g trawls and shipwrecks

Question 5

What are bioplastics, and what are their benefits and drawbacks?

Answer 5

Bioplastics are plastics that are either biodegradable or made from plant-based materials.
Cons - need to be composted at high temperatures over several weeks in an industrial composter. This does not guarantee that a product will break down with food waste.

Question 6

Question: What are the pros and cons of plastic bags?

Answer 6

Answer:
pros - uses fewer resources and results in fewer carbon emissions, waste, and harmful byproducts than cotton or paper bag production.
cons - recycling plastic bags is a difficult task.

Question 7

Question: What are the pros and cons of paper bags?

Answer 7

Answer: Paper bags are easier to recycle and biodegradable, but they lack durability.

Question 8

Question: What are the and cons of bottled water and canned water?

Answer 8

Answer:
Canned water extraction uses an energy/chemically intensive process, bottled water is more difficult to recycle.

Question 9

Question: What are the cons of disposable and reusable cups?

Answer 9

Answer:
Disposable cups have a thin plastic lining to make them waterproof, which need to be incinerated,
reusable cups require more energy and material to make a durable product, offsetting its higher greenhouse gas emissions compared to disposable cups.

Question 10

Question: What are the impacts of wet wipes?

Answer 10

Answer: Wet wipes contain white plastic microfibres and are not degradable. They travel through sewers and end up on river shores.

Question 11

Question: What are garbage islands in oceans?

Answer 11

Answer: Garbage islands in oceans are islands of macropolastics that then bleach chemicals in the ocean and collect in the sea.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is approximately 80,000 tonnes, an island of garbage.

Question 12

What types of greenhouse gases are there?

Answer 12

1.methane
2. nitrous oxide
3. carbon dioxide
4. water vapor

Question 13

Question: What is the Global Warming Potential?

Answer 13

Answer: The Global Warming Potential (GWP) is the ability of a greenhouse gas to trap extra heat in the atmosphere over time due to carbon dioxide (CO2).

It is most often calculated over 100 years and is known as the 100-year GWP.

Question 14

Question: What are the long-term health effects of air pollution?

Answer 14

1. heart disease, lung cancer, respiratory diseases such as emphysema,
2. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects.

Question 15

What are the common pollutant gases?What are their impacts?

Answer 15

1. Carbon dioxide - excessive volumes contribute to ocean acidification
2. Carbon Monoxide - result of incomplete combustion fuel and is very toxic to humans
3. Sulfur dioxide - occurs naturally in crude oil, leads to engine corrosion and smog
4. Benzene - emitted from vehicle exhausts as unburnt fuel and inhalation can severely harm human health

Question 16

What is thermal pollution? And what is it caused by?

Answer 16

Thermal pollution is pollution that warms the water and changes the balance of ecosystems. Causes include nuclear power plants, coal-fired power plants, industrial effluents,

Question 17

What are the sources of agricultural waste? What are their impacts?

Answer 17

Fertilisers and Pesticides,
Leaching of artificial fertiliser and animal waste
Ingested/inhaled by mammals

Question 18

Where do artificial oestradiols come from? What are there causes

Answer 18

They come from pesticides and contraceptive pills
They cause infertility in male fish and feminisation of male fish

Question 19

What are 2 hazards of pharmaceutical residue?

Answer 19

1.Hospital effluents discharged into the sea
2. Inefficient waste water treatment

Question 20

What is a solution of pharmacieutical residue?

Answer 20

Laccase immobilised into 3D cylinders causes removal efficiency of oestradiol