Test 1 Flashcards
(32 cards)
What are the four spheres of Earth
Hydrosphere (water), biosphere (green of Earth), atmosphere (clouds), and lithosphere (major plates of Earth)
What is delta S
Change in stock
what is residence time and the equation to calculate it
Average time a substance spends in a reservoir. Equation is the reservoir divided by flow in OR out. Only meaningful if the flow in is about equal to the flow out
What is a non-excludable resource
A resource that you can’t stop people from over consuming even if barriers to entrance are put in place
What is a rival resource
When use by one person makes less of the resource available to others
What does a rival and non-exludable resource make and what is an example of one
Makes a common property open access resource. For example, fisheries
What is the tragedy of the commons
When conscientious users get less, while those exploiting the resources get more resulting in a lack of incentive to conserve thus, the resource is over-exploited
What is a non-rival resource
When use by one person does not take away from someone else’s use of the resource
What are the features of a public good
Non-excludable and non-rival
What are the features of a common good
Non-excludable and rival
How is a public good different from a common good
Because it is non-rival, society can simultaneously benefit from a public good without drawing it down
What are the problems associated with a public good
people over use the public good because they benefit from it but don’t help create it because it is too costly
What are externalities
The “bad” behavior that degrades the commons or public good
What are some ways to solve externality problems
Educate public so they voluntarily avoid bad behavior and attach a cost to the “bad” behavior
How are aerosols removed from the atmosphere
rainfall
What was the solution that scientists made to the deafing knock that cars used to make
Adding lead to gas to make tetraethyl lead
What lead to Pattersons discovery that tetraethyl lead was dangerous
Was trying to date the Earth but kept getting the wrong answer leading him to discover that there was excess lead everywhere. Found that humans had 600x more lead in their bodies than normal
How does acid rain affect the environment
Causes damage to native vegetation and declines in native fish as well as displacing essential plant nutrients (Ca+2, K+2) from soil and mobilizing aluminum killing fish
What caused acid rain in the 19060s
Post WWII used a lot of electricity powered by coal. Burning coal released sulfur and nitrogen into the environment
What policy was passed to get rid of acid rain and was it effective
Clean Air Act which let polluters figure out the least expensive way to reduce their acid rain emissions. Fixed amount of acid that can go in the air and factories could “trade” pollution. Improved pH levels from 4 to 5 in 3 decades
What is the residence time of mercury
1-2 weeks
How can mercury become more lethal
It is released from the atmosphere to the ocean where it can reacts with bacteria to become methyl mercury
What is ASGM and how does it contribute to mercury levels
Artisinal and small-scale gold mining which burns mercury to get the gold it is bonded with
What are the types of ozone
troposhere (bad ozone) is the inner layer and hold in ozone and stratosphere (good ozone) that is the outer layer that blocks UV light
