announcements – nov 13 nov. 15 (wednesday) - exam 3 nov. 17 (friday) - no class

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Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

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Page 1: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Announcements – Nov 13

Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3

Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Page 2: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

3rd exam Wed, Nov 15th

• Bring: #2 pencilPhoto IDStudent ID#NetID (usually 1st part of e-mail)

• Arrive early• Sit every other seat.• Neighbors should have different

exams (colored booklets)

Page 3: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Test Format

• 50 questions, multiple choice & T/F

• 2-3 extra credit questions

• 50 minutes

Page 4: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Test Material

• Any thing from lecture or readings is fair game

• “Points to know”

• Mostly fact-based questions, some concept application

Page 5: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Chapters from Book: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Assigned Reading

Page 6: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Air: Climate and PollutionChapter 9

Page 7: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Outline:• Atmosphere and Climate• Climate Change

– El Nino– Human Causes

• Climate and Pollution– Kinds of Pollution– Sources– Transport

• Effects of Air Pollution• Air Pollution Control

Page 8: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE

• Weather - A description of short-term physical conditions of the atmosphere.

• Climate - A description of the long-term weather pattern in a particular area.– Weather and climate are primary determinants of

biomes and ecosystem distribution.

Page 9: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class
Page 10: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Troposphere• Troposphere

– Ranges in depth from 18 km over the equator to 5 km over the poles.

– Air circulates in convection currents.– Air temperature drops rapidly with increasing altitude.– Contains 75% of total air mass.

Page 11: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

• Stratosphere– Extends from troposphere to about 50 km.– Similar composition to Troposphere, but much more

dilute.– Temperature increases with altitude.– Fraction of water vapor is 1000x less and ozone is

1000x more than in the troposphere.– Relatively calm

Page 12: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

• Mesosphere

– Middle Layer.

• Minimum temperature is about - 80o C.

• Thermosphere

– Ionized gases and high temperatures.

–Ionosphere - Lower Thermosphere

»Aurora borealis (northern lights)

Page 13: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Energy and the Greenhouse Effect

• Solar Radiation– Solar energy not evenly distributed over the globe.– Of solar energy reaching outer atmosphere:

• 25% reflected

• 25% absorbed

• 50% reaches earth’s surface

Page 14: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Solar Radiation• Visible light passes through atmosphere

undiminished.• Ultraviolet light is absorbed by ozone in the

stratosphere.• Infrared radiation is absorbed by carbon dioxide

and water in the troposphere.

Greenhouse Effect»Increasing atmospheric CO2 due to

human activities appears to be causing global warming.

Page 15: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

El Nino Southern Oscillation

• Large pool of warm surface water in Pacific Ocean moves back and forth between Indonesia and South America.– Most years, the pool is held in western Pacific by

steady equatorial trade winds.• Every three-five years the Indonesian low collapses and the

mass of warm surface water surges back east.

Page 16: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

El Nino Southern Oscillation– During an El Nino year, the northern jet stream pulls

moist air from the Pacific over the U.S.• Intense storms and heavy rains.

– During intervening La Nina years, hot, dry weather is often present.

Page 17: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Greenhouse Gases

• Carbon Dioxide - Fossil-fuel burning.• Atmospheric levels increasing steadily.

• Methane - Ruminants, Coal-mines• Absorbs more infrared than CO2.

• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) - Refrigerants• Declined in recent years

• Nitrous Oxide - Burning organic material

• Sulfur Hexafluoride - Electrical insulation

Page 18: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Controlling Greenhouse Emissions

• Switch to renewable energy sources.

• Capture and Store CO2.

– Trees and farmland– Inject into underground strata or deep ocean.

Page 19: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Conventional Pollutants• US Clean Air Act designated seven major

pollutants for which maximum ambient air levels are mandated.– Sulfur Dioxide– Carbon Monoxide– Particulates– Hydrocarbons– Nitrogen Oxides– Photochemical Oxidants– Lead

Page 20: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Indoor Air Pollution

• EPA found indoor concentrations of toxic air pollutants are often higher than outdoor.– People generally spend more time indoors.– Smoking is the most important air pollutant in the US.

• 430,000 die annually from a disease related to smoking.

– Associated costs are estimated at $100 billion annually.

Page 21: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

CLIMATE PROCESSES AND AIR POLLUTION

• Long-Range Transport– Fine aerosols can be carried great distances by the

wind.• Sensitive monitoring equipment increasingly reveals

industrial contaminants in places usually considered the cleanest in the world.

– Contaminants trapped by winds at the north pole, concentrate and eventually precipitate out, entering the food chain.

Page 22: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Stratospheric Ozone

• Discovered stratospheric ozone levels were dropping rapidly during September and October.– Occurring since at least 1960.

• At ground-level, ozone is a pollutant, but in the stratosphere it screens UV radiation.– A 1% decrease in ozone results in a 2% increase in

UV rays reaching the earth.

Page 23: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION

• Human Health– EPA estimates each year 50,000 people die

prematurely from illnesses related to air pollution.• Likelihood of suffering ill health is related to intensity and

duration of exposure.

– Inhalation is the most common route, but absorption through the skin and consumption via food can also occur.

Page 24: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

CLEAN AIR LEGISLATION

• Clean Air Act (1963) - First national air pollution control.

• Clean Air Act (1970) rewrote original Act.– Identified critical pollutants.– Established ambient air quality standards.

• Primary Standards - Human health

• Secondary Standards - Materials, environment, aesthetic and comfort.

Page 25: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Clean Air Act

• Revision (1990) - Included provision for:– Acid Rain– Urban Smog– Toxic Air Pollutants– Ozone Protection– Marketing Pollution Rights– Fugitive emissions of volatile organics– Ambient ozone, soot, and dust.

– NOx emissions

Page 26: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Water: Resources and PollutionChapter 10

Page 27: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Outline• Hydrologic Cycle• Water Compartments• Water Availability• Freshwater Shortages

– Increasing Water Supplies

• Water Management and Conservation• Water Pollution• Water Quality Today• Water Pollution Control• Water Legislation

Page 28: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Water Use

• Withdrawal - Total amount of water taken from a source.

• Consumption - Fraction of withdrawn water made unavailable for other purposes (Not returned to its source).– Degradation - Change in water quality due to

contamination making it is unsuitable for desired use.

Page 29: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Quantities of Water Used

• Water use has been increasing twice as fast as population growth over past century.– Worldwide, agriculture claims about 70% of total

water withdrawal.• In many developing countries, agricultural water use is

extremely inefficient and highly consumptive.

– Worldwide, industry accounts for about 25% of all water use.

• Cooling water for power plants is single largest industrial use.

Page 30: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

FRESHWATER SHORTAGES

• Estimated 1.1 billion people lack access to an adequate supply of drinking water.– 2.4 billion lack acceptable sanitation.

• A country where consumption exceeds more than 20% of available, renewable supply is considered vulnerable to water stress.– Globally, water supplies are abundant, but, along with

capital resources, are unevenly distributed.

Page 31: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

INCREASING WATER SUPPLIES

• Seeding Clouds – Condensation Nuclei

• Towing Icebergs– Cost

• Desalination – Most common methods are distillation and reverse

osmosis.• Three to four times more expensive than most other

sources.

Page 32: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Dams, Reservoirs, and Canals

– Displacement of People• Three Gorges Dams in China will force relocation of over a

million people.

– Evaporation, Leakage, Siltation• Evaporative losses from Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the

Colorado River is about 1km3 per year (264 billion gallons).• Dams slow water flow, allowing silt (nutrients) to drop out.

– Loss of Free-Flowing Rivers

Page 33: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Domestic Conservation

• Estimates suggest many societies could save as much as half of current domestic water usage without great sacrifice or serious change in lifestyle.– Largest domestic use is toilet flushing.

• Small volume of waste in large volume of water.

• Significant amounts of water can be reclaimed and recycled.

–Purified sewage effluent

Page 34: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Environmental Geology and Earth Resources

Chapter 11

Page 35: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Outline

• Tectonic Processes

• Minerals and Rocks

• Economic Geology and Mineralogy– Strategic Resources

• Environmental Effects of Resource Extraction– Mining

• Restoration

• Conserving Geologic Resources

• Geologic Hazards

Page 36: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Strategic Metals and Minerals

• Of the 80 industrial metals and minerals, between one-third and one-half are considered strategic resources.

– A country uses, but cannot produce.

• Considered capable of crippling national economy or military strength if supplies were cut off.

–Many less-developed nations depend on steady mineral exports for foreign exchange.

Page 37: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

CONSERVING GEOLOGIC RESOURCES

• Recycling– Aluminum must be extracted from bauxite by

electrolysis.• Recycling waste aluminum consumes one-twentieth the

energy of extraction from raw ore.– Nearly two-thirds of all aluminum beverage cans in US are

recycled.

– Other metals commonly recycled:• Platinum, gold, copper, lead, iron, steel.

Page 38: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Solid and Hazardous WasteChapter 13

Page 39: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Outline:

• Solid Waste

• Waste Disposal Methods

• Shrinking the Waste Stream– Recycling

• Hazardous and Toxic Wastes– Federal Legislation

• RCRA

• CERCLA

– Management Options

Page 40: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

WASTE

• According to EPA, US produces 11 billion tons of solid waste annually.– About half is agricultural waste.– More than one-third is mining related.– Industrial Waste - 400 million metric tons.

• Hazardous/Toxic - 60 million metric tons.

– Municipal Waste - 200 million metric tons.• Two kg per person / per day.

Page 41: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Waste Disposal Methods

• Exporting Waste– Although most industrialized nations have agreed to

stop shipping hazardous and toxic waste to less-developed countries, the practice still continues.

• Garbage imperialism also operates in wealthier countries.

• Indian reservations increasingly being approached to store wastes on reservations.

Page 42: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Recycling• Potential Problems

– Market prices fluctuate wildly.– Contamination

• Most of 24 billion plastic soft drink bottles sold annually in the US are PET, which can be melted and remanufactured into many items.

– But a single PVC bottle can ruin an entire truckload of PET if melted together.

Page 43: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

HAZARDOUS AND TOXIC WASTES

• EPA estimates US industries generate 265 million metric tons of officially classified hazardous wastes annually.– At least 40 million metric tons of toxic and hazardous

wastes are released into the environment each year.

Page 44: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Hazardous Waste Disposal

• Federal Legislation– Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) -

1976.• Comprehensive program requiring rigorous testing and

management of toxic and hazardous substances.

– Cradle to grave accounting.

Page 45: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Superfund Sites

• EPA estimates 36,000 seriously contaminated sites in the US.– By 2000, 1,551 sites had been placed on the National

Priority List for cleanup with with Superfund financing.• Superfund is a revolving pool designed to:

– Provide immediate response to emergency situations posing imminent hazards.

– Clean-up abandoned or inactive sites.

Page 46: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Superfund Sites

• Total costs for hazardous waste cleanup in the US are estimated between $370 billion and $1.7 trillion.– For years, most of the funding has gone to legal fees,

but this situation has improved over past several years.

• Studies of Superfund sites reveal minorities tend to be over-represented in these neighborhoods.

Page 47: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Sustainability and Human Development

Chapter 14

Page 48: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Outline

• Sustainability and Resources– Classical Economics– Neo-Classical Economics– Ecological Economics

• Resource Accounting

• Trade and Development

• Urban Development

• Urban Problems in Developing Countries

• Smart Growth

Page 49: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

SUSTAINABILITY AND RESOURCES

• Sustainability is a critical theme of environmental science.– Resources should be used in ways that do not diminish

them.

• Sustainable Development– Meeting the needs of the present without compromising

the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

• Must be available to all to be enduring.

– Goal to decrease uneven distribution of resources.

Page 50: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Economics and Sustainable Development

Sustainable growth is a contradiction – can’t keep growing indefinitely

Sustainable use applies only to renewable resources – use them at rates within their capacity for renewal

Page 51: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Ecological Economics

• Developed in recent decades, and applies ecological ideas of system functions and recycling to the definition of resources.

• Acknowledges dependence on essential life-support services provided by nature.

• Regards some aspects of nature as irreplaceable and essential.

• Principle concern is fair and even distribution of resources and rights.

Page 52: Announcements – Nov 13 Nov. 15 (Wednesday) - Exam 3 Nov. 17 (Friday) - no class

Good luck!