Reference no: EM131901591
Question: 1. What is one reason wetlands are important?
2. How do ocean currents affect climate?
3. Name one consumptive use of water and one non-consumptive use of water.
4. What is "water mining"?
5. What are some drawbacks to using desalinization as a main water source for a hypothetical city?
6. What is the difference between climate and weather?
7. Describe the troposphere and stratosphere including height above sea level, density, and temperature profile.
8. Describe the 6 major air pollutants the EPA is actively working to reduce... (As in, describe the negative effects of each of these pollutants)
9. Why is ozone in the troposphere "bad" and ozone in the stratosphere "good"?
10. What sorts of chemicals are responsible for "new car smell"?
11. What effect might a major volcanic eruption have on climate?
12. What are two methods we can use to measure what climates were like before human civilization?
13. How does the Greenhouse Effect work?
14. Briefly, how are oil and gas formed?
15. What is thermal expansion (in the context of sea level rise)?
16. Explain how albedo change and permafrost melting are positive feedback cycles.
17. Name three potential effects of climate change.
18. What is the global thermohaline current?
19. What is happening to the oceans as they absorb more and more atmospheric CO2?
20. What are two strategies for the mitigation of climate change?
21. Name three ways energy is wasted in the U.S.
22. What is one advantage of using natural gas for electricity generation?
23. How much CO2 are coal-fired power plants currently allowed to release per megawatt hour?
24. What are two of the drawbacks to using nuclear power?
25. What is the difference between concentrated and photovoltaic solar power?
26. What country is #1 in wind power generation?
27. What is a geothermal gradient and how do we harness it for electricity generation?
28. Why does CO2 produced by biomass fuel not really contribute to the NET CO2 flux to the atmosphere?
29. What are some advantages to using algae to create fuel?
30. Googler: Tell me about a new battery breakthrough OR about hydrogen fuel cells
31. How does a sanitary landfill work?
32. What's one benefit of incinerating trash?
33. Look at table 17.1 in your book. Do you participate in any of these activities? If so, which ones?
34. Can we ever re-use land that was once used as a landfill?
35. What do we do with the methane generated by decomposing trash?
36. What is industrial ecology?
37. T/F using lead shot for hunting or lead sinkers for fishing does not negatively affect the environment.
38. What in the world do they do with liquid hazardous waste?
39. "Googler": What are some harmful chemicals contained in E-waste?
40. "Googler": NAME and DESCRIBE one Superfund project that is NOT listed in the book.