Transcript Environmental Problems

Useful reading:
Environmental Science, 8th Edition, Daniel D. Chiras, Jones &
Barllett Pub.
Environmental Science, systems and solutions, 3th Edition,
Michael M. McKinney and Robert M. Schoch.
Introduction to the Environmental Studies, Turk
Syllabus
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Week 1: Environmental problems
Week 2: main environmental concepts and science
Week 3:Life cycle systems theories, Jens and Species
Week 4: Ecosystems and Landscape
Week 5: Biodiversity
Week 6: Natural resources, water and soil
Week 7: Natural resources, energy
Week 8: Environmental Hazards, Air Pollution
Week 9: Climate Change and Ozone Depletion
Week 10: Environmental Hazards, Water Pollution
Week 11: Solid and Hazardous Waste
Week 12 : Human population growth and poverty
Week 13: Environmental Economy
Week 14: Sustainability Principles
week 15: Research presentations
4.7.1388
Main Causes of Environmental Problems
 Population Growth
 Wasteful and unsustainable resources use
 Poverty
 Failure to include the harmful environmental cost of
goods and service in their market prices
 Insufficient knowledge on nature works
Main Subjects
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Acid deposition
Air pollution
Climate change
Developmental problems for environment
Drinking water pollution
Environmental disasters
Environmental effects and toxicology
Environmental impact of volcanic eruption
Environmental effects of warfare
Eutrophication
Floods
Global warming and the greenhouse effect
Groundwater pollution
Heavy metals
Irrigation water pollution
Legionella
Matter cycles and pollution
Odour
Ozone toxicology
environmental effects
Water pollution
Thematic Problems
Air Related Issues
Water related Issues
 Air pollution
 Global warming and the
 Drinking water pollution
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greenhouse effect
Acid deposition
Climate change
Ozone toxicology
Environmental impact of
volcanic eruption
 Floods
 Groundwater pollution
 Irrigation water pollution
 Water pollution
Thematic Problems
Developmental issues
 Developmental problems
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for environment
Environmental effects and
toxicology
Environmental effects of
warfare
Heavy metals
Matter cycles and pollution
Health related issues
 Legionella
 Odour
 Eutrophication
 Filamentous bacteria
 Environmental disasters
Air pollution
 Air pollution means the presence of one or more
unwanted substances in air. Air pollutants have a
negative impacts on humans, animals and plants, and on
air quality.
The most frequently present categories of air pollutants
are sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC) and small dust particles (aerosols).
 Air pollution can be divided in categories according to
the source it is derived from:
- Biological air pollution, such as pollens, small insects
and microrganisms (bacteria, fungi, yeasts and algae)
- Physical air pollution, such as sound, smell, thermal
pollution and radioactive radiation
- Chemical air pollution, such as ozone, aerosols and
ammonia
Air pollution
 Air pollution undergoes a number of processes:
- Emission (contaminants are released into the air)
- Transport (contaminants are transported to
different locations through air)
- Exchange (compounds react with other compounds
in air)
- Distribution (contaminants are distributed in air)
- Emission (contaminants maintain in a certain area)
- Deposition (contaminants are deposited in a
certain area, on the soil or on objects)
Air pollution may causes:
 Acid deposition
 Eutrophication
 Smog is a combination of the woods smoke and fog.
(summer smog and winter smog)
 Ozone loss
 Green House Effects
Acid deposition
 It is a general name for a number of phenomena,
namely acid rain, acid fog and acid mist and implies
both wet and dry (gaseous) precipitation
 It causes:
 Chocking plant leave pores (forest loss)
 Corroding stone and brick walls of buildings and
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monuments
Corroding paper and rubber objects
Altering soil chemistry (soil acidification, loss of plant
nutrients)
Altering the chemical balance of lakes and streams
Disrupting fish gill operation (fish deaths)
Deteriorating human breathing disorder (asthma,
bronchitis, lung oedema)
Global warming and the
greenhouse effect
 Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) in 1896 claimed that
fossil fuel combustion may result in enhanced global
warming.
 His main finding:
 There is a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations and temperature. The average surface
temperature of the earth is about 15C (natural
greenhouse effect) because of the infrared absorption
capacity of water vapor and carbon dioxide.
 A doubling of the CO2 concentration would lead to a 5C
temperature rise.
Global warming Theories
Gilbert Plass in 1955:
 CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 10 years
and the ocean could never be the complete sink for all
atmospheric CO2.
 Increasing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide
resulted in more absorption of infrared radiation.
 Water vapor absorbed totally different types of radiation
than carbon dioxide.
 Adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would
intercept infrared radiation that is otherwise lost to space,
warming the earth.
Global warming Theories
 Stephen Schneider had first predicted global warming in 1976.
 In 1988 it was finally acknowledged that climate was warmer than any
period since 1880. The greenhouse effect theory was named and
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded by
the UNEP and the WMO.
 The IPCC released climate change reports in 1992 and 1996, and the
latest revised version in 2001.
 From 1998 onwards the terminology on the greenhouse effect started to
change as a result of media influences. The greenhouse effect as a term
was used fewer and fewer and people started to refer to the theory as
either global warming or climate change.
 In 1998 the Kyoto Protocol (ratified 2001) was negotiated in Kyoto,
Japan. It requires participating countries to reduce their anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6) by
at least 5% below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012.
Drinking water pollution
 Definition, sources and purification of drinking water
 Endangering quality of drinking water by:
 Contamination by coliform bacteria indicates that
pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) may enter
to the subsurface water
 Yeasts and viruses such as Giardia or Cryptosporidium in
surface water may cause gastrointestinal symptoms and
diarrhoeal diseases respectively
 nitrate contamination cause cyanosis
 Lead contamination causes lead posioning
 Legionella bacteria grows at 30-40 c water and cause
Legionella and Pontiac fever
Main Concepts
Main concepts
 Element )‫ (عنصر‬is a fundamental substance that cannot
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broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.
Matter )‫ (ماده‬is any thing that has mass and taken up space
and composed of one element.
Compound )‫ (ترکیب‬is combinations of two or more different
elements held together in fixed proportions .
Atom is the most smallest of matter in which an element
can be divided and still retain its chemical properties.
Molecule is a combination of two or more atoms of the
same or different elements held together by forces called
chemical bonds.
Chemical formula is used to show the number of each type
of atom or ion in the compound.
Ecosystem
 Ecology comes from oikos (living space) and logos (the
science of) used by Ernst Haeckel in 1869
 Organisms is a living substance on surface layer of
earth (biosphere), air (atmosphere), land(
lithosphere),, and water (hydrosphere)
 The ecosystem is composed of various of inputs,
processes or stores and outputs.
 It should maintains its dynamic equilibrium.
Ecosystem definitions
 A.G. Tansly definition: A particular category of physical
systems consisting of organisms and inorganic components
in a relatively stable equilibrium, open and in various kinds
and sizes
‫وضعیت خاصی از سیستمهای فیزیکی مشتمل بر ارگانهای زنده و مواد غیر زنده‬
‫است که بصورت باز و در اندازه و اشکال متفاوت پایداری خود را بصورت نسبی‬
.‫برقرار میسازد‬
 I.G Simmons definition: A unit of space-time containing
living organisms interacting with each others and with their
abiotic environment by the interchange of energy and
materials
‫زمانی مشتمل بر ارگانیزمهای زنده است که‬-‫یک مجموعه یکپارچه چهار بعدی فضا‬
‫در تعامل با یکدیگر و با محیط ابیوتیک پیرامونی انرژی و مواد مبادله مینماید‬
Estimated Average Annual Damage Costs
2002)
(% of GDP in
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2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Water
Land, Forest
Air
Waste
Coastal
Total Damage Costs
Category
Rials
(billions)
US$ / yr
(million)
% GDP
Water
25,500
3,220
2.82
Land and Forest
22,600
2,840
2.5
Air
14,500
1,810
1.6
Waste
3,200
410
0.36
Coastal Zone
1,300
170
0.15
67,100
8,430
7.43
12,300
1,540
1.36
79,400
10,000
8.8
Sub-total
Global Environment
TOTAL