Unit 3 - Topic 6 Flashcards
1
Q
N.I.M.B.Y.
A
Not In My Backyard
Summarizes ppls growing awareness of waste production and storage
2
Q
Pollution used to be
A
Local problem
Now global -ll-
3
Q
Human beings produce
A
1000 billion kg of solid waste/yr
4
Q
Acid precipitation results from
A
Pollutants entering atmosphere
Travelling great distances
Creating environmental problems when falling to ground
5
Q
Forest fires and volcanic eruptions
A
Introduced majority of pollutants into atmosphere
Still tru for Southern Hemisphere
6
Q
Human activities
A
Biggest source of airborne pollutants in northern hemisphere
7
Q
Most common pollutant particles
A
Carbon, surfer, nitrogen oxides
Soot from combustion of fossil fuels
Dust from wind erosion accelerated by agriculture
Heavy metals
8
Q
Heavy metals
A
Lead
Nickel
Copper
9
Q
Heavy metals result from
A
Industry or combustion processes
10
Q
1970s
A
Concentration of airborne lead in northern hemisphere about 1000x higher than normal
11
Q
Wind patterns in northern hemisphere result in
A
Airborne particles and gas pollutants concentrating at higher latitudes and eventually washing out by rain and snow
12
Q
Inuit ppl on Broughton Island in high Arctic
A
Higher concentrations of PCBs in blood than any other pop
13
Q
PCBs
A
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Highly toxic organic chemicals
Result form industrial fires
Bioaccumulate in food chain
14
Q
Air pollution from industrialized regions in Europe and America travel to Arctic by
A
Circumpolar winds
15
Q
Arctic/smog
A
High levels accumulate
16
Q
Average transit from Russia to Canada
A
3 days
17
Q
CFCs
A
Chlorofluorocarbons
Human made pollutant
Cheap, not-toxic,stable
18
Q
CFCs used as
A
Agent in forming Styrofoam
Propellants in aerosol cans
Coolants in air conditioners and refrigerators
19
Q
1985
A
Discovery of hole in ozone layer over Antarctic
20
Q
Hole over Arctic result of
A
Ultraviolet breakdown of CFCs
21
Q
Ozone at Earths surface
A
Irritating toxin
Biological organisms receive damage to brain cells
22
Q
Ozone location
A
Stratosphere
23
Q
Ozone in stratosphere benefit cuz
A
Prevents uv radiation from reaching earths surface
24
Q
What happens in stratosphere
A
Ur lights reacts w/ CFC molecules producing chloride ions
Chloride ions act as catalyst for breakdown of ozone gas to normal oxygen gas
25
Ozone equation
O^3(g)
26
1997/ozone hole
Bigger than area of continental U.S.
ozone levels over Antarctic 40% lower
10% all stratospheric ozone worldwide destroyed
27
81-country agreement
Stop production and use of CFCs
28
Problem with CFCs
Stability
| Persist in atmosphere for many yrs
29
Targeting point sources
Controls greatly reduced amount of pollutants entering surface waters
30
Surface water pollution due to
Everyday activities
Washing laundry
Watering lawns
31
Waste from everyday activities is
Channeled through storm sewers/surface runoff
| Channeled through sanitary sewers/sewage
32
Law requires/nitrates and phosphates
They be removed from household detergents and other cleaning agents before water returned to watercourse
33
Sewage treated to
Reduce amount of organic waste and destroy disease-causing bacteria and viruses
34
Method of choice for destroying bacteria and viruses
Chlorinating water
| Using high-intensity uv light
35
Runoff includes
Fertilizers
Pesticides
Oils
Chemicals
36
Chlorinating water risk
May result in formation of cancer-causing agents
37
Primary treatment
Physically separates large solids and suspended sediments
38
Secondary treatment
Removes much organic compounds by bacterial decomposition
Resulting sludge removed
Remaining liquid effluent treated by chlorinating/ur light exposure to kill any disease organisms that survived
39
Tertiary treatment
Percolation through soil into ground water and passage through trickling water bed evaporator and/or lagoon or marsh removes nitrates and phosphates remaining
40
Percent of ppl. in dif countries served by waste water treatment plants
57%/Canada
74%/Americans
86.5%/Germans
99%/Swedes
41
Water hyacinth plant
Removes pollutants from water
| Can be used at waste water treatment facilities to clean water before flows back into streams and aquifers
42
Surface waters
Oceans
Lakes
Rivers
Glaciers
43
Canadian ppl relying on ground water for domestic water supplies
26% or 8 million
44
Ground water
Water that filters down through soil and fills spaces between particles of rock and soil, and the cracks and fractured in underlying rock/or spaces in the ground
45
Ground water tends to flow towards
Lakes
Rivers
Sea
46
Rate ground water moves depends on
Permeability of rock and soil formations
47
Typical ground water rate
15 m/yr
| Sometimes couple cm a century
48
Aquifers
Underwater reserves of water
49
Common feature of aquifers
Water naturally filtered as moving through and usually free of bacterial contamination
50
Aquifer con
Contaminants dissolve in water
| Can become concentrated in aquifers
51
Problems w/ contamination multiplying cause of
Pesticides -
l -> Toxic
Herbicides -
Solvents in industry and agriculture
52
Ground water contamination difficult cuz
Difficult if not impossible to clean up
| Best option to avoid producing contaminants in first place
53
“Green”
Used to indicate product is biodegradable
54
Biodegradable
Able to broken down by bacteria, fungi, and other organisms into carbon dioxide and water
55
Problem w/ green label
Says active ingredients biodegradable but not others which may not be
56
Biodegradability time problem
Compound may be biodegradable but not under all conditions or in reasonable period of time
57
Cultural anthropologists/newspapers
Found some after 20 yrs that are still readable
58
Landfills problem
Retards decay
| Kept dry which causes lack of proper mix of water, oxygen and soil microbes preventing decomposition from occurring
59
Why retarding decay is seen as bad
Production of gases resulting from decay sometimes seen as problem by public
60
Bacteria and other microbes/oil/synthetic rubber tire
May decompose oil but in tire may never decompose
Cuz organisms normally responsible for decomposition cannot produce chemical reactions or high temps. necessary to break down tire
61
Oil and plastic
Obtain almost exactly same atoms
| Molecular structure differs so different rates of decomposition
62
Cotton fabric biodegradability
1-5 months
63
Pare biodegradability
2-5 months
64
Orange peels biodegradability
6 months
65
Wool fabric biodegradability
1-5 yrs
66
Cigarette butts biodegradability
1-12 yrs
67
Mil cartons biodegradability
5 yrs
68
Plastic shopping bags biodegradability
10-20 yrs
69
Leather biodegradability
25-40 yrs
70
Nylon fabric biodegradability
30-40 yrs
71
Tin cans biodegradability
50-100 yrs
72
Aluminum cans biodegradability
80-100 yrs
73
Plastic 6-pack holder rings
450+ yrs
74
Dr. Roger Saint-Fort
Kitchen wastes worse than plastic cuz they decompose and create harmful gases and leachate unlike plastic not biodegrading
Leachate more serious than plastic to him
Large scale city effort
Sustainable effort to minimize waste
Calgary dude
75
Degrade
Latin word gradus
76
Gradus
Step
77
De in degrade
Used to indicate removal or separation
78
Hazardous
Containing substances that are toxic, corrosive, flammable, or explosive
79
average Canadian household amount of hazardous waste
12-40 L
80
Hazardous products required to indicate
Hazardous nature w/ clear highly visible sign
81
DANGER, POISON
Indicate substance highly hazardous
82
WARNING, CAUTION
Indicate moderate or slight toxicity
83
All hazardous substances must have
appropriate WHMIS symbols clearly displayed
84
Kitchen area hazardous substances
Sink, drain, oven, floor wax/cleaners
| Silver, furniture polish
85
Bathroom area hazardous substances
```
Tub and tile cleaners
Disinfectant sprays
Nail polish and removers
Prescription medicines
Hair dyes and cosmetics
Toilet cleaner
```
86
Garage/storeroom hazardous substances
```
Paints, thinners, glues
Lawn and garden herbicides
Ant traps or powders
Degreasers
Antifreeze and gasoline
Moro oil and brake fluid
```
87
Hazardous substances common
Cleaning purposes
| Solvents
88
Solvent
Any substance that can be used to dissolve another substance
89
100% solvent
Paint thinners
Spot removers
Turpentine
Nail polish remover
90
Those donating some solvents
Furniture oils
Glues
Paints
Shoe polish
91
Hazardous substances classifies as organic cuz
Contain hydrocarbon compounds
92
All organic substances
Hazardous
93
Almost all organic substances poisonous if
Swallowed or inhaled in large enough amount
| Cause rashes after repeated exposure
94
High concentrations most solvents
```
Result in:
Dizziness
Nausea
Fatigue
Loss of co-ordination
```
95
Long term exposer to may solvents result in
Brain damage
96
Garbage
Any material which we no longer have use
97
Pesticides and cleaning agents
No longer considered garbage but hazardous wastes
98
Four principles part of environmental movement
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Recover
99
Reduce first cuz
Most potential to change things
| If goods not manufactured, not present to be discarded
100
Reducing pros
Saving materials and energy
| Lower costs
101
Reuse
One person trash is others untapped resources
102
Paper wastes
25%/Quarter of mass municipal garbage
| Almost all can be recycled
103
Glass and metals
8% of municipal wastes
104
Plastics
6% municipal wastes
105
Usually biodegradable
Yard wastes/20%
| Food wastes/9 %
106
Old tires
Don’t decay
Almost indestructible
High temps needed to break them down may result in toxic emissions
Dumping in landfills traditional solution
107
Average Canadian waste generated/day
2 kg unwanted materials
108
1 kg of trash takes up
0.004 m^3
109
Recycling cons
```
Incurs costs for:
Transporting
Handling
Sorting
Cleaning
Storing
```
110
Recycling pros
```
Production of paper:
Requires 58% less water
Generator 74% less air pollution than when made from trees
Saves energy
Conserves resources
```
111
Edmonton’s waste management facility
Enables city to divert 70% residential wastes away from landfill
One of largest of kind in North America
Separates rectangle materials from compostable ones
112
Recyclable materials go to
Material recovery facility where sorted mechanically and manually
113
Glass and plastic separation
```
Glass sorted by colour:
Amber
Green
Colourless
Plastic by type
```
114
Typical landfill associations
Increased:
Noise
Traffic
Mess
115
Sanity landfill
Short-term solution
| Landfill incorporating waterproof liner filled w/ cemented garbage covered w/ Earth
116
Sanitary landfill covered to avoid
Wind blown litter
| Attracting scavengers
117
Modern sanitary landfills incorporate
Clay liner
| And maybe plastic liner
118
Liners prevent
Fluids from filtering down to ground water supplies
119
Leachate
Liquid resulting as wastes decompose and rain water filters down through landfill
120
Sanitary landfills/leachate
Sent to waste-water treatment centres
121
Anaerobic conditions created by burying organic waste result in
Production of methane and carbon dioxide
| Methane filters up to surface causing safety problems due to risk of explosion
122
Methane/many landfills
Piped to surface and burned or “flared off” in controlled manner
123
Edmonton’s waste management facility uses methane
To produce electricity for residential use
124
Disposable diapers
Account for almost 2% total volume of all landfills
Mostly synthetic materials
Not rly biodegradable at all
125
Diaper problems
Synthetic non biodegradable
Cloth cotton needs pesticides and chemical fertilizers to grow and washing requires large amounts of energy, disinfectants, detergents, water
126
Secure landfills for
Hazardous and toxic wastes
127
Secure landfill
Specialized Landfill that safely disposes of hazardous and toxic wastes
128
Secure landfill additions
Layer of gravel/Topsoil cover
Grid of perforated drain pipes to collect any seepage
Final plastic liner backed by soft padding
Sand cushioning plastic liner from drums of waste
Thick layers and walls of soil separating drums if sewage occurs
129
When secure landfills full
Capped by clay, pIastic, soil
130
Wells drilled outside
Secure landfills
| To monitor any possible leakage from site
131
Plants/pollutants
Tend to take in through roots and concentrate and store or many cases change them to less noxious forms
132
Bioremediation plants
Mustard
Fescue grass
Poplar tree
133
Mustard and fescue grass
Used to remove selenium metals from contaminated soils left by irrigation
134
Bioremediation
Method of using living organisms to break down complex toxic substances into simpler non-toxic ones
135
Bioremediation pros
Cheap
| Effective
136
Bacterial species/bioremediation
Can attack and break down some of more persistent and toxic wastes
137
Bacteria used for bioremediation con
Very limited range
Extreme conditions
High temps or pressures
Extremely acidic or anaerobic conditions for some
138
Bioreactors
Tanks containing bacteria in appropriate conditions for bioremediation to occur
