Sustainable Societies

‣The impact of human activity on ecosystems is one of the primary concerns of the future, particularly given the high resource use of modern societies.

‣However, in order to make decisions about the impact of human activity on an ecosystem and its resources, it is necessary to have accurate scientific information about the ecosystem.

‣It is the role of scientists to:Gather baseline data on the ecosystem or its resources.

Monitor changes in the resource once it is in use.

Attempt to predict future changes in the ecosystem.

Assess risk and identify potential hazards.

Gathering Resource Information

‣Sustainable societies use energy efficiently by reusing and recycling matter. The biggest impact on global sustainability would be reducing the human population size. In the late 60’s and early 70’s a realization began to take place as more people started to move to cities.

‣ In 1969 the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) required all US agencies responsible for a major federal project that could significantly affect the quality of the environment to file an environmental impact statement.

‣ In 1970, the first Earth Day took place.

‣ In 1972 the United Nations held a Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, which provided the first forum for dialogue on environmental problems.

Sustainable Societies

Earth Day started in 1970 and takes

place on April 22nd

‣Urbanization is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. As agriculture and small-scale industry give way to modern industry, resources are drawn upon in an ever-widening area.

‣As urbanization increases and natural surfaces are covered or removed decreasing transpiration, increasing runoff and the groundwater supply is reduced due to loss of recharge area.

Large amounts of energy are used and waste is produced that need to be treated, both municipal and sewage.

Concentration of people can cause pollution and health problems.

Excessive noise pollution that can lead to hearing loss and excessive light pollution can cause plant and animal ecological disruption.

Urbanization

Las Vegas: 1973 (above) and 2006 (below)

‣Urban sprawl removes trees and vegetation which creates a heat-island effect which explains that urban areas trap more heat than rural areas because of the heat generated by cars, factories, furnaces, lights, air conditioners, heat-absorbing dark roofs, tall buildings and asphalt streets in cities.

Increased combustion from automobiles, airplanes and factories has made for higher particulates, NOx, SOx, lead, CO and smog. With less vegetation there is also less filtering.

Industrial processes release hydrocarbons & volatile fumes.

Most large cities have gone through city planning to develop mass transit systems and parks to help reduce some of the pollution problems.

Urbanization

Central Park, New York City, NY

Noise Pollution‣Noise pollution is becoming a greater

problem as people begin to move into formally unpopulated areas like cities.

‣Because people in urban areas experience high exposure to noise pollution, this type of pollution has become an occupational hazard.

‣Sudden and persistent noise may lead to permanent hearing loss in humans.

‣ Like the pH scale, decibels are measured on the log scale. So 20 dB is 100 times more energy than 10 dB.

‣Also, ship engines and sonar fill the sea with noise that can travel hundreds of kilometers, affecting marine life.

Sonar and other man made noises interfere with the communications of whales, dolphins and

other marine species.

Although they provide clean energy, many people are unhappy with the noise made by wind turbines.

Light Pollution

Pho

to: N

AS

A

‣Light pollution have become a major problem in large cities.

‣The excess light affects the natural cycles of animals, including humans, and even interferes with astronomical studies.

Image: NASA

‣Risk is the measure of the likelihood that you will suffer some ill-effect from a hazard.

‣Types of hazards include:Biological: bacteria and viruses that are pathogens can be considered hazards. These can be found in water, air or food sources.

Chemical: any harmful chemical that is found in the air, water, soil or food that comes in contact with humans. These can result in cancer, asthma or poisoning.

Physical: fire, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, UV exposure and hurricanes.

Cultural: smoking, diet, sex, drugs, working conditions, and poverty.

Risk and Hazards

Asbestos fibers can result in lung cancer

(mesotheliooma).

Smoke from combustion reduces air quality

‣Biological hazards refer to substances that pose a threat to living organisms primarily humans.

Both influenza and HIV are common diseases. Influenza is a viral respiratory disease that has gained drug resistance. HIV is a viral disease that attacks the human immune system. Both of these diseases made a major contribution to the trend of increasing mortality rates that began in 1980.

Children are particularly susceptible to the effects of toxic substances and disease. Children breathe more air and eat more food per unit of body weight than adults. Children also have a less well-developed immune system and detoxification process than adults.

Biological Hazards

Infections disease mortality in the US from 1900-1996

Disease spreads between countries and localized areas

through air travel, immigration, and urbanization

‣Disease and transmission has advanced rapidly due to many factors. The advance became apparent in the 1980’s because of the spread of HIV and influenza. International travel and movement between countries has moved some diseases, like:

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a virus that is transmitted directly from animals to humans and has been a problem because of high population density.

West Nile Virus and Malaria are both transmitted by mosquitoes. The incidence of vector transmitted diseases has increased as the habitats for these vectors have increased.

Disease and Transmission

Mosquitoes act as vectors to transmit West Nile and Malaria

SARS has been contained since 2003

As scientists discover the an emerging disease, such as SARS, they must take steps to determine

the cause of the disease and the method of transmission by acquiring recent medical and

travel histories of the diseased victims

‣More diseases include:Cholera causes diarrhea and vomiting is transmitted by food or water that is contaminated by fecal matter especially in places with a lack of sanitation.

Tuberculosis can cause coughing up blood and chest pain and is spread through respiratory contact like sneezing or coughing and has also increase because of high population density.

Schistosomiasis is a parasite that affects children who swim in infected water. The parasite relies on the snail for the completion of the life cycle and can cause abdominal pain, cough and diarrhea.

Disease and TransmissionSnails are important to the life cycles of the parasitic

schistosomiasis

Tuberculosis skin test Cholera bacteria

Preventable Deaths‣Number of deaths per year in the world from various causes (bottom left).

Parentheses show deaths in terms of the number of full loaded 400 passenger jets crashing every day of the year with no survivors. Malnourishment/poverty is the leading cause of death.

‣Preventable causes of death (bottom right) annually in the U.S. from tobacco use, obesity and other causes. Preventable deaths are different from accidental deaths like car accidents.

‣ Sometimes misleading information, denial, and irrational fears can cloud judgment.

‣ Most individuals evaluate of calculate the relative risk of a hazard based on:

Degree of control, fear of the unknown or the known, whether the risk is voluntary, whether the risk is catastrophic, the unfair distribution of the risk, & social / cultural background and beliefs.

Analysis of Risk

Comparisons of risks people face expressed in shorter life span.

Economic Impacts‣Placing a monetary value on the cost of

pollution is difficult but it can be divided into three areas:

direct costs (e.g. clean ups, restoration)

indirect costs (e.g. revenues loses, taxes)

repercussion or external costs (e.g. not reflected in the price of the products, public opinion).

All of these factors taken together is called Full-Cost Pricing

‣These have to be weighed up against the cost of not polluting at all, which may mean the failure of some industries.

‣Cost-benefit analysis is used to determine the short and long term costs of controlling pollution.

100%75%50%25%0%

% of pollution removed

Cost of achieving zero pollution is very expensive

As more pollutants are added the cost of removing them increases

Increasing cost of clean up

Co

st p

er u

nit

of

po

llu

tio

n r

emo

ved

Cost to society

Minimal effort

Most cost-effective effort

No discharge

Cost of clean up

Better effort

100% 75% 50% 25% 0%

Pollution remaining

Low

Co

st

High

‣Consumption of natural resources by modern industrial economies remains very high, in the range of 45-85 tons per capita annually.

Each person in an industrialized society consumes many tons of raw materials each year. These must be extracted, processed, and disposed of as waste.

‣Types of waste include:Industrial solid waste is produced to supply municipalities with goods or services.

Municipal Solid waste is a produced material (not a liquid or a gas) that is unwanted or discarded.

Hazardous (toxic) waste threatens human health because of toxicity, corrosiveness or flammability.

Waste

Limestone quarry, Yorkshire Dales

Bulldozer working on landfill site, UK

‣The United States produces much of the world’s solid waste and buries more than half of that waste in landfills.

‣98.5% is industrial solid waste while the remaining 1.5% is MSW.

‣About 55% of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills, 30% is recycled or composted, and 15% is burned in incinerators.

Waste Production

The majority of municipal waste is paper. Only 1.5% of waste is from homes.

‣Certain substances in the environment are harmful when absorbed in high concentrations. These substances include:

Pesticides, radioactive isotopes, heavy metals (cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury), & industrial chemicals such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

‣They can be taken up by organisms via food or water or simply absorbed from the surroundings.

‣Many of the toxins and chemical substances can easily leach into groundwater.

‣Chemicals and toxins can be released at safe levels but may react or combine with other chemicals, from synergism, to create dangerous mixtures.

Toxins in the Environment

Poisonous chemical store

Spraying apples with insecticide, Japan

‣Bioaccumulation (also called biological magnification) occurs when highly persistent pesticides, which cannot be metabolized or excreted, are stored and accumulate in the fatty tissues of the body.

‣There is a progressive concentration of the pesticides with increasing trophic level; higher order consumers are at greater risk because they eat a large number of lower order consumers.

BioaccumulationBiomagnification of DDT in an aquatic ecosystem

‣A lot of household waste ends up in landfills where it is eventually buried. In poorer countries people make a living by collecting items from other people’s rubbish.

‣Household wastes for recycling, for example plastic and glass, may be collected from curbside bins or deposited at recycling centers for collection.

Recyclable plastic containers are sorted according to the type of material they are made from.

When household wastes are crushed into small particles and placed in landfills problems can arise as smaller particles have a larger surface area and can come in contact with water easily.

Waste Disposal

Plastic bottles ready for recycling, Netherlands

Living from waste, Philippines

‣Car scrap yards are a dumping ground for cars that are past their useful life. The metal components are recycled.

‣With the increasing use of electronic (E-waste) and electrical technology, disposing of unwanted items, such as cars, computers, and refrigerators, is becoming more difficult.

Education is paramount in understanding health and environmental concerns for the disposal of E-waste.

E-waste consists of hazardous waste such as lead, mercury, and cadmium found in rechargeable batteries.

Waste can be sorted / monitored or a substitute / alternative product can be used.

Waste Disposal

Car scrap yard, Netherlands Discarded personal computers

‣The disposal of solid and hazardous wastes is one of the most urgent problems of today’s industrialized societies.

Traditionally, solid waste has been disposed of in open dumps. More recently, disposal occurs in sanitary, scientifically designed sanitary landfills. Most municipal solid waste is disposed of in sanitary landfills.

New initiatives are increasingly being implemented by city councils and localauthorities for the reduction, reuse, and recycling of solid waste, and thesafe disposal of hazardous waste,including oil and industrial chemicals.

The safe disposal of radioactive wastes is a problem as these wastes must be isolated and are usually stored on-site.

Solid Waste Management

Radioactive waste

Open dumps are being preplaced by

sanitary landfills for waste disposal

‣Landfills are the sites for disposal of non-hazardous wastes. These sites are usually confined to a small area, compacted to reduce volume and covered daily with layers of soil.

‣A double-liner system must be present (plastic, clay, plastic, clay), and a system to collect leachate (liquid that seeps through the solid waste into the groundwater).

‣Landfills currently have a strict criteria:Oil, car batteries, air conditioner coolants and antifreeze are not allowed and must be recycled at an automotive or environmental company.

Tires are allowed in landfills if they are shredded or quartered.

Landfills

Open dump landfill in Poland

Tires are a problem for most landfills and are

being burned for space or sometimes energy.

Sand

When landfill is full,layers of soil and clayseal in trash

Methane storageand compressorbuilding

Leachatestoragetank

Leachatemonitoringwell

Groundwatermonitoringwell

Electricitygeneratorbuilding Leachate

treatment system

Methane gasrecovery well

Compactedsolid waste

Leachatepipes

Leachate pumpedup to storage tankfor safe disposal

GroundwaterClay and plastic liningto prevent leaks; pipescollect leachate frombottom of landfill

Topsoil

SandClaySubsoil

Probes todetectmethaneleaks

Garbage

Garbage

Syntheticliner

Sand

Clay

Pipes collect explosive methane as used as fuel to generate electricity

‣Hazardous wastes are any discarded solid or liquid that is toxic, ignitable, corrosive, or reactive enough to explode or release toxic fumes.

‣The two largest classes of hazardous wastes are synthetic organic compounds (e.g. pesticides, PCBs, dioxins) and toxic heavy metals (e.g. lead, mercury, arsenic).

‣Hazardous waste is a major cause of groundwater contamination from landfills because those wastes are not disposed of properly. Proper disposal consists of:

Long term retrievable storage which uses metal drums to store in areas that can be inspected.

Secure landfills are where hazardous waste is disposed of in carefully designed and monitored sites.

Hazardous Wastes

Secure landfills with a double leachate

system and proper monitoring devices

‣Radioactive materials have different levels waste and thus have levels of storage required for the different types of waste.

High-level radioactive waste has high levels of radioactivity and is produced by nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons industries, medicine and research. This waste has a long half-life and has been Congressionally proposed to be buried in Nevada at a location called Yucca Mountain. Currently high-level waste is stored on site in steel reinforced containers.

Low-level radioactive waste has a short half-life and is produced by medical and scientific research facilities. While most of this waste is disposed of in shallow land burial facilities.

Exposure to radiation can cause cancer/tumors by cell/tissue damage.

Radioactive Waste

Yucca Mountain, NV

Most high level waste is stored on site

Steel / concrete storage containers

‣Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been a proposed site for many years and has several characteristics that make it ideal for storage:

Large, deep, dry climate with a natural defense form attack (mountain).

Far from human settlements

Not near fault lines, volcanoes, or chemically reactive geological formations.

‣Other options for storage or disposal include:

Storage under Antarctica or Greenland

Rocket to space or Sun or storage on the Moon

Bury deep in the ocean or dump in subduction zones.

Ship to other countries

Yucca Mountain

Tunnel into Yucca Mountain

Drawing of the underground storage site

‣Former sites that were contaminated with hazardous wastes and thus impede the development of the area are called brownfields. One method of reclamation of a brownfield is to remove the contaminated soil. Problems associated with this method are:

High cost of removing/cleaning/replacing large amounts of soil. Need for another location to dispose of the contaminated soil (problems with transportation). Ecological disturbance of the area

‣Another method is to use plants with some advantages and disadvantages being:

Low cost but process is slow and plants become hazardous themselves. Reduces erosion and less habitat disruption but may not remove all contaminants.

‣Reclaimed areas can create green spaces, reduce hazardous runoff and contamination. Cleaned areas improve property values by providing parks, housing, or business. They can also be used as a model.

Brownfields

Brownfield in Pennsylvania

Proposed site for social community

‣Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical sealed multiple chemical hazardous wastes into steel drums and dumped them into an old canal excavation called Love Canal:

1953, the canal was filled and sold to Niagara Falls school board for $1

1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not to disturb the site because of the toxic waste

1959, an elementary school, playing fields and homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering the wastes

1976, residents complained of chemical smells and chemical burns from the site.

‣ Love Canal became a brownfield area and sparked creation of Superfund, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps.

Love Canal

Love Canal was abandoned in 1980.

Chemical photo of Love Canal area.

‣The substantial or potential threat posed by hazardous wastes has called for regulatory legislation:

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 stated that wastes must be tracked from the time of generation until the final disposition.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 created a “Superfund” and provided clean-up and remediation of closed and abandoned waste sites. Before the act hazardous waste was being disposed of in regular landfills until the realization that unfavorable amounts of hazardous materials were seeping into groundwater and soil.

Hazardous Waste Legislation

‣Hazardous waste can go through several different treatments in order to stabilize and dispose of each particular waste.

‣Physical methods of treatment can use charcoal and different resins to separate out harmful chemicals.

‣Chemical methods use chemical reactions to convert hazardous chemicals into less harmful chemicals, usually by incineration.

‣Biological methods:Bioremediation uses bacteria or enzymes to help consume or destroy toxic and hazardous waste.

Phytoremediation involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter and remove contaminants from soil and water.

Hazardous Waste Remediation

Bioremediation using bacteria

Phytoremediation using plant roots

PhytostabilizationPlants such as willow trees and poplars can absorb chemicals and keep them from reaching groundwater or nearby surface water.

RhizofiltrationRoots of plants such as sunflowers with dangling roots on ponds or in green-houses can absorb pollutants such as radioactive strontium -90 and cesium-137 and various organic chemicals.

PhytodegradationPlants such as poplarscan absorb toxic organic chemicals and break them down into less harmful compounds which they store or release slowly into the air.

Inorganicmetal contaminantsOrganic contaminants

Radioactivecontaminants

Brake fernPoplar treeIndian mustardWillow treeSunflower

Oilspill

Landfill

GroundwaterSoil

PollutedleachateDecontaminated

water out

Pollutedgroundwater in

GroundwaterSoil

PhytoextractionRoots of plants such as Indian mustard and brake ferns can absorb toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, and others and store them in their leaves. Plants can then be recycled or harvested and incinerated.

‣Besides landfills there are many other options for the disposal and reduction of waste. Residential and institutional waste is usually the responsibility of local governments, while commercial and industrial waste is the responsibility of the generator.

Methods of disposal include landfills, plasma gasification or incineration and integrated waste management

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduction of Waste

Steel bales being processed for recycling. Compost heap

‣The waste hierarchy refers to reduce, reuse, recycle as the classification of waste management according to their desirability and energy use.

‣More options with the three R’s for disposal:Refuse to buy items that are not really needed.

Reduce consumption by living simply and promoting the use of reusable containers like cloth grocery bags.

Reuse items that can be used over and over like microwavable plastic containers.

Repurpose items by using those items for another instead of throwing them away.

Recycle: paper, glass, aluminum, plastics and buy items made from recycled materials.

Rethink ways to educate, use new technology, or provide incentives of disincentives.

Reduce, Reuse, RecycleReusable grocery bag

Candy wrapper purse

Recycled plastic bench

Integrated Waste Management‣A program of idealized integrated waste management

combines features of traditional waste managementwith new techniques to reduce and incinerate wastes.

Such schemes will form the basis of effective wastemanagement in the future.

Idealized management schemes for waste materialsprovide several tiers of processing. They provide astarting point for comparing how different waste productscould be processed or disposed of.

Recycling

Collection

Limiting waste per household

Separating green

waste from other

wastes

Reducing waste

or avoid use

Integrated Waste ManagementComponents of Integrated Waste Management

Processing and manufacturing Product consumption

Waste separated at source

Initial processing for recycling

or reuse

Garden waste

Paper Cans, jars, bottles

Mixed waste

Hazardous waste

PaperGlassPlastics

Cans

Compost

Products

Virgin materials Landfill IncineratorHazardous waste

management

‣As the concern about landfill space increases, worldwide interest in recycling by means of composting is growing.

‣Compost is the organic materials from plants and animals that is converted into a useful stable product by aerobic decomposition. Compost generally:

Reduces the amount of organic material that is placed into landfills, including paper which constitutes the majority of MSW.

Aerates the soil, improves the soil’s ability to retain water and nutrients and helps prevent erosion.

Needs 6 to 12 inches of organic material, shade, water and aeration.

Biological Reprocessing

Home composting being turned

Compost piles can combust if not monitored

‣Waste-to-energy incinerators reduce the volume of waste by up to 90% because of the large organic component that can be used for burning. Incineration can also be used to eliminate hazardous waste products.

‣While waste-to-energy incinerators contribute to CO2 emissions and air pollution, they produce less than power plants that run on fossil fuels.

‣Plasma gasification uses an ionized or electrically charged gas to convert waste into a syngas which can be used in energy production.

Energy Recovery

Plasma arc converters can reach temperatures of

12,600 Fahrenheit changing molecular bonds Organic material is burned to boil water producing

steam which turns a turbine, generating electricity

‣Recycling involves conversion of materials into products of the same type (primary or closed loop) or conversion of materials into different products (secondary) collection.

Used tires can be converted into rubberized surfaces, plastics can be used for clothing or newspapers converted into insulation.

Recycling paper saves landfill space because 35% of MSW is paper. The majority of landfills in the US is paper products that can be recycled.

‣Recycling of glass and aluminum has increased in the US because of awareness and local government participation. Also, recycled aluminum can be used to produce aluminum products using less energy than producing new products from aluminum ore.

‣Other materials such as precious metals have been recycled for most of recorded history.

Recycling

Separating colorless, amber, and

green glass

Waste paper collected for recycling in Italy

Plastic Recycling‣Recycling many plastics is chemically and economically difficult to

recycle. Plastics are often recycled into other forms of plastic and those plastics are often not recyclable.

Many plastics are hard to isolate from other wastes.

Recovering individual plastic resins does not yield much material.

The cost of virgin plastic resins is lower than recycled resins due to low subsidized fossil fuel costs.

There are new technologies that are making plastics biodegradable

Plastics must be sorted according to their resin identification code which indicates the type of material they were made from.

StyrofoamGrocery & bread

bags

Shampoo and fast food service items

Milk bottles and

butter tubs

Soft drink bottlesYogurt containers, straws, and bottle caps

Other various

plastics

Effects of Globalization

‣Globalization refers to the transforming of local or regional markets or societies to global ones.

‣The process involves the world wide spread of trade, migration, technology, and ideas.

‣Effects are varied but some advantages are:greater access to new ways of thinking

access to global markets to sell/manufacture products

multiculturalism and access to new societies

‣Disadvantages include:the loss of regional/cultural beliefs and ways of life

global financial disasters

exploitation of workers in developing countries

The World Bank‣The World Bank was originally

designed to help rebuild Europe’s economies after the second world war.

‣Its current goals include the financing of economic and infrastructure polices of developing countries. It has around 160 member countries.

‣The bank offers low interest loans to approved developing countries.

‣Although its goals include combating poverty, some critics claim it has had the opposite effect by financing policies that favor the interests of member countries rather than countries in need.