Questions and Responses UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Third Edition

There are several types of questions in this book.1. Some have ‘right’ answers. However, you – and students – may think of other answers that can also be justified. 2. Other questions have a number of correct answers: I don’t give all of them for many or most questions. You or your students may often come up with additional – or better – answers.3. Many are opinion questions or questions requiring thought where – assuming the students have made honest attempts to explain their answers – almost anything goes. When possible, have a discussion to consider these questions rather than by writing answers.

Students often come up with answers, reasons and approaches that the instructor has not considered.

Chapter 1 Understanding Pollution

Questions 1.1Questions 1.11. Describe how protecting land from development, as New York City did, helps to provide

clean water. Response:Does the student show an understanding of at least some of the following concepts?

Trees and grasses hold soil in place preventing its eroding and running off into streams during rainstorms.

More generally, the runoff of rainwater (and pollutants within it) is much slowed by rooted vegetation.

The risk of flooding during heavy rains is lessened. The soil itself cleanses rainwater as it seeps downward to groundwater. Because groundwater is in contact with surface water, clean groundwater helps to provide

clean surface water. (And the rainwater allowed to seep into groundwater, replenishes it.)

Questions 1.12. Coral reefs are a vital living resource that is being destroyed. What is another resource being

destroyed and how is it vital?Response:There are a number of possible answers including… Tropical mangrove forests protecting shorelines from storms while acting as a ‘nursery’ for

many species Pollinators such as bees that pollinate the many flowering species in our food supply

Microorganisms and tiny plants that form the fragile cryptobiotic layer of arid soils (being destroyed by human disturbance of soils). These prevent or help to prevent sand or dust storms during windy weather

Grass ‘beds’ found in water bodies and coastal areas that serve as habitat for many other species

Other possible responses are…

Questions 1.13. What did Harvard biologist, E.O. Wilson mean by saying “We need invertebrates but they don’t need us?” Response:Among services provided by invertebrates are…

Some burrow through soil, acting as “mechanical blenders,” breaking up and mixing plant and other organic material in the soil. In the process they keep the soil ‘crumbly’ and suitable for plants to grow. For example: worms burrow through soil, keeping it loosely packed and thus allowing plant roots to more easily grow. (Compacted soil is a much poorer substrate for growth.) ants recycle dead insects and other creatures. Like worms they turn over and aerate the soil. In the process they add nutrients to the soil. Some protect growing plants against pests such as moths and beetles. Along with microorganisms, they help degrade organic waste material and other organic matter

Other services are…

Questions 1.14. What natural services do the following provide? (a) Grasslands (b) Estuaries (c) coral reefs

(d) Microorganisms.

4.(a) Grasslands? Response: Like trees, grasslands hold soil in place so that it does not erode during rain fall. The captured water is then gradually released. Some is taken up by the grasses’ roots, some

slowly runs off into surface water, some seeps down through the soil into groundwater, and some evaporates.

Other natural services are…

4.(b) Estuaries and other marine environments? Response:See EPA’s web site on Oceans, Coasts and Estuaries http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/factsheets/fact5.html (accessed July, 2009) Under “What is an estuary and what does it do?” note the statement that estuaries: “are

critical to the survival of tens of thousands of birds, mammals, fish, and other wildlife. Many different habitat types are found in and around estuaries, including shallow open waters, freshwater and salt marshes, sandy beaches, mud and sand flats, rocky shores, oyster reefs, mangrove forests, river deltas, tidal pools, sea grass beds, and wooded swamps.”

They have great commercial value – fish and shellfish and they provide recreation. Other services that they provide are…

4.(c)Microorganisms Response:When thinking of microorganisms, remember that most microbes do not harm us. Microbes – bacteria and fungi – degrade organic wastes that would otherwise accumulate and

overwhelm the environment. Within human bodies, the microbes in our guts assist in breaking down foods and also

provide certain vitamins. They may inhibit the growth of less-benign microbes in our gut. Nitrogen-fixing microbes in the roots of legumes provide bioavailable nitrogen that can help

humans avoid excessive use of synthetic fertilizers Other services are…

4.(d) Coral reefs Two good web sites (accessed July, 2009) on coral reefs are The Nature Conservancy http://nature.org/magazine/fall2002/coralreefs/ U.S. EPA http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/coral/about.html

Response:Coral reefs are composed of living organisms, tiny animals that, as they reproduce, build up a reef’s size, sometimes over thousands of years. They are… Nurseries for fish – that provide food for as many as a billion people. Home to a tremendous diversity of species as well as seafood species Highly valued for their beauty as, e.g., by divers. They are natural barriers protecting nearby shorelines from erosion. Sources for a number of useful chemicals including a number used in medicine Other services are…

Questions 1.15. When you think about vital species, what are two species (other than domestic animals) that come to mind? What natural service or services does each of these provide?Response:The answer will vary with each student. Examples are…

Bees pollinate many flowers (and pollination is vital to our food supply). Trees provide the services noted above in answer to question 1 Grasses provide the services noted above in your answer to question 4 a Microorganisms break down the waste organic matter in the environment. Other examples are…

Questions 1.16. How can pollution result from (a) Deforestation? (b) Grasslands loss? (c) Wetlands loss? 6 (a) Deforestation?Response: Much greater quantities of runoff and pollutants within it (such as excess nutrients, and

pesticides) come from deforested land The unprotected soil itself also can runoff and negatively impact water bodies:

o As eroded soil runs into surface water, its fine particles remain suspended as suspended solids (SS), a major water pollutant. Larger quantities of SS can smother fish and other aquatic life.

o Heavier soil particles settle into the sediment. Larger amounts can adversely affect benthic life, sometimes smothering it. If the amount of soil is great enough, it may partially or totally fill in (especially smaller) streams.

Air pollution can also increase because leaves and grasses can absorb significant quantities of pollutants from air.

6. (b) Grasslands loss? The responses to (b) are similar to those for (a)

6. (c) Wetlands loss? Response:The capacities of wetlands to perform the following services in water purification are destroyed. Solid particles in runoff are trapped in the wetlands. Infectious microbes, from sources such as animal excrement or malfunctioning septic tanks,

are trapped too and will (without proper growing conditions) die. Hazardous metals in water or attached to soil particles are trapped, or taken up into the living

vegetation in wetlands. Wetland plants can use the excess nutrients from fertilizers found in runoff. Nutrients are

also found in rainwater, e.g., the bioavailable nitrogen in acid rain. Floodwater is also a pollutant. Wetlands can prevent flooding by capturing water that could

otherwise flood low lying areas.

If the concentration of any pollutant becomes too high, wetland vegetation and aquatic animal life can also be damaged. However, even if adverse impacts occur, they may be localized, not spread into larger areas as is the case if they runoff into streams, and rivers. As one major example, fertilizer runoff into a river can, continuing over years give rise to a ‘dead zone’ near the river mouth.

Questions 1.17. Technology can mimic some natural services such as purifying water, albeit often at high cost. What technology – one that is already known or one that you can envision – can: (a) Provide clean drinking water? (b) Rebuild agricultural soil damaged by erosion? (c) Rebuild soil damaged by salt buildup? (d) Produce adequate food in the absence of fertile soil?

7. (a)Provide clean drinking water?Response: The student may be familiar with drinking water purification facilities. Chapter 10 will cover a number of ways that smaller amounts of drinking water can be

obtained for individual households or a small community. These methods are primarily devoted to removing infectious organisms.

o Let water stand for a day to allow solids to settle out. This removes many microorganisms and other contaminants that attach to solids, such as hazardous metals.

o Filter water through layers of clean cloth to remove solids including many microbes as when women in Indian villages fold up an old sari and use it to filter the water.

o Filtering the water through clean sand. o If fuel is available, bring the water to a ‘rolling boil,’ and boil for a minute or

more. o If available, iodine or chlorine tablets can be used to disinfect the water. o Place water into clean used soft-drink bottles or other small clear containers. Set

these in strong sunlight for at least 3 hours. In addition to killing harmful microbes, strong sunlight can also often break down organic chemical contaminants.

After this partial water purification, the water must be maintained under conditions that prevent it from becoming re-contaminated by microorganisms.

Reference: A Safe Solution, Disinfection at home could provide Africa with cheap and abundant potable water by Ben Harder, Science News 163(9) 1 Mar 2003, pages 136-138

7. (b) Rebuild agricultural soil damaged by erosion or by the buildup of salt? Response:If erosion is not too severe, treatments are available. The major purpose of the following steps is to provide a base in which plants can take root, while also making sure that nutrients are in the soil. Adding biological content to the soil can have a major positive effect. Spread a biological sludge (such as a treated sewage sludge or pulp-and-paper mill sludge)

on the eroded land, then plant grasses, shrubs or trees to provide roots to hold the soil. If the soil is on flat land, it may be possible to plant grass or trees (or certain food crops)

that hold the soil, bypassing the addition of a biological sludge. Research is ongoing to develop synthetic polymers that can help hold soil in place, enough

to allow vegetation to make a start. If individuals are willing to expend much time and energy, even badly damaged soil can be

remediated: for example, dig holes into which soil is placed and plant a tree in each cavity. Water and care for the growing trees over time.

Over MANY years, top soil naturally may rebuild itself even without remediation (if continued erosion is prevented)

Soil remediation is most feasible on small amounts of land. But if topsoil continues to be used unsustainably in large areas (such as in the ‘grain basket’ of the US) it may not be possible to recover the soil in a span of time that a human considers reasonable.

For soil remediation to be meaningful, one must also correct the conditions that lead to erosion.

7. (c) Rebuild soil damaged by salt buildup? Response: If enough clean water is available, wash the soil and allow the water to drain off carrying

the salt. If the soil isn’t too salty, and the region has some rainfall, leaving it fallow for some years

will leach out part of the salt. Research is ongoing to develop bioengineered plants capable of living in salty soil

7.(d) Produce adequate food in the absence of fertile soil?Response: Hydroponics (growing plants such as tomatoes in water to which nutrients have been added)

is an alternative means of growing limited quantities of fruits and vegetables in greenhouses (or outdoors). Hydroponic tomatoes are already available as a high-priced specialty food. But consider that many thousands of acres are used to grow grain – could hydroponics be a reasonable alternative? For how many people and at what price, could hydroponics provide food? And what if – as is increasingly the case around the world, there is water scarcity?

Another possibility is…

Questions 1.2 Questions 1.21. Assume that a gallon (3.8 liters) of gasoline weighs ~6 pounds (2.7 kg). How then can about 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of carbon dioxide be emitted per gallon of gasoline (in the car’s exhaust)?Response:Gasoline is composed almost entirely of hydrocarbons (containing hydrogen and carbon). Carbon is about twelve times heavier than hydrogen, so for simplicity consider only carbon. Carbon is released from your car’s exhaust as carbon dioxide (CO2) – carbon that has reacted with the oxygen in the atmosphere. Carbon has an atomic weight of 12. Oxygen has an atomic weight of 16. The total weight of

CO2 (one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms) is 12 + 16 + 16 = 44 Thus, the weight of CO2 is 3.67 times greater than that of carbon alone (44/12). If the

gallon weighs about 6 pounds, then 3.67 times 6 is 22 pounds

Questions 1.22 (a) How does the sulfur in the fuel end up as sulfur dioxide? Response:2. (a) Just as carbon reacts with oxygen during combustion, sulfur reacts with oxygen to form (mostly) sulfur dioxide, SO2.

2. (b) The metals as metal oxides?Response:3. Likewise, metals present in the fuel react with oxygen during combustion to form metal

oxides.

Questions 1.3 Questions 1.31. Why do inorganic pollutants such as sulfur dioxide sometimes pose a greater problem in the environment than do organic pollutants such as hydrocarbons?Response: Organic chemicals break down into carbon dioxide and water. However, inorganic

chemicals, although they undergo chemical reactions remain in the environment as the elements of which they are composed. Example: Sulfur dioxide is converted to sulfuric acid and sulfate in the atmosphere before being deposited on earth. Most of the sulfur compounds reaching the earth or its waters remain as sulfur compounds. Thus, if releases of sulfur

dioxide continue, even small amounts of the inorganic sulfur chemicals will build up over time.

Questions 1.32. When a stack on an electric power plant is built extremely high, its sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions are dispersed (and diluted). Is the dilution great enough that the emissions no longer cause environmental harm? Explain.Response: Consider the answer you made to question 1 above: the sulfate and the nitrate formed from

these gaseous emissions are inorganic chemicals. Thus the sulfate and nitrate reaching earth continue to accumulate: even small amounts will build up in the environment over time.

Questions 1.33. Why do organic pollutants typically degrade very slowly in groundwater as compared to surface water? Response: Consider how groundwater is different from surface water:

o There is NO sunlight, thus no ultraviolet radiation to contribute to the degradation of organic chemicals.

o There is LESS oxygen in groundwater and so less oxygen to react with chemicals and assist in their degradation.

o Groundwater has FEWER microorganisms, which could help degrade the organic chemicals.

o There is ordinarily NOT the wave movement found in surface water that continues to expose the chemicals to oxygen and sunlight.

Questions 1.34. Why do organic pollutants typically degrade very slowly in sediments as compared to surface water? Response: Look at question 3 above: like groundwater, sediments do not receive sunlight, and contain

less oxygen. There are microbes in sediments, primarily anaerobic microorganisms (microbes that do not

or cannot use oxygen). Such microbes typically produce methane as an end product (instead of CO2 and oxygen). Thus, organic material can be degraded but is typically degraded to the gas, methane. Methane then escapes into the air. See Question 5 below.

Questions 1.35. Sediment contains anaerobic microorganisms (microbes that do not or cannot use oxygen). These typically produce methane as an end product. Once released to the atmosphere, how can the methane be degraded? Response: The gaseous methane can react with hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere, which leads to the

break down of methane into carbon dioxide and water.

Questions 1.4

Questions 1.4 1(a) Did any of the points made in the text (under the heading, Tiny levels of contaminants) increase your concern? Explain. Response: Possibilities that could increase your concern. Among the twenty contaminants are chemicals that may be similar chemically. Similar

chemicals may exert toxic effects in similar ways and the levels of each, if added together could potentially pose a problem. Organophosphate pesticides are one example. There are many different organophosphates, but each exerts toxicity in a similar way. So, if several of the contaminants are organophosphates, the total concentrations added together may cause concern.

Even if none of the chemicals act similarly in the body, some combination of them could potentially exert a synergistic effect, that is, one chemical could magnify the effect of another chemical out of all proportion to its concentration. Testing for synergistic effects among 20 chemicals is almost impossible because we could not reasonably test them in all possible combinations.

Species differ widely in their sensitivity to toxicants. One species may be many times more sensitive than another. And within any individual species, including humans, there is also a range of sensitivity.

Students may pick out one or more of these points to emphasize. They can all be considered ‘right’ answers.

Questions 1.4 1(b) Did any of the points made in the text (under the heading, Tiny levels of contaminants) lessen your concern? Explain.Response: Two chemicals may be antagonists, i.e., one may inhibit the toxicity of another, lessening

the chance of an adverse effect. Basically, one chemical acts as an antidote to the other. Hundreds or thousands of chemicals are naturally present in the water; some or many may

be similar chemically to the synthetic contaminants that are of concern to you. Animal and human bodies deal with contaminants using biochemical pathways that evolved

over millions of years to break down natural poisons in the environment. Our bodies have no way of knowing if a given chemical is natural or synthetic.

A quarter century ago, chemists probably couldn’t even have detected many of these chemicals. Only now with sophisticated analytical methods can we even know if there are chemicals that might be of concern.

Students may pick out one or more of these points to emphasize. They can all be considered ‘right’ answers.

Questions 1.4 2. Even testing a few chemicals in mixtures for possible toxicity is complicated and expensive. However, it is possible to examine the effect of the contaminated water itself on aquatic life. This is called whole effluent toxicity. Does whole effluent toxicity reassure you as a logical way to test toxicity? Why?

Response: Because it’s not practical (or possible) to test all the chemicals in the effluent, this is a

practical albeit limited alternative. It can also be used to provide an answer to questions 1a and 1b above, that is, to find out the toxicity of the lake water.

Questions 1.4 3. With which of the following conclusions do you most tend to agree and why? (a) It is alarming that many synthetic chemicals are detected. Our health, our children’s health, and wildlife are likely affected. Let’s find the sources of the chemicals and stop further emissions. (b) We cannot worry about every low-level contaminant. We cannot reduce emissions to zero and it would be prohibitively expensive to even reduce them to near zero. And, quite often a synthetic chemical also occurs in nature as a natural chemical. Animals and plants having evolved protective means over eons of dealing with natural poisons, and most probably can manage the chemicals in this lake too. Taking a chemical off the market could pose other problems – the chemical that replaces it in an industrial process may also pose problems that are now unknown. Let’s devote our limited resources to higher risk problems. Response: The ‘right’ answer to this question will vary from student to student. Quite often students will

change or partially change their minds as they continue studying the issues.

Questions 1.4 4. Think about air pollution in an agricultural setting and ponder a situation that occurs with increasing frequency as people move into areas previously devoted to farming. New residents may complain about farm odors when farmers spread sewage sludge on their fields as a fertilizer or soil amendment. Both State and US environmental agencies support spreading carefully-treated sludge. But one complaining resident said, “The human body knows when something is not good for you. Sludge must be bad. It smells so bad, it can make you nauseous.” (a) Does the fact that it smells badly mean that airborne substances are present at a harmful level? Explain. (b) Before you can decide whether concerns are legitimate, what questions would you want answers to?

4 (a) Does the fact that it smells badly mean that airborne substances are present at a harmful level? Explain. Response: Some chemicals, especially a number of organic chemicals that contain sulfur have a very

low odor threshold; that is your nose can detect them at very low concentrations. Even without knowing this, students may realize that this question may be related to a low-level contaminant (as in the questions just answered).

4 (b) Before you can decide whether concerns are legitimate, what questions would you want answers to? Response:Questions that you want answered may include… What substances in the air smell so badly? At what concentration are they in the air? How much of a risk do they present at the concentrations found?

How does risk vary with distance from the site?

The student may well have other questions too.

Questions 1.4 5. Another resident said, “When someone spreads sludge, you get flies in your house… It's awful.” Do flies present a potential danger? Explain. Response: Flies may often present a greater problem than the airborne pollutants from the sludge-treated

site because of their ability to carry potential disease-causing organisms.

Questions 1.4 6. If you were thinking of moving into a rural area: (a) What questions would you want to ask? (b) Should sellers be required to provide you with information on sludge-spreading or similar operations around possible homes? 6. (a) What questions would you want to ask? Response:Among questions that you may want to ask are: Are there farms near by? What are they growing? What animals are present and how many? Is there ever an odor? Do neighbors complain of the odor? Has the risk of any odor been investigated? What is the land’s zoning? Could a industrial farm holding large numbers of animals in a

limited space be permitted?

6. (b) Should sellers be required to provide you with information on sludge-spreading or similar operations around their possible homes? Response: The obvious answer may be ‘yes.’ Explaining why gives the student a chance to continue

thinking about the issues and how important such operations are to them.

Questions 1.4 7. Consider that you already live in a rural setting. (a) How would you react if a large industrial farm (one with thousands of pigs, cattle or poultry crowded into a limited space) moved into your rural neighborhood? What would your environmental and health concerns be?

Response: This situation is, unfortunately possible. In a number of locales in the U.S. (North Carolina

among other states) such operations have been sited near already existing homes. Especially, with ‘industrial farms’ raising large numbers of animals, the result may be very

unpleasant smells, many flies, possible runoff of improperly treated animal wastes, etc.Students may indicate a willingness to fight against allowing such an operation near their homes. This raises the question as to how they can do so – going to town/state health and environmental officials to find out more about the particular operation, and what options they have to prevent it. In at least some cases, residents consult lawyers.

As a preventive measure, the possibility of such sites is one more reason to investigate ahead of time (before moving to the area) just how the land can be legally used.

Questions 1.5Questions 1.5 1. Being blamed for the large amounts of pollution that they produce irritates the Chinese. They point out that much of the pollution produced in China occurs as it manufactures products for export to Europe and the US. Often, in fact, the polluting factories have been subcontracted by, or are owned by foreigners. And foreign investment continues to rise. Whom shall we blame? What word might be more descriptive than blame? How can we respond to this issue? Response: This points out that “we are all in this together.” Consider the greenhouse gas, carbon

dioxide (to be considered in Chapter 7): whether that gas is produced in China, in the US or in Europe it has the same ability to increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. On the other hand, pollutants such as sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides, once released into the air are converted into chemicals that – instead of staying in the atmosphere – are deposited on earth and water as acid rain. Quite often that pollution also crosses borders but, unlike carbon dioxide these gases don’t travel worldwide.

At the level of the individual factory, pressure can be placed on its owners to at least meet the emission standards under Chinese law. At a more general level, more developed countries can working with China to find technologies to limit pollutant emissions.

Questions 1.5 2. First, please note: there is no longer a Brown and Halweil. Students in prosperous societies, upon learning that AIDS may reduce population in badly-

affected countries sometimes respond. It’s all very sad, but the decreased population may be good. Aside from the moral implications of allowing these deaths, history tells us that a population reduced by disease (such as Europe’s medieval plagues) quickly rebounds. And, unlike other infectious diseases, which infect all portions of the population, AIDS primarily kills young adults. Sub-Saharan Africa has about 15-million orphans, a number expected to continue to grow in coming years (See Brown and Halweil in Further Reading] (a) How likely is it that a country with large numbers of uncared-for orphans, one that is also losing the most productive portion of their population, will avoid social unrest? Explain. (b) How could social unrest affect a country’s environment?

Questions 1.5 2. (a) How likely is it that a country with large numbers of uncared-for orphans, one that is also losing the most productive portion of their population, will avoid social unrest? Explain.Response:The students may believe that the likelihood of social unrest will increase and then state why they believe this to be the case. Answers could, of course, legitimately vary.

2 (b) How could social unrest affect a country’s environment? Response:

Instability means less attention to the environment, and likely more environmental degradation. It is also likely that less knowledge will be passed on to others, including children as to how to care for the local environment.

Questions 1.6Questions 1.61. Conservationist Wendell Berry writes “One of the primary results – and one of the primary needs – of industrialism is the separation of people and places and products from their histories.” From an environmental perspective, how does knowing the origin of consumer products or agricultural goods matter? Provide an example.Response:Any product, food or non-food from a less-developed country may be produced under conditions that those living in a developed country would not allow on their own soil. Consider fruit, vegetable or flowers: Less-developed countries often use higher levels of

pesticides, or pesticides banned in developed countries, which can harm workers and the local environment. The pesticides may survive to be imported into another country.

Fish and shellfish: If farmed, they may be produced under conditions not allowed in developed countries; e.g., shrimp farms in several less-developed countries are notorious.

Non-food itemsa. If a product contains metals, the metals may have been mined in ways that degraded

the environment, or the metal product may have been manufactured in a manner that pollutes the environment and harms workers’ health.

b. A chemical product may be produced with little concern for workers or the local environment.

The student may provide other examples.

Questions 1.62. What does the following statement mean to you? “The more population grows, the more the rights of the common will impinge on the rights of the individual.” Response:The more dense is the population, the greater is the likelihood that the environment we share in common may be harmed. A simple example might be a neighborhood park damaged by too many people using the

grounds, or by dog droppings, etc. Thus, what activities are allowed in the park may be more limited than is the case of a park in a sparsely populated area.

Another example is the ‘commons’ of the air. In a rural area, you may historically have burned trash or agricultural waste without concern. But now with many nearby neighbors, your ‘right’ to burn is restricted.

Another example is buying and selling. In a small town, you are more likely to know whom to trust when you buy a product. With large numbers of unknown people, the need to regulate quality, purity, etc. becomes much more important – and the regulations involved will impact you as a farmer, manufacturer, etc.

Many other examples are possible.

Questions 1.6

3. Choose a product. Then, to the best of your ability, answer the following questions. (a) Where was it produced? (b) What are the environmental impacts of recovering the resources needed to make it? (c) Of manufacturing it? (d) Of transporting it? (e) Of using it? (f)What happens to it at the end of its useful life? Response: There are many possible products that a student may choose, so answers (a)-(f) may vary

widely. At this early point (Chapter 1), you may be satisfied just to get students to think about the issue and accept any answers that seem reasonable to you relative to their current knowledge.

If you want more serious answers, ask students to do a little research on the product they choose. Important questions they may want to consider are: Was the item produced or manufactured in a more or less-developed country? What are the environmental laws (agricultural, mining or manufacturing) likely to be in that country and how well are laws enforced? Even if students cannot answer these questions, just raising them stimulates awareness of the issues.

The issue comes back to the home country of the student when considering how individuals use and discard the product they have chosen. How does the person answering the questions use the product such as a car or a light bulb? Do they know if, at the end of its useful life the product is recycled or discarded? If discarded, is it landfilled or incinerated, and what are the impacts of these methods? Questions 1.64. Corporations often spend more money on advertising than they do on environmental control. Environmentalists believe such heavy advertising fuels a ‘culture of waste’ leading to heavy use of energy and other resources. People with money are enticed to buy unneeded products – more clothes, another car or TV, a new product to replace one that still works, or second homes. (a) What does the word sustainability mean to you? (b) Is consumerism compatible with sustainability? Explain.4. (a) What does the word sustainability mean to you? Response: Responses may vary from person to person. Some may have already had an environmental

course and provide a somewhat sophisticated answer. Others may be confronting the word for the first time, and begin to struggle with its meaning. Some students may go to the web to help find definitions.

4. (b) Is consumerism compatible with sustainability? Explain.Response: Whether students consider environmental sustainability compatible with consumerism may

depend on their background and current majors – are they business majors, environmental studies majors, or? Whatever their personal background, ask them to explain their answer. They may believe that with proper environmental safeguards, sustainability is possible, or may believe that as new technologies develop environmental problems can be solved. Other students may be much more concerned about long-term sustainability and state their reasons for thinking so.

Questions 1.6

5. Think of two ways that society might control the release of antibiotics and hormones into sewage systems. Are there ways to reduce the impacts of these substances? Response: Product producer Producers can study the environmental fate of their products. They could

ask questions such as – if the chemical product is discarded down a sink or toilet or (as for pharmaceuticals) is excreted in bodily waste can the municipal wastewater treatment plant degrade it? If not, and the chemical ends up in waterways, does it degrade in water, and over what period of time? Does it have an environmental impact in waterways? Once producers have answers they may do research to modify the product’s chemistry in a way that allows its degradation in the treatment plant or in the river’s waters.

Product user If you excrete the chemical, e.g., estrogens in a birth control pill, you have no control over its movement into wastewater. However, you can avoid dumping any chemical products down a sink or toilet.

o Check with the operator of your local municipal wastewater treatment plant to see how aware they are of potential problems from pharmaceuticals and household chemicals in the wastewater that they treat, and whether they are taking steps – or thinking of taking steps – to enhance degradation of excreted or dumped chemical products in the wastewater coming into their plant. Remember, however that some measure could be impossible or very expensive.

Treatment plant operator Newer wastewater treatment plants are likely to be better at breaking down chemicals such as estrogens (natural and synthetic) than are older ones. A student might call the local wastewater plant to find out its age and anything the operator knows about removing estrogens and other pharmaceuticals. The industry is becoming more aware of the problem and is researching ways to degrade ‘intimate’ chemicals without having to build a new plant. The US EPA is active in these efforts. Treatment plants in areas with higher population densities may have a bigger load of these chemicals, and more of the chemicals may survive treatment and reach local waterways. Meanwhile, plants can work to educate householders. An education program may not help reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals reaching wastewater through human wastes, but the wastewater industry could urge them to avoid putting leftover pharmaceutical and other personal chemicals down the drain or toilet.

Students could come up with a number of other possible solutions. Questions 1.66. (a) What are five decisions that you routinely make in your personal life that impact the environment? Response: Possible answers could be almost any activity, from eating, buying a product, disposing of

waste, using transportation, or using energy in the home and workplace.

6. (b) How might you make those five decisions differently by taking environmental impact into account? Response: You may choose to dispose of waste food using a compost heap rather than a garbage

disposal or trash receptacle. You may not buy products with unnecessary packaging.

You may recycle as many products as can be recycled rather than putting them in your trash can.

You may choose to drive less and to walk or bicycle more, or take public transport. You may not turn on lights and other electric appliances unnecessarily, and you may

consistently turn them off after use. You may make your house more energy efficient, and be careful to buy energy-efficient

appliances. Etc.