Test 3

Question 1

ecosystem

Answer 1

any group of plants, animals, or non-living things interacting within their external environment

Question 2

sustainable

Answer 2

when the resources we use come back and are replenished

Question 3

anthropocene

Answer 3

new geological era, dominance of 1 species altering the earth

Question 4

pollution

Answer 4

a substance within an ecosystem that does not belong naturally including substances that don’t belong at all or the presence of a naturally occuring substance in such great quantities that the ecosystem can’t absorb it

Question 5

EROI

Answer 5

Energy return on investment, how much energy you get out of a source after accounting for the energy used to obtain it

Question 6

MTOE

Answer 6

Million tons of oil equivalent, measurement of energy consumption

Question 7

CFC

Answer 7

component of aerosols and refrigerants that were supposedly breaking up the ozone layer, banned in the Montreal protocol of 1987

Question 8

Cap and trade

Answer 8

trading of greenhouse gas limits to reduce climate change

Question 9

Laws of ecology

Answer 9

Everything is connected to everything else
Everything must go somewhere
Nature knows best
There is no such thing as a free lunch

Question 10

Tragedy of the commons

Answer 10

Since it’s open, get benefits and keep adding more

Unless there are regulations, everyone is going to lose

Question 11

Components of an ecosystem

Answer 11

Matter (organic and inorganic) FINITE
Energy INFINITE - sun
Time (takes time for recovery or decomposition)

Question 12

Precautionary principle

Answer 12

when there is strong evidence of a problem and its causes act now and don’t wait for 100% approval

Question 13

spaceship earth

Answer 13

earth is enclosed, we only have so much to live with and we have to make it work

Question 14

common pool resources

Answer 14

everyone has access to them
Atmosphere and oceans
Problem: tragedy of the commons

Question 15

North/South Dilemma

Answer 15

North got rich because we industrialized

South wants to catch up and industrialize - being told they can’t because the world won’t be able to handle it

Question 16

free rider problem

Answer 16

People who don’t try benefit from other people’s hard work
Tendency of states not wanting to hurt their economy by changing policies because other states are doing a fine job with it
States may want to do it from pressure to cooperate, but voters at home may not like it

Question 17

areas with highest population

Answer 17

asia

Question 18

highest pop growth

Answer 18

underdeveloped countries like nigeria

Question 19

demographic transition

Answer 19

a change in the pattern of population growth and distribution

Question 20

demographic transition theory

Answer 20

proposes that there is a predictable pattern to population growth as a country develops

Question 21

Population control arguments

Answer 21

One argument is that poverty and economic injustice are the problems, not population(people are not miserable bc there are too many of us, but bc they aren’t getting the resources others are getting)
The opposing side says population is the problem. No matter how much we increase production or better distribute resources, our efforts will always be outstipped bu the exponential curve of population growth

Question 22

population growth for future

Answer 22

going to keep rising but the birth rate is looking to continue decreasing from access to contraception, women in the workforce, and urbanization (majority of people in cities and there isn’t enough room)

Question 23

why did pop stay low before industrial revolution

Answer 23

because children were dying before they could reproduce, then medicine came that kept them alive

Question 24

low growth rate causes

Answer 24

low in industrialized areas and high in non-industrial because the women aren’t educated or working in developing countries and they also don’t really have access to birth control or abortion options

Question 25

carrying capacity and limits

Answer 25

the number of a species that an ecosystem can support We can overcome this by sending food to famine stricken areas, move if we need to, and we have the technology to expand food production Limits: Food Finite arable land (can destroy forests for more or make land more productive with intensified agriculture) Oceans being overfished Loss of species Natural disasters can wipe out a crop Finite drinking water Limited absorption capacity

Question 26

Modes of human survival

Answer 26

Foraging: low populations only, most in balance with environment Pastoralism: domestication of herds, supports slightly larger populations but still small and migratory, more environmentally damaging Agriculturalism: supports large, dense, sedentary populations, still more damaging Industrialism: production of goods through technologies that rely on fossil fuels, includes intensified agriculture, only known survival strategy that could support current population, most destructive and can’t go on

Question 27

Biodiversity, concentration areas, and benefits

Answer 27

the number and variety of living organisms in Earth Concentrated in forests of developing countries like Brazil, China, Ecuador, etc Benefits: lessens the vulnerability of crops, pharmaceutical product development

Question 28

Endangered species

Answer 28

whales, dolphins, sea turtles, elephants

Question 29

deforestation

Answer 29

caused by population pressures and poverty. Poor people rely on forests for fuel, shelter, agricultural land, and grazing their animals. Also caused by deliberate setting of fires, selective logging, economic development, commercial logging, and government policies

Question 30

sources of oil pollution

Answer 30

major oil spills, development of coastal areas, increased use of petroleum products, increase of shipping, rise of travel on cruise ships ****deliberate dumping of oil by ships and urban runoff****

Question 31

climate change history

Answer 31

raised concerns in 1965 but national security during the Cold War took precedence. Congress had meetings in 1980s and in 1988 a scientist told congress he was 99% certain the greenhouse effect was detected and already changing the climate. Then a research program started to study the human induced climate change

Question 32

acid rain

Answer 32

caused by burning coal

Question 33

water scarcity

Answer 33

a lack of secure, uninterrupted, long-term availability of adequate clean freshwater When a country that is extremely dependent on water coming from rivers or streams in another country perceives that its supplies are threatened, it could use military force to resolve the problem

Question 34

Military impact on climate

Answer 34

Came into light in Vietnam war after an herbicide defoliated the forests as part of strategy to deprive vietcong of forest cover Nuclear wastes, chemicals, and other toxic pollutants created long-term environmental problems

Question 35

fukishima

Answer 35

Other countries banned it all together and other plants were tested for emergency preparedness

Question 36

air pollution

Answer 36

Primary cause: combustion primarily associated with industrial activities Concerns: human health, wildlife health, crop damage, forest destruction, ozone layer/climate change International actions: mostly bilateral, specific, and limited to only pollutants in that area

Question 37

water pollution

Answer 37

Primary causes: agriculture (fertilizer, pesticides), industry (point source), sewage, urban runoff, landfills Concerns: human health (immediate effects), water quantity for drinking, biodiversity International action: many bilateral treaties

Question 38

haz waste

Answer 38

Chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals, radioactive compounds Sources: mining and chemical industry Where to put them? Made it illegal to put them in oceans, landfills, or to burn them, so we exported them to poorer countries Basel Convention: Haz waste is tracked closely and in a recent amendment now rich can’t export to poor countries

Question 39

why do we use fossil fuels

Answer 39

good energy source because their EROI is very high and used to be super easily accessible, now we don’t want to get rid of it because we have made so many machines that run off of it that we would have to completely overhaul

Question 40

highest EROI sources

Answer 40

Hydroelectricity Reliable without so much pollution, but probably won’t grow Dams are very harmful and there are only so many places where it will work Coal: Cheap, there’s a shit ton of it Harmful emissions and coal has flatlined Wind: Cost is declining and in some places is outcompeting gas Wind doesn’t always blow though

Question 41

lowest EROI sources

Answer 41

Nuclear: Provide just a tiny sliver of consumption moving forward No carbon emissions, but safety concerns if things go wrong and nothing to do with the radioactive waste Solar: Has made major advances in coast and storage and as long as you have a sun you have energy Bio mass: Production of energy through plants Takes food sources away and is inefficient Lots of research going into this

Question 42

threats to ocean

Answer 42

Overfishing, plastics, coastal pollution, habitat destruction, acidification, warming

Question 43

law of sea (UNCLOS)

Answer 43

Features: Exclusive economic zones 200 miles off of continental shelf Protection for highly migratory species Party states bound to prevent and control marine pollution and are liable for damage 12 miles out is territorial sovereignty Deep seabed mining disputes heard by an international tribunal when zones overlap Current Issues: China’s action in South China Sea (artificial islands) Russian claims to Arctic sea (gives north pole and mineral deposits)

Question 44

points from lethal seas

Answer 44

Coral reefs are home to ¼ of ocean life and a key resource of survival for humans Impacts of acidity: larvae can’t grow shells and can die, coral bleach, species move out, fish change in behavior Impacts in antarctic waters: CO2 absorbed more in colder waters, tetrapods could be wiped out with thin shells and could cause dire effects Big extinction events used to be caused by rapid events, now it’s more slow with the rising acidity Rapid pace of acidity is causing evolution to not be able to keep up

Question 45

humanity's water-related challenges are being driven by ___

Answer 45

all of the above

Question 46

the lion's share of the water consumption is for __

Answer 46

agriculture

Question 47

second article in PR 7 points out that air pollution ___

Answer 47

is often a drag for economic growth

Question 48

the American "energy renaissance" refers to

Answer 48

massively increased oil and gas production, largely from shale-rock formations

Question 49

the costs of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar

Answer 49

are rapidly falling

Question 50

what activity accounts for most of humanity's total water consumption? PR 7

Answer 50

agriculture

Question 51

pollution and economic growth/why China's war on pollution PR 7

Answer 51

China has been slowing in economic growth, and pollution has been a major drag on growth and the nations GDP, forcing them to switch to sources of power which are more renewable.

Question 52

coral reefs, bleaching events PR 8

Answer 52

The time between bleaching events in coral has shrunk to a factor of about 5. They used to have 20-30 years to recover, and now they only have about 5-6. This is too short of a time period for the coral to cope. The temperature spike cause them to bleach. Experts say we must reduce gases in the atmosphere (reduce climate change) and avoid damaging reefs with things like overfishing. They also suggest breeding heat resistant coral.

Question 53

extent of biodiversity loss/threats to nature PR 8

Answer 53

It is said 30% of the biodiversity was lost and that will increase to 40% in the next 10 years in the Americas. The biggest threats to nature are habitat destruction and climate change. Suggested solutions are to just realize what is going on and create a policy to reduce climate change and habitat destruction. At regional and global levels.

Question 54

ozone layer depletion area and the montreal protocol PR 8

Answer 54

It is near lower latitudes which is where vast majority of humans live. Implications are. There could be a change in stratospheric circulation. There’s also a possibility that a new class of chlorine-containing chemical compounds not limited by the Montreal Protocol, dubbed “very short-lived substances,” could be contributing to the problem. The problem with the montreal protocol is it doesnT cover all the ozone depleting substances.

Question 55

paris agreement PR 8

Answer 55

Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity and although president trump withdrew from it, it won’t be official until 2020. The people are still acting as if the Paris Agreement is still in place though.

Question 56

IFCC

Answer 56

Intergovernmental panel on climate change with over 2,000 worldwide scientist from many different scientific fields. They say climate change is “unquivocal” and have 95% confidence that it is caused by humans

Question 57

UNFCCC

Answer 57

Took until 2009 to agree that (2 degrees C/ 3.6 degrees faranheit) increase since pre industrialization was a dangerous level. They say developed nations will act first.

Question 58

Kyto Protocol

Answer 58

Created binding targets but China and India were exempt. It fell through in 2012

Question 59

carbon budget

Answer 59

If you dont want a 2 degree C, dont exceed 1 trillion tons. It is expected to be exceeded in 30 years

Question 60

Paris Accord

Answer 60

In 2015 they moved the target to 1.5 degrees C, and includes both developed and developing countries.