Introduction to Environmental Science and Review of Chemistry and Biology

Chapters 1-2

What is Environmental Science and why is it important to study?

Study of how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems.

Environment= the sum total of all living and nonliving things that affect any living organism.

Goals include:

Learn how nature worksHow the environment affects usHow we affect the environmentHow we can live more

sustainably without degrading our natural systems

BIG PICTURE

It is important to study ES so that our natural resources are not used up for future generations, so that food supplies are protected, so that misuse of resources in the past does not continue in the future, and awareness and education is shared to preserve habitats.

What are key environmental indicators that help us evaluate the health of the planet?

• Greenhouse gas levels

• Ozone depletion

• Specific species in a habitat

• Water quality (dissolved Oxygen)

• Atmospheric temperature

• Air quality

• NOx

• SOx

What is sustainability?

Sustainability is the ability of earth’s systems, humans in particular, to use resources in a way that allows them to naturally replenish themselves.

How was The Lorax a model for an unsustainable environment?

By looking at the ecological footprint, or the amount of resources needed to supply an area/population vs. the wastes and pollution produced by using these resources, tells you how sustainable the area/population is.

When a country depletes its natural capita and has to import food and export wastes= living off a global ecological credit card.

US, Europe, Japan, India, China use 74% of earth’s ecological capacity

can be replenished fairly rapidly (hrsdecades) through natural processes as long as it is not used faster than it is replaced.

Ex. Soil, fresh water, fresh air, forests, grasslands, wild animals)

Nonrenewable resources exist in a fixed quantity

or stock in the earth’s crust. Can be renewed in millions or billions of years.

Ex. Energy resources (coal, oil, natural gas), metallic minerals (iron, copper, aluminum), nonmetallic mineral resources (salt, clay, sand, phosphates).

Renewable resources

Renewable Resources continued

The sustainable yield is the rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Environmental degradation is when a resource’s natural replacement rate is exceeded and supply begins to shrink.

Ex. Urbanization of productive land, top-soil erosion or stripping, pollution, clear cutting, depleting groundwater, killing off species.

Renewable…

Tragedy of the commons- the degradation of the free-access resources such as migratory birds, ocean and its fish, clean air, gases in the atmosphere.

Thought is that if “I don’t use the resource someone else will and the resource is renewable so it is okay.”

Solutions: regulations on use, laws to protect, convert free-access resources to privately owned.

Nonrenewable resources cont.

Economic depletion is when a nonrenewable resource isn’t completely depleted but costs more to extract and use than its economic value. Try to find more

Recycle (collectprocess make a new product and sell it) or reuse [except energy]

Nonrenewable metallic resources are key to recycle or reuse

Waste less

Use less

Develop a substitute

What is exponential growth and how does the world’s population represent this?

Exponential growth is when a quantity increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time.

The world’s population growth rate has slowed from 2.2% to 1.23% from 1963-2006. Added 81 million people to world in 2006 (6.6 billion x .0123= 81 million).

What is the rule of 70 as it applies to doubling time and exponential growth?

OR 0.7/growth rate (not as a percentage)

In 2006 the world’s population grew by 1.23%, if the rate continues when will the population double? 70/1.23=57 years

If money in an account will grow exponentially at 7% a year, when will your money double if untouched? 70/7= 10 years

China’s economy has been growing at an exponential rate of 9.5% a year. How many years, at this rate, would it take China to double its economic output? 70/9.5=

What is economic growth?

Economic growth is an increase in the capacity of a country to provide people with goods and services. Must have more people (producers and consumers) and more production and/or consumption per person.

Apply gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP in determining economic growth.

Gross domestic product (GDP)- a way to measure the economic growth (% change in GDP/ country) Encompasses the annual market value of all goods and services produced, foreign and domestic, operating within a country. The higher the GDP, the faster the economic growth.

per capita GDP-changes in a country’s economic growth per person or GDP/population at midyear

How do you think the GDP and per capita GDP compare for developing nations versus developed nations?

Developed countries

(US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Europe): highly industrialized and have a high per capita GDP, Use most of Resources, create most waste and pollution, have most money

Developing or moderately developed countries (Africa, Asia, Latin

America, China, India, Brazil, Mexico): low per capita GDP (either have high GDP but so many people it brings down per capita GDP (China) or low GDP because they are a poor country (Africa), have less money, use less resources, cause less waste and pollution

Overview of major environmental problems:

Environmental Problem

Cause Effect on humans Prevention method Remediation

Coral reef loss  

Water temperature increase

 Losing aesthetic value, storm buffer, fish habitat

Decrease the amount of greenhouse gases released

Protect reefs, help rebuild

Forrest shrinking  

     

Atmosphere warming  

     

Fisheries collapse  

     

Groundwater pollution  

     

Major Causes

Population growth

Wasteful use of resources

Affluenza

Poverty

Poor environmental accounting

Environmental ignorance

Global trade policies that undermine environmental protection

Money in politics

Failure of those concerned about environmental quality to provide positive visions of more sustainable economic and environmental futures (unattainable goals)

3 things that have the greatest environmental impact: agriculture, transportation, heating and cooling buildings.

How and why did the agricultural and industrial revolution affect human population size and the environment?

  HOW WHY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Agricultural revolution (1900’s)

Increase Introduction of Machines (plow, cotton gin, combine)

More food Freed more people to

do different kinds of jobs

More pollution and wastes, natural resource use went up

Industrial revolution

Increase Factories, trains (coal-burning), steamships, ironworks

More pollution (CO2, NOx,

SOx) and wastes, natural

resource use went up

Pollutants

Pollutants are chemicals at high enough levels in air, water, soil, or food to threaten the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms

From natural occurrences- volcanoes

From man-driven actions- burning coal

Effects of pollution: Can degrade life-support systems for humans and other species.

Damage wildlife, human health and property

Create nuisances like noise and unpleasant smells, tastes, sights

Solutions: Prevention (costs more up front, research is needed to have new technology) and cleanup (cause pollution somewhere else, expensive)

Point sources-

single, identifiable sources like smokestacks on coal-burning plants or exhaust pipe of a car Nonpoint sources-

larger and dispersed sources like pesticides blown into the air and carried by wind, runoff of fertilizer from farms, golf courses, and lawns in streams and lakes.

Matter Definition

Atoms

Ions

Isotopes

Molecules

What does pH measure? What is the pH equation? What is the pH scale?

Hydrogen ion concentration [H+]

pH= -log[H+]

[H+] = [H3O+]

pH=1 : [H+]=1 x 10-1 moles/liter (acidic)

If you have a solution with 1 x 10-6 and a solution of 1 x 10-8

[H+], how much more acidic is one than the other?

Buffers

Buffers stop drastic changes in pH by reaching equilibrium and forming the conjugate base.

Name Formula

Carbon

Oxygen

Sulfur

Uranium

Chlorine gas

Oxygen gas

Nitrogen gas

Phosphorus

Ammonia

Sulfate

Nitrate

Nitrite

Hydrogen gas

Ozone

What is a NOx?

They are mono-nitrogen oxides

NO and NO2 (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide).

They are produced from the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen gases in the air during combustion, especially at high temperatures.

Produce smog and acid rain

NOT to be confused with N2O (nitrous oxide) which is a greenhouse gas (absorbs and emits radiation)

What is a SOx?

• Sulfur oxide gases

• SO2, SO3

• These gases dissolve easily in water to form acid rain

• SOx gases are formed when fuel containing sulfur, such as coal and oil, is burned, and when gasoline is extracted from oil, or metals are extracted from ore. 

What is a VOC and give 3 examples.

Volatile organic compound

Methane (CH4), Benzene (C6H6), paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.

Fission and Nuclear Power

Organic vs Inorganic compounds

Types of Cells

Cellular Energy

Photosynthesis

Types of Energy and Transfers

Kinetic

Potential

Mechanical

Electrical

Discuss the implications of the first and second laws of thermodynamics to energy transfers.

1st law=Energy can’t be created or destroyed only transferred

2nd law=Energy cannot be converted 100% from one system to another some will be transferred off as heat or light

Example: roller coaster, photosynthesis to movement, food to movement, gasoline to car moving

High Quality vs. Low Quality Energy