Pollution Isn’t always caused by human activity. The term pollution can be applied when the composition of something has been modified by the presence of one or more substances that either it cannot be used for a specific purpose or it is less suitable for that use than it was in Its natural state. Nature pollutes water with leaves that fall off the trees and decay, animal waste, and oil seepage. 5. A major source of water pollution results from agricultural practices.
Fertilizers and animal waste exists from planting and grazing animals; the danger of these wastes consists of the deaths of fish that live in the habitat surrounding the runoff of pollutants. Biocide’s, herbicides and pesticides, are used to kill pests and weeds that harm plant growth. These contaminate ground and surface waters, having effects on fish, birds, and plant life. Other sources of pollution result from Industrial facilities, mining, and arbitration. Industry and mining pollute water with disposal of chemicals and minerals. arbitration pollutes with items used in daily life, such as garbage, animal droppings, and vehicle drippings.
Countries have showed effort to lessen the problem through education and recycling. The 18 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea get together for a convention in order to control pollutants in that area. 7. Excavation has produced landforms such as pits, ponds, ridge, drenches, subsidence depressions, canals, and reservoirs. Dumping Is the creation of landforms due to excavation, for example the cutting of terrace out of slopes of hills and mountains in Asia. The removal of fluids and solids beneath the ground, results In subsidence.
The effects of subsidence can result in the formation of sinkholes, its, sags, and leaves areas more defenseless In natural disasters Like earthquakes. 11. PAT equation determines the extent of human impact of the environment, meaning Impact-??population x Affluence x Technology. The impact differs depending on the region. The bigger the population and greater the technology, the more diverse the waste will be. If the population Is large and both the affluence and technology is low, the impact can be very negative. This describes developing and third world countries.
In these areas, wealthier groups place industries that generate elution, and due to lack of education and freedom of speech, their standard of living Is negatively affected. 1 OFF Questions 2, 5, 7, 9 and 11. 2. Energy is called the “master” of natural resources, because without all the other natural resources would remain in place and could not be mined, processed, or distributed. The richer people get, the more things they seek to acquire, such as cars and large houses. In other words, energy consumption is directly correlated with industrial production. The source of energy has varied throughout the development of time.
In 1860, wood was the main source of energy, being 90% and 10% coal. Coal became the major source in the early sass’s, with some energy coming from oil, natural gas, water, and wood was not used at all. Now the distribution is split between coal, oil, natural gas, water, and nuclear, with oil being the most with about 40%. 5. Coal increased from 10% in 1860 to nearly 80% in the early sass’s due to the revelation of how abundant the natural resource was. The life expectancy of coal surpasses that of oil and natural gas. The ecological and social issue associated with coal, is in mining coal, the combustion of coal must be figured into the cost.
Coal has high content of sulfur and it costs a lot to have it removed from the bodies of water. 7. The most widely used ways of using renewable energy are biomass fuels, hydrophone, and solar energy. An advantage of biomass fuels is the availability. There are the major sources of energy in developing countries, and came be transformed into combustion, gasification, and anaerobic digestion. On down side, this source is leading to the depletion of forests. An advantage of hydrophone is the lack of pollution in the process of producing energy; however the process is location- specific.
The advantage of solar energy is the effects are minimal or environmental damage and conserves the earth’s resources; the disadvantage is its diffuse and intermittent nature. 9. Even though soil erosion is a natural process, it is detrimental to the land if it exceeds soil formation. When this happens, the top soil becomes thinner and disappears, leaving barren rock or sterile subsoil. Common methods used to prevent this was pushing farming onto higher slopes and converting forestland to cultivation. Desertification occurs in areas where the land has been overgrazed, deforested, and cleared for cultivation, like in the countries of Algeria,
Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, and Niger. Colonization occurs in poorly drained soils in dry climates where evaporation exceeds precipitation, in areas like Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Syria, and Egypt. 11. Forests perform the ecological functions of providing shelter for societies that subsist on gathered nuts, berries, leaves, roots, and fibers collected from trees and woody plants. Tropical Forests extend across parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Deforestation of rain forests contribute to lack of oxygen and carbon balance of the earth, leads to air pollution and climate change, and the lack of biological diversity.