CHAP 10 FOOD, SOIL, … + Insecticides and herbicides are rarely needed - Switching to integrated pest management in the 19.
Switching to integrated pest management in the
- Food security means having daily access to
enough nutritious food to live an active and
healthy life
- Other obstacles to food security are political
upheaval, war, corruption, and bad weather or
disasters, including prolonged drought, flooding,
and heat waves.
- Food insecurity living with chronic hunger and
poor nutrition, which threatens their ability to lead
healthy and productive lives
- The root cause of food insecurity is POVERTY
- To maintain good health and resist disease,
individuals need:
+ Fairly large amounts of macronutrients
(carbohydrates, proteins and fats)
Proteins : macronutrient in the human diet helps
to build and repair body tissues
+ Smaller amounts of micronutrients (vitamins,
minerals)
- Iodine is a micronutrient, which without sufficient
quantities in a diet can result in goiter
- Chronic lack of iodine can cause stunted
growth, mental retardation, and goiter
- Deficiency of one or more vitamins and
minerals, usually vitamin A, iron, and iodine.
- Lack of iron causes anemia which causes
fatigue, makes infection more likely, and increases
a woman’s chances of dying from hemorrhage in
childbirth.
- Malnutrition refers to people who suffer from
lack of protein and other key nutrients
- Overnutrition : problems with nutrition most
prevalent in the United States
- Over-nutrition occurs when food energy intake
exceeds energy use, causing excess body fat.
Face similar health problems as those under:
lower life expectancy, greater susceptibility to
disease and illness, and lower productivity and life
quality.
- Today, three systems supply most of our food.
+ Croplands produce mostly grains. (Grains are
among the world's major food crops : Wheat,
Rice, Corn)
+ Rangelands, pastures, and feedlots produce
meat.
+ Fisheries and aquaculture provide us with
seafood
- Agriculture used to grow crops can be divided
roughly into two types:
+ Industrialized agriculture, or high-input
agriculture: uses heavy equipment and large
amounts of financial capital, fossil fuel, water,
commercial inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides to
produce single crops, or monocultures.
(DEVELOPED COUNTRIES) - US primarily uses
for food production
• Major goal: increase yield
+ Plantation agriculture is a form of
industrialized agriculture used primarily in tropical
less-developed countries.
• Grows cash crops such as bananas, soybeans,
sugarcane, coffee, palm oil, and vegetables.
• Crops are grown on large monoculture
plantations, mostly for export to more-developed
countries.
– Modern industrialized agriculture violates the
three principles of sustainability by relying heavily
on fossil fuels, reducing natural and crop
biodiversity, and neglecting the conservation and
recycling of nutrients in topsoil.
– Traditional agriculture provides about 20% of
the world’s food crops on about 75% of its
cultivated land, mostly in less-developed /
DEVELOPING countries.
- There are two main types of traditional
agriculture.
+ Traditional subsistence agriculture
supplements energy from the sun with the labor of
humans and draft animals to produce enough
crops for a farm family’s survival, with little left
over to sell or store as a reserve for hard times.
+ In traditional intensive agriculture, farmers
increase their inputs of human and draft-animal
labor, animal manure for fertilizer, and water to
obtain higher crop yields, some of which can be
sold for income.
- Many traditional farmers grow several crops on
the same plot simultaneously, a practice known as
polyculture
+ Crop diversity reduces the chance of losing
most or all of the year’s food supply to pests, bad
weather, and other misfortunes.
+ Crops mature at different times, provide food
throughout the year, reduce the input of human
labor, and keep the soil covered to reduce erosion
from wind and water.
+ Lessens need for fertilizer and water,
because root systems at different depths in the
soil capture nutrients and moisture efficiently.
19. The main source of carbohydrates (one of the
because multiple habitats are created for natural
predators of crop-eating insects, and weeds have trouble
competing with the multitude of crop plants.
+ On average, such low-input polyculture produces
higher yields than does high-input monoculture.
- Our economic systems promote unsustainable forms
of industrialized agriculture because they do not
include most of the harmful environmental and health
costs of such food production in the market prices
- Use of feed that contains no antibiotics is a likely
scenario for an organic farm.
- Most soil erosion is caused by wind and moving water
- Erosion of topsoil has two major harmful effects.
+ Loss of soil fertility through depletion of plant
nutrients in topsoil.
+ Water pollution in nearby surface waters, where
eroded topsoil ends up as sediment. This can kill fish
and shellfish and clog irrigation ditches, boat channels,
reservoirs, and lakes.
- Topsoil in the United States is eroding about 17
times faster than it can form.
- Keeping the soil covered by vegetation is central to
most of the efforts to conserve topsoil
- Conservation tillage decreases erosion
- Compared to conventional tillage, conservation tillage
reduces fuel and tillage costs
- Alley cropping, agroforestry and terracing are all
methods of reducing soil erosion.
- Two of the solutions for cleaning up salinized soil are
flushing the soil with water, and placing underground
drainage systems. The negative aspect of these
solutions is their expense/ high cost.
- Salt buildup may eventually make the land
unproductive
- Desertification occurs when the productive potential of
topsoil falls by 10% or more because of a combination of
prolonged drought and human activities that expose
topsoil to erosion.
- The majority of soil organic matter is concentrated in
the O and A horizons
- Best describes how the process of irrigation can
lead to salinization of soils : Water associated with
irrigation contains small amounts of dissolved salts.
Evaporation leaves behind increasing concentrations of
these salts.
- The process least likely to conserve soil nutrients is
irrigation
- The irrigation system with the lowest efficiency rating is
gravity flow.
- Three steps of the green revolution:
+ First, develop and plant monocultures of selectively
bred or genetically engineered highyield varieties of key
crops.
+ Second, produce high yields by using large inputs of
water and synthetic inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides.
+ Third, increase the number of crops grown per year on
a plot of land through multiple cropping.
- Use of antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to
microbes in humans is a major disadvantage of animal
feed lots.
- Killing wild predators is an example of a(n)
biodiversity loss problem caused by industrialized
food production.
- The amount of irrigated land used to produce food
crops has increased since 1950. It can also be said that
The amount of irrigated land per person has
decreased since 1950.
- Strains of genetically modified food crops can
hybridize with wild crop varieties when Pollen blows
from the genetically modified crop and spreads
among wild varieties.
- According to pesticide proponents, pesticides work
fast, increase profit, save lives, and increase food
supplies. (PESTICIDE is a chemical used to control or
kill populations of organisms that we consider
undesirable such as insects, weeds, or rodents)
- The Environmental Working Group estimates that you
could reduce your pesticide intake by up to 90% by
eating only 100% organic: lettuce, imported grapes,
sweet bell peppers, peaches, apples and celery,
nectarines, cherries, strawberries, spinach, pears and
potatoes
- Planting monocultures approach would be the least
beneficial in trying to reduce insect damage
- The world’s 30,000 known species of spiders kill far
more crop-eating insects every year than humans do
by using chemicals.
- Biological control of pests is not toxic to use
- A pheromone is a species-specific chemical sex
attractant/ emitted by living organisms to send
messages to individuals of the same species and can
be used as alternatives to pesticides.
- “They are costly and time-consuming to produce” is a
weakness of using pheromones
- A hormone is a chemical that controls an organism's
growth and development
- Integrated pest management requires more expert
knowledge about individual pest-crop situations than
pesticides.
- An integrated pest management program attempts to
reduce crop damage to an economically tolerable level
 There is little dissolved oxygen to aid in
United States is hindered by government subsidies for
using chemicals and by opposition from chemical
manufacturers
- The sale and use of pesticides in the United States is
regulated by FDA, EPA, and USDA agencies
- Subsidies for food production :
+ Subsidies in developed countries average $571,000 per
minute.
Milk production quadrupled in New Zealand after farm
subsidies were ended.
+ Food prices in developed countries are kept artificially
low.
+ Some analysts recommend replacing traditional
subsidies with subsidies that promote sustainable
agricultural practices.
+ except Developing countries also receive large amounts
of subsidies for growing food.
- Government subsidies to fishing fleets promote
overfishing and reduction of aquatic biodiversity
- In alley cropping: Crops are planted between hedgerows
of trees or shrubs that are used for fruits or fuelwood.
- The three major types of organic fertilizer green
manure, compost, animal manure
- Aquaculture would be more sustainable if consumers
chose to eat fish species that are primary consumers
instead of secondary consumers
- Fish and shrimp are raised in ponds along with algae,
seaweed, and shellfish is a characteristic of
polyaquaculture
- The correct sequence of animal efficiency at
converting grain into protein, from the most efficient
animal to the least? fish, chicken, pigs, beef cattle
- The largest contributor to the ecological foot print of
most individuals in affluent nations is meat production
and consumption
- Sustainable agriculture is characterized by : crop
rotation, soil conservation, integrated pest management,
promoting polyculture practices
- Waste less food, eat less meat, compost food wastes
and eat locally grown food are ways that individuals can
support sustainable agriculture through their choices
and behaviors
- In order to switch to sustainable agriculture, practices
would be favorable
+ Give subsidies and tax breaks to those that use the
method.
+ Shift to full-cost pricing.
+ Increase government support of research on
sustainable agriculture.
+ Discourage monocultures.
+ NOT Expand the use of the crops of the green
revolution.
- You spend an evening with friends who have invited you
for dinner and are gourmet cooks. During the
conversation over dinner, you learn that the food being
served was all locally grown and purchased through a
CSA that your hosts participate in. Your hosts could be
called locavores
TRUE/FALSE
1. Food production worldwide is now less than in previous
decades.
2. There are sufficient food resources being produced to
meet the basic nutritional requirements of every person on
the planet.
3. Overgrazing by cattle can ultimately result in water
pollution.
4. Plantation agriculture is used primarily to reduce soil
erosion and restore soil fertility.
5. Over time, the extensive addition of water through
irrigation practices can actually lead to desertification.
6. A disadvantage to the green revolution is the intensive
use of commercial inorganic fertilizers.
7. Pesticides have a positive benefit in terms of public
health because fungi, insects, and noncrop plants can
contaminate crops with many natural toxins.
8. Malnourished individuals may become more prone to
infections, and eventually may develop a specific deficiency
disease.
9. Farmers use alley cropping with row patterns nearly level
around hills—not up and down—to dissuade soil erosion.
10. Per unit area, the application of synthetic pesticides is
higher on typical crop fields than it is on the average lawn.
11. Since 1942 the use of synthetic pesticides has
increased 10-fold. In spite of this fact, food supply damage
due to pests has increased during that time.
12. Some nations have experienced an increase in certain
crop yields after greatly cutting pesticide use.
13. Health problems faced by those who are overfed are
completely different from the health problems faced by
those who are underfed.
14. There are no technological substitutes for fertile and
uncontaminated topsoil.
15. It takes about one unit of nonrenewable fossil
fuel energy to put one unit of food energy on the
table.
16. Research shows that, on average, low-input
polycultures produce higher crop yields than high-
input monocultures.
17. To be classified as organically grown, animals
must be free-ranging.
18. Organic agriculture is globally export-oriented
because it also embraces cultural diversity.
 The high cost, because it takes a lot of
key nutrients) is lipids.
20. Polyculture lessens the need for fertilizer and water.
21. World grain production per capita has increased
consistently between 1961 and 2009.
22. Excessive irrigation of food crops has never been a
problem for agriculture.
BLANKS
- Numerous practices have been developed to deter soil
erosion, including reducing or eliminating tillage,
managing irrigation to reduce runoff, and keeping the soil
covered with plants or mulch.
- Waterlogging reduces soil oxygen levels, causes
accumulation of gases toxic to plants, and alters the
concentration of nutrients around plant roots.
- Terracing is a way to grow food on steep slopes or
mountainsides without depleting topsoil.
- The process of aquaculture allows for the raising of
marine and freshwater fish in ponds and underwater
cages.
- Today in America, four of the top ten causes of death are
diseases related to diet
- When farmers use drip, microirrigation, trickle
irrigationsystems, typically 90-95% of the water input
reaches the crops
- One of the problems with genetically modified food crops
is that if pollen released from the plants spreads among
non-engineered plants it will reduce the natural genetic
biodiversity of wild strains.
- Lipids/ oils/ fatsis (are) a key nutrient that drives the
synthesis of hormones as well as the growth of membrane
tissues in humans.
Clearly explain the relationship between irrigation and
salinization of soils. Water used in irrigation contains
small concentrations of dissolved salts. As evaporation
and transpiration occur, the water molecules leave, but the
salt is left behind. Over long periods of irrigation and
evapotranspiration, the end result is an increasing
concentration of salts in the soil. This results in salinization
of the soil.
Discuss the relative costs of organically grown food
and conventionally produced food. In your answer,
include specifics about why the costs are as they are.
Also give a possible example. Organically produced
food is anywhere from 10% to 75% more expensive than
traditionally produced food, primarily because organic
farming is very labor intensive. However, the harmful
health and environmental effects of traditional crop
production are not included in the price of the food. If this
were so, traditionally produced food would be more
expensive.For example, if the costs of treating health
problems that result from eating food treated with
chemicals and hormones were included in the price of the
food, traditionally produced food would have a very high
price tag.
Explain the benefits of using perennial plants rather
than annual plants for food crops.Annual plants such as
the grain crops wheat, sorghum, and sunflowers, have to
be replanted every year. If perennial plants were used
instead of annual plants, the soil would not have to be
tilled every year for planting. This would reduce soil
erosion and water pollution from eroded sediment because
the unplowed soil would not be exposed to wind and rain.
It also would reduce the need for irrigation because the
deep roots of the annual plants retain more water than the
shallow rooted annual plants. There is also less need for
chemical fertilizers and pesticides for perennial plants
CHAP 11 WATER RESOURCES
TRUE/FALSE
1. The top of the groundwater zone is the water table.
2. The recharge of aquifers below cities is very efficient
because of storm drains.
3. In the zone of saturation, spaces in rock and soil are
completely filled with water.
4. Rivers of underground water are sometimes found in
caverns in aquifers.
5. More than one of these choices is false.
6. Heat lowers dissolved oxygen in streams and rivers.
7. Organic wastes that can be decomposed by aerobic
bacteria reduce the amount of oxygen in the water
supply.
8. Toxic chemicals released from industries can result in
fish kills.
9. Inorganic nutrients such as fertilizers have no adverse
effects on aquatic ecosystems.
10. Sediment can cloud water and reduce photosynthesis.
11. Rivers are more vulnerable than lakes to
contamination by plant nutrients, oil, toxins, and
pesticides.
12. Lakes are more susceptible to pollution because of
little water flow.
13. Eutrophication is a natural process and can
occur without the influence of humans.
14. Human activities can induce cultural
eutrophication.
15. Eutrophication is caused by inputs of nutrients
from the surrounding land basin.
About underground contaminants
 Degradable organic wastes do not decompose
as rapidly underground as on the surface.
degradation of wastes.
 Waste products are diluted and dispersed quickly in
underground aquifers. FALSE
 It can take hundreds to thousands of years for
contaminated groundwater to cleanse itself of
degradable wastes.
 In some coastal areas, groundwater has been  Desalination produces huge quantities of salty
contaminated by saltwater intrusion.
About the discharge trading policy
 is sponsored by the EPA
 uses market forces to reduce water pollution
 allows polluters to pollute at higher levels than they have
permits for under certain circumstances
 purchasing of unused polluting credits from permit
holders who are polluting below their allowed levels
 polluters who pollute at higher levels than they have
permits for are immediately closed down FALSE
About drinking bottled water
 Americans are the world’s largest consumers of bottled
water.
 The movement to boycott bottled water consumption is
called back-to-the-tap
 86% of the bottles containing bottled water are recycled
FALSE
 Some of the bottled water that Americans drink comes
from as much as 5,500 miles away.
 BPA is a chemical in the plastic of water bottles that can
leach into the water, especially if the bottle is exposed to
the sun.
1. Most aquifers are rapidly recharged through
precipitation that percolates downward through soil and
rock.
2. A large amount of the world's drinking water comes from
desalination.
3. We are using freshwater unsustainably by wasting it,
polluting it and not charging enough for it.
4. Some water resources are best categorized as
nonrenewable.
5. Drinking is the biggest use of water worldwide.
6. Flooding increases with economic and urban
development.
7. Eutrophication is a condition of natural nutrient
enrichment of a shallow lake, estuary or slow-moving
stream.
8. Global reduction of grain-fed beef consumption would
help to reduce water shortages.
9. One potential problem associated with global warming is
that rising sea levels will cause salt contamination of
coastal area soils.
10. The creation of dams and reservoirs has decreased
the annual reliable runoff available for human use.
12. Federal subsidies are provided to U.S. farmers who
reduce water use in irrigation.
13. Drip irrigation systems can increase crop yields by 20–
90%.
14. An oligotrophic lake tends to have relatively high levels
of dissolved oxygen.
15. If we protect more wetlands, that will actually increase
the threat of flooding.
16. Use of dams, reservoirs and water transfer projects
has disrupted ecosystems.
18. Heat is a type of water pollutant.
19. Atmospheric warming will increase water pollution in
areas with increased rainfall and areas with prolonged
drought.
20. Cruise ships are a significant source of pollution of
ocean water.
21. The United States is the world’s largest user of water,
and wastes about 50% of all water drawn from surface and
groundwater sources.
22. Land erosion causes water pollution.
23. Preventing contamination is the least expensive and
most effective way to protect groundwater resources.
- Water covers about 71% of the Earth's surface.
(IRREPLACEABLE CHEMICAL)
- Surface water is the freshwater from precipitation and
snowmelt that flows across the earth’s land surface and
into lakes, wetlands, streams, rivers, estuaries, and
ultimately to the oceans
- About 0.024% is readily available to us as liquid
freshwater in accessible groundwater deposits and in
lakes, rivers, and streams.
- Freshwater is relatively pure and contains few dissolved
salts
- We can increase freshwater supplies by:
– withdrawing groundwater; building dams and reservoirs
to store runoff in rivers for release as needed –
transporting surface water from one area to another; and
converting saltwater to freshwater (desalination - IS
EXPENSIVE)
– reducing unnecessary waste of freshwater
- There are three major problems with the
widespread use of desalination
increasingly expensive energy to desalinate water.
Pumping large volumes of seawater through pipes
and using chemicals to sterilize the water and keep
down algae growth kills many marine organisms and
also requires large inputs of energy to run the
pumps.
wastewater that must go somewhere.
- Desalination involves removing dissolved salts
from ocean water or from to increase supplies of
freshwater.
- That portion of surface runoff that we can generally
count on as a stable source of freshwater from year
to year is best described as reliable runoff
- A water resource that would be categorized as
nonrenewable would be confined aquifers
- The Ogallala is the world's largest known aquifer
(In some areas of the Ogallala aquifer, water is
being pumped 10 to 40 times faster than it is being
replenished)
- Aquifers are deep underground sources of
freshwater found between the porous geological
layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock.
- Ultimately, energy from the sun and gravity is
the source of energy that continually drives the
hydrologic cycle
- Virtual water is water that is not directly consumed
but is used to provide us with food and other
consumer products
- We can say that the United States has widespread
freshwater scarcity stress
- Worldwide, about 70% of the water withdrawn each
year is used for irrigation of croplands and
raising livestock
- In the western United States, as compared to the
eastern United States, the major water problem is
chronic drought and insufficient runoff
- Groundwater is cold, which slows down
decomposition rates
- Pollution prevention is the only effective way to
protect groundwater.
- Ways to prevent groundwater depletion
 Waste less water
 Subsidize water conservation
 Limit the number of wells
 Do not grow water intensive crops in dry areas
 NOT tax water pumped from wells near surface
waters
- It is most economically and environmentally sound
to focus water resource management on reducing
unnecessary waste of water
- Saltwater intrusion into freshwater (drinking
water) supplies can occur when groundwater is
withdrawn near saltwater bodies
- Conflicts within and between countries over
scarce water supplies is expected to be most
severe in the Middle East and part of Asia
- Solutions to the increasing problem with water
shortages in central and southern California include
reducing water waste by improving irrigation
efficiency, not growing water-thirsty crops in this arid
climate and raising the historically low cost of water
to encourage conservation
- According to the World Resources Institute, two-
thirds of the water that people use throughout the
world is unnecessarily wasted
- Flood irrigation results in 40% inefficient loss of
the water applied and it is the primary form of
irrigation used in China.
- Micro irrigation is the most efficient form of
irrigation
- According to water resource experts, the two main
causes of water waste are low cost of water to
users and lack of government subsidies for
improving the efficiency of water use
- Dams are structures built across rivers to block
some of the flow of water.
• Dammed water usually creates a reservoir, a
store of water collected behind the dam.
• A dam and reservoir:
– capture and store runoff and release it as
needed to control floods.
– generate electricity (hydroelectricity).
– supply water for irrigation and for towns and
cities.
– provide recreational activities such as
swimming, fishing, and boating.
- According to the United Nations, from 30% to 60%
of all water supplied in all of the world’s major
cities in developing countries is lost through
leakage of water mains, pipes, pumps, and
valves
 - Install a water-saving toilet tank will help
to decrease the single greatest use of
domestic water in the United States
- Benefits of floods : provision of productive
farmland, refilling of wetlands, recharging of
groundwater, supporting biodiversity
- A flood happens when water in a stream overflows
its normal channel and spills into the adjacent area,
called a floodplain.
- To reduce flooding risks, an environmentalist is
most likely to choose floodplain management
- Floodplains, which usually include highly
productive wetlands, help to provide natural flood
and erosion control, maintain high water quality, and
recharge groundwater.
- Floods and droughts are influenced by human
activities
- Humans increase the likelihood of flooding by
building on wetlands, draining wetlands, removing
water-absorbing vegetation, building levees
- Human activities is thought to be directly linked
to why the damage from Hurricane Katrina was
so devastating to the city of New Orleans: The
degradation or removal of coastal wetlands in
the region
- Actions that the country of Bangladesh is
implementing to adapt to sea level rises due to
climate change : using varieties of rice that can
better tolerate flooding, shifting to new crops such as
maize, building small ponds that can collect
monsoon rainwater to be used for irrigation during
dry periods, creating a network of earthen
embankments to protect against high tides
- Nonpoint sources of water pollution : livestock
feedlots, urban lands, Croplands, parking lots
(except offshore oil wells)
- Nonpoint sources are broad, diffuse areas, rather
than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of
surface water or air. (Difficult and expensive to
identify and control discharges from many
diffuse sources)
- Point source of pollution : oil tankers
- Point sources discharge pollutants at specific
locations through drain pipes, ditches, or sewer lines
into bodies of surface water. (easy to identify,
monitor, and regulate)
- One class of pollutants that can cause excessive
growth of algae is plant nutrients
- Nitrates and phosphates are examples of plant
nutrients
- Acids, salts, and metals are examples of inorganic
chemicals
- Sediment such as soil or silt decrease(s)
photosynthesis in bodies of water
- An oxygen sag curve occurs when the
breakdown of biodegradable wastes by bacteria
lowers the available oxygen in the water for
organisms with high oxygen requirements.
- Developments of cultural eutrophication would
occur last : increase in anaerobic bacteria
- About one-third of the 100,000 medium to large
lakes in the U.S. suffer from cultural
eutrophication.
- Assume you are vacationing by a small lake, where
you intend to do some fishing. When you arrive at
this lake, you notice a slight sulfur smell. Which
phase of cultural eutrophication does this sulfur
smell indicate? Anaerobic bacteria are
decomposing the aerobic organisms.
- The practice of suspending rust particles in
contaminated water, and then drawing out the rust
with hand-held magnets, has been effective in
dealing with arsenic contaminated water
- Arsenic is released into drinking water from
mining refuse
- Aquatic ecosystems receives the vast majority of
the global inputs of pollution: coastal parts of
the ocean.
- Aquatic ecosystems is most capable of diluting,
dispersing, and degrading large amounts of
sewage, sludge, and oil : deep-water ocean
- The majority of the oil pollution of the ocean
comes from runoff from land
- Type of sewage treatment are properly matched :
secondary--removal of oxygen-demanding
wastes
- The shift to pollution prevention will most likely
be the result of bottom-up political pressure
- The main sources of lead, mercury and arsenic
water pollutants are inclined landfills, household
chemicals, mining refuse and industrial
discharges
• Preventing oil pollution:
– Use oil tankers with double hulls.
– More stringent safety standards and inspections
could help to reduce oil well blowouts at sea.
– Businesses, institutions, and citizens in coastal
areas should prevent leaks and spillage of even the
smallest amounts of oil.
COMPLETION
1. When a lot of water is pumped from an aquifer, or when
there is a dry spell, the water table sinks lower.
2. Eutrophication is the name given to the natural nutrient
enrichment of a shallow lake.
3. Withdrawing massive amounts of groundwater can
cause a condition called land subsidence
4. Subsidies keep the price of water so low that users do
not worry about wasting water.
5. About 50% of the freshwater used in the United States
is unnecessarily wasted.
6. Human activities can greatly accelerate the rate at
which nutrients and organic substances enter aquatic
ecosystems from their surrounding watersheds in a
process called cultural eutrophication.
7. Spaces in rock and soil called the zone of saturation
are completely filled with water.
8. The LifeStraw is a portable water filter that eliminates
many bacteria and viruses that are drawn nto it.
9. Groundwater is slower to cleanse itself of contaminants
than flowing surface water is.
List at least five things you are willing to do to help
eliminate water waste. As part of your answer explain
why these things are important.
- Use water-saving showerheads, toilets, and faucet
aerators.
-Take short showers, and shower rather than take baths.
- Repair household water leaks.
- Replace lawn with native plants that use little water.
- Water lawns only in early a.m. or evening.
- Use drip irrigation and mulch for gardens and flowerbeds.
Water pollution may disrupt human life to a great extent. It
is highly important to take steps forward to prevent water
pollution.
Prevention of Water Pollution
1. Sewage treatments: The household water should be
treated properly so that they become environmentally safe.
Adequate care should be taken to ensure that effective
sewage treatment process is in place and that
contaminated water does not get mixed with the
environment. in order to prevent water pollution, human
and animal excreta should be prevented from mixing with
its sources. Construction of pit toilet and proper sewage
treatments can offer some solution to this problem.
2. Prevent river water to get polluted: The flowing water
of the river cannot be cleaned easily by natural process.
Since, a large number of external substances are
discharged into the water, the river water becomes
polluted. This may cause diseases to the people using
river water. Thus, every effort should be made to prevent
the river water to get contaminated. People should not be
allowed to throw wastes into the river water.
3. Strict adherence to water laws: Laws and legislation
relating to pollution should be strictly followed by all.
People should be made aware that adherence to water
laws are in their own interest.
4. Treatment of drainage water: It cities, a huge amount
of water is put into drains every day. The water that flows
through the city drainage system should be properly
treated. Harmful pollutants be removed, before they are
introduced into reservoirs. If this water allowed going into
water reservoirs without treatment, it will pollute them.
5. Public Awareness: Common public should be aware
about the effect of water pollution. Voluntary organization
should go door-to-door to educate the people about
environmental problems. They should perform street plays
for creating awareness about the environment. They
should run environmental education centers. Students can
impart health education to enable people to prevent water
pollution
CHAP 13 ENERGY
TRUE/FALSE
1. There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil, and
natural gas.
3. The world's dependence on fossil fuels has been
increased through subsidies and tax breaks that support
fossil fuel processors (oil companies).
4. It has been estimated that using nuclear power will
require more energy than it will ever produce.
5. Nuclear power is now the world's fastest-growing energy
source.
6. The United States wastes almost none of its energy.
7. Photovoltaic cells do not produce any of the greenhouse
or acid gas emissions associated with electricity generated
by the combustion of fossil fuels.
8. A spent fuel rod that has been removed from a nuclear
power plant reactor core is essentially safe from
radioactivity after a period of about 10 years.
9. None of the three worst nuclear power plant accidents
occurred in the United States.
10. The most efficient and long-lasting light bulb available
today is the LED (light-emitting diode).
11. Microwave ovens use about the same amount of
energy as conventional ovens.
12. China plans to lead the world in relying on renewable
energy resources.
13. Reducing energy waste is a commendable activity, but
would not impact our energy supplies in any meaningful
way.
14. Sunlight reflected onto a “power tower” is a great idea
for collecting solar energy, but there is no way to store the
collected energy.
15. It has been estimated that capturing the wind’s energy
at the world’s best sites would only produce about 50% of
the electricity currently being used worldwide.
16. One of the disadvantages of liquid biofuels is that the
area where the crops are grown has to compete with areas
where food crops can be grown.
17. Brazil, the second largest ethanol producer, makes its
ethanol from the residue of sugar cane.
18. Geothermal fuels have lower carbon dioxide emissions
than fossil fuels.
About net energy
- Some forms of energy have a higher net energy ratio
than others.
- The useable amount of high-quality, useful energy
available from a given quantity of energy resource is called
its net energy yield.
- All forms of energy supply the same amount of net
energy yield. FALSE
- Both the first and second laws of thermodynamics govern
the use of fossil fuels and other energy resources.
- Only the first law of thermodynamics governs the use of
fossil fuels and other energy resources.
About PV cells
- Not only Google, but more than 75 schools and colleges
in California have parking lots covered with canopies of PV
cells
- Solar cells have no moving parts and are safe and quiet
- The U.S. government is the current global leader in
photovoltaic production. FALSE
- Generating electricity with such solar cells could be
nearly as efficient as using coal-burning power plants
- Over the next one to two decades production of such
cells is expected to increase sharply
About geothermal power
- It provides a moderate net energy gain.
- It can be highly efficient at accessible sites.
- It releases more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. FALSE
- It has a low cost at accessible sites.
- There is a scarcity of suitable sites.
- Method of producing electricity have the lowest net
energy ratios: nuclear power and photovoltaics
- The statement that it takes high quality energy to get
high quality energy refers to the processes and fuel
required to extract and refine some energy sources
- The energy source with the highest net energy ratio for
space heating is passive solar
- Net energy is the total useful energy from an energy
resource minus the amount of energy used and wasted in
producing it
- The energy source with the highest net energy ratio for
transportation is natural gas
- World oil supplies and prices are expected to be
controlled long-term by OPEC
- Tar sands contain large supplies of heavy oils
- Tar sand processing requires large amounts of water
and also requires preliminary forest clear cutting.
- Bitumen is high-sulfur heavy oil
- Canada has the greatest tar sand deposits
- Liquefied petroleum gas consists of butane and
propane
- A process for extracting natural gas that is causing a
growing environmental problem involves hydraulic
fracturing of rocks and is called fracking
- The main problem with use of conventional natural gas
as a transportation fuel is the fact that not many fueling
stations exist at present
- The countries with the largest reserves of natural gas
are Russia, Iran, and Qatar
- Coal supplies 54% of the electricity generated in the
United States.
- The world's most abundant conventional fossil fuel is
coal
- The world's identified and unidentified coal reserves
should last at least 200 years at current usage rates.
- Coal-fired electricity energy produces the highest
amount of CO2 per unit of energy, when expressed as a
percentage of emissions released by burning coal directly
- The majority of commercial energy comes from
nonrenewable energy resources from the earth’s crust
- In 2009, the President of the United States requested
that the Congress cut off funding for the Yucca
Mountain radioactive waste storage facility while other
shorter-term alternative are evaluated
- Light-water reactors generate about 85% of the
world’s nuclear-generated electricity.
- The useful operating life of today's nuclear power
plants is supposed to be 15–60 years.
- The purpose of generating steam within a nuclear
power plant reactor core is, like other energy producing
systems, to turn a turbine which generates electricity
- The office-home building of the Rocky Mountain
Institute except:
 Solar energy provides 90% of the household electricity.
 A central greenhouse in the building humidifies the
building and helps to heat it and purify the air.
 Except for office equipment power, the building draws a
little more electricity than a single 100-watt light bulb
would draw.
 Solar energy provides about 99% of the hot water used
in the building.
 EXCEPT The Institute’s heating bill is just less than $50
per year.
- The home of the Rocky Mountain Institute
demonstrates that energy efficient design and renewable
energy alternatives can work in cold climates
- 84% of the commercial energy used in the United
States is wasted
- 43% of the commercial energy used in the United
States is wasted unnecessarily
- If the hidden health and environmental costs of using
gasoline were included in the price of gas as a tax, the
actual cost in the United States would be $12.00 per
gallon
- The energy efficiency of buildings can be improved by
 replacing standard windows with energy efficient
windows
 plugging leaks
 using energy-efficient lighting
 using energy-efficient appliances
- We continue to waste energy rather than convert to
more energy efficient behaviors because: There is a
lack of substantial tax breaks for doing so and there is a
glut of artificially low costing fossil fuels are correct.
- The energy in the sunlight striking the earth for just 1
hour is enough to run the world’s economy for one year
- It is risky for companies to invest in renewable energy
because: Subsidies and tax breaks have to be renewed
by the government every few years.
- Advantages of solar heating include
 Cost is moderate
 Disturbance to land is very minimal or low
 Carbon dioxide emissions are very low
 Net energy is moderate to high
- Cooling a house in warm weather
 breezes from open windows
 window overhangs or awnings
 superinsulation and high-efficiency windows
 a light colored reflective roof
- Advantage of solar cells
 durable for 20 to 25 years
 moderate net energy yield
 easy expansion as needed
 little or no carbon dioxide emissions
- Cells that convert solar energy directly into electricity are
called photovoltaic cells
- The leading renewable energy source that is used to
produce electricity today is Hydropower
- Disadvantage of hydropower : There is a high
environmental impact from flooding land to form a
reservoir.
- In order, the largest wind power producers are: China,
United States, Spain, Germany, India
- Three states in the USA have the potential to provide
enough usable wind power to supply the entire country’s
electricity needs : North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas
- Solid biomass
 plantations can help restore degraded areas
 costs are moderate
 they are widely available in some areas
 they are possible to produce with no net carbon dioxide
increase
- The use of hydrogen gas would eliminate most of the
air pollution problems we have today because: When it
burns it combines with oxygen gas in the air to produce
water vapor.
- A soft energy path is one that relies on improving
energy efficiency and increasing the use of a variety of
renewable energy resources
COMPLETION
1.The quickest, cleanest, and cheapest way to provide
more energy is to reduce energy waste.
2.Nuclear power produces fewer pollutants than burning
coal, but is significantly more expensive and produces
radioactive wastes.
3.Large reserves of oil sands are located in Canada and
are now considered to be conventional oil reserves,
second only in size to those in Saudi Arabia.
4.Net energy is the only energy that really counts.
5.Although coal is a very plentiful fuel, when burned it
produces very high carbon dioxide emissions.
6.Wind is actually an indirect form of solar energy.
7.Producing steel from recycled scrap iron uses 75% less
energy than producing steel from virgin iron ore.
8.Using wind to produce electricity is an important step
toward sustainability.
9.The estimated proven reserves under Alaska’s North
slope would meet current world demand for oil for about 6
months or U.S. demand for less than 3 years.
10.Global peak production is the point in time when we
reach the maximum overall rate of crude oil production for
the whole world.
11.About 85% of the world’s proven crude oil reserves are
in the hands of government-owned companies.
12.About 44 % of the electricity used in the United States
is produced by burning coal.
13.The cleanest burning alternative among the fossil fuels
is natural gas.
14.The element thorium is said to be a safer radioactive
element that could be used in newer nuclear power plant
reactors.
15.Ultra-high voltage, digitally controlled smart grids 
would be more responsive to local and regional changes in
supply and demand of energy.  It is a colorless, odorless gas.
16.An example of an energy efficient window is a triple  It is highly toxic.
paned window.  It forms during the incomplete combustion of carbon-
17.A proposed program whereby owners of fuel-inefficient
vehicles pay higher fees and the revenue from those fees 
is given to owners of fuel-efficient vehicles is called the
fee-bate program.
18.Front loading washers are more efficient than top
loading washers.
19.Food riots in Mexico were caused by the decrease in
corn production in the United States when food crop land
was converted to producing corn for ethanol, biofuels.
ESSAY
List and briefly describe four widely used forms of
technology in our society that waste large amounts of
energy.
1. Incandescent light bulbs use only 5% of the electricity
they draw to produce light. The other 95% is lost as heat.
2. Motor vehicles with internal combustion engines waste
94% of the energy in the fuel they consume.
3. Nuclear power plants producing electricity for space
heating or water heating waste about 86% of the energy in
their nuclear fuel.
4. A coal-burning power plant wastes two-thirds of the
energy contained in the coal.
What five criteria must be met by new generation
nuclear reactors in order to be considered acceptable
by the experts?
1. It must be built so that a runaway chain reaction is
impossible.
2. Its fuel must be of the sort that cannot be used to make
nuclear weapons.
3. Its spent fuel must be easy to dispose of without
burdening future generations with radioactive waste.
4. Taking its entire fuel cycle into account, it must
generate a higher net energy yield than other energy
alternatives do, and compete in the open marketplace
without government subsidies, tax breaks, and loan
guarantees.
5. Its entire fuel cycle must generate fewer greenhouse
gas emissions than other energy alternatives.
CHAP 15
1.Chlorofluorocarbons are manmade compounds that
have been widely used as refrigerants and in spray
propellants and foam blowing.
2.The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere that
contains the protective ozone layer.
3.Primary pollutants are harmful chemicals emitted
directly into the air from natural processes and human
activities.
4.Photochemical smog is a mixture of primary and
secondary pollutants formed under the influence of UV
radiation from the sun.
5.The most dangerous type of skin cancer is malignant
melanoma.
6.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas used in foam
insulation and can cause irritation of the eyes, throat, skin,
and lungs.
7.Life as we know it could not exist without ozone in the
stratosphere.
8.Air pollution comes from human and natural sources.
9.The Environmental Protection Agency’s classification of
fine and ultra-fine particles refers to suspended
particulate matter.
10.The type of air pollution that is currently leading the list
of 18 sources of cancer risk is indoor air pollution.
11.Removing your shoes before entering your house can
help to reduce indoor pollution because it can help to
reduce inputs of dust, lead, pesticides
14.Permafrost has been referred to as a methane time
bomb because it could release such a high level of
methane into the atmosphere.
- The correct sequence of layers of the
atmosphere from innermost to outermost is
troposphere—stratosphere—mesosphere—
thermosphere
- If the Earth were an apple, the lower layer of the
atmosphere would be the thickness of the skin
- Most of Earth's weather occurs in the
troposphere
- The ozone layer is found in the troposphere
- Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the
atmosphere
- Natural source of air pollution : dust blown by
wind, Wildfires, Volcanoes, volatile organic
chemicals released by some plants
- Ozone is categorized as a secondary pollutant
- Ozone reduced resistance to colds and pneumonia
- Ozone is beneficial in the stratosphere but
harmful in the lower troposphere. Ironically,
human activities are causing ozone to decrease in
the stratosphere and increase in the lower
troposphere
- Carbon monoxide
It readily bio-accumulates and builds up in the fatty
tissues of many aquatic organisms. FALSE
containing materials.
It reacts with hemoglobin in red blood cells and
reduces the body's ability to transport oxygen.
- Both nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxideare
primary pollutants that eventually result in acid
deposition
- SPMs is most directly linked to increased
incidence of asthma and bronchitis
- Methane : a greenhouse gas/ produced by rice
paddies/ produced naturally by wetlands and
termites.
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) : Methane,
dry cleaning fluids, Benzene, industrial solvents
- Primary pollutants from burning coal include :
droplets of sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, suspended
solid particles
- Photochemical smog generally requires the
presence of nitrogen oxides, sunlight, volatile
organic compounds, heat
- Photochemical smog is formed when primary
pollutants interact with sunlight
- Photochemical smog is characteristic of urban
areas with many vehicles and a climate that is
warm, dry, and sunny
- Temperature inversions exacerbate pollution
problems.
- A sunny, warm, and dry climate is not a natural
factor that helps reduce air pollution
- The movement of air pollutants via evaporation
and winds from tropical and temperate areas to
polar regions is referred to as the grasshopper
effect
- Broad category called acid rain : acidic fog/ acidic
snow/ wet deposition/ dry deposition
- Acid deposition can affect forests by Leaching
out essential plant nutrients and Releasing ions that
are toxic to the trees
- Acid deposition is best classified as a regional
problem
- Acid deposition has been linked to contamination
of fish with mercury, leaching of calcium and
magnesium from soils, releasing ions of cadmium
and aluminum into the soils, weakening trees, so
they become more susceptible to other types of
damage
- Of the following strategies to reduce acid
deposition, the most effective is probably
implementing prevention approaches that reduce or
eliminate emissions
- According to WHO (World Health Organization)
and World Bank experts, indoor air pollution is the
world’s most serious air pollution problem
- The EPA's "four most dangerous indoor air
pollutants list" in developed countries : ultrafine
particles from emissions/ radon-222/ cigarette
smoke/ formaldehyde
- The people least vulnerable to air pollution are
adult males
- Formaldehyde is used in : particle board,
paneling, furniture stuffing, foam insulation
- Pipe insulation and vinyl ceiling and floor tiles may
be sources of asbestos
- Humans are protected from air pollution by
sneezing and coughing, mucus capturing small
particles, nasal hairs filtering out large particles and
tiny mucus-coated, hairlike structures called cilia
- Years of smoking and exposure to air pollutants
can contribute to the incidence of emphysema,
chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, asthma
- The indoor pollutant styrene
 It is found in carpets.
 It is found in plastic products.
 It causes kidney damage.
 It causes liver damage.
- The effectiveness of the pollution prevention
approach is best illustrated by the significant drop
in atmospheric lead
- An emissions trading policy tried on sulfur dioxide
cut U.S. emissions by 53%.
- Use emission-control devices would function as a
pollution reduction method for motor vehicles.
- Methods to prevent pollution from motor vehicle
emissions include improving fuel efficiency/ getting
older, more polluting cars off the road/ using mass
transit/ walking or biking
- Climate is determined by average weather
conditions.
- Best describes the Earth's average surface
temperature for the past 900,000 years: many
fluctuations of several degrees centigrade
- Tiny bubbles of ancient air found in ice cores, tree
rings, radioisotopes in rocks and fossils, layers of
soot trapped in ice cores has provided information
associated with past temperature changes
- Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
have been implicated in both increased global
warming and increased seawater acidity
- Melting land-based ice would make a greater
contribution to rising sea levels
- A warmer world is least likely to result in more
moderate weather
- In the arctic Temperatures have risen twice as fast as
the rest of the world during the past 50 years
- The projections on temperature-related deaths in
humans if our climate projections are accurate?
Cold-related deaths will decline, heat-related deaths
will increase.
- As oceans become more acidic, the shells of tiny sea
snails tend to dissolve. This is a concern because:
The snails are the base of a food web that supports
entire polar ecosystems.
- The threat of global warming can be addressed by
using energy more efficiently, reducing
deforestation, slowing population growth, shifting to
renewable resources
- Prevention approaches to global warming :
limiting urban sprawl/ shifting to renewable energy
sources/ improving energy efficiency and
transferring energy-efficiency and pollution-
prevention technologies to developing countries/
slowing population growth
- Chlorofluorocarbons are nontoxic
- CFCs take 11-20 years to reach the stratosphere.
- We can slow the rate of ozone hole-creation by
stopping production of ozone-depleting chemicals,
recovering and reusing ozone-depleting chemicals,
finding substitutes for CFCs
- Effects of ozone depletion : increased
photochemical smog, reduced crop yields, immune
system suppression. reduced phytoplankton
populations
- With immediate and sustained action to stop
production of all ozone-depleting chemicals: It
will take about 60 years for the earth’s ozone layer
to recover to 1980 levels.
CHAP 17
List seven things you can do to influence
environmental policy.
1. Become informed on issues.
2. Make your views known at public hearings.
3. Make your views known to elected officials.
4. Contribute money and time to candidates for office.
5. Vote.
6. Run for office (especially at the local level).
7. Form or join NGOs seeking environmental changes.
8. Support election reform that reduces the influence of
corporations and wealthy individuals.
COMPLETION
1.A(n) planetary management worldview assumes
that humans are dominant over all other species and
should therefore make environmental decisions based
on that dominance.
2.The goods and services produced by the Earth's
natural processes that support all life are called
natural capital/ natural resources.
3.The practice of including the estimated harmful
environmental and health costs of resource use in the
market price of goods and services is called full-cost
pricing.
4.Machines, equipment, and factories are examples of
manufactured resources/ manufactured capital
made from natural resources.
5.Taxes that discourage pollution are called eco-
taxes/ green taxes .
6.Understanding and evaluating our environmental
worldviews should be a(n) lifelong process.
7.Using the forces of the marketplace to encourage  They should be used primarily for protecting
businesses to reduce pollution and resource waste is biodiversity, wildlife habitats, and ecosystems.
called incentive-based regulation.  The American people deserve fair compensation for
8.Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank received the use of their property.
Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the use of microcredit  All users or extractors of resources on public lands
to assist millions of people in lifting themselves out of should be held responsible for damage they cause.
poverty.  No one should receive tax breaks for extracting
9.A guiding principle for environmental sustainability that resources on public lands.
advises us not to make decisions that cannot be reversed - According to the planetary management environmental
later if the decision turns out to be wrong is the worldview We should manage nature to meet our needs.
reversibility principle. - The belief that we are a part of, and totally dependent
10.Sport hunting and mining are not allowed in national on, nature is one of the principles of the environmental
parks, but they are allowed in national recreation areas. wisdom worldview
11.In 1969, the first law addressing environmental - According to the stewardship worldview We will
concerns was passed in the United States. This law is the probably not run out of resources, but they should not be
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). wasted.
16.Ecological and climate change tipping points are - Ecological tipping points are irreversible and should
irreversible and should never be crossed. not be crossed is an important component of
- Ecological economist views economic systems as environmental literac
subsystems of the biosphere that depend heavily on - Elements of the Sustainability Eight
irreplaceable natural resources  Reduce car use.
- The ecological economist believes that conventional  Buy or grow organic food.
economic growth will eventually become unsustainable  Reduce meat consumption.
because it will deplete natural capital.
 Buy locally grown food.
- The view that natural resources are important but not
- The concept of affluent people learning to live with less
indispensable is held by neoclassical economists
than what they are accustomed to is known as voluntary
- Goods and services are produced by natural, human,
simplicity
and manufactured capital
- The human activities with the greatest harmful impact
- The category of economist that has taken the middle
on the environment
ground in the debate about economic growth, and believes
 Food production
in fine-tuning economic systems and tools, is the
 Transportation
environmental economist
- Full-cost pricing would improve human health and  Overall resource use
involves making the market price approach the true cost of  Home energy use
economic goods
- Proponents of a tax shift that transfers taxes from income
and wealth to pollution and environmental degradation
point out that: It should be phased in over 10 to 20 years.
- Green taxes or ecotaxes
 can be administered by existing tax agencies
 help bring about full-cost pricing
 encourage businesses to develop environmentally
beneficial technologies
 discourage pollution
- The cap-and-trade program for regulating air pollutants
by the U.S. government is an example of incentive-based
regulation
- If a company changes from selling a product to eco-
leasing the product, we can say that: They are supporting
a service-flow economy.
- From the environmental perspective, it will help to
stabilize population growth in developing countries as soon
as possible because Poverty has numerous harmful health
and environmental effects and has been identified as one
of the four major causes of the environmental problems we
face.
- Poverty is usually defined as not being able to meet one's
basic economic needs
- Economic succession is something that occurs when
New and more innovative businesses replace older ones
that can no longer thrive under changing economic
conditions.
- Suggestions by Lester Brown and Paul Hawken for
making a transition to more environmentally sustainable
economies
 mimic nature
 reduce poverty
 use full-cost pricing
 use eco-labels on products
- The process by which individuals and groups try to
influence the decisions and policies of governments is
politics
- Gradual rather than destabilizing change in constitutional
democracies stems from both distribution of power among
federal, state, and local authorities and distribution of
power among different branches of government
- History shows that significant change is from the bottom
up
- Effective environmental leadership
 leads by working within the system
 leads by example
 leads by working within the government or
environmental arena
 leads by working for better solutions to environmental
problems
- A citizen-based global sustainability movement that is
emerging is comprised of a loosely connected worldwide
network of grassroots NGOs
- Militant environmental groups that use violence to
achieve their ends are opposed by most
environmentalists
- Many free-market economists, among others,
believe that all of these principles should govern
use of public lands