Environmental Health

1. Environmental Health Chapter 3 Lesson 3.2 Earth – One Enormous System

2. Theme Outline • Lesson 3.2 • Earth: One Enormous Ecosystem • Nonpoint Source Pollutants • Point Source Pollutants • Detecting Pollutants • Natural Events and Environmental Health

3. PA Academic Standards for Environment & Ecology • Standard 4.3.10.B • Explain how multiple variables determine the effects of pollution on environmental health, natural processes and human practices. • Explain how human practices affect the quality of the water and soil. • Identify evidence of natural events around the world and their effects on environmental health (e.g., Yellowstone National Park fires). • Identify local and state environmental regulations and their impact on environmental health. • Analyze data and explain how point source pollution can be detected and eliminated. • Identify and explain ways of detecting pollution by using state-of-the-art technologies.

4. Learning Objectives • Students will analyze data and explain how point source pollution can be detected and eliminated. • Students will identify and explain some of the state-of-the-art technologies used to detect pollution. • Students will identify evidence of natural events around the world and their effects on environmental health.

5. Earth: One Enormous Ecosystem • Ecologists study the interactions between organisms and their environments • Ecologists collect and analyze quantitative data for trends noting changes and trends in the data sets • Ecologists collect descriptive/qualitative data on populations and relationships

6. Ecology • Definition: scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments • The basic principles of ecology summarize the interactions between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem • Disturbing natural processes and populations can have a negative effect on natural ecosystems Example: killing mosquito populations is beneficial to humans but removes an important food source from the ecosystem

7. Aldo Leopold • Ecologist • 1887-1947 • “Father of Wildlife Ecology” • Stressed that humans must live in harmony with the Earth and that whatever is taken from nature is simply borrowed • Stressed that resources are not free and need to be returned at some point in time through human activities or natural processes

8. Aldo Leopold: His legacy "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. By land is meant all of the things on, over, or in the earth.... The land is one organism. Its parts, like our own parts, compete with each other and co-operate with each other. The competitions are as much a part of the inner workings as the co-operations. You can regulate them--cautiously--but not abolish them.The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism.Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it. The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There, 1948

9. Principles of Ecology • First Principle • Everything is related to everything else. Example: biotic and abiotic factor interactions • Second Principle • Everything must go somewhere. Example: cycling of nutrients into the environment • Third Principle • Nature knows best. Example: human activity often cause more harm than good

10. Types of Source Pollutants • Two main types of source pollutants • Nonpoint source pollutants • Point source pollutants

11. Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollutants • Definition: pollutants that are carried far from their sources by rain and melting snow and are eventually deposited in soil or into freshwater and groundwater systems

12. Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollutants • Carried from their source by rain and melting snow • Eventually deposited in soils or into freshwater systems • Common nonpoint source pollutants Examples: fertilizers, pesticides, oil, grease, toxic chemicals, sediments, bacteria, livestock wastes, and poorly maintained septic tank systems • Leading cause of water quality problems in the United States • Cause harmful effects on drinking water supplies, recreational areas, fisheries, and wildlife

14. Addressing Non-point Source Pollutants • What is being done? • PA DEP Bureau of Land and Water Conservation • Directs efforts to help restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay • Control and monitor nonpoint source pollution • Citizen’s of Pennsylvania • Clear debris from storm drains and gutters • Reduce the use of lawn chemicals • Properly disposing household chemicals • Limiting soil erosion and improved farming techniques

15. Point Source (PS) Pollutants • Definition:contaminants that are discharged or emitted from an identifiable source

16. Point Source (PS) Pollutants • In 1996, Pennsylvania was one of the top ten states in the nation for point source emissions. • Common point source pollutants • Factory pipes, leaking landfills, wastes from food processing plants and slaughterhouses, domestic sewage, and factory smokestacks

17. Addressing Point Source Pollutants • What is being done? • PA DEP Bureau of Land and Water Conservation • Create and enforce regulations to prevent or reduce point source pollution • Industries and Municipalities in Pennsylvania • Must comply with statewide regulates • Some industries and municipalities take the initiative to reduce their point source pollutants, often beyond statewide standards

18. Detecting Pollutants • Detecting the presence (and later extent) of contamination depends on several key variables • Detection levels Example: What is the minimum level at which the potential chemical contaminant can be detected? • Medium potentially contaminated Example: Detection varies between mediums: soil, air, and water. • Contact with external senses Example: Can the pollutant be seen or smelled?

19. Detecting Hazardous Wastes http://www.weather.com/activities/health/airquality/airquality101/index.html?from=36hr_outlet_aq • Various techniques to detect wastes • Seismic Imaging • Application: can image materials located in underground storage tank systems • Toxic Metals Emission Monitoring Systems • Application: measure concentrations of hazardous metals continuously • Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) • Application: measure gas and particulate concentrations in the air • Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) • Application: measure more than 100 of the 189 hazardous air pollutants listed in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990

20. Natural Events and Environmental Health • Not all disturbances are human induced. Moreover, not all natural disturbances are short-lived, so the effects of some of these events can continuously keep changing the landscape of an ecosystem Example: El Niño can drastically alter biodiversity in marine ecosystems

21. El Niño • Classified as a natural disturbance • Disrupts Earth’s hydrosphere and atmosphere and ecosystems within these systems • Concentrated within the Pacific Ocean • Occurs roughly every four years • Results in floods, droughts, hurricanes, andothertypes of severe weather systems

22. Without El Niño… • Normally, trade winds blow east to west causing an increase in warm surface water in the western half of the Pacific Ocean • Nutrient-rich cooler waters from deep in the ocean along the South American coast replaces the warmer waters that have been displaced • The nutrient-rich water support ample biodiversity, such are very productive systems

23. What happens with El Niño? • When El Niño occurs, the trade winds are suppressed and the water that accumulates in the western portion of the Pacific Ocean migrates westward • The nutrient-rich upwellings subside, reducing the food and nutrients available from the upwellings, removing the food supply for many marine organisms

24. El Niño: A Summary