Week 6 - ENV 110 - Environmental Sciences I - LibGuides at Hostos Community College Library

Pollution

Readings

Chapter 15: Land
The concept of land use, seems at first glance a simple and straightforward subject on the surface. Humans use land to build cities where they live and work. They use land for growing crops and raising livestock for food. Forestland provides fuel for energy and lumber for building. Humans use land for play and set some of it aside as exclusive wildlife habitat. But no matter how land is used by humans and other living species, humans ultimately decide how land is used. Given the nature of humans, land use involves a complex interplay of environmental parameters, economic needs and often politics.
Chapter 16: Air, Water, & Soil
Human activities release a variety of substances into the biosphere, many of which negatively affect the environment. Pollutants discharged into the environment can accumulate in the air, water, or soil. Chemicals discharged into the air that have a direct impact on the environment are called primary pollutants. These primary pollutants sometimes react with other chemicals in the air to produce secondary pollutants.
Chapter 17: Solid Waste
Solid waste (or trash) is a human concept. It refers to a variety of discarded materials, not liquid or gas, that are deemed useless or worthless. Learning effective ways to reduce the amount of wastes produced and to recycle valuable resources contained in the wastes is important if humans wish to maintain a livable and sustainable environment.
Chapter 18: Impact on Human Health
When environmental conditions are degraded such that the range of tolerance is exceeded, there will be a significant impact on human health. Our industrialized society dumps huge amounts of pollutants and toxic wastes into the earth's biosphere without fully considering the consequences. Such actions seriously degrade the health of the earth's ecosystems, and this degradation ultimately affects the health and well-being of human populations.

Additional Materials

Energy for lighting, heating and cooling our buildings, manufacturing products, and powering our transportation systems comes from a variety of natural sources. The earth’s core provides geothermal energy. The gravitational pull of moon and sun create tides. The sun emits light, which creates wind, powers the water cycle, and enables photosynthesis. Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria utilize solar energy to grow and create biomass that can be burned and used for biofuels... Over the course of millions of years, biomass from photosynthetic organisms can create energy-rich fossil fuels through the geologic process of burial and transformation through heat and pressure.

Air Pollution

Gaseous air pollutants are emitted from various natural sources, such as volcanoes and forest fires. However, anthropogenic emissions of some gases may be greater than the natural ones, and are increasing because of population growth and industrialization... In this chapter, we examine the most important gaseous pollutants. Their sources of emission, chemical transformations, and toxicity are described, and Canadian case studies are used to demonstrate the ecological damages that may be caused.

Review case study available through course BlackBoard.

Assignment 2

How Much Air Pollution Do You Emit?

Attributions

Chapter 15, Land
Chapter 16, Air, Water and Soil
Chapter 17, Solid Waste
Chapter 18, Impact on Human Health
Source: AP Environmental Science by University of California, University of California College Prep
License: CC BY 2.0

Energy Source and Air Pollution
Source: Environmental Science by Sean Whitcomb, Maricopa Community Colleges
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Air Pollution
Source: Environmental Science by Dalhousie University
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License