Introduction to Pollution Flashcards
What is environmental pollution a function of?
Population, affluence, and technology.
How does affluence impact pollution?
It increases consumption of unsustainable resources.
What are examples of anthropogenic pollution?
Landfills from municipalities, nuclear power plants generating plutonium, natural gas wells from hydraulic fracturing processes, thinning of the ozone layer, acidification of waters preventing freshwater fish migration
What are concepts used in the discussion of sustainability?
Ecological footprint, tragedy of the commons, and shifting baselines, and triple bottom line, and systems thinking, and circular economies, externalities and the precautionary principle.
What are shifting baselines syndrome?
Gradual changes in accepted norms for condition of the natural environment, due to lack of past information of experience of past conditions
What is the triple bottom line?
That companies should focus as much on social and environmental concerns as they do on profits.
What is systems thinking?
This requires an understanding of an entire system and their interconnectedness, so to understand unintended consequences.
What are examples of environmental disasters in the US as a result of pollution?
Effects of DDT in 1962, 1962 Cuyahoga River industrial waste pollution catching fire,
What came as a result?
The 1970 US Environmental Protection Agency.
What acts followed from this?
Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act…
What was the goal of these?
To set up pollution control programs
What is the purpose of green chemistry laid out by the EPA?
Reduce waste, reduce resource consumption, reduce energy consumption…
What are the common primary pollutants?
CO, Nox, SO2, and VOC’s
What are the common secondary pollutants?
O3, PM2.5/PM10, SO4, and NO3.
How have NO2 emissions changed over time in the UK?
1% decrease since 2021, that being 15.6ug/m3 in 2022 (gov.uk, 2023)