GEOG 101: Day 16

1. GEOG 101: Day 16 Finishing Up Air Pollution; Starting on Climate Change

2. Housekeeping Items • Did anyone turn up anything on Energy From Waste incinerators and how they’re being handled in Europe? • When we talked about oceans we talked about ocean acidification. According to the CBC this week, it is already having drastic effects on scallop and oyster harvests in Cowichan and Qualicum Beach. • Today, I want to brief go through the missing slides from Tuesday’s presentation and then show a video on ExxonMobil and climate change. Watch the short video (“The Hole Truth: Have We Fixed the Hole in Ozone Layer?”) on ozone depletion and the Montreal Protocol on your own: https://marlin.viu.ca/malabin/door.pl/0/0/0/5?srchfield1=GENERAL^&SUBJECT^&GENERAL^&record%20id^&searchdata1=100047776. See also “Shattered Sky: The Battle for Energy, Economy and Environment.”

3. Government agencies share in dealing with air pollution • Provincial/territorial • Managed through each environment ministry • Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)‏ • Harmonization Accord, Canada-Wide Standards Sub-Agreement, National Ambient Air Quality Objectives 13-3

4. Government agencies share in dealing with air pollution • Municipal • Only Montreal and Greater Vancouver regulate sources of air pollution • Most municipalities raise public awareness 13-4

5. Reasons for the decline in some pollutants • Cleaner-burning vehicles and catalytic converters decrease carbon monoxide • Permit-trading programs and clean coal technologies reduce SO2 emissions • Scrubbers = technologies that chemically convert or physically remove pollutants before they leave the smokestacks • Phase-out of leaded gasoline • Improved technologies and federal policies 13-5

6. Canada is attempting to “turn the corner” on air pollution • 2007: Turning the corner: An Action Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution • Targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria air contaminant (CAC) emissions The reality is that GHG emissions have been going up radically! FIGURE 13.16 13-6

7. Smog is the most common, widespread air quality problem • Smog = unhealthy mixtures of air pollutants over urban areas • Industrial (gray air) smog = industries burn coal or oil • Occurs in cooler, hilly areas • Government regulations in developed countries reduced smog • Coal-burning industrializing countries face significant health risks FIGURE 13.17 13-7

8. Photochemical (brown air) smog is produced by a complex series of reactions • Light-driven reactions of primary pollutants and normal atmospheric compounds • Morning traffic exhaust releases pollutants • Irritates eyes, noses, and throats • Vehicle inspection programs have decreased smog FIGURE 13.18 13-8

9. Industrial smog Photochemical smog • 17.16 FIGURE 13.17 FIGURE 13.18 13-9

10. Air quality is a rural issue, too • Airborne pesticides from farms • Industrial pollutants drifting from cities, factories and powerplants • Feedlots, where cattle, hogs, or chickens are raised in dense concentrations • Voluminous amounts of methane, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia • People living or working nearby have high rates of respiratory problems 13-10

11. Industrializing nations are suffering increasing air pollution • Outdoor pollution is increasing • China has the world’s worst air pollution • 80% of Chinese cities have emissions above the safety threshold • Southern Asian brown cloud = a 3 km-thick layer of pollution that reduces sunlight, affects climate, decreases productivity, and kills thousands each year 13-11

12. Synthetic chemicals deplete stratospheric ozone • Ozone layer = ozone in the lower stratosphere • 12 ppm concentrations effectively block incoming damaging ultraviolet radiation • Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) = chemicals that attack ozone • 1 million metric tons/year were produced • Releases chlorine atoms that split ozone 13-12

13. The “ozone hole” • Ozone hole = ozone levels over Antarctica had declined by 40-60% • Global ozone depletion causes skin cancer, harms crops and decreases ocean productivity FIGURE 13.19 13-13

14. There are still many questions to be resolved about ozone depletion • Will ozone depletion spread from the polar regions to encompass mid-latitude regions? • What is the actual relationship between ozone depletion and human health impacts? • What are the other potential impacts of ozone depletion (e.g. on ecosystems)? • Are the substitute chemicals that are being proposed in international agreements definitely less damaging to the stratospheric ozone layer? 13-14

15. The Montreal Protocol addressed ozone depletion • 1987: Montreal Protocol = 180 nations agreed to cut CFC production in half • Follow-up agreements deepened cuts, advanced timetables and addresses other ozone-depleting chemicals • Today, production and use of ozone-depleting chemicals has decreased 95% • The ozone layer is beginning to recover • Challenges still face us • CFCs will remain in the stratosphere for a long time • Nations can ask for exemptions to the ban 13-15

16. The Montreal Protocol is a success • Considered the biggest environmental success story • Policymakers included industry in helping solve the problem • Adaptive management strategy allowed changes in response to new scientific data, technological advances, and economic figures • The Montreal Protocol can serve as a model for international environmental cooperation 13-16

17. Acid deposition is another transboundary pollution problem • Acidic deposition = the deposition of acid, or acid-forming pollutants, from the atmosphere onto Earth’s surface • Acid rain = precipitation of acid • Atmospheric deposition = the wet or dry deposition on land of pollutants • Originates from burning fossil fuels • release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides • react with water to form sulfuric and nitric acids 13-17

18. Sources of acid deposition FIGURE 13.21 13-18

19. Effects of acid deposition on ecosystems in Northeastern North America • Accelerated leaching of base cations from soil • Accumulation of sulphur and nitrogen in soil • Hindering of plant uptake of water and nutrients • Caused calcium to leach from needles of red spruce • Increased mortality of sugar maples • Acidified many lakes • Lowered lakes’ capacity to neutralize further acids • Elevated aluminum levels in surface waters • Negatively affected entire food webs 13-19

20. Acid deposition has not been reduced as much as scientists had hoped • New technologies such as scrubbers have helped • SO2 emissions are lower • NOx emissions are higher • Acid deposition’s effects are worse than predicted 13-20

21. Indoor airpollution • Indoor air contains higher concentrations of pollutants than outdoor air • 6,000 people die per day from indoor air pollution • The average person in North America is indoors at least 90% of the time • Exposed to synthetic materials (insecticides, cleaning fluids, plastics, and chemically treated wood)‏ • 1973-74: ventilation systems were sealed off and windows put in that did not open, trapping pollutants inside, leading to “sick building syndrome” 13-21

22. Indoor air pollution in the developing world arises from fuelwood burning • Burning wood, charcoal, dung, crop wastes for cooking and eating • Kills 1.6 million people each year • Causes pneumonia, bronchitis, allergies, cataracts, asthma, heart disease, cancer and premature death FIGURE 13.25 [solar ovens are one alternative] 13-22

23. Tobacco smoke and radon are the most dangerous indoor pollutants in the developed world • Secondhand smoke from cigarettes is especially dangerous • Containing over 4000 dangerous chemicals • Causes eye, nose, and throat irritation • Smoking has declined in developed nations • After cigarette smoke, radon gas is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the developed world • Colourless, odourless gas that can seep into buildings 13-23

24. Many VOCs pollute indoor air • VOCs = volatile organic compounds • Released by everything from plastics and oils to perfumes and paints • Most VOCs are released in very small amounts • Unclear health implications due to low concentrations • Also include pesticides, which are found indoors more often than outdoors due to seepage • Formaldehyde, which leaks from pressed wood and insulation, irritates mucous membranes and induces skin allergies 13-24

25. Sources of indoor air pollution FIGURE 13.27 13-25

26. Living organisms can pollute indoors • Tiny living organisms can also pollute • Includes dust mites and animal dander worsen asthma • Fungi, mold, mildew, airborne bacteria cause severe allergies, asthma, and other respiratory ailments • Sick building syndrome = a sickness produced by indoor pollution with general and nonspecific symptoms • Solved by using low-toxicity building materials and good ventilation 13-26

27. weighingtheissues How safe is your indoor environment? Think about the amount of time you spend indoors. Name the potential indoor air quality hazards in your home, work, or school environment. • Are these spaces well-ventilated? • What could you do to make the indoor spaces you use safer? 13-27