Furniture, foam insulation, pressed/laminated wood and carpets are all potential sources of ________.
You want to maintain a healthy pond at your school site. Last year another pond became eutrophic; to avoid that, you want to ________.
avoid using fertilizers in the ponds watershed
In a municipal water treatment plant, the primary treatment step consists of ________.
removing large debris and allowing suspended solids to settle
Much of the "biosolid" material that is the end product of a water treatment plant is ________.`
used as fertilizer in the united states
The use of chlorine or UV radiation in wastewater treatment plants serves to ________.
kill pathogenic organisms
The "blue-baby" syndrome that suffocates infants is a consequence of excess ________ in the water supply.
Current waste practices in the United States include the greatest proportion of trash being landfilled, with lesser amounts being incinerated, recycled, and composted.
People in developing nations presently generate more waste per capita than people in developed nations.
To safeguard against groundwater contamination, sanitary landfills are ________.
lined with plastic and clay
The best solution to the solid waste problem is to ________.
reduce the amount of material that enters the waste stream
Recycling aluminum cans saves ________% of the energy needed to make the same amount of aluminum from virgin bauxite.
In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, waste management is ________.
A) efficiently composting, recycling, and reusing two-thirds of the waste stream
Which of the following represent criteria for classifying hazardous waste?
corrosive ignitable and toxic
Which of the following are sources of heavy metals in the environment?
paint, water pipes, batteries, e-wastes
Carcinogens may be difficult to identify because ________.
there is a long lag time between exposure to the agent and disease
The book Our Stolen Future was important because it ________.
focused on the impacts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on humans
The goal of the Stockholm Convention is to ________.
end the use and release of POPs shown to be most dangerous
The Yaqui Valley, Mexico, study showed that ________.
developmental delays occurred in children exposed to pesticides
Radon, cigarette smoke, asbestos and lead all have in common that they are all ________.
a toxicant that overactivates the immune system causing an immune response when one is not necessary
any several types of mineral that form long, thin microscopic fibers- a structure that allows asbestos to insulate buldings for heat muffle sound and resist fire when inhaled and lodged in lung tissue asbestos scars the tissue and may eventually lead to lung cancer
a disorder resulting from lung tissue scarred by acid following prolonged inhalation of asbestos
human health hazards that result from ecological interactions among organisms these parasitism by viruses bacteria or other pathogens
the magnification of the concentration of toxicants in an organism caused by consumption of other organisms in which toxicants have bioaccumulated
a chemical compound used in a great variety of plastic products shown to be an estrogen mimic this compound leaches into water and food and recent evidence ties it to birth defects in lab mice
chemicals that pose human health hazards these toxins produced naturally as well as many of the disinfectants pesticides and other synthetic chemicals that our society produces
human health hazards that result from the place we live our socioeconomic status our occupation or our behavioral choices these include choosing to smoke cigarettes or living or working with people who do
dose response curve
a curve that plots the response of test animals to different doses of toxicant the response is generally quantified by measuring the proportion of animals exhibiting negative effects
environmental factors that influence human health and quality of life and the health of ecological systems essential to environmental quality and long term human well being
the study of toxicants taht come from or are discharged into the environmental including the study of health effects on human beings other animals and ecosystems
a study that involves large scale comparisons among groups of people usually contrasting a group known to have been exposed to some toxicant and a group that has not
poisoning by ingestion or inhalation of the heavy metal lead causing an array of maladies uncluding damage to the brain liver kidney and stomach learning problems behavior abnormalities anemia hearing loss and even death
a toxicant that assults the nervous system neurotoxins include heavy metals pesticides and some chemical weapons developed for use in war
a chemical created by the reaction of no2 with hydrocarbons which can induce further reactions that damage living tissue in animals and plants
hormone disrupting chemicals used to soften plastics and enhance fragrances in many childrens toys cosmetics perfumes and other consumer products
physical processes that occur naturally in our environment and pose human health hazards. these include discrete events such as earthquakes volcanic eruptions etc
synthetic compunds that provide fire retardant properties and are used in a diverse array of consumer products including computers tvs plastics and furniture
a highly toxic radioactive colorless gas that seeps up from the ground in areas with certain types of bedrock and can build up inside basements and homes with poor air circulation
program of the european union that shifts the burden of proof for testing chemical safety from national governments to industry
chemically unstable and readily able to react with other compounds often explosively or producing noxious fumes.
the type or magnitude of negative effects an animal exhibits in response to a dose of toxicant in a dose response test
the mathematical probability that some harmful outcome will result from a given action event or substance
the quantitative measurement of risk together with the comparison of risks involved in different activities or substances
the process of considering information from scientific risk assessment in light of economical social and political needs and values in order to make decisions and design to minimize ris
Stockholm Convention on Persistent organic pollutants
a 2001 treaty that seeks to regulate 12 toxic chemicals that persist in the environmental bioaccumulation in food chains and can travel long distances
an interactive effect that is more than or different from the simple sum of their constituent effects
the amount of a toxicant at which it begins to affect a human population of test animals
poisonous able to harm health of people or other organisms when a substance is inhaled ingested or touched
the scientific field that examines the effects of poisonous chemicals and other agents on humans and other organisms
gases and particulate material added to the atmosphere that can affect climate or harm people or other organism
ozone that occurs in the troposphere where it is a secondary pollutant created by the interaction of sunlight, heat, nitrogen, oxides, and volatile carbon containing chemicals a major component of smog it can injure living tissues and cause respiratory problems
a portion of the stratosphere roughlt 17-30km above sea level which contains most of the ozone in the atmosphere
solid or liquid particles small enough to be suspended in the atmosphere and able to damage respiratory tissues when inhaled includes primary pollutants such as dust and soot as well as secondary pollutants such as sulfates and nitrates
specifies atmospheric conditions over short time periods typically hours and days and within relatively small geographic
describes the pattern o atmospheric conditions found across large geographic regions over long periods of time
the band of air in which temperature arises with altitude is called an inversion layer
form when winds rush into areas of low pressure where warm moisture laden air over tropical oceans is rising
form when a mass of warm air meets a mass of cold air and warm air rises quickly setting a powerful convective current in motion
gases and particular material added to the atmosphere that can affect climate or harm people or other organisms
such as soot and carbon monoxide are pollutants emitted into the troposphere in a form that can be directly harmful or that can react to form harmful substances
harmful substances produced when primary pollutants interact or react with constituents of the atmosphere
clean air act
first enacted in 1963 and amended multiple times since particularly in 1970 and 1990 this body of legislation funds research into pollution control sets standards for air quality impses limits on emissions from new stationary
chemically convert or physically remove airborne pollutants before they are emitted from smokestacks have allowed factories power plants and refineries to decrease emissions of several pollutants
or gray air smog when coal or oil is burned some portion is completely combusted forming co2
or brown air smog is formed by light driven chemical reactions of primary pollutants and normal atmospheric compounds that produce a mix of over 100 different chemicals
the deposition of acidic or acid forming pollutants from the atmosphere onto earths surface
which refers more broadly to wet or dry deposition on land of a wide variety of pollutants including mercury nitrates organochlorines and others
global climate change
describes trends and variations in earths climate involving aspects such as temperature precipitation and storm frequency and intensity
re emitted energy is lost to space but some travels back downward warming the atmosphere and the planets surface
is a worldwide current system in which warmer fresher water moves along the surface in some areas.
a systematic shift in atmospheric pressure sea surface temperature and ocean circulation in the tropical pacific ocean.
conditions are triggered when air pressure increases in the western pacific and decreases in the eastern pacific
events in the opposite of el nino events cod surface waters extend far westward in the equatorial pacific
are types of indirect evidence that serve as proxies or substitutes for direct measurement and that shed light on past climate
are programs that combine what is known about atmospheric circulation ocean circulation atmosphere ocean interactions and feedback mechanisms to simulate cliate progress.
the international panel consisting of many hundreds of scientists and government officials was established in 1988 by the UNEP and the world materological organization
Fourth assesment report
which represents the consensus of scientific climate research from around the world
mandates signatory nations by period 2008-2012 to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases to levels below of 1990
industrial solid waste
comes from production of consumer goods mining agriculture and petroleum extraction and refining
refers to solid or liqud waste that is toxic chemically reactive flammable or corrosive
waste is buried in the ground or piled up in large carefully engineered mounds designed to prevent waste from contaminating the environment and threatening public health
liquid that results when substances from the trash dissolve in water as rainwater percolates downward
or combustion is a controlled process in which mixed garbage is burned at very high temperatures
facilities that use heat produced by waste combustion to boil water creating steam that drives electricity generation or that fuels heating systems
reducing the amount of material entering the waste stream avoids costs of disposal and recycling helps conserve resources minimizes pollution and can often save consumers and businesses money
the conversion of organic waste into mulch or humus through natural biological processes of decomposition
consists of collecting materials that can be broken down and reprocessed to manufacture new items
materials recovery facilities
where workers and machines sort items using magnetic pulleys optical sensors waste currents and air classifiers that separate items by weight and size
seeks to redesign industrial systems to reduce resource inputs and to maximize both physical and economic efficiency
life cycle analysis
from its origins in raw materials through its manufacturing to its use and finally its disposal
computers vcrs cell phones and other electronic devices represent major new sources of potential heavy metal contamination
under epa auspices experts identify sites polluted with hazardous chemicals take into action to protect ground water near these sites