intro to enviro mgmt
What is a LIC, MIC and HIC? define each as well as provide examples.
LIC - low income country
- example - Congo
MIC - Middle income country
- Russia
HIC - High income Country
- China
What is population density?
Dp = Total Population (N) / Total Area (A)
what is water security?
The ability to access sufficient quantities of clean water to maintain adequate standards of food and manufacturing of goods, adequate sanitation and sustainable health care
what is acid deposition?
a mix of air pollutants
that deposit from the atmosphere as acidic
wet deposition (with a pH <5.6) or acidic dry
deposition
what is greenhouse gases?
The gases in the atmosphere that absorb infrared radiation and identify some common greenhouse gases.
Describe sustainability and why is there a need sustainable resource management?
- the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- Sustainable resource management is needed to protect and preserve our environment.
What are the impacts of ageing populations on countries?
• lower tax revenues
• higher pension spending
• pressure on health care
• pressure to raise retirement age
the causes of water insecurity?
climate change, including changes in rainfall • natural disasters, including drought and flooding • pollution events • inadequate sanitation • population growth, changes in land usage including deforestation and urbanisation • competing demands from agricultural, industrial, energy and domestic sectors • mismanagement of irrigation, including salinisation • international competition over water sources • inequality of availability between water-rich and water-poor regions • differing access to safe drinking water in urban and rural area
what are types of deposition?
• wet deposition – snow, rain, hail, fog
• dry deposition – dust and gase
What are the outline the difficulties of managing climate change?
• limited historical data used to reconstruct past climate conditions (ice cores, tree rings, historical accounts)
• future climate predictions are made using computer climate models which use different variables
• climate feedback mechanisms are not fully understood
what is the natural greenhouse effect that maintains the Earth’s ambient temperature?
• ultraviolet radiation (shortwave radiation)
passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and is
absorbed by the Earth’s surface
• some energy is re-emitted back into the
atmosphere as infrared radiation (longwave
radiation)
• greenhouse gases absorb some of this infrared
radiation and prevent it from leaving the
atmosphere
what does the changes in birth rates, death rates and migration rates may affect?
population size and composition
what are the impacts of water insecurity?
reduced crop yield and crop failure
livestock death
food shortages, malnutrition and famine
illness caused by contaminated drinking water, limited to diarrhoea and cholera
what is formation of acid deposition?
fossil fuels contain sulfur compounds • combustion of fossil fuels releases sulfur dioxide gas • sulfur dioxide gas reacts with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid • nitrogen from the atmosphere reacts with oxygen in the high temperatures of vehicle engines to form nitrogen monoxide gas • nitrogen monoxide gas is released into the atmosphere in vehicle emissions • nitrogen monoxide gas reacts with oxygen and water in the atmosphere to form nitric acid
What is the impacts of climate change on the environment and on the human population?
• temperature and precipitation, sea level, ocean and wind circulation
• forced migration, impacts on crop yields and increased pest outbreaks, impacts on food, energy and water security
what are the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem?
biotic components: – producers, consumers (primary, secondary and tertiary) and decomposers
abiotic components: – temperature, humidity, water, oxygen, salinity, light, pH
what are some strats for managing the population?
improved availability of contraception
• improved education about contraception
• improved education and opportunities for
women
• improved health care
• local, national and global policies: pronatalist
and antinatalist polices, United Nations (UN)
Agenda 21, The Club of Rome. (Detailed
knowledge of these policies is not required.
what is the distribution of the Earth’s water?
salt water in oceans
• surface fresh water
– ice sheets, glaciers, lakes, rivers, swamps,
marshes, permafrost
• sub-surface fresh water
– soil moisture, ground water, permafrost
• atmospheric water
what are strategies for managing air pollution?
reduced use of fossil fuels
reducing emissions of: – sulfur dioxide by flue gas desulfurisation and fuel desulfurisation – oxides of nitrogen by catalytic converters – particulates using electrostatic precipitators – volatile organic compounds (VOCs) ○ safe usage, storage and disposal of household products
• restricting vehicle use in urban areas
• legislation
What are the strategies to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions?
• reduction of global and individual carbon footprint (fewer children per woman, eating a plant-based diet, adopt an energy-efficient lifestyle)
• switching to low-carbon fuels
• reducing the use of fossil fuels
• using alternative forms of energy
• transport policies
• use of carbon capture and storage
• reducing deforestation, increasing reforestation and afforestation
• energy efficient buildings and infrastructure
what is aerobic respiration?
the chemical reactions in cells that break down glucose molecules and release energy, carbon dioxide and water
what is dependency ratio?
[young population (0 to 14) + old population (65+)] × 100
-----------------------
population aged 15 to 64
what is strategies for managing water security?
- sustainable water extraction and improved
supply (piped supply, aquifers and artesian
wells, boreholes, gravity-fed schemes,
reservoirs and dams)
• reduction in water usage (improved irrigation
techniques, growing crops less dependent
on high water supply, recycling and rain water
catchment)
• education on sustainable water use
• poverty reduction
• international agreement and water-related aid
(detailed knowledge of international agreements
is not required)
• rationing
what is the outline of ozone depletion?
• chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from aerosols and refrigerants are unreactive compounds and are not broken down in the troposphere • CFCs move into the stratosphere and break down in the presence of ultraviolet light to release a chlorine atom • rapid reactions between chlorine atoms and ozone breaks down ozone (O3) to oxygen (O2), causing ozone depletion • chlorine atoms remain in the stratosphere and can continue to destroy ozone detailed chemical mechanisms are not required
what are geo-engineering strategies to counteract climate change?
solar radiation management (SRM)
- albedo enhancement, space reflectors, stratospheric aerosols
Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR):
- Afforestation and Reforestation, Biochar Production and Ocean Fertilization