Human Waste And Enviroment Flashcards
How does over population effect water?
Water pollution is caused by sewage and toxic chemicals from industries that can pollute lakes, rivers and oceans which affect plants and animals which need them for survival.
Chemicals used on land (e.g. fertilisers) can be washed into water.
How does the over population effect the air?
Smoke and gases are released into the atmosphere which causes global warming.
How does over population effect the land?
Humans use toxic chemicals for farming.
We bury nuclear waste underground.
Dumping household waste in landfill sites.
What are the 4 main activities human use up land for?
Building (houses, offices, etc)
Farming
Dumping waste
Quarrying (for metal ores)
Why do we use up more resources in modern times?
As people demand a higher standard of living and demand luxuries to make life easier (cars, phones, tvs). So we use more raw materials (like oil for plastics) but we also need more energy for manufacturing processes so we take up more resources more quickly.
What natural ways can carbon dioxide be stored?
Oceans, lakes and ponds.
Green plants where it’s stored as carbon compounds.
Peat blogs.
The temperature of the Earth should be a balance between what?
The heat it gets from the sun and the heat it radiates back into space.
What do gases in the atmosphere do when heat energy from the sun is transmitted to earth?
Gases in the atmosphere naturally act like an insulating layer. They absorb most of the heat and re-radiate it in all directions.
What are the main greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming?
Methane and carbon dioxide
What is deforestation?
The cutting down of forests.
What are the reasons for deforestation?
To provide timber to use as building material.
To clear more land for farming (to provide more food or crops for biofuels)
To produce paper from wood
What are the main problems deforestation leads to?
Deforestation means more land for cattle and rice which both produce methane so more methane is released into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when trees are burnt, to clear land.
Cutting down so many trees means the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis is reduced.
Reduces biodiversity as habitats and species are destroyed during deforestation.
What is biodiversity?
The variety of different species in a habitat.
What are peat bogs?
Bogs are acidic, waterlogged areas of land.
Plants can’t fully decay there as there isn’t enough oxygen so the partly-rotted plants build up to form peat.
Why does destroying peat bogs add to the greenhouse effect?
Because the carbon from the plants is stored in the peat not released into the atmosphere so when they are drained peat starts to decompose so carbon dioxide is released.
