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Env Midterm- Lectures 4 and 5 > Lecture 5- Guest Lecture > Flashcards

Lecture 5- Guest Lecture Flashcards

1
Q

What causes air pollution?

A 
•	Agriculture
•	Area sources (wood burning, snow blowing)
o	Commercial 
o	Residential
•	Energy production
•	Industry
•	Transportation
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2
Q

Name some air pollution remedies

A
  • Alternative energy and conservation
  • Planning (like transportation planning)
  • Process changes
  • Recycle
  • Top of stack/end of the tail pipe
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3
Q

Outcomes of air pollution to the environment?

A
  • Ozone/smog
  • Acid rain
  • Upper atmosphere ozone depletion
  • Aesthetic/visibility-regional haze
  • Climate/greenhouse effect
  • Accidental toxic releases
  • Polluted air
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4
Q

Name some outcomes of air pollution to health

A
  • Respiratory symptoms and lung disease
  • Cardiovascular effects including hypertension
  • Central nervous system effects
  • Organ damage
  • Death
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5
Q

Name some clean air programs

A
  • Health-based
  • Engineering/technical controls and economic considerations
  • Stationary and mobile sources
  • Monitoring and modeling activities
  • Federal and state permit programs
  • Economic incentives and emission trading
  • Special topics- acid rain, global warming, catastrophic releases
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6
Q

The air quality programs in the US are primarily _____-based

A

Health- based

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7
Q

History of regulatory programs

A
  • 1940s Truman initiatives
  • Serious air pollution events (in Penn)
  • 1970 Clean Air Act and 1977 Amendments
  • Compliance numbers on what people will breathe
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8
Q

1970 Clean Air Act and 1977 Amendments included

A
  • National Ambient Air Quality Standards
  • Criteria documents
  • State Implementation Plans/ Nonattainment
  • New Source Review (NSR)- Performance Standards
  • Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD)
  • Emission limitation
  • Air toxics program
  • Visibility
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9
Q

What are the National Ambient Air Quality Standards based on?

A

Health (health studies)

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10
Q

Name some 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments

A
  • “Agency forcing” legislation
  • New attainment deadlines and operating permits
  • Comprehensive air toxics program
  • Emergency releases program
  • Acid/SO2 allowances/NOx reduction
  • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) phase out
  • Mobile source control- Inspection and Maintenance
  • Enforcement clout
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11
Q

Name the post 1990 Amendments

A
  • Emission trading
  • Fine and ultrafine particulates
  • Mercury cap
  • Climate change and environmental sustainability
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12
Q

Explain emission trading

A
  • An allowance program: actually inventoried all the sources of SO2, so it had a very good handle on what in the US was being emitted
  • Has taken on a more prominent role in air pollution control
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13
Q

Explain mercury cap

A
  • Very controversial until it got passed but very critical
  • There were lots of other advantages in terms of other pollution being lowered because you had to lower other things to lower mercury
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14
Q

What does the health based system consist of?

A
  • National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

* Title 3 “Hazardous air pollutants”

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15
Q

What pollutants do the NAAQS deal with?

A

• Individual pollutants (Carbon monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NOx),ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM) and PM2.5, and sulfur dioxide (SO2)).

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16
Q

What is Title 3 (Hazardous air pollutants)?

A
  • A list of toxic air pollutants regulated by industry categories
  • Max achievable control tech (MACT) req’d with additional consideration of “residual risk” and “susceptible populations”
  • National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS)
  • Accidental release and hazardous air pollutants
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17
Q

What is MACT?

A
  • Max Achievable Control Technology

* If there exists technology that reduces that hazard (for said pollutant) you have to use that technology

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18
Q

Name some hell Ozone can cause

A
  • Wheezing, coughing, pain when taking a deep breathe, and difficulties during exercise or outdoor activities
  • Coughing and sore or scratchy throat
  • Inflammation and damage to the airways
  • Aggravate lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
  • Increase the frequency of asthma attacks
  • Make the lungs more susceptible to infection
  • Continue to damage the lungs even when the symptoms have disappeared
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19
Q

NO2

A
  • Gauderman- Clearly indicted as an inducer of respiratory problems
  • A precursor to ozone
20
Q

Name some hell NO2 can cause

A
  • Airway inflammation in healthy people and increased respiratory symptoms in people with asthma
  • Particular concern for susceptible individuals, including people with asthma asthmatics, children, and the elderly
  • Precursor of ozone and consequent health effects
  • Nitrate particles and acid aerosols cause respiratory problems- small particles can cause or worsen respiratory disease, such as emphysema and bronchitis, and can aggravate existing heart disease, leading to increased hospital admissions and premature death
21
Q

Name the two types of SO2 that are problematic

A
  • Gaseous SO2

* Sulfate particles

22
Q

What hell does gaseous SO2 cause?

A
  • Temporary breathing difficulty for people with asthma

* High levels- respiratory illness and aggravate heart disease

23
Q

What hell do sulfate particles cause?

A
  • May accumulate in the lungs
  • Increased respiratory symptoms and disease
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Premature death
24
Q

What hell do lower levels of CO cause?

A

• For those who suffer from heart disease
o Chest pain
o Reduce ability to exercise
• Repeated exposures may contribute to other cardiovascular effects

25
Q

What hell do high levels of CO cause?

A
  • Vision problems
  • Reduced ability to work or learn
  • Reduced manual dexterity
  • Difficulty performing complex tasks
26
Q

What hell do extremely high levels of CO cause?

A

Poisonous and can cause death

27
Q

CO is a precursor of _____ and consequence _____ effects

A

Ozone, health

28
Q

What hell does lead cause?

A
  • Organ damage
  • May lead to osteoporosis and reproductive disorders
  • High blood pressure and heart disease, especially in men- may also lead to anemia
29
Q

What hell do low levels of lead cause?

A

Damage the brain and nerves in fetuses and young children, resulting in learning deficits and lowered IQ

30
Q

What hell does excessive exposure to lead cause?

A

Seizures, mental retardation, behavioral disorders, memory problems, and mood changes

31
Q

What hell do particles cause?

A
  • Increased respiratory symptoms (irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing)
  • Decreased lung function
  • Aggravated asthma
  • Development of chronic bronchitis
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • Nonfatal heart attacks
  • Premature death in people with heart or lung disease
32
Q

What hell does PM 2.5 cause?

A
  • Aggravates asthma and emphysema
  • Decreased lung development
  • May carry pollutants and gases deep into the respiratory system
  • Cardiovascular disease and death in postmenopausal women
  • Lung development
33
Q

The difference between primary and secondary standards in the NAAQS

A
  • Primary- for health

* Secondary- overall well-being (plants, ecological effects)

34
Q

Why environmental characterization monitoring?

A
  • It determines the highest concentration in an area
  • Possibly the most representative concentration in an area
  • Finds the impact on air quality from significant sources or source category
  • Background concentration
35
Q

Why do we use mathematical models?

A
  • We use mathematical models to help us and tell us relationships of all those numbers we monitored for what those naaqs and ambient air should be
  • When industry applies for a permit and thus the right to pollute, what is the state going to allow them to pollute?
36
Q

Point of Emission data?

A
  • Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEM)
  • Emission factors estimation tools
  • Temperature of released gases
37
Q

How important is meteorology?

A

SUPER FUCKING IMPORTANT

38
Q

How is meteorology helpful?

A
  • Wind speed and atmospheric stability

* Ambient temperature and humidity

39
Q

What are some important factors when linking health with air data and models?

A
  • Environment characterization and meteorology
  • Available monitoring data
  • Constituent/pollutant traits
  • Epidemiological study design
  • Potential co-factors; socioeconomic status, education
  • Exposure; pathways, dose, multi-pollutant effects
  • Time; acute illness vs. chronic disease, latency
40
Q

Name some strategies to evaluate risks and health effects

A

• Epidemiology (Gauderman et al. 2004; Miller et al)
• Toxicity studies (animal models)
• Clinical studies and physiological testing
• “Natural experiment” (Friedman et al. 2001)
• Exposure assessment
o Biomarkers
o Geographic information system (GIS)

41
Q

What kinds of actions would be mitigation?

A
  • Limiting carbon emissions, and many other gases (that are even more of an indictment on air quality than CO2)
  • Actually lowering the emissions that are heating up the globe
42
Q

Remedies for climate change

A
  • Mitigation

* Adaptation

43
Q

Describe mitigation

A 
•	Mitigation, reduce greenhouse gases
o	NSPS Emissions control
o	Carbon tax
o	Cap and trade
o	Car and light truck emission standards
44
Q

Define adaptation as according to the IPCC

A

• “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities” (IPCC)

45
Q

Describe adaptation

A 
•	Adaptation
o	Energy efficiency- weatherization measures
o	Conservation and “Green” initiatives
o	“Resilient buildings”
o	Public health initiatives
46
Q

How is climate change going to fuck everything up?

A
  • Allergies- increased pollen, indoor air quality
  • Vector borne diseases
  • Weather extremes- structural damages, more sewage overflows- food production and waterborne disease
  • Extreme heat, especially in cities
  • Air and water pollution
  • Water supply strain
  • Extreme weather and moisture incursion
  • Changes in “natural” biota- beyond more “pests” requiring changes in economy/ way of life

Env Midterm- Lectures 4 and 5 (2 decks)

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