GEOG 101: Day 16
Finishing Up Air Pollution; Starting on Climate Change
Housekeeping Items
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Did anyone turn up anything on Energy From Waste
incinerators and how they’re being handled in Europe?
When we talked about oceans we talked about ocean
acidification. According to the CBC this week, it is already
having drastic effects on scallop and oyster harvests in
Cowichan and Qualicum Beach.
Today, I want to brief go through the missing slides from
Tuesday’s presentation and then show a video on ExxonMobil
and climate change. Watch the short video (“The Hole Truth:
Have We Fixed the Hole in Ozone Layer?”) on ozone
depletion and the Montreal Protocol on your own:
https://marlin.viu.ca/malabin/door.pl/0/0/0/5?srchfield1=GENER
AL^&SUBJECT^&GENERAL^&record%20id^&searchdata1=10
0047776. See also “Shattered Sky: The Battle for Energy,
Economy and Environment.”
Government agencies share in dealing with
air pollution
• Provincial/territorial
- Managed through each environment ministry
- Canadian Council of Ministers of the
Environment (CCME)
- Harmonization Accord, Canada-Wide Standards
Sub-Agreement, National Ambient Air Quality
Objectives
13-3
Government agencies share in dealing with
air pollution
• Municipal
- Only Montreal and Greater Vancouver
regulate sources of air pollution
- Most municipalities raise public
awareness
13-4
Reasons for the decline in some pollutants
• Cleaner-burning vehicles and catalytic
converters decrease carbon monoxide
• Permit-trading programs and clean coal
technologies reduce SO2 emissions
• Scrubbers = technologies that chemically
convert or physically remove pollutants before
they leave the smokestacks
• Phase-out of leaded gasoline
• Improved technologies and federal policies
13-5
Canada is attempting to “turn the corner” on
air pollution
• 2007: Turning the corner: An Action Plan to Reduce
Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution
- Targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria air
contaminant (CAC) emissions
The reality is that
GHG emissions
have been going up
radically!
FIGURE 13.16
13-6
Smog is the most common, widespread air
quality problem
• Smog = unhealthy
mixtures of air pollutants
over urban areas
• Industrial (gray air) smog
= industries burn coal or oil
- Occurs in cooler, hilly
areas
FIGURE 13.17
- Government regulations
in developed countries
reduced smog
- Coal-burning
industrializing countries
face significant health
risks
13-7
Photochemical (brown air) smog is
produced by a complex series of reactions
• Light-driven reactions
of primary pollutants
and normal
atmospheric
compounds
• Morning traffic
exhaust releases
pollutants
FIGURE 13.18
• Irritates eyes, noses,
and throats
• Vehicle inspection
programs have
decreased smog
13-8
Industrial smog
Photochemical smog
• 17.16
FIGURE 13.17
FIGURE 13.18
13-9
Air quality is a rural issue, too
• Airborne pesticides from farms
• Industrial pollutants drifting from cities, factories
and powerplants
• Feedlots, where cattle, hogs, or chickens are raised
in dense concentrations
- Voluminous amounts of methane, hydrogen
sulfide, and ammonia
- People living or working nearby have high rates
of respiratory problems
13-10
Industrializing nations are suffering
increasing air pollution
• Outdoor pollution is increasing
• China has the world’s worst air pollution
- 80% of Chinese cities have emissions above the
safety threshold
• Southern Asian brown cloud = a 3 km-thick layer
of pollution that reduces sunlight, affects climate,
decreases productivity, and kills thousands each
year
13-11
Synthetic chemicals deplete stratospheric
ozone
• Ozone layer = ozone in the lower stratosphere
- 12 ppm concentrations effectively block
incoming damaging ultraviolet radiation
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) = chemicals that
attack ozone
- 1 million metric tons/year were produced
- Releases chlorine atoms that split ozone
13-12
The “ozone hole”
• Ozone hole =
ozone levels
over Antarctica
had declined by
40-60%
FIGURE 13.19
• Global ozone
depletion causes
skin cancer,
harms crops and
decreases ocean
productivity
13-13
There are still many questions to be
resolved about ozone depletion
• Will ozone depletion spread from the polar regions to
encompass mid-latitude regions?
• What is the actual relationship between ozone
depletion and human health impacts?
• What are the other potential impacts of ozone
depletion (e.g. on ecosystems)?
• Are the substitute chemicals that are being proposed
in international agreements definitely less damaging
to the stratospheric ozone layer?
13-14
The Montreal Protocol addressed ozone
depletion
• 1987: Montreal Protocol = 180 nations agreed to cut CFC
production in half
- Follow-up agreements deepened cuts, advanced
timetables and addresses other ozone-depleting chemicals
- Today, production and use of ozone-depleting chemicals
has decreased 95%
- The ozone layer is beginning to recover
• Challenges still face us
- CFCs will remain in the stratosphere for a long time
- Nations can ask for exemptions to the ban
13-15
The Montreal Protocol is a success
• Considered the biggest environmental success
story
- Policymakers included industry in helping
solve the problem
- Adaptive management strategy allowed
changes in response to new scientific data,
technological advances, and economic
figures
• The Montreal Protocol can serve as a model for
international environmental cooperation
13-16
Acid deposition is another transboundary
pollution problem
• Acidic deposition = the deposition of acid, or acidforming pollutants, from the atmosphere onto Earth’s
surface
- Acid rain = precipitation of acid
- Atmospheric deposition = the wet or dry deposition
on land of pollutants
• Originates from burning fossil fuels
- release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides
- react with water to form sulfuric and nitric acids
13-17
Sources of acid deposition
FIGURE 13.21
13-18
Effects of acid deposition on ecosystems in
Northeastern North America
• Accelerated leaching of base cations from soil
• Accumulation of sulphur and nitrogen in soil
• Hindering of plant uptake of water and nutrients
• Caused calcium to leach from needles of red spruce
• Increased mortality of sugar maples
• Acidified many lakes
• Lowered lakes’ capacity to neutralize further acids
• Elevated aluminum levels in surface waters
• Negatively affected entire food webs
13-19
Acid deposition has not been reduced as
much as scientists had hoped
• New technologies such as scrubbers have helped
• SO2 emissions are lower
• NOx emissions are higher
• Acid deposition’s effects are worse than predicted
13-20
Indoor air pollution
• Indoor air contains higher concentrations of
pollutants than outdoor air
- 6,000 people die per day from indoor air
pollution
• The average person in North America is indoors at
least 90% of the time
- Exposed to synthetic materials (insecticides,
cleaning fluids, plastics, and chemically treated
wood)
- 1973-74: ventilation systems were sealed off and
windows put in that did not open, trapping
pollutants inside, leading to “sick building
syndrome”
13-21
Indoor air pollution in the developing world
arises from fuelwood burning
• Burning wood,
charcoal, dung, crop
wastes for cooking
and eating
• Kills 1.6 million
people each year
FIGURE 13.25
[solar ovens are one
alternative]
• Causes pneumonia,
bronchitis, allergies,
cataracts, asthma,
heart disease, cancer
and premature death
13-22
Tobacco smoke and radon are the most
dangerous indoor pollutants in the
developed world
• Secondhand smoke from cigarettes is especially
dangerous
- Containing over 4000 dangerous chemicals
- Causes eye, nose, and throat irritation
- Smoking has declined in developed nations
• After cigarette smoke, radon gas is the second-leading
cause of lung cancer in the developed world
- Colourless, odourless gas that can seep into
buildings
13-23
Many VOCs pollute indoor air
• VOCs = volatile organic compounds
• Released by everything from plastics and oils to
perfumes and paints
• Most VOCs are released in very small amounts
• Unclear health implications due to low
concentrations
• Also include pesticides, which are found indoors
more often than outdoors due to seepage
• Formaldehyde, which leaks from pressed wood
and insulation, irritates mucous membranes and
induces skin allergies
13-24
Sources of indoor air pollution
FIGURE 13.27
13-25
Living organisms can pollute indoors
• Tiny living organisms can also pollute
• Includes dust mites and animal dander worsen
asthma
• Fungi, mold, mildew, airborne bacteria cause
severe allergies, asthma, and other respiratory
ailments
• Sick building syndrome = a sickness produced by
indoor pollution with general and nonspecific
symptoms
- Solved by using low-toxicity building materials
and good ventilation
13-26
weighing
the issues
How safe is your
indoor environment?
Think about the amount of time you spend indoors.
Name the potential indoor air quality hazards in
your home, work, or school environment.
• Are these spaces well-ventilated?
•What could you do to make the indoor spaces you
use safer?
13-27