Air Quality
This colorless, odorless gas binds to hemoglobin and is highly toxic; it is produced by incomplete combustion from vehicle engines.
What is carbon monoxide?
Runoff that carries fertilizers, pesticides, and sediment from many diffuse sources across a landscape into waterways is called this.
What is non-point source pollution?
The 2015 international agreement aiming to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C (with a 1.5°C aspiration) is called this.
What is the Paris Agreement?
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is primarily composed of waste from these two sectors.
What are household and commercial garbage?
Renewable energy source that relies on Earth's internal heat.
What is geothermal energy?
__________are small solid and liquid particles suspended in air that include smoke, ash, and dust and can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
What are particulate pollutants (particulate matter)?
The liquid produced by water draining through a landfill that can contaminate groundwater.
What is leachate?
Scientists reconstruct past climate conditions using proxies; name two common proxies.
What are tree rings and ice cores?
Recycling aluminum has a major advantage because it reduces the need for this energy- and resource-intensive activity.
What is mining and producing new aluminum (primary production)?
Which energy source is associated with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking")?
What is natural gas?
Devices fitted to automobiles that reduce harmful exhaust emissions by converting pollutants to less harmful gases.
What are catalytic converters?
Since the Clean Water Act of 1972, which type of source saw greater decreases in pollutant discharges: point sources or nonpoint sources?
What are point sources (point-source discharges decreased more than nonpoint sources)?
Which greenhouse gas is the primary component of natural gas and is potent in trapping heat?
What is methane?
The waste management practice that biologically breaks down organic material into a soil amendment is called this.
What is composting?
Name the primary environmental concern associated with burning fossil fuels.
What are greenhouse gas emissions?
A group of gases including CO2 and H2O that absorb infrared radiation and warm Earth; their greenhouse effect helps regulate temperature.
What are greenhouse gases?
Name the bacterium commonly used as an indicator of sewage contamination that can cause severe gastrointestinal illness.
What is Escherichia coli (E. coli)?
Explain how large volcanic eruptions can cause short-term cooling of Earth's surface.
What is that eruptions inject sulfur into the stratosphere that forms sulfate aerosols which reflect sunlight, lowering surface temperatures (and ash can also block sunlight)?
Which common material listed tends to take the longest to decompose in landfills: paper, food waste, plastic, or cotton clothing?
What is plastic?
What percentage (rounded) of U.S. electricity came from renewable sources in 2020: about 5%, 20%, 50%, or 75%?
What is about 20%?
Explain why volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important in urban air pollution and name one photochemical product they help create.
What are VOCs, and they react with NOx in sunlight to form ozone (a component of photochemical smog)?
Describe one primary goal of the U.S. Clean Water Act and one monitoring or regulatory approach used to achieve it.
The goal is to make surface waters "swimmable and fishable"; approaches include setting water quality standards, permitting point-source discharges (NPDES), and enforcing limits on pollutant loads.
Data project a 1–2°C global temperature increase by 2050. Provide two major consequences for human systems or environments from such warming.
What are sea-level rise flooding coastal areas and loss of polar ice reducing habitat/stability; additional impacts: increased extreme weather, impacts on agriculture, species range shifts?
Name and briefly describe the "waste hierarchy" ranking used to prioritize waste management strategies.
It prioritizes: reduce (prevent waste), reuse (extend life), recycle (material recovery), recovery (energy from waste), and disposal (landfill/incineration) — ordered by environmental preference.
What is the primary the disadvantages of hydropower?
What is loss or modification of marine life and their habitats?