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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Planet Under Stress Chapter 31 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Companies Permission required for reproduction or display
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Outline Pollution Biological Magnification Acid Rain Ozone Hole Greenhouse Effect Reducing Pollution Preserving Non-Replaceable Resources Curbing Population Growth
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Pollution Air Pollution Major problem in world’s cities. - Industry and / or automobiles. Chemical Pollution Growth of heavy industry and overly casual attitude in industrialized countries. Agricultural Chemicals - Fertilizers, Pesticides, Herbicides. Biological Magnification
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Biological Magnification of DDT
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Acid Rain In mid-1950’s, power plants began to use tall smokestacks to release sulfur into winds where it would be dispersed and diluted. Simply exported problems - “Normal” rain pH is about 5.6. Some samples in US measured at 4.3. Solution is to capture and remove emissions prior to release. - Expensive - Polluter and Recipient loacated far apart.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Ozone Hole Realized in 1975 that the ozone shield was disintegrating. Culprit was chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). - Invented in 1920’s and used extensively as coolants and aerosol dispensers. Very stable, thus accumulate over time. Catalyze ozone (O 3 ) into diatomic oxygen (O 2 ) without being used up.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Ozone Hole Estimated 1% drop in ozone content leads to 6% increase in incidents of skin cancer.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Greenhouse Effect For over 150 years, our industrial society has been fueled by cheap energy, much of it obtained by burning fossil fuels. Produced carbon dioxide. - Allows radiant energy from sun into the atmosphere, but traps heat radiation. Greenhouse Effect Global warming thought to be occurring due to accumulation of greenhouse gases.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Greenhouse Effect
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Reducing Pollution Human activities are placing a severe stress on the global ecosystem. Failure of our economy to set a proper price on environmental health. - Indirect costs of pollution are not usually taken into account. Antipollution Laws Pollution Taxes
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Finding Other Sources of Energy In theory, nuclear power can provide plentiful, cheap energy. But several problems are also presented and must be overcome: Safe Operation Waste Disposal Security
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Preserving Non-Replaceable Resources Topsoil Lost at rate of centimeters per decade. - US has lost one-quarter of topsoil since 1950. Groundwater Seeped into underground reservoir slowly over last ice age 12,000 years ago.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Preserving Non-Replaceable Resources Biodiversity Over last 20 years, about half world’s tropical rain forests have been either burned for pasture or cut for timber. Pacific Northwest Old-Growth Forests are being cut at a phenomenal rate. - Potential benefits lost Food Source Medicinal Drugs
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Curbing Population Growth Since at least 1650, average human birthrate has remained steady at about 30 births per 1,000 people. Death rate has steadily declined to an estimated 9 deaths per 1,000 people. World population passed 6 billion in 1999. Massive movement toward urban centers. Most future growth will be in less- developed countries.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Human Population Growth Curve Copyright © McGraw-Hill Companies Permission required for reproduction or display
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Curbing Population Growth Population Growth Rate Declining In 1994 the world population growth rate and average number of children per woman were smaller than expected. - United Nations attributes decline to increased family planning efforts and increased economic power and social status of women.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Curbing Population Growth Slowing population growth will help sustain resources, but per capita consumption must also be addressed. Wealthiest 20% of world population accounts for 80% of world’s resource consumption. - Poorest 20% is responsible for only 1.3% of consumption.
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies What You Have To Contribute Environmental Problem Solving: Assessment Risk Analysis Public Education Political Education Follow-Through
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Review Pollution Biological Magnification Acid Rain Ozone Hole Greenhouse Effect Reducing Pollution Preserving Non-Replaceable Resources Curbing Population Growth
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Johnson - The Living World: 3rd Ed. - All Rights Reserved - McGraw Hill Companies Copyright © McGraw-Hill Companies Permission required for reproduction or display
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