BESC 201 1st Edition Final Study Guide Lectures 29 35 Chapter 13 Lectures 29 31 Central Case Study L A and its Sister City Tehran Struggle for a Breath of Clean Air The Sister Cities program was devised to encourage world peace and understanding by fostering relationships between people of U S cities and others around the world Tehran s air is so bad that residents commonly wear face masks when they step outside Automobile traffic generates most of the pollution in Tehran Tehran s limited public transportation system forces most people to rely on cars motorcycles and taxis to get around 40 cent per gallon gas little incentive to conserve Each city lies in a valley surrounded by mountains that trap pollution Indoor air pollution poses potentially serious health hazards but by keeping informed of the latest scientific findings and taking appropriate precautions we can minimize our risk Outdoor air pollution has been addressed more effectively by government legislation and regulation together with pollution control technologies In fact reductions in outdoor air pollution in the United States and other developed nations represent some of the greatest strides made in environmental protection to date Room for improvement remains however particularly in reducing acid deposition and photochemical smog In the developing world indoor and outdoor air pollutant levels are higher and take a heavy toll on people s health Reducing pollution from automobile exhaust coal combustion in outmoded facilities indoor fuelwood burning and other sources pose challenges as the world s less wealthy nations industrialize Chapter 14 Lectures 32 and 33 Central Case Study Rising Seas May Flood the Maldives The world s oceans rose 10 20 cm during the 20th century as warming temperatures expanded ocean water and as melting polar ice discharged water into the ocean Higher seas would flood large areas of the Maldives and cause salt water to contaminate drinking water supplies Storms intensified by warmer water temperatures are expected to erode beaches and damage the coral reefs The underwater cabinet meeting kicked off a global campaign to draw attention to the impacts of climate change Many factors influence Earth s climate and human activities have come to play a major role Climate change is well underway and further greenhouse gas emissions will intensify global warming and cause increasingly severe and diverse impacts Sea level rise and other consequences of global climate change will affect locations worldwide from the Maldives to Bangladesh to Alaska to Florida As scientists and policymakers come to better understand anthropogenic climate change and its environmental economic and social consequences more and more of them are urging immediate action Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking other steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change represents our society s foremost challenge in the coming years Chapter 11 Lecture 34 Central Case Study Mining for Cell Phones Inside a phone is a little known metal called tantalum The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been embroiled in a sprawling conflict that has involved six nations and various rebel militias Tantalum powder is ideal for capacitors the components that store energy and regulate current in miniature circuit boards because it is highly heat resistant and readily conducts electricity Most miners ended up with little while rebels soldiers and bandits enriched themselves by selling coltan to traders who sold it to processing companies in Europe and the United States An expert panel commissioned by the United Nations Security Council urged a U N embargo on coltan and other minerals smuggled from Congo and exported by neighboring nations Physical processes of geology such as plate tectonics and the rock cycle are centrally important because they shape Earth s terrain and form the foundation for living systems Geologic processes also generate phenomena that can threaten our lives and property including earthquakes volcanoes landslides and tsunamis We depend on a diversity of minerals and metals from the Earth and we mine these nonrenewable resources by various methods according to how the minerals are distributed Economically efficient mining methods have greatly contributed to our material wealth but they have also habitat loss to acid drainage Restoration efforts and enhanced regulation help to minimize the environmental and social impacts of mining although to some extent these impacts will always exist We can prolong our access to mineral resources and make our mineral use more sustainable by maximizing the recovery and recycling of key minerals Chapter 15 Lecture 35 Central Case Study Offshore Drilling and the Deepwater Horizon Blowout The collapse of British Petroleum s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the resulting oil spill from its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico polluted water beaches and marshes shut down fisheries ruined tourism and killed countless animals By the time BP engineers finally got the well sealed 86 days later roughly 4 9 million barrels 230 million gallons of crude oil had entered the Gulf creating the largest accidental oil spill in history The spill is perhaps best viewed not as a single isolated instance of bad practice or misfortune but as a by product of our society s insatiable appetite for petroleum driven largely by our reliance on automobiles Over the past 200 years fossil fuels have helped us build the complex industrialized societies we enjoy today However we are now approaching a turning point in history Our production of fossil fuels will begin to decline We can respond to this new challenge by encouraging conservation and developing alternative energy sources Or we can continue our current dependence on fossil fuels and wait until they near depletion before we try to develop new technologies and ways of life The path we choose will have far reaching consequences for human health and well being for Earth s climate for our environment and for the stability and progress of our civilization Nuclear power showed promise to be a pollution free and highly efficient form of energy However high costs and public fears over safety in the wake of accidents have stalled its growth Nuclear power will likely be part of our future energy economy but we will need to turn renewable energy sources as well Chapter 16 Lecture 35 Central Case Study Germany Goes Solar Germany is the world s top user of photovoltaic PV solar