Environmental Review 2017

1. Environmental Review 2017

2. Environmental Laws • Clean Air Act: passed in 1970 set limits on amount of emissions allowed by factories and cars • Clean Water Act: passed in 1972 make all waterways in the U.S. fishable and swimmable • Safe Drinking Water Act: Passed in 1974 Set MCL (Maximum contaminant limit) for pollutants in drinking water) • Endangered Species Act: passed in 1973 created list of protected species and established a recovery plan

3. Energy Production: • Most of the electricity in the United States is provided by burning coal. • Energy efficient appliances: • Less electricity usage = less burning of fossil fuels

4. Fracking • Natural gas and oil extraction • Vertical drilling • Horizontal Drilling • Pressurized water is pumped through pipes to fracture the rock and release the gas • Marcellus Shale Positives and negatives???

5. Solid Waste Sanitary Landfills: • dug into the ground • lined with clay and plastic to prevent leaching of toxic chemicals into groundwater • compacted and topped with soil to prevent odor/not attract animals and conserve space Once a landfill is full it is usually capped with clay and grass is grown on top to build a playground or park.

6. Solid Waste • Biodegradable materials will break down much more slowly in a landfill because when the garbage is compacted there is not enough oxygen for decomposers to break the material down. • Incineration = burning garbage • Reduces the amount of space the garbage takes up • Can release toxic chemicals into the air which may deposit into water and soil over time

7. Solid Waste Superfund Site: • Abandoned contaminated toxic waste site • Law was created to hold polluters accountable and make them pay for site clean-up • Initial passing of the law was in response to the events at Love Canal

8. Drinking Water • Potable: drinkable • Floc: particles in the water—aluminum sulfate is added to clump the floc together so it settles out of the water • Orthophosphate: bonds to pipes creating a barrier to prevent leaching of lead and other metlas • MCL: maximum contaminant limit

9. Drinking Water • Hard water: contains minerals—comes from less resistant bedrock so the minerals break down and leach into the water • Soft Water: does not contain minerals—comes from more resistant bedrock

10. Wastewater • Primary Treatment: water is put into settling tanks to sparate solids from liquids • Secondary Treatment: bacteria are added and oxygen is pumped in to help bacteria break down waste • Chlorination: kills off any remaining bacteria

11. Agriculture/Soil/Pesticides • Infiltration: water goes into the soil • Permeability: ability for water to go into soil (infiltrate) • Porosity: amount of space (pores) in the soil

12. Agriculture/Soil/Pesticides 3 Primary Nutrients for plants: • Nitrogen • Phosphorus • Potassium

13. Agriculture/Soil/Pesticides Smallest Largest Clay silt sand pebbles Permeability: larger particles = more permeability Porosity: size does not matter as long as the particles are sorted

14. Agriculture/Soil/Pesticides • Aquifer: permeable, porous storage of groundwater where drinking water is drawn from • Erosion: transport of broken down sediment/removal of soil

15. Rachel Carson • Wrote “Silent Spring” about the dangers of the overuse of pesticides • Led to the banning of DDT in the United States • Credited with starting the environmental movement Some people believe that Silent Spring led to an over-reaction to DDT causing it to be banned in other countries where it could have been used to more effectively fight malaria.

16. Green Revolution • Started by Norman Borlaug who wanted to help defeat hunger in poor countries like Mexico and India in response to rapidly rising population growth • Used selective breeding to develop strains of wheat that were higher-yield, disease resistant, and could be grown in different climates • Helped Mexico and India avoid famine and improve economy • Promotes monoculture and requires use of large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides

17. Pesticides • Selective Pesticides: target specific species of pests • Broad-Spectrum: kill lots of different pests at once Generally, selective pesticides are considered more environmentally friendly because they do not kill beneficial insects like pollinators Persistent pesticides stay in the environment for a long time (like DDT)

18. Monoculture: one crop grown over a wide area • depletes the soil of nutrients—requires lots of fertilizers • Same crop attracts the same pests which requires lots of pesticides

19. Biotechnology • Genetic Engineering: splicing DNA/genes from one organism into another to give it a desired trait • BT corn which produces its own pesticide due to a gene from the BT bacteria • Selective Breeding: breeding organisms of the same species together to achieve a desired trait • Dog breeding Some people are concerned about the use of GM foods because we may not know all of the long-term health impacts and environmental impacts

20. Water as an Ecosystem • Benthic: bottom-dwelling • Eutrophication: too many nutrients in the water (leads to algal blooms) • Turbidity: particles in the water • Estuary: where salt water and fresh water mix as a river enters the ocean • Effluent: wastewater • Biodegradable: easily broken down in the environment • Waste Stream: flow of waste through society from creation to removal to disposal

21. Nitrates and Phosphates act as fertilizers stimulating algae growth creating algal blooms. • Algae do photosynthesis, creating oxygen during the day, but at night they do not and they use up all the oxygen causing fish kills and dead zones. • The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone is particularly bad because the Mississippi River is such a large watershed and all the rivers that empty into it carry lots of fertilizers from the farms in the midwest

22. Benthic Macroinvertebrates: insects and other organisms that live on the bottom of streams • Good indicators of water quality because they live in the same area for a long period of time whereas a water sample only provides a snapshot of the water at that specific time • Index Species: indicate a healthy environment • Organisms who are very sensitive to pollution make the best index/indicator species

23. pH: measures how acidic or basic water is on a scale from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral • Killer Whales experience high levels of toxins because they are at the top of the food chain so the toxins bioaccumulate

24. Point Source Pollution: you can tell where the pollution is coming from • Factories/power plants • Non-Point Source Pollution: exact source of the pollution is unknown • Agricultural runoff

25. Warmer water = less dissolved oxygen • Colder water = more dissolved oxygen • High sewage content/organic waste = less dissolved oxygen because decomposers use up the oxygen while they break down the waste

26. Army Corps of Engineers: in charge of maintaining and developing wetlands and waterways • Wetlands: areas with soil that is totally saturated for at least part of the year • Reclaiming: filling in wetlands to build on them • Mitigation: in order to build on a wetland you need to create an equal area of wetland someplace else • Fish Ladders: series of connected pools that allows fish to “climb” dams as they swim upstream to mate

27. The Nitrogen Cycle • Plants and animals need nitrogen to make protein • Nitrogen in the air must be “fixed” by bacteria into a form we can use

28. The Carbon Cycle • Carbon Source: produces more carbon than it takes in • Ex. Burning fossil fuels, respiration • Carbon Sink: takes in more carbon than it produces • Ex. Trees, oceans, limestone • Trees take in carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis Organic materials come from living things and are composed primarily of carbon

29. Photosynthesis Reactants Products CO2+ H20 + sunlight  glucose (sugar) and O2 Purpose: to make food (sugar) Organelle: chloroplast Only done by autotrophs!!!

30. Respiration Reactants Products Glucose + Oxygen carbon dioxide+ water+ ATP Purpose: to make ATP (ENERGY!!!) Organelle: Mitochondria Done by both autotrophs and heterotrophs!!!

31. The Atmosphere • Oxygen first entered the atmosphere as a result of photosynthetic bacteria • Ozone Layer: (O3) in the stratosphere that protects us from harmful UV radiation from the sun • Being damaged by CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) • Can lead to higher incidence of skin cancer

32. Greenhouse Gases: gases that trap in infrared (heat) radiation from the sun • Ex. Carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor • Sources: burning fossil fuels, agriculture, melting permafrost • Problems: global warming • Effects on ecosystem: melting of ice caps, loss of habitats, sea level rise, more severe weather

33. Asbestos: causes mesothelioma and lung cancer • Used in building supplies • Sulfur Dioxide: causes acid rain which can damage ecosystems • Burning coal • Carbon Monoxide: interferes with the ability of blood cells to carry oxygen • Car exhaust and natural gas heaters/stoves

34. Clean Air Act • Does not regulate carbon dioxide emissions • Cap and Trade: Factories that emit too much pollution can “buy” pollution credits from cleaner factories • Grandfather Clause: Factories built before the Clean Air Act was passed are not required to meet the standards • Aerosols: particles in the air that block sunlight creating a cooling effect on the climate

35. Multiple-Use Management: regulates the use of Old-growth forests to make sure they are used sustainably. • Allows drilling/logging/camping/hunting in specific areas and at specific amounts to ensure the resources will be available for a long time

36. Ecological Relationships • Autotroph: organism that makes its own food • Ex. Plants • Heterotroph: organism that must eat other organisms for food • Ex. Humans, cows, birds, lions • Abiotic Factors: Non-living things • Ex. Rocks, water, sunlight • Biotic Factors: Living things • Ex. Plants, animals, bacteria • Producer: organism that makes its own food • Ex. Plants • Consumer: organism that must eat other organisms for food • Ex. Humans, cows, birds, lions • Decomposers: organism that breaks down organic material • Ex.Fungi and Bacteria

37. 4) Producers 3) Primary Consumers (Herbivores) 2) Secondary Consumers (Carnivores/Omnivores) 1) Top Predators Greatest amount of Energy = bottom (Producers) Energy comes from = THE SUN Always must be more food than the thing eating it in order to maintain a stable ecosystem!!!

38. Invasive Species: • introduced into an ecosystem from another place • Have no natural predators • Outcompete native species which can lead to extinction

39. Carrying Capacity: the number of organisms that an ecosystem can support

40. Herbivores– rabbit and mouse • Decrease in rabbit population: • Decrease in wolf and hawk population • Increase in mouse population • Increase in berry bush population • Decreas in mouse population ENERGY CANNOT BE RECYCLED!!! (it is used up and released as HEAT)

41. Biodiversity: (bio = life, diversity = different)the variety of different organisms in an ecosystem. • More biodiversity = more stable ecosystem because if an organism is removed/killed there is another organism to fill its “job” in the ecosystem Benefit: many medicines and other resources are the result of biodiversity Problem: loss of food source/resources within the ecosystem

42. Ecological Succession • The order in which life appears as an ecosystem grows and matures over time