18.3

1. 18.3 By: Emily Geisheimer 10th period

2. Preserving the Ecosystem • Environmental problems affect everybody in the world. • Advances are being made to reduce air and water pollution. • Secondary sewage treatment facilities remove chemicals and bacteria from sewage.

3. Preserving the Ecosystem • Pollutants produced by coal have been reduced by 30% in ten years. • Special car lanes promote car pooling which reduces the pollution from a car. It also reduces gas costs.

4. Environmental Laws • Cars are required to have catalytic converters which reduces emissions. • Clean Air Act- requires scrubbers on smokestacks and power plants. • Scrubbers are more expensive. The result is that the consumer pays more to reduce pollution in the environment. • Taxes can reduce pollution by reflecting the actual cost of pollution. Ex: Gas taxes

5. 5 Steps to Solving Environmental Problems • Assessment- Gather information, collect data, analyze data, make a model. • Risk Analysis- Predict the consequences and check any negative effects. • Public Education- present alternative actions and explain the probable costs and results of different choices.

6. 5 Steps to Solving Environmental Problems • Political Action- Elected officials select their approach and individuals can vote by speaking to their elected officials. • Follow-Through- results of an action should be watched to see if the problem is being solved.

7. Nashua River • Stoddart moved to a town along a river and was appalled at the pollution in the river. Stoddart organized the Nashua River Cleanup Committee. • Steps the Committee took- presented dirty river water to politicians, spoke at town meetings, gathered people to help finance a waste treatment plant, and cleaned up garbage from the bank of the river. • Resulted in the Massachusetts Clean Water Act which banned industrial dumping into the river.

8. Lake Washington • Sewage plants would dump their industrial waste into the lake. • The waste was thought to be harmless and said to be safe enough to drink. • 20 million gallons were dumped in the lake each day.

9. Lake Washington • Professor Edmondson heard that his research students had been finding blue-green algae growing in the lake. • Algae needed a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus to grow. • The Lake usually lacked them which made it surprising. • The two nutrients in the lake had been fertilizing the algae.

10. Lake Washington • Bacteria that decomposed dead algae would soon take all the oxygen out of the lake. • Taxes helped clean up the lake. • After 5 years, the lake was healthy and safe again.

11. Your Help with Environmental Problems • Solving environmental problems will take everyone’s help. • An easy way to contribute is to know what is going on. • Ride a bike or walk instead of taking a car. • Take public transportation. • Recycle. • Install low-flow shower heads. This reduces shower water by 50%.

12. Multiple Choice • What was in lake Washington? a.) blue-green algae b.) industrial waste c.) nitrogen and phosphorus d.) all of the above • Which one is an environmental law? a.) Clean Air Act b.) Biking Law of 1967 c.) car pooling d.) Waste Dumping Act of 1834 • What is an effect of car pool lanes? a.) they save gas an pollute less b.) the pollute the environment more than 2 cars c.) it saves time d.) it’s dangerous