AP Environmental Science e² video design “Super Use” questions

On Mar 13, 2012, at 4:36 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

1. Do you recognize the recycling station in the Netherlands? (hint: think locally)

It is the Waimea dump!

2. Why are architects uniquely crucial in the video?

Architects are needed to put the building materials together into a workable building. The challenge is unique because it isn't architects that request materials to build their vision of a building; they must work with what they have to create a building.

3. What recycled materials do you recognize in the espresso bar?

The walls are all made of washing machine fronts. The stools are old beer kegs.

4. What did you think of the shoe store? Would you shop there? Why?

The shoe store looks very unique, with a circular interior.. the treadmill at the center is definitely a nice touch. I probably wouldn't shop there, because I am not a shoes person.
--even with the cute Vietnamese lady there?

5. What can you imagine using 6 billion tires per year for?

All that tire represents lots of rubber that can be reused, potentially as new road tar, bumpers for docks, playground equipment, and whatnot.

hard to re-form, saws are costly, any ideas?

6. There is a "gimmicky" aspect of these projects-how practical are they, and what special intelligence must be involved in any project? How does this compare to traditional projects?

The idea of recycling everything for a new building isn't scalable - if everyone started to build like this, there wouldn't be enough material to go around. Also, it is possible forget the point of constructing a new building - it must be fulfill its function, whether as a home, a workplace, or a store. In the video, the architects forgot the kitchen, which is arguably an important part of a house! Traditional projects plan the building first, and then request materials after - this reverses it, by forcing architects to work with the materials they have, then design a building after.
right, but it might impact the creation of certain materials, and/or their packaging...

7. What is the "harvest method"?

Harvest method is the way by which architects obtain the building materials for the project. Typically they scour nearby areas such as dumps or recycling centers for usable materials, as proximity plays a large part in determining what is used for a given construction project.

8. What are the health aspects of using recycled materials? Why is it easier to use new materials from this aspect?

Some recycled materials may pose a health hazard - for example, asbestos insulation cannot be used now because of dangers associated with the thin fibrous crystals. Recycled wood, especially if used outdoors, may be treated with chemicals that are toxic when it evaporates. New materials are able to clear regulations easier in this aspect.

9. Quantity, standardization and ease of use are cited-why?

Enough material must be available for it to be used in a project - for example, the espresso bar used washing machine fronts for nearly all the surfaces. The architects tend to not mix materials for the same surface type, hence standardization. Ease of use comes to play, because the way in which material is reused must not be gimmicky or otherwise inconvenience the customer.

scalability as well...

10. If "cradle to grave" reuse becomes more pervasive, could some materials be created with recycling in mind? What are you thinking of?

For example, imagine modular housing that takes advantage of standardized wall or window sections (think Minecraft's standardized "unit").

I LIKE THIS
An older building, instead of being demolished, would simply be disassembled, with wall units being taken apart for use in a future building.

11. How does the welpeloo project compare with the elab Living Building Challenge? Were any recycled materials used in the lab?

Welpeloo was designed from the ground up to make use of as much recycled material as possible. The Energy Lab was designed to be a sustainable building, which is not quite the same thing. Some articles the the lab were recycled, such as the bathroom fixtures salvaged from another building or picnic tables made from leftover wooden beams, but that was not the primary intent behind the lab's construction.

right, there are two topics here: recycling from other construction, and re-use of your own construction...see?

12. Rotterdam was completely demolished in the second world war, as was Dresden and several other European cities. Architects love the architecture of Chicago. What do these three cities have in common, and what opportunities do they present?

All three cities faced widespread burning and destruction at one time or another in their history, which presented an opportunity to rebuild the cities in a logical way.

with no prescribed paths...

13. What does "cheaper" really mean in the broadest sense?

It is less costly for everyone involved, from the production process to distribution to eventual recycling.

globally cheap, the miles, the materials, the CO2, remember?

14. Why is "close by" important?

Proximity is important in terms of reducing carbon emissions from things like transportation costs. Recycling does not make much sense if materials have to be shipped from overseas when there are sustainable solutions nearby, even though they may be new.
food miles again...
nice work
aloha
b

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AP Environmental Science e² video transportation “Portland: A Sense of Place” questions

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 10, 2012, at 8:57 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

1. Portland was on the path of suburban sprawl in the 1960's. What happened?

Portland was on the same path as most American cities in the post-war boom: rapid urban development around the automobile leading to the upper and middle class moving out into suburbs and a gradual abandonment of the city center to the poor and parking lots. City planners recognized this and in response, passed laws which stopped the development of sprawls around the area.

2. 1973 was a pivotal year there, what happened?

The land use planning law in Oregon changed to mandate each city to define a specific UGB. This was to prevent further development of sprawl revitalization of city centers.

3. What was the initial reason for the mandate?

The initial reason was to protect Oregon's farmland, which was being encroached on by expanding urban (and suburban) areas.

4. Explain a UGB.

In contrast to smart bombs, a UGB is an unguided bomb… I mean, UGB stands for urban growth boundary, which is a boundary that limits where urbanization can happen. This promotes urban growth within the line, while preserving farmland and forests outside of the line.

5. Accessibility vs. mobility is the choice they made, like in Switzerland, as well as other European cities. What do you see in the video that you might also see in Europe?

There are light rail lines, wide sidewalks, and bicycle lanes in the city center, similar to European cities that have chosen to develop around a pedestrian-centric model.

6. Who is the first class passenger in Portland?

The pedestrian!

7. Cities in Europe have vibrant city centers, and are great cities to walk around. How is this done in Portland?

Portland has an efficient and far-reaching public transportation network that promotes walking by ensuring that whatever can't be reached on foot can be accessed by bus or light rail. Downtown is also pedestrian-oriented - crosswalks have comfortable timing and sidewalks are wide and easy to use.

8. Explain "trip behavior".

Trip behavior is the mentality that an urban resident will take to get to their destination - in Portland, most will shun cars to either walk or take public transit.

9. How much did property values increase in the Pearl district after the trolley went in? Why? (note the amount of glass in each trolley). http://www.explorethepearl.com/

Property values in the Pearl district went up four times after the trolley went in. This is because land investors and developers can be assured of their permanence - unlike buses, tracks represent a firmer commitment to continued public transport access.

Good
Also, passengers watched the stores going by...advertising

10. Where in Europe do they also have aerial trams? Notice a trend?

Tramways can also be found in Italy, Germany, and Sweden, places that are hilly or mountainous and otherwise hard to build ground level transit systems.

11. Explain "lifestyle migrants".

Lifestyle migrants are people who move to a new city because they want a new lifestyle - such as those who move to Portland because they want to avoid the suburban, automobile-oriented way of life common to most American cities.

Good, or they like a certain lifestyle in both places...Minneapolis got crowded...

12. What is "gentrification"? Where else have you seen this? (hint: look up the term "landed gentry")

Gentrification are changes that happen when the wealthier upper class move into property previously occupied by the working class. This leads to economic development and an accompanying rise in property tax and property values that follow reductions in crimes. Gentrification happened in Waikoloa, which used to be home for many hotel employees before they were displaced.


Good. Heard of the term landed gentry?

British nobility, or Pride and Prejudice...

13. What things in the video do you recognize that show a bike friendly city?

Bicycle lanes, no freeways and highways in the city center, narrower streets, wide sidewalks, public transport that allow bicycles to be brought onboard.

Opposite of Los Angeles ...

14. What does the man mean about a "burlap future"?

People have the impression that commitment to sustainability is committing to a "burlap future" - that is, instead of wearing silk, we would all be wearing burlap. This is an analogy for the false idea that sustainability means giving up current standards of living, which most certainly is not true (only if my house looked like the Energy Lab!).

Perhaps it will be better...

15. How does the concept of choice resonate with values in this country? What do you think?

Freedom means choice, for people to get to pick the choices they want because it is better. I think most people will pick better choices when they are given them - this is true too with regards to public transportation, to use mass transit instead of driving an automobile.

With freedom comes responsibility, something many Americans don't like to face...

Excellent work, I'll get to work on the video now...
Aloha
B

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AP Environmental Science e² video design “The Green Apple” questions

On Mar 7, 2012, at 4:55 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

Jeffrey Sachs is seeking a job as the head of the World Bank. Don't think I've seen him before though..

Nouriel Roubini is an American economist who is known for predicting the collapse of the housing market in the United States and the recession. He is currently predicting that the Greek financial crisis will drag down the Euro if they do not leave the Eurozone.

Check out his name and e2 together...

He also made a talk on green energy recently.

1. Are cities like NYC greener than rural or suburban living? Explain.

Cities are actually greener than rural or suburban areas because everything is so densely packed together. People are able to walk to work, ride their bikes to work, or even take public transportation. Similarly, the cost to deliver items is lower because there is less distance between people.
economies of scale?

More economical, as a result.

2. What are the comparable health impacts of living in rural vs. urban areas?

People in urban areas are actually healthier because they are able to walk to places that they need to. Rural residents generally are only able to drive places they need to go because everything is so spread apart.

3. What opportunities do large buildings present for green building? How do these differ from smaller more distributed buildings?

Buildings use more energy than anything else in the United States.

how much?

I think it's like upwards of 40%?

Large buildings are able to harvest rainwater, solar energy, and waste water and energy to cycle back into the building for further recycling and use. Smaller, distributed buildings are unable to do this because the system needs to be continuous, which require single structures for recycling mechanisms.

harder to develop integrated infrastructure, systems...

4. What are the different ROI and TCO numbers for green urban structures? Why?

The ROI for a green building is around five years. The TCO depends on the building itself and what it is used for, but generally, savings can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in ownership or more. A green building will typically command a 30% premium price over a non-LEED building due to their economic benefits,

5. Note that 4Times square uses "fly ash" which is coal residue from power plants. Why is this illegal to use in Europe?

European building standards take into consideration what will happen to building materials when it is broken down. In this case, fly ash may present a health hazard as a particulate matter, which is why its use is regulated in Europe.

nope, mercury and other heavy metals are in there-it comes from coal, see?

6. Why is "people cost" so crucial? What does this mean?

"People cost" means keeping the people inside happy. This cost is important because it is the people that are funding the buildings, and to have people happier because of it is worth it in terms of the added cost of making a building "green".

7. Is it conceivable that buildings could be the air cleaners for large cities? How?

Buildings can be built with particulate filtration system. That is, it takes in air, filters it, and then pumps out clean air into the city. 4 Times Square is a prime example of this.
good

8. The Solaire apartments sold out at a premium: was this just marketing, or something else? What is that "deeper thing"?

The premium covered the added cost of building green. Partly it was marketing, yes, but the marketing reflected a trend, a desire for something deeper. The deeper desire is the fundamental belief that we can make the world a better place, that sustainability is not out of reach, and for many people, living in green spaces is part of that.

like the elab, it's a nice feeling to be in something that does not smell, is quiet, and uses resources wisely...
you agree?
b

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 10 week questions

thanks
b

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 16, 2012, at 11:03 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

This is Mariko and I's submission for the week!

1. Is freshwater a "renewable" resource? Explain.

Freshwater is a renewable resource to the extent of the water that returns back into the water supply; water that is contaminated, polluted, or evaporated permanently from the system is considered to be consumed from the system and used.

2. What drives the hydrologic cycle?

The sun, and a liitle bit of capillary action.

3. Explain why residence time and pollution are related.

Residence time is the time it takes for water to trickle through the ground before it enters groundwater. The problem is that in places with high residence time, it takes a long time to detect pollution in water because it may take up to fifty years after the pollution has entered the water before it will be detected.

4. Floods kill crops, even though plants require water-why?

Plants also require air. Water will drown the plants.

5. We discussed "flux", called "discharge" in the text. How is this measured?

Flux is defined as the area of the water multiplied by its velocity.

6. The Ogallala aquifer flows south. Explain the various concerns with this aquifer.

The Ogallala Aquifer covers over four states from north to south. With water flow going south, any contaminant or pollution entering the aquifer in the north will be in the water if it is being drawn from the wells south of the origin of pollution.

7. The "Heat" video described the glaciers as "free water storage" for the planet. Where else would you see this, and why is climate change so critical to this?

Trees are carbon stores. The ice caps are also water storage; global warming is threatening to raise sea levels because their melting of the ice caps will release all that trapped water.

8. Discern between water withdrawal and consumption. What are the trends of each today?

Water withdrawal is the amount of water taken from a water body; this water is can be replenished and cycled back into the system. Water consumption is the loss of water caused by evaporation, absorption, or contamination. Today, the trend is increasingly towards water consumption, with the majority of it going towards agriculture.

9. "Water wars" are an ongoing issue in Palestine. Research this and explain.

Israel has been utilizing slant drilling to draw freshwater resources across the border in Palestine. The problem is that it now causes issues for farmers who try to irrigate using wells near the border; all the water will have been drained from the Israeli side.

10. Watersheds and wetlands are critical to human survival. Discern and explain.

Watersheds and wetlands hold water in, slowing down the traveling time and residence time of water during tropical storms.

11. Describe three steps you could take where you live to conserve water. Think outside the box.

Take shorter showers, install a solar pump that pumps hot water for instant gratification which makes sure that water isn't wasted when waiting for the heated water to come, and to use gray water for irrigation instead of freshwater.

12. The "poisoned waters" video described point source pollution. Explain how these differ from non-point-source pollution.

Point pollution are sources of pollution that can be traced to a specific location, such as a sewage pipe or a factory. On the other hand, nonpoint pollution don't have particular sources that can be identified. Nonpoint pollution is harder to control because they include runoff from farms, golf courses, construction sites, roads... where the single origin of the pollution is harder to trace.

13. Describe the trends in each pollutant on table 10.4 in the text.

The major trend for each pollutant is that they are all human-related to a large extent. Land erosion and manure can be considered natural occurrences, but the way humans are interferring with normal amounts of manure (increased chicken farms in higher concentrations) and the way humans ruin the topsoil with agriculture can increase land erosion as well as pollution caused by manure. Other pollutants are also similarly increasing as a result of increased industrial activity.

14. Figure 10.15 in the text describes BOD. Explain how temperature, flow and turbulence might impact the diagram.

Turbulence can increase the dissolved oxygen level. Temperature increases the biological oxygen demand by increasing the activity of bacteria and enzymes. Similarly, still water has higher bacterial activity compared to moving water.

15. Why are endocrine disrupters (a) hard to detect and (b) hard to remedy?

They are hard to detect because they are often found in only trace amounts, and if you do not know exactly what you are looking for, it is hard to detect. It is hard to rememdy because we are only beginning to understand how endocrine disruptors affect our bodies.

16. When Lake Erie was declared "dead" in the late 1960's, what species might still be living there (see Figure 10.15).

Sludge worms, midge, and mosquito larvae are probably present. Fish would be absent.

17. Many do not understand the connection between turbidity and DO. Explain using clear terms.

Water with lower turbidity may have bubbles of air, therefore increasing the dissolved oxygen level.

18. Discern between oligotrophic and eutrophic streams, and give a cause/effect for each.

An oligotrophic stream has low primary productivity and is usually clear due to low nutrient levels and therefore lacking in algae. Eutrophic streams have high nutrient levels that increase the productivity, leading to algae blooms that decreases dissolved oxygen level and increases biological oxygen demand, lowering the water quality.

19. Mercury and dioxins bioaccumulate in certain species. Which ones, and why?

Dioxins accumulate in blubber and therefore in species that have a lot of fat such as whales. Mercury is more likely to accumulate in apex predators such as tuna, due to the effects of bioaccumulation.

20. We studied the dustbowl of the 1930's in America some weeks ago. Connect this with the "dead zone" south of the Mississippi delta.

Dust from the dustbowl landed in the Mississippi delta. This dust was full of nitrates from agriculture. These nitrates caused plants and algae to grow rapidly, overshooting their biological oxygen demand and then completely depleting the dissolved oxygen. This then caused a dead zone, where only a few niche species can live.

21. If Facebook uses Columbia river water to cool their servers, what impact will this have on the river? What are the alternatives, and how are they better or worse?

It will increase the temperature of the water and will lead to increased biological activity nearby as a result. An alternative would be to have massive air conditioning units (like the IT building) and run higher costs both financially and to the environment due to power consumption.

22. On Oahu the Kahe point power station is known for sharks close to shore. Explain.

The power station increases the temperature of the water. Therefore the DO is higher, more plants grow, more little fish eat the plants, more big fish eat the little fish, and more sharks come to eat the big fish. Biological reactions also happen more quickly as a result.

23. What were the goals of the clean water act (CWA), and when was it formed, by whom, in response to what?

The Clean Water Act came into effect in 1972 in response to the growing environmental crises at the time: Lake Erie was dead, the Cuyahoga River burned, and beaches in Southern California were closed due to oil spills. The goals were to clean up America's waterways adequately to safely permit swimming, fishing, and drinking. It was formed under the Nixon administration as part of the wave of environmental legislation following the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

24. Look up the Minamata crisis. Explain who, where, why, what was the solution.

Near Minamata was a plant that produced batteries, batteries and more batteries. The toxic waste was dumped straight into the water. This caused serious birth defects in the kids born in the town, as well as poisoned all the fish. The Japanese government responded not by cleaning up the water, but by delivering fresh fish from other parts of the country to the fishing town, replacing the locally caught fish. This allowed the lifestyle of the fishermen to continue in an odd compromise.

25. In 1945, Japan began reconstruction, using low quality zinc plated (galvanized) plumbing. Some of this Zinc had a high level of cadmium, causing "itching disease". What was the governmental solution, and how did it resemble the solution to the Minamata crisis?

The government set up clinics that administered morphine to the victims, but did nothing to remove the poisonous plumbing. It was similar to Minamata because in the same way, the solution did not solve the problem but merely provided a workaround.

26. The Rhine river story mentions "chemical oxygen demand". Discern from BOD.

Along the bank of the Rhine existed industry and many factories, similar to Seattle and the Puget Sound. Pollution from the factories was dumped into the river. Chemical oxygen demand measured the amount of organic compounds in the water as opposed to biological oxygen demand, which is a test for the amount of bacteria. It is measured in milligrams per liter.

27. Explain why aquifer pollution is hard to detect and solve. Is this a point source issue?

Water fills aquifers over thousands of years. A single water molecule might take 50 or 60 years to reach down to the aquifer. Therefore, if poisons are put on the land, it may not be detected for several more decades, making it almost impossible to point to the source by the time the pollution is detected.

28. All refineries add "markers" to their products to track theft and pollution. Explain how this could be extended to other issues.

Markers can also be used then to determine sources and origin of pollution in addition to product tracking. Environmental contamination will be easier to determine that way.

29. "Fracking" involves water use and water pollution. Explain.

Fracking is the extraction of substances from rock using high-pressure water to crack a rock layer. Because deep veins are being opened into the rock, it provides another channel for pollutants to seep deep inside the ground, especially where groundwater is. Proppants, or the substance used to prop the rock layer apart after injection, is a common pollutant.

30. Sewage treatment involves (a) primary treatment (sedimentation, a physical process) (b) secondary treatment involves aeration, aerobic bacteria, then sterilization with chlorine and finally tertiary treatment (c) which removes heavy metals and any nutrients. Compare each of these human methods with the natural process of water filtration (e.g. soil).

Primary treatment is done naturally as water seeps through the ground, with sediment and deposits being trapped at the top because of the larger particle sizes. Secondary treatment happens when the water joins a body of water and encounters a rapid or waterfall, with aerates it. Bacteria in the stream will consume the organic matter. Tertiary treatment is simulated in nature when the minerals and nutrients are absorbed with the various wildlife in the water.

31. Look over table 10.5. How would you connect each law with a public movement?

Federal Water Pollution Control Act: movement to restore watersheds, water quality to America's waterways following Lake Erie, Cuyahoga. Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act: aquatic animals dying due to pollution, building of dams. Ports and Waterways Safety Act: closing of beaches in Southern California, Exxon Valdez spill. Safe Drinking Water Act: pollution in the country's major waterways used for drinking water, such as the Potomac. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: similar to the Ports and Waterways Safety Act. Toxic Substances Control Act: dumping of toxic waste in the Bay Area of Alameda. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act: Love Canal, other visible waste dumps. Clean Water Act: similar to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. London Dumping Convention: again, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and also most likely visible damage to marine life due to dumping of trash and waste in the oceans.

32. You've heard me say that your generation faces four crises: water, food, energy and culture. How are these related to each other?

They are all needs that will have to addressed when solving the world's environmental problems. Food through agriculture requires water, energy is required to power all modern technologies and lifestyles, and culture is the human aspect behind everything.

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 10 questions


Sent from my iPad

On Dec 31, 2011, at 10:25 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

1. Describe the path a molecule of water might follow through the hydrologic cycle from the ocean to land and back again.

Water evaporates from the surface of the oceans to become vapor in the air. This vapor is pushed higher into the atmosphere by rising air currents, which turns the vapor into clouds because of cooler temperatures. The water then falls over land as rain, and rejoins the ocean as part of a stream or groundwater runoff.

Good

2. About what percent of the world's water is liquid, fresh, surface water that supports most terrestrial life (see fig. 10.3)?

Only .02% of the world's water is accessible to terrestrial life.

3. What is an aquifer? How does water get into an aquifer? Explain the idea of an artesian well and a cone of depression.

Aquifers are geologic layers that contain water. Water seeps in horizontally through the porous layers of rocks to fill up aquifers over thousands of years. An artesian well, or a spring, is where water flows freely up to the surface because of pressure in an underlying aquifer. A cone of depression happens when water is pumped out of an aquifer, leaving a void of water that is filled up by sand and rocks from above sinking down.


Good, recall how large they can be...

Like the Ogallala Aquifer, which is 174,000 mi² in area.

4. What is the difference between water withdrawal and consumption? Which sector of water use (see fig. 10.8) consumes most globally? Overall, has water use increased in the past century? Has efficiency increased or decreased in the three main use sectors?

Water withdrawal is the amount of water taken from a water body; this water is can be replenished and cycled back into the system. Water consumption is the loss of water caused by evaporation, absorption, or contamination. Most water is used for agriculture. Overall, water use has been going up, but water use efficiency has increased (not significant enough to compensate however).


What about trends in contamination?

Contamination happens similar to the cycle of water withdrawal; pollutants in the water generally leach down into the soil as part of water runoff and especially if the residence time is high, it will likely remain in the water for thousands of years (in the case of groundwater).

5. Describe at least one example of the environmental costs of water diversion from rivers to farms or cities.

Rivers are often diverted through the construction of dams and reservoirs. This impedes the natural flow of the water and the river ecosystem, preventing fish and other marine life from traversing freely up and downstream. Reservoirs behind the dam will also cause flooding of the area around it, destroying whatever land-based ecosystem that was there before. Similarly, the river will dry up in front of the dam.


Also heavy metal leaching into the cooler waters

6. Explain the difference between point and nonpoint pollution. Which is harder to control? Why?

Point pollution are sources of pollution that can be traced to a specific location, such as a sewage pipe or a factory. On the other hand, nonpoint pollution don't have particular sources that can be identified. Nonpoint pollution is harder to control because they include runoff from farms, golf courses, construction sites, roads... where the single origin of the pollution is harder to trace.


Good

7. Why are nutrients considered pollution? Explain the ideas of eutrophication and an oxygen sag (see fig. 10.15).

Nutrients can cause "blooms" of algae on the surface of the water, choking out competition and making the lake toxic for other lifeforms. Eutrophication is an increase in nutrient levels and biological productivity, and can cause these algae blooms. An oxygen sag is a decline in oxygen downstream from the pollution source, due to decomposers metabolizing the waste material.


Make sure you are clear on the eutrophication process...it's the decay of the algae once dead that alters the O2 content

8. Describe primary, secondary, and tertiary water treatment.

Primary water treatment separates solid waste from sewage using settling tanks.
And screens
It's a purely physical process
Secondary treatment removes pathogens and organic matter from the water using aerobic bacteria, chlorine, and ultraviolet light.
A purely biological process

Tertiary water treatment removes any remaining dissolved metals or nutrients.
A purely chemical process...look up chelation, and it's root in Greek


9. What are some sources of groundwater contamination? Why is groundwater pollution such a difficult problem?

Groundwater contamination can happen because of septic systems, landfills, and industrial activity that leaches pollutants into the aquifer recharge zone. Deep wells provide a direct method for pollution to enter groundwater. Groundwater pollution is hard to deal with because the residence time for water in aquifers is so long; it may be possible to pump the water out, clean it, and then pump it back in, but this method of clean up is not financially viable.

How does fracking bear on this?

Fracking is the extraction of substances from rock using high-pressure water to crack a rock layer. Because deep veins are being opened into the rock, it provides another channel for pollutants to seep deep inside the ground, especially where groundwater is. Proppants, or the substance used to prop the rock layer apart after injection, is a common pollutant.


10. Why are nutrients important factors in water pollution and eutrophication? What two elements are the most important nutrients in water pollution?

Nutrients cause the growth of photosynthetic algae that pollute the water and is one of the cause for eutrophication. The two most important elements in water pollution are phosphorus and nitrogen.

Remember that the algae also block sunlight from reaching other plants below, once the algae peaks, the lower plants are dead, unable to produce O2

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 9 questions

Thanks
B

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 28, 2011, at 9:48 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

This is Mariko and I's submission for the end of chapter questions. We've also redone our tests and submitted them!

1. What are the "stabilization wedges" suggested by Pacala and Socolow at Princeton University (see table 9.2)? How many wedges do we need to accomplish to flatten our CO2 emissions?

Stabilization wedges represent something that can be done to reduce carbon emissions over the next 50 years. A "wedge" represents 1 GT of carbon emissions saved; scientists propose that only 7 GT per year in reduction need to be achieved to avoid doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide.

2. What is the greenhouse effect, and how does it work?

The greenhouse effect is named after the phenomenon where light energy enters the atmosphere but becomes trapped as heat energy because of the presence of particles in the atmosphere that absorb the heat and prevents its radiation back into space. It is called such because of the similarity to glass greenhouses; sunlight enters but becomes trapped within the glass enclosure, warming up the entire structure.

3. Why are we worried about greenhouse gases?

Greenhouse gases are believed to be the leading cause of global warming, leading to catastrophic consequences for the world: rising sea levels, destruction of animal habitats, adverse conditions for growing crops in many of the world's present breadbaskets.

4. What is the thermohaline ocean conveyor and what is happening to it?

The thermohaline ocean conveyor is the system of water circulation that happens around the world. For example, the Gulf Stream carries warm water from the Caribbean to northern Europe, helping to keep temperatures there well above what is expected to be of another place at a similar latitude.

5. Describe the El Niño/Southern Oscillation.

El Niño occurs when La Niña goes out of phase. La Niña is one large healthy cell that moves with a fast current, originating from the ocean and moving towards the coast. El Niño is when the La Niña cell splits into two weaker cells that originate from the the center of the ocean. El Niño happens every three to five years, and in those years, many coastal areas experience weather that is opposite of what is usually expected during the same season in a La Niña year.

6. What gas, action, and country make the largest contribution to global warming?

Carbon dioxide, the burning of fossil fuels, and China (though trailed very closely by the United States) make the largest contribution to global warming.

7. What has been the greatest air pollution control success in the United States since 1970?

The success of the Montreal Protocol in reducing ozone depletion has been the greatest success story for any joint resolution on air pollution in the world as well as the United States. However, nothing close to that has come since; the United States did not even sign the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, and is unlikely to do so anytime in the future soon.

8. Define primary air pollutant, secondary air pollutant, photochemical oxidant, point source, and fugitive emissions.

A primary air pollutant is where pollutants are released in a harmful way. Secondary pollutant dont become toxic until they reach the air. Photochemical oxidant are pollutants than react with sunlight and heat to produce a pollutant. These are often found in cities. A point source is a concentrated pollution source such as a smokestack. A fugitive emmision is one that does not have a concentrated output area, this can often include dust.

9. What is destroying stratospheric ozone, and where does this happen?

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were destroying the atmosphere and were banned in the 1980s following the resolution of the Montreal Protocol.

10. What is the "new source review"?

The New Source Review is a contested aspect of the Clean Air Act established in 1977 that ensured that new emissions do not worsen air quality, especially those from factories that are "grandfathered" into the law because they were built before the law came into effect. The New Source Review program also assures people that any large new or modified industrial source in their neighborhoods will be as clean as possible, and that advances in pollution control occur with industrial expansion.

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AP Environmental Science Heat video questions

Thanks
All in one shot?
aloha
b
On Nov 25, 2011, at 9:19 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

Mariko and I spent two hours finishing this... let us know what you think!

1. What river is China planning to divert that will cause conflict with India?

The Brahmaputra River.

2. Why did Brashears go back to that specific site to take the photo, and what did he see? What possible explanations are there for this? Take both sides of the climate crisis argument in your answer.

They wanted to compare the glacier size before and after. He saw and estimated that about 40% of the glacier was gone since the photo taken in 1921. A possible explanation is global warming where an increase in temperature melted the ice, or that the Earth is in a cycle of climate change.

3. What was so surprising in the 1958 movie? Was this common knowledge? How can you tell?

The movie "The Unchained Goddess" was almost spot on in describing the cause and effects of climate change. It was not common knowledge because no one paid attention to it.

4. How did the cheapness of energy influence public opinion?

"The history of the U.S. is a history of cheap energy."

5. Is the climate crisis an energy issue, a tree issue, an albedo issue, or a permafrost issue?

The climate crisis is an energy issue.

6. What happened at Kyoto? What was the most embarrassing part? Why did the US behave so?

The U.S. did not sign the Kyoto Protocol because they felt it would put them at a "competitive disadvantage" with developing countries exempt from the protocol.

7. Why would China's growth outweigh any changes the US might make to change carbon emissions?

China is like the proverbial stupid teenager whose body was growing faster than its brain. On a more serious note, China is growing very rapidly but also moving from a "third-world environment" to a more American type of lifestlye where every family has a car.

8. What is Geely? Where? What model is their biggest seller? Is this scary? Why? What did their director say?

Geely is the biggest privately-owned car company in China. Their biggest seller is the "King Kong". It is scary because they do not have any initiatives right now to make cars more fuel efficient, but their director said they maybe will in the future.

9. How many coal plants does China create every week?

Two new ones every week!

10. Dr. Ling Wen says 30% growth over 5 years. What is the doubling rate for this? (recall the rule of 70). Why is his line "if we can" so scary? What are his responsibilities, in what order?

The doubling time is 70/30 which is about 2.33 years. It is scary because "if we can" is not very convincing. His responsibilities are to make money for shareholders first, second to society.

11. In what year will India's population exceed that of China? Why?

By 2030, because they have a higher growth rate.

12. What is the third largest contributor to greenhouse gases? Where?

The process of making cement. It comes from roasting powdered limestone and clay because a lot of energy has to be used to heat the solution.

13. What reduction in CO2 did the Indian guy say they could do by 2050? What is the growth rate? What did Sunita Narain say about this? Why is this not sustainable?

A 10% reduction. The growth rate of the cement industry is 10% per year.
It uses a lot of materials and energy and results in a lot of waste. She said that if every Indian were to live like an American, then the planet was doomed.

14. What did Pachauri say? What are his reasons?

The responsibility is on the U.S. because greenhouse emmisions are largely the result of industrialized societies. Developed countries also have more money and are more equipped to deal with climate change.

15. What did the US negotiators say? Why is this unfair? What did China say?

They said that they would make no cuts to emissions unless developing nations did too. This is unfair because underdeveloped countries are not equipped with the money and resources to even develop their countries much less be worried about their emmisions in doing so. China took lead in saying that developing nations should start to cut emmisions, but the U.S. negotiator said, "The formulation that has been put forward we cannot accept..." And they got booed Then they changed their minds...

16. Google Senator Inhofe, and find out why he is a global warming skeptic. Where does his money come from?

He is a skeptic because of supposed evidence from "top climate scientists". His money comes from the oil and gas industry... interesting.

16. This video was filmed in 2008. What was the position of each candidate?

Both Obama and McCain endorsed policies to reduce emissions.

17. What did Jeffrey Sachs say?

We've been ignoring the problem.

18. How many tons of coal are mined in the powder river basin each day?

1,000,000 tons a day.

19. The director of the West Virginia power plant (Charlie Powell) says: "we produce 1300 kilowatts of power every hour". It is clear he does not know as much about electricity as you do. What is wrong with his statement?

The watt is a unit of energy equivalent to one joule per second. It already has a time component to it; therefore you can't have watts per hour. Watts per hour actually refers to the change of power per hour, not energy produced in a unit of time.

20. How many pounds of Coal power your TV for one hour? What percentage of power in the US comes from Coal?

1/4 pound of coal for the TV. 52% of power comes from coal mined in the U.S.

21. Analyze the term "clean coal" from both sides of the argument. What are the motives of each side and why?

Clean coal emphasizes using more coal to create a base load electricity generator while at the same time planting more trees and using energy-efficient appliances to make the coal "clean". Also, they hope to initiate "carbon capture and storage". From one stand point, solar and wind are intermittent whereas coal can be used as long as there is a supply. On the other hand we will run out eventually!

22. Senators Byrd and McConnell represent which states? What is their bias?

Kentucky and West Virginia. Their bias is that coal is "their baby".

23. What is IGCC? Where is it located? Has it been tested? Where would they inject the ground? Why is this dangerous? Are we "carbon capture ready"? Where would this be tested first, and why is it problematic? If pipelines were used, why would these be dangerous?

"Integrated gas combined cycle." It turns coal into a cleaner burning gas, cin gas. It is located in Florida. It has not been tested. They would compress the carbon dioxide into the ground underground where there is water. It is dangerous because we do not know the effects. It would be tested first in Florida, but this is problematic because Florida won't exempt them from possible damage. Pipes are dangerous because they could leak. We are technically "carbon capture ready" because we have caps that can sit over exisitng plants and capture carbon dioxide. However, it's also problematic because where would we store all this carbon now?

24. How many tons of CO2 does the US emit every day?

2 billion tons.

25. The US is called the "Saudi Arabia of Coal". Why?

Because we have a huge amount of energy resources in the form of coal.

26. What is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases? Now list the top three in order.

Car tail pipes. The first is fossil fuel power plants, second is car tail pipes, and third is the process of making cement.

27. What are CAFE standards, and what does it stand for? What happened in the last few years to the CAFE standards? When were they created, and track the mpg numbers since then. How did auto manufacturers get around the CAFE standards since the Ford Explorer came out?

The Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards were first imposed in 1975 to raise the fuel economy of vehicles in the United States in the wake of the 1973 oil embargo. However, exemptions for SUVs were allowed around 1995, and the average fuel economy for vehicles in the United States now have dropped back to their normal levels because the prevalence of such "exemptions".

27. What is John Dingell's motive? Why? Where is he from? Why did he block seat belts? Is his responsibility only to his 800,000 citizens or to the country, or the planet as a whole?

28. What MPG is the terminator seeking for California? By when? Jerry Brown is next in the video. What is his job now?

42.5 MPG by the middle of the century. Jerry Brown's job now is running for governor.

29. In the 1970's all cars in the US came in two flavors: "49 state" or "CA". Why?

California had a huge smog problem. It has a lot of regulations on cars as a result.

30. What pressure was put on the EPA in December 2007? Who was in office then?

The pressure was for not accepting California's waver for a higher MPG in California than the federal government was putting by the automotive industry. Bush was in office at the time.

31. What is the clean air act?

The Clean Air Act was first enacted in 1970 under Nixon to mandate the control of air pollution on a national level. It required the EPA to enforce regulations protecting the public from exposure to hazardous airborne contaminants as well as addressed the issue of acid rain, ozone depletion and toxic air pollution by corporations.

32. Who was the EPA administrator during the Bush administration? What did he do? What do you think about his actions?

Steven Johnson. He censored California's waiver documents. I think he pulled a China.

33. What was the target of the CA emissions standards?

Higher MPG on California cars. It would have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 40% had all 50 states enacted their ideas.

34. What is Hibernia owned by Exxon? How much oil did it pump since coming into operation? At 80 million bbl/day, how many days of global oil supply did it provide?

The largest oil platform in the world. It has pumped 500,000,000 barrels of oil. It provided 500,000,000/80,000,000 = 6.25 days of global oil supply.

35. How did the Exxon lady defend their lack of investment in renewable resources?

Exxon's Sherri Stuewer believes that fossil fuels will remain the predominant source of energy for decades to come, and it is delivering that energy need that Exxon will continue to carve out its market niche. According to Exxon, they are already investing a responsible amount of funds into researching renewable resources.

36. Dan Kammen says what? Where does he work?

Dan Kammen says that we should be outraged at these oil companies for their lack of action in the field of renewable energies. He is the director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, where he works on "designing, testing, and disseminating renewable and appropriate energy systems".

37. How much did Exxon make in the year of the movie? How much did they invest in renewable energy? Explain.

Exxon made a net profit of 40 billion dollars in 2007. Less than one-tenth of one percent of its profit is being invested in renewable energies, or about $100 million.

38. It has been said that if you drive a Prius hybrid with fuel from the tar sand of Canada, it's the equivalent of driving a Hummer. Why?

To extract the oil from the tar sands is a resource-intensive process requiring petrochemicals to refine the oil. As a result, the carbon footprint of this is often greater than that of conventional oil being pumped out of the ground. Driving a Prius with fuel from tar sands will be no more efficient than driving a Hummer because of all the resources involved in refining that fuel.

39. During the 2008 video, they state that oil is at $90/bbl. What is it today?

According to the NYMEX index, oil is currently at $96.77/bbl.

40. The car companies were working on a diesel-electric hybrid: what happened and why?

The car companies failed to keep their commitment to launch a diesel-electric hybrid and instead focused on selling trucks, SUVs, and Hummers. This was because this was where all the profit was to be had.

41. What did Toyota build, and why? How long is their advantage now?

Toyota built the Prius because the Japanese car manufacturer thought it was going to be left behind by the partnership between the U.S. Government and the major American car manufacturers to develop hybrid vehicles. The Prius debuted worldwide in 2001, and only now are American manufacturers starting to offer their own competing hybrids.

42. Do you believe the lady from GM? Explain.

She is playing the role of public relations. No company will ever admit that it has its interests first and foremost in profit and the environment second. GM is no exception when trying to explain why it didn't pursue hybrids earlier.

43. What happened to the Chevy Volt in the Photo Shoot?

The car could hardly make it up a hill, and then finally stalled out. The shoot was cancelled as a result.

44. Is corn ethanol really a green solution? Who is pushing corn ethanol and why?

Corn is not really a green solution because it competes with food production and also requires petrochemicals to fertilize. Most of the people pushing corn ethanol are lobbyists and politicians in theMidwest, the corn-growing states of America.

45. Why does Dan Kammen say corn is not a good biofuel?

Corn ethanol competes directly with food production and it also requires the use of costly and non-renewable petrochemicals to fertilize. The energy balance for corn ethanol is also seven times less than that of sugar cane ethanol.

46. Explain the three sources of bio-ethanol: corn, cellulosic and sugar cane. Brazil produces which of these?

Corn ethanol is ethanol produced from fermentation of the starch in ground corn kernels. Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol made from non-edible parts of plants that are rich in cellulose, such as corn husk or bagasse. Sugar cane ethanol is ethanol made from processed sugar cane as a dedicated fuel crop and offers seven times the energy balance of corn; it is around sugar cane ethanol that Brazil's energy economy is founded upon.

47. How does Amy's statement about small interests resonate with Senator Dingell's actions earlier in the film?

Small local interests are being put ahead of the nation's interest as a whole, and this is impeding progress. Similarly, Dingell put interests of the automotive industry in his state of Michigan ahead of what was good the country.

48. Compare renewable energy in Germany to the US.

Germany has pushed for renewable energy from the beginning because they recognized that they didn't have fossil fuel resources like the United States, and unlike in the United States, the people there are much more willing to trust government. As a result, Germany gave large subsidies for the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, while in America, support has been inconsistent at best.

49. How does the smart grid fit into the renewable energy solution?

Smart grids help to improve the efficiency that is the connection between suppliers, distributors, and consumers. This helps with our energy situation because it lessens the amount of energy that is wasted or left unused. It also encourages private homes and residences to generate their own solar and wind energy, of which surpluses can be sold back into the grid.

50. T. Boone Pickens sold his oil investments and moved into wind farms in Texas. Check into this on wikipedia to see how he's doing now (2011).

Pickens delayed his plan to build wind farms and will instead focus on natural gas, citing that "low natural gas prices have made utility companies view wind power as too expensive."

51. About 150,000 megawatts of power is what Pickens plans on installing, which would be worth how much per year? 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, sell the power for $0.10 per kWh. 131.4 billion dollars per year? If his ROI is 7 years, and the turbines last 17 years, how much money will his company make overall?

If his ROI is 7 years, he gets to make a profit for the final 10 years of the life of his turbines. So, 1.314 trillion dollars overall?

52. Why is nuclear energy getting a fresh look?

As calls for carbon-free energy grow, nuclear energy is being revisted. Anti-nuclear lobbyists and the accident at Three Mile Island killed nuclear power in the 1970s, but after the Cold War, the trend is starting to reverse.

53. Who became president?

Barack Obama became president in 2008. He is not as interested in pushing for nuclear power as McCain, instead favoring solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources.

54. What is the difference between Navy nuclear power plants and commercial industrial power plants?

Navy nuclear power plants are much smaller and are designed to produce no more than a few hundred megawatts, the amount of power required to power a Navy vessel. By comparison, commercial power plants must produce thousands of megawatts for a power grid. These two designs are optimized differently befitting their different roles, hence they are not really comparable.

55. How is nuclear waste storage involved in this problem?

Anti-nuclear activists often cite nuclear waste as another reason not to go nuclear. Spent fuel from nuclear power plants often have a half-life of millions of years and thus have to be safely stored and sealed away. It was proposed that Nevada be the site of a nuclear dump, but the state refused.

56. Explain cap and trade, and the plus and minus for this proposal.

Companies are only allowed a certain amount of emissions, otherwise known as a "cap". Once they have used up their allotted quota, they must "buy" more pollution permits from other companies. The finite supply of permits will drive up the cost for remaining permits, and in theory, should act as an economic incentive to prevent companies from polluting and invest in cleaner technologies. However, the bill to pass the proposal hit when gas prices were at a record high, and Congress was in no mood to pass anything that might remotely raise the gas prices. It was never voted on.

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AP Environmental Science Earth video questions

On Nov 10, 2011, at 5:23 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

1. How old is the earth? How old did early church leaders think it was?

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Church leaders thought it was around 6,000 years old based on scriptures.

2. Hutton found what rock formation in Scotland was the clue to the real age of the earth?

Siccar Point on the coast of Scotland. They were rock formations that showed that the Earth was not thousands, but millions of years old.

3. Kelvin used thermal cooling calculations to determine the age for the earth-how long was this?

He estimated the Earth to be 20 million years old.

4. Why was he wrong?

Temperatures can fluctuate from additional heat produced as a result of radioactive decay, which was unknown during Kelvin's time.

5. What is "deep time"?

Time on an "incredible scale", such as in the billions of years.

6. What is so special about "pillow lavas"? What is the Hawaiian name for these?

Pillow lava is so special because they create deep tubes that solidify underwater. The Hawaiian name for them is "nahuku".

also Pahoehoe

Hawaiian names confuse me...

7. What does Zircon have to do with aging the planet? What do they tell us about the source of water?

Zircon is abundant in the Earth's crust and plays an important role in radiometric dating, containing trace amounts of uranium and thorium that can be dated.

because the half life is very long, right?

Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, uranium-235 704 million years, thorium-232 14.05 billion years. So very long, indeed...

Zircon crystals from 4.4 billion years ago show evidence of contact with water, suggesting that water is already around by that time (which might have been from meteorites that bombarded the planet during this time).

8. Water is neat stuff. Why would the temperature of the earth 4 bY ago accelerate changes?

Pieces of the continental crust started appearing 4 billion years ago, around which continents cooled around and eventually formed.
right, also heat makes water reactions occur much faster

9. About 3.4 bY ago a new type of rock was formed-what is this rock, and how does it fit into the asthenosphere picture of plate tectonics?

Granite. When land masses formed, the granite formed plates for land masses to shift upon. Granite was tough enough to resist the erroding effects of the ocean, eventually forming continents.
also less dense, so they float on the asthenosphere

10. South Africa hosts the CapeVal Cretins: what are these? Why are these important? What did these have to do with the beginning of life? Where was life limited to before these?

They were some of the first land masses formed, created by volcanic activity. Here, evidence first existed for life above water, which is where all lifeforms on earth were limited to before.

11. What are stromatolites, and what did they produce? From what?

Stromatolites are accretionary structures that trap cyanobacteria and can produce oxygen using photosynthesis, expelling rocks as waste.

12. Playford found what? What is the impact of what he found?

He found fossilized stromatolites, allowing scientists to conclude that life did indeed exist far back then. All life now descended from these stromatolites at some point or another.

13. What caused the change in the color of the oceans? What then happened to the atmosphere? What color was the planet after this?

The change was caused by iron leaving the oceans. Newly arrived oxygen in the atmosphere from photosynthesis by stromatolites turned the planet from green to blue.

14. What is a trilobite, and where are they found? Why are they significant? What did they prove?

Trilobites are extinct marine fossils found in rocks all over modern continents. They are significant because they proved that tectonic shifts occured to push the continents apart to where they are now; these freshwater creatures could not have swum the vast salty oceans otherwise.

15. What did Wegener believe? How easy was this to prove? When and how was it finally proven?

Wegener proposed that the continents had once been joined together, but later drifted apart. This could be seen easily by how the modern continents fit together. His theory was finally accepted when during World War II, the United States mapped the ocean floor only to discover vast undersea mountain ranges that marked the boundary of tectonic plates.

16. What does convection have to do with plate tectonics?

Hot lava causes the plates to move.
ahh, you can be more specific. Heat from the core (product of fission) travels towards cooler space, the matter is part of that energy flow...

And so as the heat flows upwards, it hits the crusts and "splits" in two directions, carrying the plates above it with the heat flow. FYI, I didn't answer this one... *ahem*

17. Why is Iceland such an ideal place to study plate tectonics?

Iceland has fissure eruptions that happen as a result of the plates shifting apart.
Iceland was formed by volcanic activity on the mid atlantic rift zone. The fact that it is so active, combined with the sonar and then magnetic symmetry away from the mid atlantic ridge proved plate tectonics

18. What was Rodinia? Why did it cause climate change about 700 mY ago? Why is this so critical to understand today?

Rodinia was the super continent that existed before Pangaea. It triggered the formation of Snowball Earth by blocking the warm ocean currents from the equator from reaching the Earth's poles, causing a postive feedback loop when the frozen poles raised the albedo, lowering the temperature even further.

any implications about what is happening now?

Similarly, we have a positive feedback loop that is happening with the melting ice caps and lowered albedo (less solar energy reflected leading to higher temperatures which accelerates melting of the caps lowering albedo again).

19. What was the Cambrian Explosion? Why is it important? What did Walcott discover? Where? What is the Burgess Shale Quarry? Why is shale so special in this process?

The Cambrian Explosion was the rapid appearance of most major phyla based on complex fossil records due to the high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere. This diversification of species is responsible for much of the biological diversity now. Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale Quarry in the Canadian Rockies. The Burgess Shale Quarry was special because there were lots of fossils from 500 million years ago. Shale helped to preserve the soft tissue of these fossils.

20. When did carnivores show up? Why? How did their presence change the evolution of creatures?

Carnivores showed up when sufficient oxygen levels allowed organisms to grow more complex. Now, organisms now had to evolve in face of competition from other organisms and not just from challenges posed by the environment.

21. What did the ozone shield enable the growth of? Where did the ozone come from?

The ozone shield enabled organisms to evolve outside of water. Oxygen allowed the ozone shield to form. Animals could now live on land because ozone acted as an ultraviolet shield.
right, more implications?

Thinning of the ozone layer by chemicals in the late 20th century might increase ultraviolet light exposure of all animals on the planet, leading to elevated cancer rates and other associated ailments.

22. What formed the carbon in the carboniferous era? What did life look like 60 mY ago? What does this carbon look like today?

Plants formed much of the carbon in this era. Much of the continent looked like a steamy, tropical jungle swampland. This carbon now exists in the form of coal.

23. What does the freshwater in a swamp enable? Why is this important?

Freshwater allows dead plant matter to accumulate instead of decompose. Over millions of years, with the addition of pressure, this dead matter turns into coal.

24. What did dead marine organisms transform into? Why is this important to us?

Coal, which is a major energy source now.
why then would coal also have a high level of sulfur? Look up methionine and cysteine.

Methionine and cysteine are two amino acids that contain sulfur as part of their chemical composition. Not sure what this has to do with coal... can you explain this in class?

25. What caused the first mass extinction? What is a mantle flume eruption? (:52)

250 million years ago, lava flowed to the surface of the Earth. Most animals could not survive and went extinct. A mantle flume eruption is when part of the molten mantle rises to the surface and breaks through the crust, spilling lava onto the surface.

26. What was the name of the next supercontinent?

Pangaea.

27. What were the predominant survivors of the first mass extinction?

Dinosaurs.

28. Why would Utah be a good place to find these survivors?

Paleontologists find lots of bones and fossils packed in the rocks, which often are really old.

also, very dry, little erosion (water or wind)

29. What would be the advantage of being "luke-warm" blooded?

They have the best of both worlds. Less energy has to be spent on "staying warm", therefore they can use that energy to grow big. Compared to other organisms, they are faster in the morning because they don't have to wait for the sun to warm their blood.
like the stegosaurus?

30. How did the first global warming trend change the dinosaurs? Why did this eventually become their downfall?

They were allowed to grow super big. It became their downfall because after the asteroid impact, there was not that much food or plant life. The dinosaurs eventually starved to death.
good

31. The Kimberly "stove pipe" means what? How are diamonds formed?

Kimberlite pipes are volcanic pipes formed by the eruption of deep-origin volcanoes, consisting of a core of solidified magma containing kimberlite or lamproite. Diamonds are formed through the exposure of carbon materials to high pressure underneath the continental plates.

32. Who discovered the CT (KT) boundary, and what does it signify? When was this? When was it discovered, and how?

The K-T boundary was discovered by Luis Alvarez, and signifies the transition from the Cretaceous period to the Tertiary period. This happened 65.5 million years ago, and was discovered in 1980 when Alvarez and his team noted the increase in concentration of iridium in sedimentary layers corresponding to the transition from the Cretaceous period to the Tertiary period.

33. How big was the Yucutan meteor? How was it found (look this up on wikipedia)

The meteor was estiamted to be at least 10 km in diameter. Its existence was discovered by Glen Penfield who noted shocked quartz, a gravity anomaly, and tektites in surrounding areas.
How do they know how big it is? Clues: diameter of the crater is one, estimating the thickness of the K-T layer worldwide was another...

They also mapped out gravity anomalies in the area that formed a ring roughly outlining the impact crater. Geologists are way too smart for me.

34. About 50 mY ago, the mammals evolved. How did the demise of the dinosaurs make this possible? Science fiction movies often show cavemen fighting dinosaurs-why is this totally bogus?

Mammals evovled after the demise of dinosaurs as they were the only animals alive after the K-T extinction event. Cavemen fighting dinosaurs is a scene that can only exist in fiction because humans weren't around until at least 200,000 years ago, while all dinosaurs went extinct around 65.5 million years ago.

right, so I guess the Flintstones is fiction then?

I know, that disappoints me so... the writers certainly had interesting interpretations of dinosaur-powered technology (their vehicles, for example).

35. What is similar about the Alps and the Himalayas, apart from them being mountains? What limits their ultimate altitude?

The Alps has no volcanoes and neither does the Himalayas. They were a result of tectonic plates hitting each other. Their altitude is ultimately limited by their "roots" that sink into the crust if they grow any higher.
right, they are floating on the asthenosphere

36. Mauna Loa is the largest landmass in the world. From the base of Mauna Loa on the 20,000 ft. deep ocean floor to it's top 13,500 ft. above sea level is much higher than Everest (29,000 ft.). How is this possible?

Mauna Loa is the remnant of a volcano, and so doesn't suffer from the limitation that mountains formed through tectonic plate movements have (sinking as it becomes too high).
not quite: the majority of the land mass is actually underwater, so it has some buoyancy...see?

It's also mostly igneous rocks, and so probably is more porous and less dense than other types of rocks.

37. About 2 mY ago, an ice age again struck. What triggered this? How long did it last?

The ice age was triggered by overflowing volcanoes that made land bridges cutting off warm ocean currents. Reduced albedo further lowered temperatures. It lasted for some 100,000 years.
more implications about global warming?

38. What makes glaciers flow? Do they flow faster or slower when they are thicker? Why?

Glaciers move due to a combination of surface slope and the pressure of the overlying snow and ice. Thicker glaciers have more velocity, because there is more ice to exert pressure on the ground.
not quite, ice under pressure melts (look up triple point and regelation)

Because PV = nRT! (too much thermodynamics lately...)

39. Explain the balance between temperature and the progress of glaciers.

Glaciers move faster with higher basal temperatures and vice versa.
closer to zero C, right?

40. Glaciers often leave "unsorted" rocks, called glacial "till". What does this mean? Why would this differ from normal sedimentary sorting? (hint: recall our walk up by the flume)

When ice moves, it brings rocks with it in specific layers. Normal sedimentary sorting is from the oldest layers at the bottom to the newest layers on top.
not really: ice grabs everything equally, with no regards to size. Sedimentation relies on buoyancy, density and surface area: larger stones fall out of a turbulent stream first, while clays can remain in suspension for a long time, settling only after the water becomes very still: think of the sediments in the Mississippi delta: very fine particles, never any large rocks. Rapids are often made up of large rocks (turbulent water). Glacial till has large rocks and small rocks all mixed up, since the glaciers act like huge bulldozers...

So sedimentary sorting "sorts" by size, while glaciers just scoop up everything with no regards to size. Makes sense...

41. It is said that our civilization has been a brief, stable warm period. What does this predict for global warming/cooling?

Temperature extremes will increase, and another ice age may happen in the future.

42. What two oceans/seas will disappear when pangea ultima forms?

The Atlantic Ocean will disappear while the Indian Ocean shrinks (if not also disappear completely).

nice work
b

0 comments

AP Environmental Science Chapter 7 questions

ha ha, thanks
b
On Oct 25, 2011, at 9:28 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

Reading this chapter is making me wish I had more to eat for dinner...

1. What is Brazil's Cerrado, and how is agriculture affecting it?

The Cerrado is the huge area of grassland and tropical forest that stretches from Bolivia and Paraguay to the Atlantic Ocean. Much of this land is now being converted to farm soybeans and support livestock grazing in Brazil, destroying the biodiversity and natural environment of the Cerrado.

2. Explain how soybeans grown in Brazil are improving diets in China.

Lower prices for soybeans are providing affordable meat proteins for those in developing countries (such as China), by providing a cheap source of feed for animals..

3. What does it mean to be chronically undernourished? How many people in the world currently suffer from this condition?

To be chronically undernourished is to not get adequate nutrition on a day to day basis. This can be either not getting enough calories daily, or to not be getting enough of certain nutrients, or in the wrong proportions. Currently, an estimated 854 million people suffer from this, with most being concentrated in developing countries.

4. Why do nutritionists worry about food security? Who is most likely to suffer from food insecurity?

Nutritionists worry about food security because even though food nowadays is so abundant and affordable, there are still many in the population that aren't getting it. This creates a feedback cycle were those that are hungry can't get themselves out of poverty; the cause of this may be poverty, the loss of jobs and work, or lacking social services. Those who suffer tend to be those already in poverty, most of which are in developing countries.

5. Describe the conditions that constitute a famine. Why does Amartya Sen say that famines are caused more by politics and economics than by natural disasters?

Famine is where there are widespread food shortages that cause starvation, social disruption, and economic chaos (as hungry people can't work or contribute to the economy). Amartya Sen argues that while natural disasters may precipitate famines, politics and economics (brought about by bad government management) create problems that often cause famines to last whereas farmers may have recovered otherwise. He mentions that no democratic country with a relatively free press has ever had a famine.

6. Define malnutrition and obesity. How many Americans are now considered obese?

Malnutrition is a general term describing nutritional imbalances caused by a lack of specific nutrients. To be obese is to be more than 20% over the ideal weight for a given height and sex. Some 64% of Americans are now considered either overweight or obese.

7. What three crops provide most human caloric intake?

Wheat, corn, and soybeans account for most human caloric intake. It is no coincidence then that they are also the most three widely cultivated crop.

8. What are confined animal feeding operations, and why are they controversial?

Confined animal feeding operations are where animals are housed and fed for rapid growth in large industrial complexes. They are controversial because of the ethical issues over animal cruelty, and also because of the impact on human and animal health; unsanitary conditions brought about by the cramming of animals in close spaces offer a breeding ground for disease and bacteria, as well as the massive amount of biological waste that is produced.

9. What is soil? Why are soil organisms so important?

Soil is a combination of many components in different proportions: sand and gravel, silts and clays, dead organic material, soil fauna and flora, water, and air. Soil organisms such as bacteria, algae, and fungi help to decompose dead organic material into nutrients for plants. They also help to give the soil texture by burrowing through it and leaving loose pockets of air. This improves fertility.

10. What are four dominant types of soil degradation? What is the primary cause of soil erosion?

The four dominant types of soil degradation are wind erosion, water erosion, chemical degradation (nutrient depletion, salt accumulation, acidification, or pollution), and physical degradation (compaction, water accumulation, or laterization). Soil erosion is primarily caused by wind or water, but the effects of agriculture can exacerbate this (the Dust Bowl in the 1930s is a prime example of this).

11. What do we mean by the green revolution?

The green revolution refers to the spread of new high-yield varieties of crops around the world. This is the primary reason for how the world is still managing to feed a growing population, despite the shrinking of the amount of land suitable for agriculture.

12. What is genetic engineering, or biotechnology, and how might it help or hurt agriculture?

Genetic engineering is the splicing of genes from one organism into another. This has created higher-yield crops that are more resistant to drought, frost, or diseases, but opponents argue that GMO crops might interbreed and mix with wild species causing the rise of "superweeds" or other harmful plant species. Also, some worry that there may be harmful health effects caused by the ingestion of GMOs; the FDA currently does not recognize any however.

13. What is sustainable agriculture?

Sustainable agriculture is agriculture that does not cause permanent damage to the land or soil, thus sustainable for it can be done indefinitely if done correctly. Soil conservation through contour plowing or strip cropping are some techniques that can be employed for sustainable agriculture.

14. How could your choices of coffee or cocoa help preserve forests, biodiversity, and local economies in tropical countries?

Simply put, consumers regulate the market. Buying coffee or cocoa from proven sustainable farming operations helps these businesses to keep employing their sustainable techniques and perhaps spread this to other operations; on the contrary, buying products from farms that employ destructive techniques give them more incentive to keep doing what they do. Essentially, if no one buys unsustainable coffee or cocoa, then no one will want to grow any.

15. What are the economic advantages of low-input farming?

Production cost for low-input farming is lower, and their products command a higher price (since they can be advertised as not being GMOs, for which a growing premium market for now exists).

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 6 week questions

On Oct 23, 2011, at 10:25 AM, Phong Hoang wrote:

1. A tribe is discovered in a remote rain forest that has no knowledge of modern civilization. The tribe has lived sustainably in this location for thousands of years. How would you explain how we approach sustainability, conservation, and the balance between growth and preservation?

Tribes living in remote rainforests should have rights to those tribal lands. If they have already managed to live sustainably there for generations, it makes no sense whatsoever to force our way of "taking care of the land" (deforestation, clearing for livestock, to name some) upon them. Furthermore, we should not try to assimilate these people into modern society; who are we to say that our notion of what civilization is is better? I believe it is best to let these people be; historical examples have shown that our Western society can cause harm with our lack of understanding to these tribes, even with the best of intentions.

Ok, nice rant, but what I'm driving at is how would you explain to a native or an extra-terrestrial how we manage resources: are we headed for a crash, or are we thinking seven generations out, like the native americans used to do?

Modern society is headed towards a crash. Just take for example how quickly we have been extracting oil reserves around the world; in just three centuries and we may have used up all that has taken nature millions of years to create (which reminds me, I'm wearing my solid-liquid-gas t-shirt as I am typing this).

2. Before the industrial revolution, the impact of man on nature was very limited. Consider the transitions in North America post contact, and draw parallels to other island civilizations.

The Industrial Revolution led to unprecedented growth in the realm of average income and population. Of course, fueling this growth was the extraction of natural resources; the Great Plains were cleared of natural grassland to become North America's breadbasket. Deforestation also occured throughout the continent as the demand for timber went up. The need for energy was met through the construction of dams and oil wells, severely disrupting the natural landscape. A similar trend could be observed with Hawaii, as the introduction of plantations to the islands led to clearing of many natural landscapes to make way for cattle ranching and agriculture.

Ok, again, nice rant, but think of transportation (trains, cars), weapons, and the spread of disease. This is what J. Diamond means by "guns, germs and steel".

The world is so much more interconnected now because of the advent of modern technology. We have the technology to impart tremendous damage on our environment, and in fact, we do.

3. Ecotourism is a recent blending of economic and environmental interests. Explain both sides of this, and whether it is a sustainable trend.

Ecotourism can serve environmental interests by providing funds for ecological conservation or to help the development of local communities. In that way, it can also serve environmental interests; this can bring awareness to the cause of many environmentalists who sought greater interest in their crusades, primarily through educating the visiting public. Whether or not it is sustainable remains to be seen; the primary deciding factor seem to be whether or not the cause of conservation can trump that of economics.

good, so your point is that it can actually serve as sustainability PR, correct?

No publicity is bad publicity...

4. REDD is a movement based on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. What are the connections between deforestation and climate change?

Trees and forests help to remove carbon from the environment through taking in carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, during photosynthesis. Deforestation reduces the amount of plants available to do this, and if the method chosen is burning, the carbon stored in the plants get released back into the atmosphere.

what about the change in albedo?

As climate change accelerates, the poles will start to melt, reducing the albedo due to less white covering the earth. This accelerates the melting of poles again; a perfect example of positive feedback.

5. Why might it be important to preserve even remote biomes from human impact? Use the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as an example.

Just because they are remote doesn't mean they are safe from human impact. When resources come into play (such as oil), no deterrent is too great for corporations to start building wells and refineries. There has been an ongoing controversy since 1977 with whether or not to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; tense debates still rage on as critics and supporters of the plan argue whether or not any oil recovered will have meaningful impact on the world markets, and just how much impact it will have on local wildlife.

Ok, again, nice rant (good rants, Phong!). What I'm wondering is this: how can something so remote be of any concern to us? Is it albedo, biodiversity, climate change, what?

Albedo is one factor, yes, but the bigger issue is that of the world as a whole. Climate change due to the burning of coal in China leads to greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, which can melt the snow and ice that forms Arctic biomes. Consequences don't work in isolation.

Nice work, let me know your thoughts.
aloha
b

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AP Environmental Science Amazon Deforestation questions

1. What direction is the major highway running in this area?

The highway runs east to west.

2. Roughly how are apart are the "fishbone" lateral roads branching off the main highway? About how long are these roads?

They are about three miles apart and ten miles long.

3. Based on the sizes of the cleared patches off the roads, would you say that large or small landholders have made these clearings?

Probably small landholders; the patches are about a kilometer wide at most and so not big enough for larger operations.

4. Based on what you see in these images, and on images on p. 130, explain how deforestation proceeds after a road is cut through the forest.

After a road is cut, plots adjacent to the road are first occupied. As these become developed and cleared, spurs off the main road (the "fishbone" patterns) are cut perpendicular to the original road. More shorter spurs will then branch off from these.

5. What is the huge river that runs east-west about 180 km north of the place marker?

The Amazon.

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AP Environmental Science National Parks video questions

On Oct 21, 2011, at 4:48 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

NP1: 1:10-1:22

1. Listen about Rockefeller and how political attitudes about conservation changed, and how it changed our sense of Democracy.

Conservation came to be recognized as being important and valuable, pushed ahead by the efforts of Rockefeller and Horace Albright to preserve and protect the Teton Range. Congress too recognized this, and started pouring in more money into parks, though most of this was for the construction of roads. Stephen Mather declared that the parks belonged to no state or section; rather, "they have become democratized." Visitors were no longer just upper class but expanded to the new (but still predominantly white) middle class.

Nice, but it also changed how we looked at each other, as Americans. A similar thing might have happened long ago when China invaded Vietnam, it united all of the clans and factions there, did it not?

Well, until we become communist. Then of course we're all united there, right? (dissident factions need not apply)

2. What did Yard mean by "in the national parks, all are just Americans"?

Yard describes how national parks can bring together Americans from all walks of life. Social classes disappear as everyone goes to just enjoy the parks and the scenery in all the beauty; this is what he means by "all are just Americans".

right, and the car was a great "leveler": rich and middle class folks all used them, though some were shinier than others.

NP3: 0:00-8:00

3. John Muir-what does he mean by "human poetry", and what is he contrasting it against?

By "human poetry", Muir is referring to what will be left of nature and the environment after man has harvested and colonized everything; immortal words and passages to describe what no longer exists, with trees having been turned into ships and homes and forests being cleared for farmland. He contrasts it with the idea of "wild beauty".
right, "human poetry" is not a compliment, is it?

The context of the phrase did not imply that it was, no...

4. Transcendence is discussed: how does this make you feel?

Scenes of nature can be epic in scale and proportion, taking away the very breath of those who witness it. This is compared to the feeling of walking into a large cathedral, where the setting it just uplifting. Personally, I prefer my places more down to Earth, however...
right-what happens spiritually, psychologically when one sees these? Even Ankor Wat had a similar impact-why?

Honestly, I haven't had one of these experiences yet, so I can't really say...

5. What do you notice about the listing of parks at about 3:00? What drove this and why?

The national park idea expanded beyond just Yellowstone and Yosemite to include any locale in the United States that people wanted to preserve.
not just any locale, but closer locales. It also showed that parks did not have to be huge expanses, but just hold some special, unique gift intact...

Americans with a passion for a place drove this crusade to turn many places into national parks and preserves.

6. What is the difference between a "set" and a "system" and how is this important?

A set has no coherence; new national parks are just added to the collection without common rules to regulate them, and so it is very disorganized. A system would imply that there is more organization (or a "system" in place) when adding new parks.

right, also a flow of resources (e.g. taxes) and a stable planning/administration process. Like the lab you like to hang out in...


7. What happened at Hetch Hetchy? Are we still living with the impact of this?

Different departments claimed to be in charge of the parks, but in truth, no one was. The City of San Francisco was given permission to build a dam in Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley, which submerged the area and turned into a resevoir. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is still around today, mainly serving to provide drinking water to the San Francisco Bay Area.

right, what was the direction of this, and why did I bring it up? Recall the dam exercise last week?

Similar to Tellico Dam, the issue is one of conservation versus economic benefits. In the end, economics won out for both cases (money talks).

8. One of the railroad barons in the photo (5:30) started a minor college in the South Bay area-who is this?

Amasa Leland Stanford, who founded Stanford University in 1885.

yep, good catch Phong...


9. How did Steven Mather's philosophy of the parks differ from Muirs?

While Muir emphasized the parks for their beauty and aesthetic value, Mather looked and saw the issue as one of economics and patriotism, befitting his status as a conservationist.
right, he also saw the parks as part of our national "system", Muir saw them as something exclusive to that, not quite integrated, but more like shrines...


10. What did he mean when he said "America's best idea"? Is this uniquely American?

Mather is referring to the national parks. He talks about how it can serve as inspiration for us to care about the long-term, like the sweeping vistas of the park that take millions of years to carve out. In ways, this spirit is very American; the many mentions of "patriotism" should be an obvious cue to this fact.

Right, right, it's one of our jingoistic traits: all good things must have been invented here. Look up the first national park in Canada (or ask Mr. McKenna). Now what do you think?
Remember, we are still a relatively young nation, and we have the temperament of an adolescent at times...
Like barging into land wars in Asia...

Banff National Park is the first national park established in Canada in 1885. While Yellowstone was established before this, it would be arrogant to assume that the idea of a national park is uniquely American.

NP5: 1:19-1:33

11. How did Ansel Adams come into the picture (pun intended)?

In 1940, Roosevelt signed into law creating Kings Canyon National Park. However, as the park was roadless, Roosevelt would never be able to see the park with his own eyes, instead relying on Ansel Adams's words and photographs to take him after the path of John Muir.

right, but it did not last long, did it?

Roosevelt died not long after, unfortunately.

12. "The army must find a different nesting place" demonstrated what sea-change?

The Army wanted to use the breeding grounds of the rare Trumpeter Swan as a bombing range. Roosevelt overrode the Army, demonstrating his willingness to support the cause of the environmentalists even in wartime.

Ok, now compare this with Hetch Hetchy...

Hetch Hetchy was an opposite case where economics won out over the conservationists.

13. "Manzanar" means something in Spanish (what?) and means something else for Japanese Americans (known as AJAs-why?). Explain.

"Manzanar" in Spanish means "apple orchard". To Japanese Americans however, Manzanar was the name of one of ten concentration camps where they were interred for the duration of World War II. It is now preserved as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Site.
yep, horrific isn't it. I've been there...it's hard at times to face the actions of our countrymen...

14. Before the California aqueduct was built to take water to Los Angeles, Manzanar was different. How?

Manzanar used to be a lively ranching and farming town until the City of Los Angeles bought up all of the water rights there. Without water for irrigation, Manzanar was abandoned by 1929.

good one, how did you find this?

Uh... Wikipedia?

NP6: 0:00-16:00

15. What does the word "wilderness" really mean?

Wilderness is to be wild and free, untouched and unmarred by human activity.

Look a bit deeper. It's also mentioned in the Adams biography...


16. We return to the ideas of John Muir again-why?

It's not just the animals that are going to need sanctuaries and preserves; we humans too need a natural sanctuary to retreat to.
excellent
This is what Muir was saying when he argued that nature was good for the soul.

right. Without these spaces for us to let our souls breathe, what would become of us? Your thoughts?

Well, hopefully by that point, we all have evolved to become cyborgs with integrated computer chips and whatnot... Kind of makes you think of a Blade Runner-esque dystopia.

17. What did Stegner sense about our future?

Stegner sensed that our future was heading towards an industrialized world where any land usable for economic reasons would be converted into such; consequently, he makes the point to say that humans too need a natural sanctuary to get away from the artificial world that we have built around us.
Like the truffula trees...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffula_tree

18. How is tension healthy in a Democracy? Is this "dynamic equilibrium? Explain.

Tension proves that there is continual debate and re-evaluation of ideas between the different parties. This is key in a democracy to ensure that all voices and ideas, including dissenting ones, are heard. In ways, this is a form of dynamic equilibrium, because debate is always going on, even though there may not be actual change happening (perhaps Congress is not in session? Hmm...).

It's in session, but there is hardly any dynamism, or any equilibrium. Remember: equilibrium means "equal freedom", usually implying dynamic tension.

19. "Homes for our finest dreams"…explain.

According to writer Paul Schullery, we put our highest ideals in our national parks and so they are like consciences, "homes for our finest dreams."

Untouched by what?

Usually when someone mentions "untouched", it's going to be followed by some implication of how modern society is corrupting and tainting us. That's my guess.

20. Hertzog speaks about the brotherhood of man. Where else have you heard of this?

The idea that Hertzog speaks of is reminiscent of transcendentalism, where spirituality exists to connect all living things. Also, Brotherhood of Man is the name of a 1970s British pop group (which is where I heard this phrase before).

Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Find this, you'll enjoy it.

The translation I found for this is, "Joy, beautiful spark of divinity" from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Divinity, huh...

21. Mount McKinley was named after one of our presidents. The true name of this mountain is what?

Alaska maintains that the mountain's name is Denali, or "the big one".
right:


22. Murie's work is similar to something mentioned in our last chapter-explain.

Murie and his brother traced migration patterns of animals in McKinley National Park during their youth, which inspired him to later become a field biologist. He called for the reintroduction of wolf species at Olympic National Park and Isle Royal in Lake Superior, where elk populations have exploded due to lack of predators. This is similar to the reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstonebecause of a similar elk issue. Murie also objected to the draining of a wetland in the Yellowstone because of its environmental benefits; this is similar to the example of Arcata, California in Chapter 2, where the construction of a wetland there actually beautified the waterfront and solved a sewage treatment problem.

excellent answer. Where is the Murie Center located then?

The Murie Center is located in Grand Teton National Park. A Rockefeller connection?

Nice work, looking forward to chatting with you more about these...
aloha
b

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 6 questions

1. What do we mean by closed-canopy forest and old-growth forest?

Closed-canopy forests are forests where tree crowns cover most of the ground. Old-growth forests, or frontier forests, are those that are large enough and have been undisturbed by human activities for long enough for the trees to live out a natural life cycle and for ecological processes to happen normally.

Ok, which processes do you mean?

Old-growth forests exhibit a large amount of biodiversity and ecological complexity, built up from over years of growth and change. There may also be periodic cycles of death and renewal happening, leading to many generations of trees with different ages coexisting.

2. What land use is responsible for most forest losses in Africa? In Latin America? In Asia? (fig. 6.7).

In Africa, most forest losses are due to conversion to small-scale permanent agriculture. In Latin America and Asia, it is conversion to large-scale permanent agriculture.
e.g. what?

In Latin America and Asia, smaller farmers who do their own operations are beginning to be bought by corporations that bring in larger mechanized operations. As the land is already nutrient-poor (being in a tropical rainforest biome), the soil is drained after just a few years of cultivation ("slash and burn").

3. What is a debt-for-nature swap?

In developing countries, the need for resources is the greatest and can often override the need for conservation. These countries also owe much debt to banks, creditors, and other governments;
do they just "owe" it, or are they persuaded into going into debt to richer countries? How is this done?

It can be both. Many countries do give aid and loans to developing nations as a means to help development, but other countries have debt because of NGOs that exchange development, funding, or donations for promises of conservation policy changes or other investment in environmental measures.
developed countries then buy the debt and promise to cancel it in return for the preservation, conservation, or restoration of areas of biological importance.
It's an odd game, similar to the agri-business attack on smaller farmers: "you need this larger combine, we'll loan you the money to buy it. Can't pay us? We get your farm now"
Ever heard of this in NE?

This sounds like Russian loan sharks...

4. Why is fire suppression a controversial strategy? Why are forest thinning and salvage logging controversial?

Fire suppression lets dead and decaying plant matter to build up, increasing the risk for a larger and even more severe fire.
e.g. where?

The United States followed a policy of fire suppression for most of the 20th century. Fires in the Yellowstone, the Great Plains, and the Rockies were common until the Park Service started actively fighting any fires, wild or otherwise. This led fuel to build up, leading to big fires such as the Yellowstone fires of 1988.
Many biological communities also depend on periodic fires for regeneration, and so suppressing fires is a dubious strategy. Forest thinning programs were started to let loggers remove excess fuel from the forests; however, to make it profitable for them to do so, the government has also allowed them to harvest large, valuable trees in backcountry. Thinning projects are also exempt from oversight and regulations; this has led to the public to call it merely a cover for logging without laws. Salvage logging can actually increase fire susceptibility, and it rarely does what it is supposed to; loggers harvest free-standing trees instead of the underbrush that really is the cause for forest fires.
yep, but they got what they came for, what could motivate them to do otherwise? How could "enlightened self interest" be harnessed here?

What is "enlightened self-interest" again? This sounds really familiar...

5. What portion of the United States' public rangelands are in poor or very poor condition due to overgrazing? Why do some groups say grazing fees amount to a "hidden subsidy"?

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 55% of public rangelands are in poor or very poor conditions due to overgrazing. Grazing fees collected from ranchers and herders amount to only $11 million, while $47 million is spent every year to maintain and administer these rangelands.
Yep, is this just bad business, bad politics, economic re-distribution, or corruption?

This is mostly a case of bad business and politics, an example of outdated policy and bad subsidy that has not been rectified.

6. What is rotational grazing, and how does it mimic natural processes?

Rotational grazing is short duration, intensive grazing that forces animals to eat everything in a small area equally, trample it, and fertilize it with manure before moving on. This simulates migrating wild herds of animals that constantly stay on the move and graze on grass sustainably.
ok

7. How do the size and design of nature preserves influence their effectiveness? What do landscape ecologists mean by interior habitat and edge effects?

Reserves should generally be large enough to support viable populations of endangered species, keep ecosystems intact, and have adequate buffer zones to protect vulnerable core areas. However, smaller areas are better for species that don't need as much land, because multiple reserves can serve as insurance against disasters or disease. Proposed solutions include creating corridors between smaller reserves to combine them into a larger one. Interior habitats are deep inside habitat areas, allowing for conditions for more specialized species to exist. Edge effects are edge areas of a habitat that form a transition to the surrounding areas, and have varying conditions compared to the habitat itself.
This is a big deal in the state in which you now reside...

8. What percentage of the earth's land area has some sort of protected status? How has the amount of protected areas changed globally (fig. 6.18)?

Nearly 12% of the earth's land area has some sort of protected status. Since 1932, the amount of protected land area has steadily gone up, to 19.6 million ha.
Land, ocean, both?

This statistic is only for land area. I'm not sure how ocean preserves factor into this...

9. What is ecotourism, and why is it important?

Ecotourism is tourism that is ecologically and socially sustainable. This fuels public interest in the environment, which provides to sources of income needed fund park management and administration.
yep, pr for the beasties...

10. What is a biosphere reserve, and how does it differ from a wilderness area or wildlife preserve?

Biosphere reserves are protected areas that are divided into zones with different purposes, such as settlements, roads, and farming on the outer areas and research plus ecotourism in the inner areas. They differ from traditional wilderness areas or wildlife preserves by not having clear boundaries, instead recognizing the need for people to have access to the resources by having buffer zones and multiple-use areas around the perimeter.

yes, good answer...
Nice work.
aloha
b

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AP Environmental Science Tellico Dam questions

1. Which side of the dam is upstream? How can you tell?

The right side of the dam is upstream. The elevation there is 247 meters, while the elevation of the left side is 226 meters. Water flows downstream.

2. What large town is about 30 km northeast of the dam?

Knoxville, Tennessee.

3. Based on inspection of this area, would you say that pivotal policy cases, such as the Tellico Dam case, always occur in highly visible locations? Or do they sometimes occur in obscure situations?

Not always. Tellico Dam is located in a rural area, and yet it still became a major case that helped to set future policy.

4. What was the species whose fate was decided at this dam? What was the Supreme Court's decision regarding the ESA in this case?

The snail darter lived in the area where the dam was planned to be built; they were declared an endangered species until they were later successfully introduced to the Hiwassee River. The Supreme Court ruled that Tellico Dam could neglect the Endangered Species Act for economic reasons.

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AP Environmental Science Chapter 5 week questions

1. Explain how the "principle of unintended consequences" might apply to the wolf situation in Yellowstone.

Human understanding of the way biological communities work is still very limited. Trying to reintroduce a species to solve a problem we created by taking the species away can create new problems that we were unaware of before. For example, hunters didn't want wolves because they competed with game. Shepherds didn't want wolves because they ate sheep. But getting rid of wolves had the unintended consequence of the elks eating up all the grass.

2. Sea Ranch, north of San Francisco found that when they brought in sheep to keep the grass down, the gopher population dropped-why?

Gophers are exposed where there is limited grass cover. The eagles were eating them.

3. Explain how altitude and latitude impact biomes, and why they differ.

Altitude negatively correlates with temperature. Latitude also negatively correlates with temperature. Higher altitudes and higher latitudes are lower in temperature.

4. Pick a climate diagram and explain how it describes the plants and animals that live there.

The climate diagram for San Diego indicates that there are two distinct seasons in year; a wet season from November until March, and a dry season for March until November. This is consistent with the climate suitable for the chaparral and shrubs that grow in the area, due to the occasional periods of drought that happen in the area.

5. Biomes evolve depending on what is constant, along with what is never present-explain with an example.

Biomes evolve in places where environmental factors are constant and predictable. For example, in a tropical biome, there is a constant amount of rain, such as in the Amazon. Therefore plants there have adapted to the amount of rain expected in the Amazon.

6. Most biomes are based on temperature, except for one-explain.

Deserts are biomes formed based not on temperature but rather humidity. Deserts can be hot as well as cold; in fact, the driest place on Earth is Antarctica (not the usual place we imagine when we think desert).

7. Why is photosynthesis greatest near the shore? Compare with Hadal zones.

Near the shore the water is warm and there is lots of sun. Hadal zones are dark and cold and so there is no photosynthesis.

8. What three factors impact life in a lake?

Light, temperature, and oxygenation.

9. Dams are ecologically damaging for two reasons, both involving temperature-explain.

Dams only last for about 50 years before they become mud basins from silt being carried downstream. Then they have cold water where the water used to be warm. The cold water pulls minerals out and fish now have mineral poisoning. Those damn dams!

10. Streams and rivers demonstrate "continuity". Explain, and why this is critical to the study of pollution, species and biodiversity.

What goes into a stream or river will come out the other side. A polluting source upstream will release pollutants that travel downstream, getting into anything that it encounters along the way. This is useful to know for identifying sources of pollution in bodies of water. Since streams and rivers are also long and linear ecosystems, they can be easily disrupted by dams and other manmade constructions, emphasizing the importance of preserving river systems to protect the species and biodiversity that depend on it.

11. Compare genetic, species, and ecological diversity.

Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the gene pool of a given species. Species diversity is the number of different species in a given area. Ecological diversity is the total number of diverse ecosystems that exist in the world. Each higher category of diversity encompasses the preceeding level of diversity.

12. What connection do you see between biodiversity hot-spots in Figure 5.22?

They are mostly in tropical or Mediterranean climates and are on islands, coastlines, or mountains, places where there are physical barriers between habitats that encourage speciation.

13. Why would biodiversity increase stability of an ecosystem?

High diversity help biological communities better resist environmental stress and recover more quickly from disasters such as wildires or diseases. This is because there are more redundant stabilizing species that can act as a buffer in the case that some species do get wiped out. An example of how this works can be seen in comparisons between monoculture and polyculture; monoculture is vulnerable to disease that can wipe out the entire species, whereas polyculture will still have other species to fall back onto.

14. Explain how HIPPO might be different in Hawaii, Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar and North America.

HIPPO stands for habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population (human), and overharvesting. Each region suffers from these factors differently; for example, Hawaii has to deal with habitat destruction and invasive species but not other factors. Africa, with most countries still in poverty and lacking strong governments to enforce laws, suffer from all of these factors. Indonesia and Madagascar are island nations; both suffer from habitat destruction, invasive species from earlier periods of colonization, and more recently pollution. North America is relatively developed in most places; it suffers from habitat destruction, pollution, and overharvesting as a result of industrialization. Invasive species are also common. Population growth has been decreasing however; whether or not this is too late to reverse the loss of biodiversity though remains to be seen.

15. Look up the mass extinction 65 MY ago, also known as the K-T extinction. Who discovered this, and where does he teach?

The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event occurred 65.5 million years ago and was first theorized by Luis and Walter Alvarez of theUniversity of California, Berkeley.

16. Why would deforestation (discontiguous forests) disrupt biodiversity? Look at this as a predator and a prey animal, as well as plant species.

Deforestation destroys habitat, which can lead to the extinction of the species living there. This can lead to the collapse of an entire ecosystem, as many species rely on each other for survival.

17. Compare the monoculture of modern farming (e.g. Nebraska) with what was there before human intervention. Make sure you include soil, animal and plant life.

Modern agriculture consists mainly of monoculture, where a single crop is grown over a large area. This contrasts with nature, where many species of plant life grow together in communities forming diverse ecosystems with native animal species as well. These ecosystems are more resilient and tolerant of stress and other environmental factors, better able to recover from a natural disaster. Monoculture on the other hand is extremely vulnerable to disease; a single pest or virus can destroy an entire field of crops, leaving nothing behind.

18. Using the concept of "Island Biogeography" explain and compare the Galapagos Islands vs. the Hawaiian Islands, and Molokai vs.Hawaii Island (where you live).

Two major factors that determine island biogeography are the size of the island and its distance from land. The Galápagos Islands are 7,880 km^2 in land area and about 1,000 km from the nearest land mass. The Hawaiian Islands are 16,636.5 km^2 in land area and about 3,000 km from the nearest land mass. Smaller islands and more remote islands are less likely to receive immigrants and vice versa. The relative age of the islands can also affect the degree of speciation that has happened. Molokai is smaller but older than Hawaii Island, which is larger and younger; the two places also differ in geography as Hawaii Island has been more active recently.

19. Why are invasive species such a threat to invasive species, and why would this be a greater threat here?

Invasive species are not a threat to invasive species, unless there is intraspecific competition between themselves...?

20. Why would pollution concentration impact an apex species more than another species lower on the food chain?

The concentration of pollution increases the further up the food chain you go. Apex predators are the highest and will receive the most concentrated dose. This has happened in real life in the case of DDT, when eagles started dying from the concentrated dosage accumulated from their prey.

21. Look up CITES and compare with ESA.

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and ESA is the Endangered Species Act. CITES is international while ESA is American. CITES mainly deals with international trade of species and its impact on the survival of the species in the wild. ESA protects species that are threatened as a result of economic growth and development.

22. Look at figure figure 5.35: where are we, where have you been, and what have you seen that matches/explains the map?

Uh... as a boarding student without means of transportation, I really have not gotten far. But I have been up to the summit of Mauna Kea, and did notice that the higher up you go, the less the biodiversity. To be honest, in my four years living here, I have not seen a single species of wildlife that qualifies as an endangered species.

23. What unique view or experience do you bring to a global discussion about biodiversity?

I'm not a big fan of animals, or plants for that matter, I will let the botanists work on biodiverstiy issues. On the other hand, I am very interested in bioengineering, although I think a lot of hardcore environmental people would not be super excited about that...

24. Given unlimited resources, what steps would you take to improve the global biodiversity situation?

If I had access to unlimited resources, the first step I would take is to use that resource to supply human populations instead of extracting it from nature and causing environmental destruction. Population growth should also be kept under control, as the boom of human population is what has been primarily responsible for the reduction of biodiversity in the world. Human intervention should not be used to reintroduce biodiversity, as biodiversity is a product of chance and years of evolution, something that we can not replicate under artificial conditions.

0 comments

AP Environmental Science Chapter 5 questions

Thanks
It might be fun to post your subethaedit page, can you export as html and send me the result?
b
On Oct 5, 2011, at 8:21 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

I worked on these with Mariko!

1. Why did ecologists want to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone Park? What goals did they have, and have their goals been achieved?

Yellowstone Park once had a large wolf population that was wiped out by farmers and ranchers. This led the population of elk and deer to explode, where they started to overgraze plant life in the area. Ecologists wanted to reintroduce wolves to restore this lost biodiversity; whether or not the wolves directly caused this is still up to debate, but biodiversity has been restored in Yellowstone Park in the years following.

2. Describe nine major types of terrestrial biomes.

Scientists define many different types of biomes. One classification lists thirteen distinct major world biomes: tropical rainforest and subtropical moist forest, tropical and subtropical seasonal forests, tropical grasslands and savannas, desert and dry shrublands, temperate rainforest, temperate conifer forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, Mediterranean woodlands and scrub, temperate grasslands and savannas, boreal forests, tundra, rock and ice, and montane grasslands and shrublands.

3. Explain how climate graphs (as in fig. 5.6) should be read.

The horizontal axis shows months of the year and the vertical axes show temperature and precipitation. Dry months are when precipitation drops below temperature, and are indicated in yellow. Wet months are when precipitation stay above temperature, and are areas in blue.

4. Describe conditions under which coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, and tidal pools occur.

Coral reefs occur where shallow, clear warm water supports photosynthesis in algae species that hellp nourish the coral. Mangroves occur in shallow tidal mudflats along warm, calm marine coasts. Estuaries are formed wherever rivers empty into the ocean, mixing fresh water with salt water. Tidal pools occur along rocky shorelines in depressions that cause the water to flood only at high tide but still retain some water at low tide. There is significant wave action here that allows life for only specialized animals and plants.

5. Throughout the central portion of North America is a large biome once dominated by grasses. Describe how physical conditions and other factors control this biome.

Because there is not enough rain to support forests, grass is abundant. Deep roots help them to survive drought, and also the annual winter accumulation of dead leaves keeps the soil rich. Unfortunately, the rich soil has been converted to farmland with lots and lots of corn, wheat, and other crops. Now soil erosion is common, and weeds can spread.

6. Explain the difference between swamps, marshes, and bogs.

Swamps are wetlands with trees. Marshes are wetlands without trees. Bogs are areas of water-saturated ground that consists of layers of accumulated dead vegetation, also called peat.

7. How do elevation (on mountains) and depth (in water) affect environmental conditions and life-forms?

Elevation and depth affect environmental conditions and therefore different life-forms exist due to different temperatures as well as different pressures (less pressure at high altitude, huge amounts of pressure underwater). At higher elevation, plants are usually less abundant and smaller as there is less nutrition for them as well as more extreme ranges of temperature that they have to tolerate. Less plant life is less biological material that can be used to feed animals, hence the relative lack of creatures living higher up. In the benthic zone, the relative lack of light filtering down prevents the growth of photosynthetic organisms, explaining the lack of plant life deep underwater. However, a different community lives and thrives there from the dead biological material that sinks underneath, leading to a different sort of unique ecosystem to form.

8. Figure 5.15 shows chlorophyll (plant growth) in oceans and on land. Explain why green, photosynthesizing organisms occur in long bands at the equator and along the edges of continents. Explain the very dark green areas and yellow/orange areas on the continents.

Photosynthesis requires sunlight, and there is much more sunlight throughout the year around the equator. Along the edges of continents, the water is more shallow and therefore warmer than the middle of the ocean. This also promotes plant growth. Very dark green areas on the continents have high biological productivity, whereas yellow/orange areas are biologically rich.

9. Define biodiversity and give three types of biodiversity essential in preserving ecological systems and functions.

Biodiversity is the variety of living things with unique and productive characteristics and the complex ecological relationships that exist between them. The three types of biodiversity are genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecological diverstiy.

10. What is a biodiversity "hot spot"? List several of them (see fig. 5.22).

Biodiversity hotspots are where there are large concentrations of unique species and biodiversity. These include Brazillian Carrado, Central Chile, Indo-Burma, and many others.

11. How do humans benefit from biodiversity?

They benefit from the exercise that nature walks and other wildlife recreation give them, and they also benefit from the aesthetics. They also benefit emotionally by feeling like they are trying to protect a species. So many natural medicinal products are also harvested from nature; their discovery would not have happened without biodiversity.

12. What does the acronym HIPPO refer to?

Habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population (human), and overharvesting. To me it just makes me think of greedy corpulent American hypocrites.

13. Have extinctions occurred in the past? Is there anything unusual about current extinctions?

Extinctions have occured in the past, but human involvement has increased the extinction rate by crazy amounts!

14. Why are exotic or invasive species a threat to biodiversity? Give several examples of exotic invasive species (see fig. 5.27).

Because invasive species generally do not have predators and have unlimited resources in their new habitat, they hurt stable ecosystems. Some examples include the Eurasian milfoil which grows in water and displaces native vegetation. The water hyacinth grows in water and blocks boat traffic and prevents swimming and fishing.

15. What is the Endangered Species Act? Describe some of the main arguments of its proponents and opponents.

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed to protect animals that are at risk for extinction even if they are not directly useful to humans. Its proponents say that all species are important for ecosystems. Opponents say that the laws violate their property rights.

16. What is a flagship or umbrella species? Why are they often important, even though they are costly to maintain?

An umbrella species is a species that requires a large area of undisturbed habitat to maintain their population. Examples include the spotted owl, the tiger, or the gray wolf. Flagship species are pretty or cool organisms that many people react to emotionally, like the giant panda or bald eagle. They are advocates for the public to preserve biodiversity.

0 comments

AP Environmental Science e² video questions

Very well done
B

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 4, 2011, at 8:32 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

1. " a king who utilized water well, ruled well"-why?

Water is a key and vital resource for human life. Historically, civilizations have formed and flourished around bodies of water, where it is used for drinking, irrigation, and trade. Essentially, to use this resource well is knowing how to govern effectively all in your domain.

2. mountains and water are key elements to Feng Sui-why?

Because it's a location theory where house goes in front of water and the mountains are in the back, enclosing the house and you feel safe.

3. 600 years ago, the stream passed through many biomes-name a few

Mountains, alpines, to temperate and all the way to the ocean. This is mainly due to changes in altitude as the river flows downstream.

4. "cover it up" was started in 1968-what happened to the city? Has this continued?

They buried the polluted stream under cement. Then a highway was built on top to help traffic problems. Building more roads led to even higher volumes of traffic (see below).

5. "induced demand" means what? How could you control this if you were emperor?

More traffic in response to increased road space. I would tell people that life is not fair and to wait their turn in line.

6. Noh Soo Hong says "they think I'm nut": what does this say about the public awareness about carrying capacity and sustainable development? Are there parallels to other urban societies? What sort of economic/social benefits might you experience?

The public thought he was nuts. They thought the stream would be nice but they were concerned about traffic. Public awareness is very low about the idea of carrying capacity and sustainable development; this is a similar case in many urban societies across the world.

7. Lee Myung Bak is now the President of Korea, what were his previous two jobs? What's the lesson here? There is an old saying: "only Nixon could have gone to China" What's the connection?

He was previously the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction and the mayor of Seoul. The lesson is, create problems and solve them later when you become president to be hailed as a hero! The saying, "Only Nixon could have gone to China" is because only Nixon could have gone to China without being criticized as being "soft" on Communism as he was already known as such a hard-line anti-Communist.

8. What unique talents did Lee Myung Bak bring to the project?

Lots of influence!

9. What changes did they make to public transportation during construction, and what did they learn about traffic while doing this "experiment"?

They monitored traffic before and after, and they found that the traffic was actually better after construction!

10. Is traffic more like a liquid or a gas? Explain.

Traffic engineers are used to thinking about traffic as a liquid. Now they know it behaves more like a gas.

11. What is the heat island effect, and how did the restoration change this in Seoul?

The heat island effect is when the sun hits asphalt and makes a lot of heat which brings a wave of heat to the center. Water in the center of the city stops the heat island effect.

12. The two ladies are a crackup-they talk over each other, but what is their unique perspective on this?

The water is so clean, children can play in it!

13. Big picture: think of why the city was located there, how it evolved to cover it's reason for being there, then once it was uncovered and restored, the city re-discovered it's roots. Where else could you imagine seeing this?

The city was originally built on that site because of the presence of the river. As Seoul became increasingly urbanized, the river outlived its purpose and was covered over to support the city's new need for roads. Lee Myung Bak tore down the highway and restored the stream once he became president and realized the need for green space in the city. Other places where this could happen would be like Tōkyō; urban development in the post-war years have reduced any green space in the city to concrete.

14. Hawaiian society was based on the Ahupua'a concept. How is this similar?

Ahupua'a is common subdivision of land. "Kuleana" is "your business/responsibility." If you were a king, you would mind your own ahupua'a, or your land. It was a sustainable ecostystem that went from high altitude to the ocean; you were sustainable in your own ahupua'a. If you polluted your own stream, you were polluting your own people. Whatever you did to your land directly affected yourself.

15. Koreans plant 480,000 trees each year to offset the impact of the stream-why?

The trees are planted every year to offset the carbon dioxide that was produced in the burning of fossil fuels required to pump the water for the stream.

16. Many cities in Europe have strict urban planning policies-compare these with Seoul.

Seoul, typical of many Asian cities, tend to grow in a much more fluid and dynamic manner. Whereas European cities have strict urban planning to regulate their growth, Seoul evolved based on the movement of people; suburbs sprang up as the country became more urbanized, and we start to see patterns where the poor are concentrated in the less desirable parts of the city, such as the center.

17. Soon we will see a similar video about Alexandria Virginia, where pedestrian traffic has changed. How did pedestrian traffic change in Seoul due to the "road diet"

Reducing the amount of roads increased usage of public transportation, which led to the construction of more walking paths and bus lanes. Bus-only lanes have increased bus riders, and people are now also walking more.

18. The present mayor of Seoul says "sustainability is the key element to the survival of the city". Why?

He believes that sustainability equals survival for the city for it is what attracts people to want to live in the city. People living in the city will work in it, invest in it, and that is what keeps a city going.

0 comments

AP Environmental Science Hans Rosling 2010 TED talk questions

thanks
aloha
b
On Sep 29, 2011, at 4:47 PM, Phong Hoang wrote:

1. In 1960, common terms were "developed" and "developing world". Compare goals for these, and what prejudices are inherent in these?

In 1960, the goal of the developed world was to afford a car while the developing world was wanting to just be able to buy footwear to walk in. The differences in goals reflect the gap in economic development between these two places, and it shows the inherent inequality in distribution of wealth in the world. The prejudice from this is that two terms have evolved to define the countries that have, and don't have: the West, and the rest.

2. In 2050, how old will you be?

In 2050, I will be 57.

3. Why are electric cars part of his solution? How sustainable are they compared to petro-cars?

The developing world will move up, but according to Rosling, only if the right green technologies are invested in. This is so that climate change can be avoided as well as to ensure that the price of energy stays low enough to encourage growth. Electric cars are sustainable as the means for producing electricity can be green and renewable, whereas petro-cars rely on oil, a nonrenewable resource that has been getting increasingly expensive and will only continue to go up in price as reserves of it start to be used up.

4. What elements does Rosling say will be needed to change population growth? Explain.

The poorest in the world need to get out of poverty, have an education, enjoy improved child survival rates, and be able to afford basic technologies (such as bicycles, cellphones...) for population growth to change. Other than that, according to Rosling, "nothing short of a nuclear war of the kind we have never seen" will change this growth.

5. Using gapminder.org, you can simulate his child survival (x axis) and children per woman (y axis). What do you see?

As child survival goes up, the number of children per woman goes down. Often the reason for a high fertility rate is high child mortality; many babies born don't make it to adulthood in these countries, and so women will have many children to ensure that at least some will grow up.

6. Using gapminder.org, list and explain three things you've discovered on your own.

(these are the same three things I put in my 2006 TED talk answers, let me know if you want me to find another three for a total of six things)

Qatar's income per person starts to go off the charts following World War II once oil starts to be in demand worldwide. As their population is so low, the wealth per person is really high. This value keeps growing right up until the 1973 oil crisis, which is where this number starts to flatline. Following the collapse of OPEC's control on oil (with the rise of other producers of oil such asVenezuela and Russia), income per person in Qatar drops until the First Gulf War, which is where it starts climbing slowly again.

For many of the Warsaw Pact countries (the Soviet Union included), per capita income grew very slowly during the Cold War years while they were still under the influence of communism. Following the shift to a market economy in these countries, the pace of economic growth picked up and has sustained itself at a new higher rate since then. A similar trend can be seen with China once they no longer followed a planned economy in the 1970s.

Japan's trail does some crazy things during the war years. Life expectancy and income per person took a huge drop from just 1943 to 1945 due to deteriorating conditions from the effects of World War II. 1945 to 1946 sees a huge jump again, this time in life expectancy due to the arrival of Allied forces and American occupation, bringing with them medical supplies and food. By the end of the decade, Japan is back on par with many of the developed countries in terms of both where it is on the graph and the eventual rate of growth that it reaches.

0 comments

AP Environmental Science Hans Rosling 2006 TED talk questions

So for this set of questions, Mariko and I thought that we would try out using SubEthaEdit to work on the questions. These answers here were the product of a study hall's worth of work together. Aside from the occasional edit wars (all too common on Wikipedia I assure you), it is very interesting to see how she answers the questions compared to me. Everyone just approaches them differently in their own ways, using their own experiences and incorporating that into the way that they answer them. I'm trying to figure out how to export and still retain the individual user colors; it's so cool to see how our colors are interspersed throughout the whole document!

1. How would you describe Sweden as a country (population, affluence, child mortality)?

Sweden is a country with a small population of only 9.3 million but relatively high affluence. Common to most developed countries, child mortality rates are low.

2. Why would chimps do better on the test?

The chimpanzees simply guessed and so did better than Swedish students or professors who had preconceived notions about the countries which caused them to get mostly wrong answers.

3. The x axis is fertility rate, y axis is survival age. Where would you put the US?

Towards the top left of the graph. They have a high survival age, but not a very high fertility rate due to a high population of educated women.

4. What were the two classes of country he finds?

Western world: long life in small family. Third world: short life in large family.

5. How did they change? What is the trend?

All the third world countries started to experience a decrease in the number of children per family while simultaneously seeing an increase in life expectancy. The trend is for all countries to move towards long lives and small families.

6. US vs. Vietnam: compare since 1960-why?

Vietnam starts to catch up to the United States following 1960. During the war, life expectancy started to increase. Following the war, family planning started and lowered the amount of children per family. Vietnam has the same rate now as the US did in 1974.

7. Look carefully at the X axis on the dollars graph-is it linear? What does this imply?

It is logarithmic. This implies that the graph is being manipulated in a way to make the point the person is trying to make the strongest. The gap between developed countries and third world countries is even greater when converted to a linear scale.

8. Mark Twain said: "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics" how is this relevant?

In the words of Dr. R, "Numbers can tell us anything if we torture them long enough. In ways, Rosling's talk is all about numbers and statistics. How data is presented is an art form where numbers can be manipulated to support any kind of argument, which is essentially what he is doing here.

9. What is the OECD?

The "Countrly club of the UN." The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

10. Is there a relationship between income and % child survival? Explain.

Money: The more money the country, the higher the child survival rate. Higher income positively correlates with rate of child survival. This makes sense as higher income usually means better access to safe drinking water, food, and health care, all factors involved in child survival.

11. Which should come first: health or wealth? How does this relate to IPAT?

Wealth comes before health. Once wealth is there, infrastructure can start to be put in, providing sources of clean water and health care that leads to health. IPAT is the formula for impact based on population, affluence, and technology level; we see that affluence and technology (which includes medical technology) are both on the same side of the equation.

12. "Nations use money better than they did in the past"- what does he mean by this?

Countries with mineral wealth (such as the United Arab Emirates) started off rich but only recently have begun to invest in health care, education, and social services. Because of this, life expectancy lagged behind per capita income in these countries by several decades in some cases, but is catching up now finally.

13. "Everything in the world exists in Africa"-why?

Africa encompasses the entire range of data from rich countries to poor countries. From Niger all the way to the left of the graph to South Africa all the way to the right, Africa has it all. This prevents a universal solution for Africa as Africa is so different across the board.

14. At 15:56 you see these acronyms: Excel, Access, mySQL, XML, webservice and ODBC. Which of these are incorporated into the elab? Why? Check out http://www.gapminder.org/ and imagine a 21st century stats class you might take…or teach.

Excel and Access are Microsoft products and so probably don't see much use at the lab. mySQL, XML, and webservice are heavily used in the elab as ways of transferring and storing data. ODBC is a platform for querying data on any platform. A 21st century statistics class would use technology and software platforms to display data in creative ways that would highlight trends and patterns not apparent in just the numbers alone.

15. What's the difference between "it's impossible" and "we can't do it"?

"It's impossible" means that nobody can accomplish the feat. "We can't do it" is a crap-loaded statement that people say when they do not want to try and accomplish something that can be worked out if they tried.

16. Go to http://www.gapminder.org/world/ and run the simulation. What do you see? Pick three things you notice to share with the class.

Qatar's income per person starts to go off the charts following World War II once oil starts to be in demand worldwide. As their population is so low, the wealth per person is really high. This value keeps growing right up until the 1973 oil crisis, which is where this number starts to flatline. Following the collapse of OPEC's control on oil (with the rise of other producers of oil such as Venezuela and Russia), income per person in Qatar drops until the First Gulf War, which is where it starts climbing slowly again.

For many of the Warsaw Pact countries (the Soviet Union included), per capita income grew very slowly during the Cold War years while they were still under the influence of communism. Following the shift to a market economy in these countries, the pace of economic growth picked up and has sustained itself at a new higher rate since then. A similar trend can be seen with China once they no longer followed a planned economy in the 1970s.

Japan's trail does some crazy things during the war years. Life expectancy and income per person took a huge drop from just 1943 to 1945 due to deteriorating conditions from the effects of World War II. 1945 to 1946 sees a huge jump again, this time in life expectancy due to the arrival of Allied forces and American occupation, bringing with them medical supplies and food. By the end of the decade, Japan is back on par with many of the developed countries in terms of both where it is on the graph and the eventual rate of growth that it reaches.

0 comments

AP Environmental Science Chapter 4 week questions

Excellent
Sent from deep in the jungle
B

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 28, 2011, at 8:17 PM, Phong Hoang <aviation.enthusiast@yahoo.com> wrote:

This set of questions was done using SubEthaEdit with Mariko while incorporating class notes from Monday as well.

1. Note doubling times on table 4.1. Why is the doubling time in 2050 so high? Compare with fig 4.3.

The 20th century was a decade of social progress and economic advancement for many countries around the world, and so as more and more of the developing world achieve a demographic transition, fertility rates will start to drop. Closer towards 2050, there will be increasingly less countries that still have high fertility rates, hence why doubling time will take much longer. Others theorize that this is because humans are nearing their carrying capacity (see Cohen and Pimental below).

2. Compare Malthus to Marx to Cohen to Pimental.

Malthus believed that population increased exponentially while food production only increased linearly and that population growth will only stop with disease, famine, or other factors to lower birth rates. Marx thought that it was because of poverty and the conditions of an unjust society that caused population growth; only just treatment will slow or stop this growth. Cohen and Pimental theorize the existence of a carrying capacity that will ultimately be the cause of slowing population growth on Earth.

3. What is good and bad about IPAT?

IPAT states that impact on the planet is the product of population, affluence, and technology level. Increasing affluence and technology generally leads to a stabilizing population with decreasing fertility rates, but this often is at the cost of impact on the planet. However, affluence and technology can also be beneficial in that technology from developed countries can bleed off to raise the technology of other developing countries.

4. p. 80: Imagine life at your age in other countries.

If we are not going to school at this age in other countries, most like we would either be living life as a factory worker or a farmer in a rural area. Depending on the where in world (for example, the western parts of China), we may already be a parent to several kids.

5. Why is growth so low in Russia?

A demoralized population from the effects of a stagnant economy, low quality of life, and widespread corruption from the Soviet era has led to a rapidly falling fertility rate. Widespread alcoholism has also resulted in high incidences of fetal alcohol syndrome among those born, out of those that choose to produce children at all.

6. Look at appendix 2, p. 377: Which river valleys will be dry when the Himalayan ice pack is gone from global warming?

The Ganges, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Mekong, the Yellow, and the Yangtze river systems all flow from the Himalayas. Collectively, they provide sustenance for around 3 billion people.

7. Compare fecundity with fertility.

Fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population, whereas fertility is the actual number of offsprings of an individual or in a population.

8. Compare crude birth rate with total fertility rate.

The crude birth rate is simply the raw data for the number of births in a year per thousand persons. The total fertility rate is the number of children born to an average woman in a population during her entire reproductive life. Total fertility rate controls more for specific population characteristics.

9. What is the normal growth rate for zero population growth, and what happens when infant mortality rises?

The normal growth rate for zero population growth is strangely enough, zero (after taking into account also immigration and emigration in and out of the population). When infant mortality rises, the replacement level for children for couple rises accordingly to compensate, but this value is normally 2.1 for developed countries.

10. What recent changes has China seen in growth rate (since 1960)?

Since the implementation ofthe one-child policy in 1978, growth rate in China has fallen sharply. As of 2011, the fertility rate is down to only 1.54 children per woman. This was necessary for China, where a spiraling population towards the end of the 20th century would have stressed the country beyond what it could handle.

11. What is the global TFR?

According to the World Bank, the global total fertility rate as of 2009 is 2.52 births per woman.

12. Why do organisms have a life span? Why will yours be greater than your parents?

Some theorize that life span itself is a product of evolution; that is, life span is nature's way of building in "planned obsolescence". By having older organisms die off, it allows for newer and more evolved organisms to take their place, allowing for evolution of the species to occur. Ours will probably be greater than that of our parents because of medical advances that allow our life spans to be extended. For example, technology to preserve and repair mitochondrial DNA can reverse or even prevent the aging process that is happening now.

13. What was the life expectancy for an Indian man in 1900? Why?

The life expectancy for an Indian man in 1900 was 23 years. By 2007, it had risen to 63. This was because of better nutrition, improved sanitation, clean water, and education.

14. Why do the lifespans of men differ from those of women?

A higher proportion of men are in the workforce, and so they are more likely to be killed or hurt on the job. Also, men are also usually those that fight in wars or serve in the line of duty.

15. Explain dependency ratio, using Japan and Italy as examples.

The dependency ratio is where the number of young people need to balance out the number of old people. Japan and Italy are in trouble because they have a much higher population of older people than they do younger people. Social security is in trouble, as well as social services for older people for there will not be enough younger people to working to pay for them.

16. Using the demographic transition graph, give an example of each stage in present countries.

Stage I is almost nonexistent in present countries with most places having already transitioned to Stage II. Stage II is Afghanistan,Laos, and most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Stage III includes nations that are even more developed, such as Kenya, Yemen, Libya, Jordan. Stage IV are countries in the developed world such as Canada or the United States. Some people theorize the existence of a Stage V for nations where birth rates have declined past death rates; this would be Japan and Europe where population is now actually starting to shrink.

17. What happened in Andra Pradesh and Kerala? Why is this important for your wisdom about populations?

In Kerala, they completed a demographic transition by providing a fair share of social benefits to everyone. On the other hand, Andra Pradesh adopted a strategy of aggresively promoting birh control rather than social justice. Both ways provide ways of demographic transition, but in two totally different approaches.

18. Explain "unmet need."

Unmet need is defined as the percentage of married women that want to control their fertility, but do not use contraception. Meeting this need is one way to lower global fertility rates.

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