Setting out from home Flashcards
1
Q
Why am I studying environmental science?
A
- to learn about the world from a variety of scientific perspectives
- to learn about the problems we’re facing as a species and what we can do about it
- to become an independent thinker
2
Q
What is environment?
A
It is an interconnected and interdependent system that supports all living things on the planet and is affected by them in return
3
Q
Pollution
A
The process of introduction into the environment of substances or energy that is liable to cause damage to living things, structures, ecosystems
4
Q
Renewable energy
A
Energy that is natural, replenishable and does not cause pollution
5
Q
Define environmental issue
A
- are harmful effects on the biological environment
- range from global to local
- are complex
- have social and political dimensions
- should be viewed from as many sides as possible: scientific, technological, political, social
- every issue may have a number of causes and a number of solutions, all with different consequences globally and locally; this is why the multi-sided view is important
6
Q
IUCN
A
- the International Union for Conservation of Nature
- supports scientific research
- brings together various global and local agencies to develop and implement policy, laws an practice
- each year IUCN produces a Red List of Threatened species
- provides fact sheets for assessed species, describing their conservation status and distribution, main threats to their survival
7
Q
Endemics
A
Species that are found in a particular spot and nowhere else in the world
8
Q
Keeling Curve
A
A graph showing steady increase of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1958 to present day
It is named after Charles Keeling who established the observations in Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii
9
Q
Greenhouse gas (GFG’s)
A
Is a substance in the atmosphere that intercepts and interacts with infrared radiation and promotes warming of the global climate
10
Q
Most potent greenhouse gases
A
CO2, H2O, CH4, N2O
11
Q
Climate
A
A summary of the average weather (temperature, rainfall) for a particular region over a period of time
12
Q
Why was Mauna Loa selected as a site for the measurements of amounts of CO2?
A
- Hawaii are a remote area with little interference from local pollution sources
- the figures were proven to be representative for CO2 concentrations all around the world after similar measurements were taken in other parts of the Globe and compared
13
Q
Biodiversity
A
Generally - a variety of life on Earth; specifically - the sum of species and ecosystems in a particular environment
14
Q
Paleontology
A
The study of past life from fossil records
15
Q
Human effects on land:
A
- introduction of new species (crops or animals)
- agriculture (clearing of forests)
- irrigation channels
- hunting and fishing (resource depletion)
- tourism
- pollution
16
Q
Species
A
A group of organisms with similar characteristics who can produce viable offspring
17
Q
Habitat
A
A physical and biological environment where an organism lives and what it interacts with
18
Q
Causes for loss of biodiversity are:
A
- loss of habitat due to fragmentation, degradation of physical destruction
- introduction of new species to the area
- overexploitation of resources
- pollution and disease
- climate change
19
Q
Taxonomy
A
The science of classification of organisms
20
Q
A hierarchy of classification
A
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
21
Q
How is Latin used in classification?
A
- it is internationally accepted convention for describing living things
- usually the genus and species names are used and italicised and the genus name is also capitalicised
22
Q
Name the Kingdoms of living things
A
Animalia Plantae Fungi Protista or Protoctista Bacteria
23
Q
Evolution
A
Change in a population over many generations resulting from mutation, natural selection, genetic drift
24
Q
What criteria defines the status of species according to IUCN?
A
It is a combination of factors such as rate of decline, population size, distribution, geographical range
25
Mass extinction
An event during which a large proportion of animals and plants become extinct over a short geological time period
26
Food miles
The distance the products travels from a place of production to the place of consumption
27
Food chain
- in nature: plants, herbivores, carnivores
| - human: growth, production, transportation, sale, consumption
28
How does food change contribute to the greenhouse gases emissions?
- production processes in agriculture and fisheries
- synthesis of fertilizers and pesticides
- energy required for cold storage, food processing, packaging
- food waste deposits release CH4 (UK households bin 7 million tonnes of food and drink per year)
29
Life-cycle analysis
Studies environmental impacts of a product from extraction and production stages; to manufacturing and delivery; to the end - is it recycled, reused, disposed of.
30
Developed vs. Developing
Roughly equivalent to rich and poor; is based on Western values
31
Industrialized
Describes economies that are based on industrial manufacture and services as opposed to agriculture and crafts
32
Low income and High income countries
Is a good way to distinguish between countries, but the disadvantage is - it looks on a narrow set of definitions and ignores natural variation within a country
33
Majority vs. Minority world
Poor vs. rich
34
The 3rd World countries
Comes from the Cold war era when the 1st world referred to the West; the 2nd world referred to USSR and China (communist countries); the 3rd world - included everyone else
35
Ecology
The study of relationships between organisms and their environment
36
Emotion
A very powerful weapon for recruiting people to an environmental cause
37
Compound
A molecule consisting of atoms of different elements
38
CFC's
Are substances that contain carbon, fluorine and chlorine atoms; were widely used in refrigeration; are very damaging to the ozone layer and are banned
39
Gaia theory
The view of the planet as a self-regulating complex system. Developed by James Lovelock
40
Geological time periods
Eons, eras, periods; do not have defined boundaries, but are instead are defined based on fossil record, rock formations, major cataclysms and events
41
Deep time
A term used to describe an unimaginably long geological age of the Earth
42
The main Eons and their timespans are
Hadean - 4600 Ma - 3600 Ma ago
Archaean - 3600 Ma - 2500 Ma
Proterozoic - 2500 Ma - 545 Ma
Phanerozoic - 545 Ma to present day
43
Hadean eon is characterised by:
- 4600 Ma - 3600 Ma
- early Earth forms
- very hot conditions
- no ozone layer
- no life
44
Archaean eon is characterised by:
- 3600 Ma - 2500 Ma
- first bacterial life appears
- it is preserved in a rock formation known as chert
- first oceans form; then firs continents; tectonics
- cyanobacteria - green-blue algae
- photosynthesis starts
- but the atmosphere is still mostly CO2 and CH4
- stromatolites are formed by colonies of cyanobacteria
45
Proterozoic eon is characterised by:
- 2500 Ma - 545 Ma
- "time of early life"
- cyanobacteria have increased the amounts of O2 and it is being absorbed by iron- and sulphur-bearing rocks at the surface, resulting in a boundary where the banded iron stops and the red, O2 rich iron starts
- increased levels of O2 lead to the first ice-age (proven by deposits of tillites - jumbles of broken boulders, sand and mud)
- increased amounts of O2 also seem to favor more complex life-forms: protista, fungi, plants, animals appear in oceans
46
Phanerozoic eon is characterised by:
- 545 Ma - to now
- "time of visible life"
- consists of 3 eras: Paleozoic (545 - 250 Ma), Mesozoic (250 - 65 Ma), Cenozoic (65 - now)
47
Paleozoic era
- 545 - 250 Ma
- Cambrian / Ordovician period, marine animals with hard skeletal parts appear
- Silurian / Devonian period, 2nd Ice age, first mass extinction; invasion of land by plants and animals
- Carboniferous / Permian period, 3rd Ice age, 2nd mass extinction; fossil fuel formation process buries carbon = 4th Ice age
48
Mesozoic era
- 250 - 65 Ma
- Triassic period, 3rd, most dramatic extinction, Pangaea forms
- Jurassic / Cretaceous period, 4th mass extinction, dinosaurs appear, Pangaea breaks up
49
Cenozoic era
- 65 Ma - to now
- 5th mass extinction, associated with a meteor impact
- the last ice age begins
- 200,000 years ago - first humans appear
- 11,000 years ago - Holocene period, interglacial, stable climate, rise of the human race, agriculture
- 200 years ago - Anthropocene period, Industrial production, global warming, 6th mass extinction
50
Difference between weather and climate is:
Weather is a local condition experienced at a particular time; climate is the average of conditions over a long period over particular area. Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get
51
Difference between Global warming and the Climate change is:
Climate change refers to the variation in climatic conditions over periods of time (colder or warmer) in this sense, Global warming is a subset of Climate change, referring to the rising average temperature
52
GMST
- global mean surface temperature
- air temperature measured close to the surface by standard instruments over land and sea and averaged over the whole planet
53
What makes the Earth a support life?
- the presence of liquid water
| - the right temperature (thank you Greenhouse gases!)
54
What influences the mean temperature on Earth?
- it's distance from the Sun
| - the quality of planet's atmosphere (greenhouse gases!)
55
Infrared radiation
Part of radiation given off by all bodies, most often it is referred to as heat
56
Greenhouse effect
A complex multifaceted process in which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap IR and cause warming (from planet surface average of -18 C without the GW to +15 C with GW)
57
What makes up the Earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, water vapour, carbon dioxide, trace amounts of methane, nitrous oxide, aerosols
58
Where does methane come from?
- rotting organic matter in landfill sites
- livestock emissions
- wet rice cultivation
59
Where does N2O come from?
- nitrous oxide comes from vehicle emissions
- intensive agricultural processes
- use of fertilisers
60
The biological carbon cycle
- photosynthesis (CO2 + H2O = carbohydrates + O2
- respiration by plants and animals (carbohydrates + O2 = H2O + CO2)
- plants and animals produce waste (leaf litter, excreta) that are decomposed by micro-organisms, converting carbon compounds into organic matter; releasing carbon and incorporating some into the soil
- the situation is similar in oceans with phytoplankton and zooplankton
61
The geochemical carbon cycle
- is a long-term carbon storage
- includes rock formation, sediment deposition in oceans (from skeletons)
- burning fossil fuels returns carbons (via process of respiration, basically) to the biological cycle at a very fast rate; as does the spread of urban areas and deforestation (change of land use)
62
Ozone
- form of O with 3 atoms (O3)
- has a positive effect in stratosphere, giving protection from UV
- is a pollutant in troposhere
63
Aerosols
Tiny particles in the atmosphere mostly from coal burning that cause cooling or warming
64
Greenhouse gases contributions:
CH4, N2O, CFC's, aerosols add 22% and CO2 adds 78% to the greenhouse effect
65
What is water vapour role in Greenhouse effect/
H2O vapour amplifies whatever effect other gases are having
66
Sustainability
The quality of not being harmful to the environment; supporting the ecological balance
67
Sustainable development
Development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
68
Carbon footprint
The annual amount of GHG's emissions that result from activities of an individual/group (or from an event or providing a service), especially their use of energy, transport, consumption of goods and services. It is measured as a mass, in kg or tonnes / year, of CO2 or equivalents. Direct, indirect and embedded emissions must be taken into the account
69
Fossil fuel
A combustible organic material formed Ma ago from dead organisms that were buried in conditions lacking in oxigen
70
Goods and services
- a general term for items purchased by households
- capital goods - items belonging to businesses
- benefits provided by other people or businesses
71
Resources
- generally what Earth can provide that humans consider useful
- natural resources: fossil fuels, mineral deposits, land, water, plants, animals
- human resources: knowledge and labour
72
Climate contrarians
An individual or group who questions or denies the scientific consensus that the main cause of climate change are certain human activities
73
Consensus
The majority of opinion, general agreement
74
Carbon dioxide equivalent
There are 6 main GHG's that contribute to the climate change, each with a different potential; for simplicity, their emitted masses are converted to CO2 equivalent so that the data can be summed in one figure
75
Environmental indicator
A measure of the pressures on / the state of the biological / physical environment. A way of measuring impacts on the environment
76
Ecological footprint
Is an environmental indicator that calculates the area of land/sea that would theoretically be required to provide resources (for a definite population/product) and support it's lifestyle indefinitely (including waste recycling and CO2 absorption) at a given technological level.
- availability of land and sea to support a population
77
Examples of environmental indicators:
- carbon footprint
- ecological footprint
- air and water pollution levels
- loss of landscapes and biodiversity
- depletion of mineral and water resources
- wildlife populations
- recycling rates
78
What makes up the carbon footprint measure?
- CO2 emissions from fossil fuels burning, deforestation and cement making
- CH4 from cattle belching, manure spreading and decomposition, wet rice growing and waste decomposition
- N2O from nitrogen fertilizers, industrial processes
- CH4 is 20 times more potent and N2O is 310 times more potent than CO2
- CH4 and N2O combined contribute 25% of GHG's emissions every year globally
79
Household
A dwelling occupied by an individual or group; a unit that is supplied by services (water, gas) and which may share goods (cars)
80
Production perspective
The consideration of GHG's emissions arising from production of goods and services within the country; a view that producers are the main contributors to emissions no matter where the goods are consumed (you make it - you emit)
81
Consumption perspective
Considers the consumer the main "emitter" of GHG's, as the consumer selects and uses goods and services (you consume it - you emit)
82
Convention
- an agreement, contract
- a rule, method, practice or custom
- general agreement, accepted usage
- a meeting of formal type, usually to discuss concerns
83
How household emissions are broken down?
Emissions are broken down into direct and indirect emissions categories
Direct emissions are driving and heating; indirect - electricity use, car maintenance, manufacture, public transport, flights
The "consumer viewpoint" can be: all home energy use and all travel is their direct emissions; goods and services production - indirect
84
What is the cause of about 1/2 of UK's carbon footprint?
It is the result of GHG emissions embedded in imports of electronic products, clothing, motor vehicles from EU and Asia
85
Values
Relative worth and importance a person assigns to an item or issue. It is personal and cannot be described in terms of "good or bad"
86
Carbon footprint variability...
...arises from location, income, values, within any country and between countries
