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4.4 Protecting Resources

Reading StrategySummarizing After reading this section,complete the concept map below to organizewhat you know about the major laws thathelp keep water, air, and land resources clean.

Key ConceptsWhen were the first lawspassed to deal with waterpollution?

What was the mostimportant law passed todeal with air pollution?

What is involved inprotecting land resources?

Vocabulary◆ conservation◆ compost◆ recycling

E ach year, Americans throw out about 30 million cell phones,18 million computers, 8 million TV sets, and enough tires to circle theEarth about three times. With just 6 percent of the world’s population,Americans use about one third of the world’s resources—and produceabout one third of the world’s garbage.

This high rate of consumption squanders resources, many of whichare nonrenewable. The manufacture and disposal of these productsuses enormous amounts of energy and creates pollution, as shown inFigure 22. Is there a way to have the products and services we want andstill protect resources and create less pollution?

Many people think conservation and pollution prevention are theanswer. Conservation is the careful use of resources. Pollution pre-vention means stopping pollution from entering theenvironment.

Between the late 1940s and 1970, a number ofserious pollution problems got the public’s attention.Severe air pollution events killed hundreds and sick-ened thousands in the United States and elsewhere. Inthe late 1960s, many beaches closed due to pollution.An oil spill off the California coast killed wildlife.Then in 1969, Americans watched news reports ofOhio’s polluted Cuyahoga River catching fire andburning for days.

b. ?

EnvironmentalLaws

Air

e. ?

c. ?a. ?

d. ?

Water Land

Figure 22 Strict laws havehelped curb air pollution, thoughit remains a problem.

FOCUS

Section Objectives4.13 Identify the first laws passed to

deal with water pollution.4.14 Name the most important law

passed to deal with airpollution.

4.15 Explain what is involved inprotecting land resources.

Build VocabularyWord Forms Have students use adictionary to find words that are relatedto the vocabulary term conservation.Each word should be used in a sentence.Knowing the meaning of words such asconservative and conserve will helpstudents understand the concept ofconservation.

Reading Strategya. Clean Water Actb. Clean Air Actc. Resource Conservation and RecoveryActd. Safe Drinking Water Acte. Comprehensive EnvironmentalResponse, Compensation, andLiability Act

INSTRUCTIntegrate BiologyOil Spills and Marine Life Ask studentsif they know why oil spills are dangerousto wildlife. Tell them that oil destroys theinsulating ability of fur-bearing mammals,such as sea otters, and the water-repellingabilities of a bird’s feathers, thus exposingthese animals to cold water and airtemperatures. Many marine birds andanimals also swallow oil when they tryto clean themselves, which can poisonthem. Ask: What is the function of birdfeathers? (They keep the bird warm andwaterproofed, and help the bird fly.) Whathappens to feathers when they getoiled? (They become heavy, matted, andsoggy.)Verbal, Logical

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Keeping Water Clean and SafeBoth the public and government officials became increasingly con-cerned about pollution. Starting in the 1970s, the federalgovernment passed several laws to prevent or decrease pollution andprotect resources.

America’s polluted rivers and lakes got early attention. In 1972, theU.S. Congress passed the Clean Water Act (CWA). Among other pro-visions, the law requires industries to reduce or eliminate point sourcepollution into surface waters. It also led to a huge increase in thenumber of sewage treatment plants, which eliminated the dischargeof raw sewage into many lakes, rivers, and bays. There are still waterpollution problems. But because of the CWA, the percentage of U.S.surface waters safe for fishing and swimming increased from 36 per-cent to 62 percent between 1972 and the end of the 1990s.

The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 helped protect drinkingresources. It set maximum contaminant levels for a number of pollu-tants that could harm the health of people. Public water resources arecleaner today because of this law. See Table 3 for ways that individualscan help conserve water and keep it clean.

Protecting the AirAs lawmakers were tackling water pollution in the 1970s, air pollu-tion was also on the agenda. In 1970, Congress passed the CleanAir Act, the nation’s most important air pollution law. It estab-lished National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six“criteria” pollutants known to cause health problems—carbonmonoxide, ozone, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and partic-ulates (fine particles). Air monitors, such as the one in Figure 23,sample the air. If the maximum permissible level of pollutants inthe air is exceeded, local authorities must come up with plans to

bring these levels down. Between 1970 and 2001, the emis-sions of the six criteria pollutants regulated under theClean Air Act decreased 24 percent. Over the same timespan, energy consumption increased 42 percent and the U.S. population grew by 39 percent.

Today, power plants and motor vehicles use pollutioncontrol devices to reduce or eliminate certain byproducts offossil fuel combustion. Power plants are also more likely touse low-sulfur coal. These controls cut down on emissionsof sulfur and nitrogen oxides that often produce acid rain.

What did the Clean Water Act do?

Figure 23 Air Sampler

• Never pour household chemicals(paints, thinners, cleaners, pesticides, waste oil) down the drain or into the toilet.

• Never dump toxic chemicals in thegutter or onto the ground.

• Don't put items that contain hazardous substances, such as batteries or old computer monitors, into the trash.

• Find out about hazardous wastecollection sites and times from yourlocal sanitation or public worksdepartment.

• Avoid using hazardous substances inthe first place.

Table 3 How You Can Prevent Water Pollution

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Keeping WaterClean and SafeUse VisualsTable 3 Have students read theinformation in the table. Ask: Howshould you dispose of old batteries?(Use a hazardous waste site or collectionto dispose of them.) What happens tohousehold chemicals when they aredumped down a drain? (They movethrough sewers into rivers, lakes, orstreams.)Visual, Logical

Making an Oil Slick

Purpose Students examine the way oilreacts when it mixes with water.

Materials large, clear, glass bowl;vegetable oil; water; cocoa powder

Procedure Mix a little cocoa powderwith the oil so it will resemble crude oil.This mixture will make it easier forstudents to observe the oil. Fill the bowlwith water to about 5 cm from the top.Pour some of the oil–cocoa mixtureonto the water.

Expected Outcomes Oil and water donot mix, but form two separate layers.The oil, even a little drop, will quicklyspread out over the water surface andbreak up into many little blobs. Whenoil is spilled onto the ocean, it can bepushed and transported by the wind,currents, and tides because it stays onthe top of the water.Kinesthetic, Visual

Protecting the AirUse VisualsTable 4 Have students read theinformation in the table. Ask: How canyou use solar energy in your home?(Allow sunshine in through the windows.)Name one way you can use your ownphysical energy instead of fossil fuelenergy. (I can walk or ride a bike insteadof using a car.)

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Section 4.4 (continued)

Customize for Inclusion Students

Learning Disabled Have students cut outphotos from magazines and newspapers thatshow water usage and conservation. Studentscan make a poster with these photos, writinga description next to each photo. If enoughphotos are collected, two posters can be

made, one for water usage and the other forconservation methods. Posters can be hungin a school hallway during ConservationAwareness Week or as part of a conservationprogram.

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Increased use of clean, alternate energy sources such as solar, wind,and hydroelectric power, can also help clear the air. These energysources don’t create air or water pollution, and they’re based on renew-able resources.

Cars with electric and hybrid (combination of electric and eithernatural gas, gasoline, or diesel) motors produce fewer or no tailpipeemissions. Several of these lower-emissions models are now available.Some of the hybrid models are also very efficient and get high gasmileage. When a car can go farther on a tank of gas, it uses less fueland creates less pollution.

Energy conservation is an important air pollution control strat-egy. Fossil-fuel combustion produces most of the electricity in theUnited States. If we can use less electricity we would have to burn lessfossil fuel. Less fossil-fuel combustion means less air pollution. Youcan see several energy conservation tips in Table 4.

Caring for Land ResourcesProtecting land resources involves preventing pollution and

managing land resources wisely. Farmers, loggers, manufacturers, andindividuals can all take steps to care for land resources.

Farmers now use many soil conservation practices to prevent theloss of topsoil and preserve soil fertility. In contour plowing, farmersplow across the contour of hillsides. This method of farming decreaseswater runoff that washes away topsoil. Another conservation methodis strip cropping—crops with different nutrient requirements areplanted in adjacent rows. Strip cropping helps preserve the fertilityof soil.

Selective cutting conserves forest resources. In this method oflogging, some trees in an area of a forest are cut, while other treesremain. This practice preserves topsoil as well as the forest habitat.Clear-cutting, on the other hand, removes whole areas of forest anddestroys habitats and contributes to the erosion of topsoil.

Some farmers and gardeners now use less pesticides and inorganicfertilizers to decrease chemicals in soil and on crops. Natural fertiliz-ers such as compost or animal manure have replaced inorganiccommercial fertilizers on some fields. Compost is partly decomposedorganic material that is used as fertilizer. Integrated Pest Management(IPM) uses natural predators or mechanical processes (such as vacu-uming pests off leaves) to decrease the number of pests. Pesticide useis a last resort.

What did the Clean Air Act do?

• Recycle when possible.• Let the sun in on bright winter days

using solar energy to warm rooms.• Use energy-saving fluorescent bulbs

instead of incandescent bulbs whereyou can.

• Turn off lights when you leavea room. Turn off the radio, TV,or computer when you’re notusing them.

• Walk or ride a bike when you can.• When buying electric products, look

for the Energy Star sticker whichdenotes energy-saving products.

Table 4 How You CanSave Energy

For: Links on emergingtechnologies

Visit: www.SciLinks.org

Web Code: cjn-1044

Caring for LandResourcesBuild Reading Literacy

Refer to p. 216D in Chapter 8, whichprovides the guidelines for comparingand contrasting.

Compare and Contrast Tell studentsthat there are two major methods offorestry. Clear-cutting involves thecomplete removal of all the trees in anarea. In selective logging, only certaintrees are removed. Trees left standingform a buffer zone. Ask: Compare theamount of erosion that would takeplace with both kinds of forestrypractices. (Clear-cutting exposes baresoil, which is subject to erosion. Selectivelogging creates buffer zones of trees thatslow runoff and prevent any eroded soilfrom being washed away.) Do you thinkforests are a renewable resource?(Answers will vary. The trees will growback as a second-growth forest, but itwill be less diverse than the virgin forest.)Logical

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Answer to . . .

The Clean Water Act ledto an increase in sewage

treatment plants; it requires industriesto reduce or eliminate point sourcepollution into surface waters.

The Clean Air Actestablished six

criteria pollutants and requiredcommunities to not exceed certainlevels of pollution for these pollutants.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practicesbegan in the 1920s. Progress was slow,however, due to the abundance of inexpensiveand effective synthetic pesticides and limitedknowledge of their long-term effects onorganisms and the environment. RachelCarson’s book, Silent Spring, brought theeffects of chemical pesticides to the publiceye in 1962, and IPM practices became more

popular. There are several lines of IPM:chemical controls (the use of pheromones toattract and capture pests), cultural controls(crop rotations, sanitation, and pruning),biological controls (introducing predators,parasites, or pest disease organisms), andgenetic controls (breeding pest-resistantcrops and tolerant plant varieties).

Facts and Figures

Download a worksheet on emergingtechnologies for students tocomplete, and find additionalteacher support from NSTA SciLinks.

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Section 4.4 Assessment

Reviewing Concepts1. When were the first laws passed to deal

with water pollution?

2. Identify the most important air pollutioncontrol law.

3. What are National Ambient Air QualityStandards?

4. How does selective cutting of forestsconserve topsoil?

5. How can gardeners care for land resources?

Critical Thinking6. Applying Concepts How can turning off

lights when you’re not using them helpdecrease air pollution?

7. Relating Cause and Effect Explain how theSuperfund law helps prevent pollution fromentering underground water sources.

Some laws reduce the possibility of toxic substancesgetting into the soil. Since 1977, sanitary landfills havelargely replaced open dumps and old-style landfills.Sanitary landfills have plastic or clay liners that preventwastes from leaking into the surrounding soil or ground-water. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(RCRA) of 1976 has decreased the illegal and unsafedumping of hazardous waste. The law requires compa-nies to store, transport, and dispose of hazardous wasteaccording to strict guidelines. The 1980 ComprehensiveEnvironmental Response, Compensation, and LiabilityAct (Superfund) mandates the cleaning up of abandonedhazardous waste sites that are a danger to the public orthe environment.

Creating less waste by using fewer products and recy-cling products also helps preserve land resources.Recycling is the collecting and processing of used itemsso they can be made into new products, as Figure 24shows. By conserving resources and producing less waste,everyone can contribute to a cleaner, healthier future.

What is the RCRA and what doesit do?

Explanatory Paragraph Write a briefparagraph explaining how recycling youraluminum soda cans helps conserveresources and energy.

Figure 24 Recycling saves resources, reducesenergy consumption, and prevents pollution.

116 Chapter 4

Use CommunityResourcesHave students investigate recyclingprograms in their community. If noneare available, students may be interestedin starting a limited one. If a programexists, students may want to volunteerin some way. Alternatively, students maybe interested in participating in acommunity-wide composting project.Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal

ASSESSEvaluateUnderstandingTo assess students’ knowledge of sectioncontent, have them explain the differencebetween conservation and pollutionprevention. (Conservation is the carefuluse of resources. Pollution preventioninvolves ways to prevent pollution fromoccurring or stopping pollution fromentering the environment.)

ReteachHave students make a table listing thelaws discussed in this section. For eachlaw, students should write what it doesand what it accomplished.

Student paragraphs should include theideas that the recycling of aluminumsoda cans conserves aluminum andproduces less waste.

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Section 4.4 (continued)

Answer to . . .

The ResourceConservation and

Recovery Act requires companiesto store, transport, and dispose ofhazardous waste according to strictguidelines.

5. by using less pesticides and inorganic fertil-izers; by using compost and Integrated PestManagement6. When you turn off lights, you use less elec-tricity. Since the fuels that produce electricitycause air pollution, less electricity neededmeans less fuel used and less pollutionproduced.7. The Superfund law mandates the cleaningup of dangerous abandoned hazardous wastesites. This prevents the toxic wastes fromleaching out of the site and entering under-ground water sources.

Section 4.4 Assessment

1. The first laws were passed in the 1970s.The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972.2. The Clean Air Act, the most important airpollution law, was passed in 1970.3. NAAQS are maximum permissible levels ofsix pollutants known to cause health problems.4. The trees that are left standing keep topsoilfrom eroding and washing away.

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Bingham Canyon, Utah:The Largest Open-Pit Mine

This huge pit was once where a mountain stood. It’sBingham Canyon copper mine, the largest open-pitmine in the world. The mine, southwest of Salt LakeCity, Utah, is 4 kilometers across and covers almost

8 square kilometers. It’s so deep—900 meters—thatif a steel tower were built at the bottom, it wouldhave to be five times taller than France’s Eiffel Towerto reach the pit’s rim.

The pit began in the late 1800s as an undergroundsilver and lead mine. Miners later discovered copper.There are similar deposits at several sites in theAmerican Southwest and in a belt from southernAlaska to northern Chile.

The ore at Bingham Canyon formed after magmawas intruded to shallow depths. After this, shatter-ing created extensive fractures in the rock.Hydrothermal solutions penetrated these cracks,and ore minerals formed from the solutions.

Although the percentage of copper in the rock issmall, the total volume of copper is huge. Ever sinceopen-pit operations started in 1906, some 5 billiontons of material have been removed, yielding morethan 1.2 million tons of copper. Miners have alsorecovered significant amounts of gold, silver, andmolybdenum.

The ore body is far from exhausted. Over the next25 years, the mine’s owners plan to remove andprocess an additional 3 billion tons of material. Thismining operation has generated most of Utah’s min-eral production for more than 80 years. People havecalled it the “richest hole on Earth.”

Like many older mines, the Bingham pit was unreg-ulated during most of its history. Developmentoccurred before today’s awareness of the environ-mental impacts of mining and prior to effectiveenvironmental laws. Today, problems of groundwaterand surface water contamination, air pollution, andland reclamation are receiving long overdue atten-tion at Bingham Canyon.

Figure 25 Aerial view of Utah’s Bingham Canyon copper mine, the largest open-pitcopper mine on Earth.

Bingham Canyon,Utah: The LargestOpen-Pit MineBackgroundFor much of its hundred-year history,Bingham Canyon was owned byKennecott Copper Corp. However,during the post-1973 oil crisis shake-out,the company was acquired by BritishPetroleum. It was then sold to Rio Tinto,which operates Bingham Canyon throughits subsidiary, Kennecott Utah CopperCorp. The mine employs about 1,400people and produces about 15 percentof the nation’s copper.

Teaching Tips• Have students research chalcopyrite,

the major ore at Bingham Canyon.The formula for chalcopyrite isCuFeS2. The ore is 0.56 percentcopper. Chalcopyrite crystals haveunevenly faced tetrahedrons that arestriated in different directions. Themineral has a metallic luster and abrassy-gold color somewhat lessyellow than pyrite.

• Have students make posters showingthe processing of copper from miningto grinding and flotation to roastingand smelting to purification byelectrolysis.

• Have students make lists of some ofthe many uses of copper.

• Discuss the importance of copperthroughout history, especially in theBronze Age (bronze is an alloy of tinand copper). Mention the use ofcopper in brass (an alloy of copperand zinc).

• Tell students that the mine’s openpit is one of only a few human-madeobjects that can be seen from space.

• Have students examine a penny.The composition of the penny haschanged several times through theyears. During World War II, pennieslooked silvery because they weremade of zinc-coated steel, due to ashortage of copper. After the war,the composition went back to thetraditional copper until 1982. After1982, the composition was changedagain, using cheaper zinc for the coreand coating the outside with thetraditional copper.

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