Links between population, health, and the environment

Question 1

Why consider linkages between population and the environment?

Answer 1

health depends on clean air and water, along with safe sources for food, which in turn are dependent on the natural functioning of ecosystems.

Question 2

Do Environmental conditions affect the spread of communicable diseases?

Answer 2

Yes, Environmental conditions affect the spread of communicable disease (1/5 of worldwide deaths)

Question 3

______ of diseases associated with respiratory infections are linked to air pollution

Answer 3

60% of diseases associated with respiratory infections are linked to air pollution

Question 4

What could help avoid 90% of the global burden of disease from diarrheal disease and 50% from chronic respiratory conditions?

Answer 4

Simple Environmental Interventions

Question 5

How do humans DIRECTLY influence the natural environment?

Answer 5

• -loss of plant and animal species through over explotation
• clearing forests can lead to soil erosion, siltation, run off, changes in water cycle, and rerouting of rivers
• groundwater w/drawls can become a problem if water table drops below level of well

Question 6

How do humans IN-DIRECTLY influence the natural environment?

Answer 6

• burning fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
• ships sometimes carry harmful plant and animal species into new areas
• insecticides used to protect harvests reduce insect populations, which are then unable to pollinate wild plants

Question 7

UN projection about the impact of population growth on future environmental conditions (PART ONE)

Answer 7

-the amount of the Earth’s landmass cleared for human use (agricultural and otherwise) will increase from 1/3 to almost 1/2 by the middle of the century

Question 8

What will be the result if the amount of the Earth’s landmass cleared for human use (agricultural and otherwise) will increase from 1/3 to almost 1/2 by the middle of the century

Answer 8

The result will be a dramatic decrease in the earth’s biodiversity– the number of different species of plants and animals on earth

Question 9

UN projection about the impact of population growth on future environmental conditions (PART TWO)

Answer 9

• Water scarcity will afflict an increasingly large part of the world’s population, especially in Asia and Africa
• Air pollution will continue to increase around the globe with a dramatic impact on air quality and change (ALL OF THESE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS WILL HAVE A FEEDBAQ EFFECT ON HUMAN HEALTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT)

Question 10

What may be a bigger issue than population growth?

Answer 10

CONSUMPTION

Question 11

A demographic tool for assessing the impact of human population on the environment

Answer 11

Environmental Impact Equation

Question 12

Population x Affluence x Technology

Answer 12

Population x Affluence x Technology

Question 13

Impact

Answer 13

represents human impact on the environmental degradation of a certain kind

Question 14

Population

Answer 14

refers to the size the population

Question 15

Affluence

Answer 15

refers to the size of the population

Question 16

Technology

Answer 16

refers to the techniques applied to the production of goods that determine the efficiency which resources are used

Question 17

What Environmental degradation is happening in the developing world?

Answer 17

• slash and burn agriculture
• pasturing
• using forest products as fuel, fodder, building materials
• potentially living in ecologically fragile zones

Question 18

Resource exploitation in developing countries is largely seen as deforestation in developing countries, examples?

Answer 18

• deforestation associated w/ expansion of cash crops by large foreign companies for export
• directly displaces forests and reduces the availability of arable land for subsistence farmers

Question 19

What does deforestation in developing countries cause (results)?

Answer 19

Can put farmers into fragile lands or into cities

Question 20

In DEVELOPED countries have a higher per capita consumption of petroleum, cement, metals, wood, and all other commodities, these commodities?

Answer 20

• deplete world resources
• generate waste
• emit pollutants
• cause dangerous accidents

Question 21

Where are cars the worst?

Answer 21

Worse in Developed Countires

Increase in Motor Vehicles, 1960 to 2020

Question 22

Where is trash the worst?

Answer 22

Worse in developed countries

• every American produced an average of 2.7 lbs per day in 1960
• by 2000, it was 4.5 lbs per day

Question 23

What is the majority of the trash Americans produce?

Answer 23

• burned (emitting pollutants)

- deposited in landfills (using land and introducing toxic substances to groundwater and soil)

Question 24

Persistent Organic Pollutants

Answer 24

-POPs persist in envt, contaminate air, water and soil, and accumulate in the food chain

Question 25

What is DDT? (POP)

Answer 25

DDT is a pesticide used for disease control and in agriculture

Question 26

What is PCBs? (POP)

Answer 26

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) found in industrial chemicals

Question 27

How are people exposed to POPs?

Answer 27

• crop sprayers direct exposure
• soil pollution
• “grasshopper effect” (travel through cycle of evaporation and precipitation)

Question 28

How are pesticides used?

Answer 28

85% used for agriculture
10% public health mosquito-control
5% for specific sites like transportation areas

Question 29

Where do PCBs build up in the body?

Answer 29

PCBs build up build up and are stored in fat

making fish consumption the greatest risk from PCBs

Question 30

What’s the big deal about CO2?

Answer 30

-greenhouse effect (atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have increased by 30% since late 1800s