How does the ozone layer get depleted and what was done?
Answer: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) break down stratospheric ozone; the Montreal Protocol (1987) phased them out.
Explanation
Stratospheric ozone is good; ground-level ozone is a pollutant.
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Environmental Science: Ecosystems, Pollution, and Energy (High School)
PollutionPolicyWasteEnergyClimateEcosystemsResourcesPopulation
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Pollution
What are the main greenhouse gases?
Answer: Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and fluorinated gases.
Explanation
Methane traps far more heat per molecule than CO2 but is shorter-lived.
What is bioaccumulation vs biomagnification?
Answer: Bioaccumulation: a toxin builds up in an organism over time. Biomagnification: concentration increases up the food chain.
Explanation
Mercury in tuna.
Point source vs nonpoint source pollution?
Answer: Point source comes from a single identifiable place (pipe, smokestack); nonpoint comes from diffuse sources (runoff).
Explanation
Nonpoint sources are harder to regulate.
What causes acid rain?
Answer: Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from burning fossil fuels react with water in the atmosphere.
Explanation
Damages forests, lakes, and buildings.
What are the main criteria air pollutants?
Answer: Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, ozone (ground level), and lead.
Explanation
Regulated under the US Clean Air Act.
Policy
What are major US environmental laws?
Answer: Clean Air Act (1970), Clean Water Act (1972), Endangered Species Act (1973), NEPA (1970), Superfund (CERCLA, 1980).
Explanation
The EPA was created in 1970.
Waste
What are the problems with landfills?
Answer: Leachate can contaminate groundwater, decomposition releases methane, and space runs out.
Explanation
Modern landfills use liners and gas capture.
What is the waste hierarchy?
Answer: Reduce, reuse, recycle, then recover energy, and landfill as a last resort.
Explanation
Reducing has the biggest impact.
Energy
What is the energy return on investment (EROI)?
Answer: Energy delivered divided by energy used to obtain it.
Explanation
Low EROI sources are less worthwhile.
What is hydropower's environmental cost?
Answer: Dams alter rivers, block fish migration, flood land, and can release methane from reservoirs.
Explanation
Still the largest renewable source worldwide.
Pros and cons of solar and wind power?
Answer: Pros: no emissions, falling costs, renewable. Cons: intermittent, need storage or backup, land use.
Explanation
Batteries and grid upgrades address intermittency.
How does nuclear power work and what are its trade-offs?
Answer: Fission of uranium heats water to drive turbines; low carbon but produces radioactive waste and carries accident risk.
Explanation
Chernobyl and Fukushima.
What are the main fossil fuels and their environmental impacts?
Answer: Coal (most CO2 and air pollution), oil (spills, CO2), natural gas (cleaner-burning but methane leaks).
Explanation
All are nonrenewable.
Climate
What is the Paris Agreement?
Answer: A 2015 international accord to limit warming to well below 2 °C, aiming for 1.5 °C, through national pledges.
Explanation
Nearly every country is a party.
What are mitigation and adaptation?
Answer: Mitigation reduces emissions or removes carbon; adaptation adjusts to impacts (sea walls, drought-resistant crops).
Explanation
Both are needed.
What is the evidence for human-caused climate change?
Answer: Rising CO2 matching fossil fuel use, warming temperatures, shrinking ice, sea level rise, and isotopic fingerprints of fossil carbon.
Explanation
The IPCC summarizes the scientific consensus.
Ecosystems
What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors?
Answer: Biotic factors are living (plants, animals, bacteria); abiotic are non-living (temperature, water, soil, sunlight).
Explanation
Both shape an ecosystem.
What is habitat fragmentation?
Answer: Breaking large habitats into smaller, isolated patches, which reduces species populations and genetic exchange.
Explanation
Wildlife corridors help reconnect patches.
What is an invasive species?
Answer: A non-native species that spreads and harms the ecosystem, economy, or health.
Explanation
Kudzu, zebra mussels, Burmese pythons in Florida.
What are ecosystem services?
Answer: Benefits nature provides: provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate, pollination), supporting (nutrient cycling), cultural (recreation).
Explanation
Often undervalued economically.
What is biodiversity and why does it matter?
Answer: The variety of life in an area (genetic, species, ecosystem); it increases resilience and provides ecosystem services.
Explanation
Hotspots hold many endemic species.
Resources
Why is deforestation a major problem?
Answer: It releases stored carbon, destroys habitat, causes soil erosion, and disrupts the water cycle.
Explanation
Tropical forests hold a large share of biodiversity.
What is an aquifer and what threatens it?
Answer: An underground layer of water-bearing rock; threatened by over-pumping and contamination.
Explanation
The Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted.
What causes soil erosion and how is it prevented?
Answer: Removal of vegetation, overgrazing, and tilling; prevented by contour plowing, terracing, cover crops, and no-till farming.
Explanation
The Dust Bowl was a severe example.
What is the tragedy of the commons?
Answer: Shared resources are overused because individuals benefit from use while costs are spread across everyone.
Explanation
Overfishing, overgrazing.
Renewable vs nonrenewable resources?
Answer: Renewable resources regenerate naturally (solar, wind, timber); nonrenewable are finite (fossil fuels, minerals).
Explanation
Renewables can be depleted if used faster than they regenerate.
Population
What is an ecological footprint?
Answer: The land and water area needed to supply a person's or population's resources and absorb its waste.
Explanation
Humanity currently uses about 1.7 Earths' worth.
What is the IPAT equation?
Answer: Impact = Population × Affluence × Technology.
Explanation
Technology can increase or decrease impact.
What is carrying capacity?
Answer: The maximum population an environment can sustain indefinitely given its resources.
Explanation
Overshoot leads to die-back.
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