Human Impact on the Environment II: Chapters 16, 17

Water Pollution: chapter 16

Water Pollutants

Pathogens:

Oxygen-demanding wastes:

Water-soluble inorganic chemicals:

Sediment:

Plant nutrients:

Thermal pollution:

Sources of Pollution

Point Source:

Nonpoint Source:

Drinking Water In MDCs and LDCs

Drinking Water:

Stream vs. Lake Pollution

Stream Pollution:

Lake Pollution:

Eutrophication:

Clean Water Act

Sample questions:

What is WHO?

Compare the problems of stream and lake pollution.

What are DO and BOD, and how do they measure the health of natural waters?

What is thermal pollution, and why is it a problem?

How do plant nutrients cause water pollution?

Why is sediment considered a pollutant? Where does this sediment come from?

What river caught fire in 1969? Why?

What was the goal of the Clean Water Act? Was it met? Explain.

Which is a more cost-effective approach to water pollution control, clean-up or prevention?

Air Pollution: chapter 17

The Atmosphere

Troposphere:

Stratosphere:

Outdoor Air Pollution: Pollutants, smog, acid deposition

Photochemical Smog:

Industrial Smog:

Thermal Inversion

Acid Deposition

Solutions- the Clean Air Acts

Seven "Criteria" Pollutants

Prevention!

Sample questions:

Why should air pollutants be regulated at the Federal rather than State level?

How does photochemical smog form? In what kind of climate are you more likely to find photochemical smog?

Name a major chemical constituent of photochemical smog.

What is a "thermal inversion", and how can it make air pollution conditions worse?

What are NAAQS, and what is meant by a "criteria pollutant"? (Hint: Clean Air Act)

What kind of air pollutant causes acid rain?

What does "industrial smog" consist of? How is it different than photochemical smog?

Where do VOCs in car exhaust come from?

How do conditions in the troposphere differ from those in the stratosphere?

Global Warming & Ozone Loss - Separate Issues: also chapter 17

Global Warming

Greenhouse Effect:

Scientific Consensus:

Increase of Greenhouse Gases Caused mostly by human activities

Predictions

Many Uncertainties

Effects of G.W.

Solutions

"Energy efficiency to the rescue":

What About LDCs ?

Some Data Ignored?

Ozone Loss - In the Stratosphere

In the stratosphere, recall that ozone is a pollutant in the troposphere!

Ozone Layer

Ozone Depletion

Controversy: where does Cl come from?

Both Natural & Human sources

Natural Sources of Cl:

Mount Erebus:

zippy.nmt.edu/Geol/volcanology/abstract/zkf93.html

CHLORINE, FLUORINE, AND SULFUR EMISSIONS FROM MOUNT EREBUS, ANTARCTICA AND ESTIMATED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ANTARCTIC ATMOSPHERE

"The discharge rates of halogens in aerosols and gases emitted from Mount Erebus between December 1986 and January 1991 were estimated by combining element-to-sulfur ratios on filter samples with SO2 output measured by COSPEC. The halogen and sulfur content of the gas vary in a quasi-cyclical pattern possibly because of a heterogeneous distribution of volatiles in the Erebus magmatic system. The emission rates of HF and HCl have increased twofold since 1986 reaching 6 and 13.3 Gg yr-1, respectively, in 1991, making Erebus an important contributor of halogens to the Antarctic atmosphere."

Human Sources of Cl

Enter atmosphere by:

The Ozone "Hole"

Why in Antarctica?:

Consequences

Solutions?

Sample questions:

How do the southern polar vortices make the Antarctic ozone "hole" worse?

What chemical element is mostly responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion?

Where is the "good" ozone and where is the "bad" ozone?

What kind of things can be done to prevent or solve possible global warming?

Name three greenhouse gases.

What greenhouse gas level has correlated positively with global temperature over the past 160,000 years?

Discuss the risks and benefits of doing something now about global warming versus just waiting to see what happens.

What has been the global temperature trend for the past 100 million years?

How does Mount Erebus affect the Antarctic atmosphere?