SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION

VIRTUAL LEARNING MODULE

UNIT CODE: BJL 4202

UNIT TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM

S KAHURA NDUNG’U
(BA,PGDE, MA,PhD(ongoing)
Cell Phone: 0722314723
Email: Kahura500@yahoo.com or ndungukahura@gmail.com

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BJL 4202: ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
Contact hours: 42
Pre-requisites: Language skills in Journalism, English for specific purposes
Purpose
The course seeks to orientate and equip students on the importance of informing the public on
environmental matters. Special interest in environmental advocacy, conservation, writing and reporting
environmental issues.
Expected Learning Outcomes of the Course
By the end of the course unit the learners should be able to:-
a) Appreciate the relevance of environmental journalism
b) Demonstrate the need for environmental conservation as journalists by informing and
advocating
c) Write eloquent reports/articles on assigned topics and activities in environmental issues.
Course Outline
WEEK TOPIC SUB TOPIC

Week 1 Introduction  Fundamentals of environmental

journalism

Week 2 Ethical Issues for  Code of Conduct for Environmental

Environmental Journalism Journalists

 Challenges of Environmental Journalism

Week 3 Air Pollution  Causes of Air Pollution

 Issues of Global Concern

Week 4 Effects of Air Pollution  Effects on health, economy, agriculture,

and environment.

Week 5 CAT 1  To cover some of the areas covered.

Week 6 Food Irradiation  What is food irradiation?

 Arguments for and against Irradiation

Week 7 Genetically Modified Foods  Advantages of GM foods

 Criticisms Against GM Foods

Week 8 Waste Management  Issues of concern in Waste

Management

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  Methods of Waste Disposal.

Week 9 Principles of Waste  Principles of Waste Management

Management
 Groundwater contamination, causes and
CAT 2 prevention

Week 10&11 Human Population and the  Population growth, overpopulation,

Environment causes and effects

Week 12 Ozone Layer Depletion  Causes and effects, global warming

Week 13&14 EXAMS

Teaching /  Lectures and tutorials; group discussion; demonstration; Individual

Learning assignment; Case studies
Methodologies:
Instructional  Projector; test books; design catalogues; computer laboratory; design
Materials and software; simulators
Equipment:
Course  Examination - 70%; Continuous Assessment Test (CATS) - 20%;
Assessment Assignments - 10%; Total - 100%
REFERENCE  Hanson, Anders, ed. (1993) The Mass Media and Environmental Issues.
BOOKS London and New York: Leicester University Press,
 Meisner, Mark. 2005"What is Environmental Communication?" The
Environmental Communication Network.. State University of New York
College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Accessed 11 Oct. 2005.
 West, Bernadette M., et al (2003). The Reporter’s Environmental
Handbook. 3rd ed. New Brunswick and London: Rutgers University Press,

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CHAPTER ONE: FUNDAMENTALS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what Environmental Journalism is.

 Give a brief history of Environmental Journalism.
 Explain the different genres of Environmental Journalism.
 Discuss what advocacy debate and environmental interpretation is about.

What is environmental journalism?

Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition

of information regarding current events, trends, issues and people that are associated with the
non-human world with which humans interact. To be an environmental journalist, one must
have an understanding of scientific language and practice, knowledge of historical
environmental events, the ability to keep abreast of environmental policy decisions and the
work of environmental organizations, a general understanding of current environmental
concerns, and the ability to communicate all of that information to the public in such a way that
it can be easily understood, despite its complexity.

History

While the practice of nature writing has a rich history that dates back at least as far as the
exploration narratives of Christopher Columbus, and follows tradition up through prominent
nature writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in the late 19th century,
John Burroughs and John Muir in the early 20th century, and Aldo Leopold in the 1940s, the
field of environmental journalism did not begin to take shape until the 1960s and 1970s.

The growth of environmental journalism as a profession roughly parallels that of the

environmental movement, which became a mainstream cultural movement with the
publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 and was further legitimized by the passage
of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Grassroots environmental organizations made a booming
appearance on the political scene in the 1960s and 1970s, raising public awareness of what
many considered to be the “environmental crisis”, and working to influence environmental
policy decisions. The mass media has followed and generated public interest on environmental
issues ever since.

The field of environmental journalism was further legitimized by the creation of the Society of
Environmental Journalists in 1990, whose mission “is to advance public understanding of

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environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental
reporting.” Today, academic programs are offered at a number of institutions to train budding
journalists in the rigors, complexity and sheer breadth of environmental journalism.

Advocacy debate

There exists a minor rift in the community of environmental journalists. Some, including those
in the Society of Environmental Journalists, believe in objectively reporting environmental
news, while others, like Michael Frome, a prominent figure in the field, believe that journalists
should only enter the environmental side of the field if saving the planet is a personal passion,
and that environmental journalists should not shy away from environmental advocacy, though
not at the expense of clearly relating facts and opinions on all sides of an issue. This debate is
not likely to be settled soon, but with changes in the field of journalism filtering up from new
media being used by the general public to produce news, it seems likely that the field of
environmental journalism will lend itself more and more toward reporting points of view akin
to environmental advocacy.

Genres

Environmental communication is all of the forms of communication that are engaged with the
social debate about environmental issues and problems.

Also within the scope of environmental communication are the genres of nature writing,
science writing, environmental literature, environmental interpretation and environmental
advocacy. While there is a great deal of overlap among the various genres within environmental
communication, they are each deserving of their own definition.

Nature writing

Nature writing is the genre with the longest history in environmental communication. The
literature of nature has three main dimensions to it: natural history information, personal
responses to nature, and philosophical interpretation of nature. In the natural history essay, the
main burden of the writing is to convey pointed instruction in the facts of nature. In essays of
experience, the author’s firsthand contact with nature is the frame for the writing. In the
philosophical interpretation of nature, the content is similar to that of the natural history and
personal experience essays. The genre of nature writing also includes animal narratives, garden
essays, farming essays, ecofeminist works, writing on environmental justice, and works
advocating environmental preservation, sustainability and biological diversity. Environmental
journalism pulls from the tradition and scope of nature writing.

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Science writing

Science writing is writing that focuses specifically on topics of scientific study, generally
translating jargon that is difficult for those outside a particular scientific field into language that
is easily digestible. This genre can be narrative or informative. Not all science writing falls within
the bounds of environmental communication, only science writing that takes on topics relevant
to the environment. Environmental journalism also pulls from the tradition and scope of
science writing.

Environmental interpretation

Environmental interpretation is a particular format for the communication of relevant

information. It “involves translating the technical language of a natural science or related field
into terms and ideas that people who aren’t scientists can readily understand. And it involves
doing it in a way that’s entertaining and interesting to people. Environmental interpretation is
pleasurable (to engage an audience in the topic and inspire them to learn more about it),
relevant (meaningful and personal to the audience so that they have an intrinsic reason to learn
more about the topic), organized (easy to follow and structured so that main points are likely to
be remembered) and thematic (the information is related to a specific, repetitious message).
While environmental journalism is not derived from environmental interpretation, it can
employ interpretive techniques to explain difficult concepts to its audience.

Environmental literature

Environmental literature is writing that comments intelligently on environmental themes,

particularly as applied to the relationships between man, society and the environment. Most
nature writing and some science writing falls within the scope of environmental literature.
Often, environmental literature is understood to espouse care and concern for the
environment, thus advocating a more thoughtful and ecologically sensitive relationship of man
to nature. Environmental journalism is partially derived from environmental literature

Environmental advocacy

Environmental advocacy is presenting information on nature and environmental issues that is

decidedly opinionated and encourages its audience to adopt more environmentally sensitive
attitudes, often more biocentric worldviews. Environmental advocacy can be present in any of
the aforementioned genres of environmental communication.

Review Questions

1. What is environmental journalism?

2. Discuss the place of environmental journalism in the society.

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 3. Explain the main genres of environmental journalism and their relevance.
4. What is environmental interpretation and advocacy?

CHAPTER TWO: ETHICS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain eight principles that constitute the code of ethics for environmental journalists.
 Discuss the main challenges that environmental journalists face.
 Discuss ways in which environmental journalists can cope with the challenges.

Code of Conduct for Environmental Journalists

Environmental journalists from more than 40 nations adopted an international ethics code at
the sixth world conference of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists
(IFEJ) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The following are the eight principles that constitute the code of ethics agreed upon for
environmental journalists:

1. The right to a clean environment and sustainable development is fundamental and closely
connected to the right to life, good health and well being. Environmental journalists should
inform the public about threats to the environment, whether it is on the local, regional,
national or global level.

2. Often, the media is the only source of information the public has about the environment.
The journalist’s duty is to heighten public awareness about environmental issues.
Environmental journalists should strive to report a variety of views about these issues.

3. By informing the public, the journalist plays a vital role in enabling people to take actions
to protect the environment. The journalist’s duty is not only to alert people about threats to
the environment but also to follow up on such threats with additional reporting. Journalists
should also write about possible solutions to environmental problems.

4. Journalists should not be influenced on environmental issues by vested interests, whether

from political, governmental or from non-governmental organizations. Journalists ought to
keep a distance from such interests and not become an ally of them. Journalists should
remain independent and report all sides of any environmental controversy.

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 5. Journalists should cite the sources of their information and avoid alarmist, speculative and
biased reporting. Journalists should cross-check the authenticity and accuracy of information
provided by all sources.

6. Environmental journalists should foster equity in gaining access to environmental

information and should help journalists in developing nations gain access to the same
information. Electronic retrieval of data via the Internet is a particularly useful and
egalitarian tool.

7. Journalists should respect the right to privacy of individuals who have been affected by
environmental catastrophes and natural disasters.

8. Environmental journalists should correct information that later proves to be incorrect or

biased.

Challenges that environmental journalists face

Environmental journalists are expected to be advocates for change to improve the quality of the
planet. They should educate people about the serious state of the environment and use the power
of the news media to bring about changes to improve the quality of the air, water, wildlife and
natural resources.

Trying to convince people about the importance of protecting the environment sometimes falls
on deaf ears around the world. Many people are simply not interested; society tends to assume
that things like land, trees, plants, animals, and water resources - the resources they depend upon
for their livelihoods - will always be there. Overuse or abuse of resources is not, most of the
times, an important issue. But catching audiences’ attention is not the only hard thing
environmental journalists have to face. Writing about the environment as a core issue for society
sets numerous challenges for journalists, such as:
1. Lack of environmental and scientific training. Reporters without specialized training
might ignore complicated environmental stories altogether or, if they attempt them, the
results might be less than satisfactory for readers.
2. Limited access to governmental data on environmental conservation makes it difficult for
environmental journalists to report accurately because they do not have ay other reliable
source of information on environmental conservation efforts.
3. The existence of forest ‘mafias’ threatens their professional activities as well as their
private lives. In some parts of the world poaching and logging are such a lucrative
business that powerful cartels compromise the security apparatus of the countries. This
makes difficult for journalists to cover such issues adequately.
4. Wildlife journalists have to balance the incongruity that comes as a produce of the short
attention span that is affecting news consumers in a society that unfolds around
consumerism combined with the fact that environmental stories are frequently complex
and difficult to report.
5. Citizens’ experiences of many environmental issues are mediated, in large part, by the
interests of governmental agencies as well as the private sector (big corporations). These

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 two spheres continually influence the media's presentation of environmental issues
putting at stake public perceptions.
6. In recent years, it seems as though media interest in the environment has taken a backseat
to other issues impacting the international scenario. Wildlife journalists have to deal with
the priority of other subjects such as terrorism, poverty, economy, politics, and
international relations.
7. Journalists have to face the lack of training, resources or support from news editorials or
sponsors. Environmental journalism is such a technical area that it requires specialized
training, which most journalists lack. Very few media companies do not have training
policies for their journalists in this area.

Review Questions

1. Explain the principles that constitute the code of conduct for environmental journalists.
2. Discuss the various challenges that environmental journalists face in the course of their
duties.
3. What steps in your opinion should be taken to make the work of environmental
journalists easy?

CHAPTER THREE: AIR POLLUTION AND ITS CAUSES

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what air pollution is

 Outline the major air pollutants.
 Discuss the man-made and natural sources of air pollution.
 Explain what Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) entails.

What is air pollution?

Air pollution is the introduction of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials
into the Earth's atmosphere, possibly causing disease, death to humans, damage to other living
organisms such as food crops, or the natural or built environment.

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The atmosphere is a complex natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet
Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has been recognized as a threat to
human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems.

Indoor air pollution and urban air quality are listed as two of the world’s worst toxic pollution
problems in the 2008 Blacksmith Institute World's Worst Polluted Places report. According to
the 2014 WHO report, air pollution in 2012 caused the deaths of around 7 million people
worldwide.

Pollutants

An air pollutant is a substance in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the
ecosystem. The substance can be solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. It can be of natural
origin or man-made. Pollutants are classified as primary or secondary. Primary pollutants are
usually produced from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption. Other examples include
carbon monoxide gas from motor vehicle exhaust, or the sulfur dioxide released from factories.
Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. Rather, they form in the air when primary
pollutants react or interact. Ground level ozone is a prominent example of a secondary pollutant.
Some pollutants may be both primary and secondary: they are both emitted directly and formed
from other primary pollutants.

Major primary pollutants produced by human activities include:

i) Sulphur oxides (SOx) are produced by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Coal
and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, and their combustion generates sulfur
dioxide. This is one of the causes for concern over the environmental impact of the use of
these fuels as power sources.
ii) Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are expelled from high temperature combustion, and are also
produced during thunderstorms by electric discharge. They can be seen as a brown haze
dome above or a plume downwind of cities. One of the most prominent air pollutants,
this reddish-brown toxic gas has a characteristic sharp, biting odour.
iii) Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless, toxic yet non-irritating gas. It is a
product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Vehicular
exhaust is a major source of carbon monoxide.
iv) Volatile organic compounds - VOCs are a well-known outdoor air pollutant. They are
significant greenhouse gases because of their role in creating ozone and prolonging the
life of methane in the atmosphere may lead to leukemia with prolonged exposure.
v) Particulates are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas. Some particulates
occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living
vegetation, and sea spray and activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles,
power plants and various industrial processes.
vi) Persistent free radicals connected to airborne fine particles are linked to cardiopulmonary
disease.
vii) Toxic metals, such as lead and mercury, especially their compounds.
viii) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - harmful to the ozone layer; emitted from gases which are
released from air conditioners, refrigerators, aerosol sprays, etc. CFC's on being released

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 into the air rises to stratosphere. Here they come in contact with other gases and damage
the ozone layer. This allows harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth's surface. This can
lead to skin cancer, disease to eye and can even cause damage to plants.
ix) Ammonia (NH3) - emitted from agricultural processes. It is normally encountered as a
gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the
nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffs and
fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or indirectly, is also a building block for the
synthesis of many pharmaceuticals. Although in wide use, ammonia is both caustic and
hazardous.
x) Odours — such as from garbage, sewage, and industrial processes
xi) Radioactive pollutants - produced by nuclear explosions, nuclear events, war explosives,
and natural processes such as the radioactive decay of radon.

Secondary pollutants include:

 Particulates created from gaseous primary pollutants and compounds in photochemical

smog. Smog is a kind of air pollution. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal
burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide. Modern smog does
not usually come from coal but from vehicular and industrial emissions that are acted on
in the atmosphere by ultraviolet light from the sun to form secondary pollutants that also
combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.
 Ground level ozone (O3) is an important constituent of certain regions of the stratosphere
commonly known as the Ozone layer. Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it
drive many of the chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night.
At abnormally high concentrations brought about by human activities (largely the
combustion of fossil fuel), it is a pollutant, and a constituent of smog.

Anthropogenic (man-made) sources:

These are mostly related to the burning of multiple types of fuel.

 Stationary sources include smoke stacks of power plants, manufacturing facilities

(factories) and waste incinerators, as well as furnaces and other types of fuel-burning
heating devices. In developing and poor countries, traditional biomass burning is the
major source of air pollutants; traditional biomass includes wood, crop waste and dung.
 Mobile sources include motor vehicles, marine vessels, and aircraft.
 Controlled burn practices in agriculture and forest management. Controlled or
prescribed burning is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie
restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and
grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for foresters. Controlled burning
stimulates the germination of some desirable forest trees, thus renewing the forest.
 Fumes from paint, hair spray, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents
 Waste deposition in landfills, which generate methane. Methane is highly flammable
and may form explosive mixtures with air. Methane is also an asphyxiate and may
displace oxygen in an enclosed space. Asphyxia or suffocation may result if the oxygen
concentration is reduced to below 19.5% by displacement.

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  Military resources, such as nuclear weapons, toxic gases, germ warfare and rocketry

Natural sources:

 Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with few or no vegetation
 Methane, emitted by the digestion of food by animals, for example cattle
 Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust. Radon is a colorless, odorless,
naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium. It is
considered to be a health hazard. Radon gas from natural sources can accumulate in
buildings, especially in confined areas such as the basement and it is the second most
frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking.
 Smoke and carbon monoxide from wildfires
 Vegetation, in some regions, emits environmentally significant amounts of VOCs on
warmer days. These VOCs react with primary anthropogenic pollutants—specifically,
NOx, SO2, and anthropogenic organic carbon compounds — to produce a seasonal haze
of secondary pollutants.
 Volcanic activity, which produces sulfur, chlorine, and ash particulates

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

A lack of ventilation indoors concentrates air pollution at home. Radon (Rn) gas is exuded from
the Earth in certain locations and trapped inside houses. Building materials including carpeting
and plywood emit formaldehyde (H2CO) gas. Paint and solvents give off volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) as they dry. Lead paint can degenerate into dust and be inhaled. Intentional
air pollution is introduced with the use of air fresheners, incense, and other scented items.
Controlled wood fires in stoves and fireplaces can add significant amounts of smoke particulates
into the air, inside and out. Indoor pollution fatalities may be caused by using pesticides and
other chemical sprays indoors without proper ventilation.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fatalities are often caused by faulty vents and chimneys,
or by the burning of charcoal indoors. Chronic carbon monoxide poisoning can result even from
poorly-adjusted pilot lights. Traps are built into all domestic plumbing to keep sewer gas and
hydrogen sulfide, out of interiors. Clothing emits tetrachloroethylene, or other dry cleaning
fluids, for days after dry cleaning.

Though its use has now been banned in many countries, the extensive use of asbestos in
industrial and domestic environments in the past has left a potentially very dangerous material in
many localities. Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory medical condition affecting the tissue of
the lungs. It occurs after long-term, heavy exposure to asbestos from asbestos-containing
materials in structures. Sufferers have severe dyspnea (shortness of breath) and are at an
increased risk regarding several different types of lung cancer.

Biological sources of air pollution are also found indoors, as gases and airborne particulates. Pets
produce dander, people produce dust from minute skin flakes and decomposed hair, dust mites in
bedding, carpeting and furniture produce enzymes and micrometer-sized fecal droppings,
inhabitants emit methane, mold forms on walls and generates mycotoxins and spores, air

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conditioning systems can incubate Legionnaires' disease and mold, and houseplants, soil and
surrounding gardens can produce pollen, dust, and mold. Indoors, the lack of air circulation
allows these airborne pollutants to accumulate more than they would otherwise occur in nature.

Review Questions

1. What is air pollution?

2. Discuss the various types and causes of air pollution.
3. What are the anthropogenic and natural sources of air pollution?

CHAPTER 4: EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain various health effects of air pollution.

 Discuss the main efforts that are being made to tackle the problem
 Explain the various attempts that are being made to regulate air pollution in the world.
 Discuss other effects of air pollution in the society.

Health Effects

Air pollution is a significant risk factor for a number of health conditions including respiratory
infections, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. These effects can result in increased medication
use, more hospital admissions and premature death. The human health effects of poor air quality
are far reaching, but principally affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular
system. Individual reactions to air pollutants depend on the type of pollutant a person is exposed
to, the degree of exposure, and the individual's health status and genetics. The most common
sources of air pollution include particulates, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.
Children aged less than five years that live in developing countries are the most vulnerable
population in terms of total deaths attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution.

Mortality

It is estimated that some 7 million premature deaths may be attributed to air pollution. India has
the highest death rate due to air pollution. India also has more deaths from asthma than any other
nation according to the World Health Organization. In December 2013 air pollution was
estimated to kill 500,000 people in China each year. There is a correlation between pneumonia-
related deaths and air pollution from motor vehicles.

Air pollution is estimated to reduce life expectancy by almost nine months across the European
Union. Causes of deaths include strokes, heart disease, COPD, lung cancer, and lung infections.

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Cardiovascular disease

Air pollution is also emerging as a risk factor for stroke, particularly in developing countries
where pollutant levels are highest. A 2007 study found that in women, air pollution is associated
with ischemic stroke. Associations are believed to be causal and effects may be mediated by
vasoconstriction, low-grade inflammation or autonomic nervous system imbalance or other
mechanisms.

Cystic fibrosis

Patients near and around particulates air pollution have an increased risk of pulmonary
exacerbations and decrease in lung function. As cystic fibrosis patients already suffer from
decreased lung function, everyday pollutants such as smoke, emissions from automobiles,
tobacco smoke and improper use of indoor heating devices could further compromise lung
function.

Lung disease

Research has demonstrated increased risk of developing asthma from increased exposure to
traffic-related air pollution. Additionally, air pollution has been associated with increased
hospitalization and mortality from asthma.

It is believed that much like cystic fibrosis, by living in a more urban environment serious health
hazards become more apparent. Studies have shown that in urban areas patients suffer mucus
hyper-secretion, lower levels of lung function, and more self-diagnosis of chronic bronchitis and
emphysema.

Effects on the central nervous system

In a June 2014 study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, it
was discovered that air pollution affected short-term memory, learning ability, and impulsivity.
Inflammation had damaged those brain cells and prevented that region of the brain from
developing, and the ventricles simply expanded to fill the space.

Other General Effects of Air Pollution

The Environment

Toxic air pollutants and the chemicals that form acid and ground-level ozone can damage trees,
crops, wildlife, lakes and other bodies of water. They can also harm fish and other aquatic life.

The Economy

The health, economic and environmental impacts are significant. Each day, air pollution causes
thousands of illnesses leading to lost days at work and school. Air pollution also reduces
agricultural crop and commercial forest yields by millions of dollars each year.

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Air pollution reduction efforts

There are various air pollution control technologies and land-use planning strategies available to
reduce air pollution. At its most basic level, land-use planning is likely to involve zoning and
transport infrastructure planning. In most developed countries, land-use planning is an important
part of social policy, ensuring that land is used efficiently for the benefit of the wider economy
and population, as well as to protect the environment.

Efforts to reduce pollution from mobile sources includes primary regulation (many developing
countries have permissive regulations) expanding regulation to new sources (such as cruise and
transport ships, farm equipment, and small gas-powered equipment such as string trimmers,
chainsaws, and snowmobiles), increased fuel efficiency (such as through the use of hybrid
vehicles), conversion to cleaner fuels (such as Bioethanol, Biodiesel, or conversion to electric
vehicles).

Titanium dioxide has been researched for its ability to reduce air pollution. Ultraviolet light will
release free electrons from material, thereby creating free radicals, which break up VOCs and
NOx gases. One form is super hydrophilic.

In 2014, Prof. Tony Ryan and Prof. Simon Armitage of University of Sheffield prepared a 10
meter by 20 meter-sized poster coated with microscopic, pollution-eating nanoparticles of
titanium dioxide. Placed on a building, this giant poster can absorb the toxic emission from
around 20 cars each day.

Air pollutants and global effects

While most pollution can be said to be of "local" - or national - origin, requiring local solutions,
air pollution can also be a trans-boundary problem requiring agreement by governments world-
wide or regionally on measures to deal with it. Three issues, all of which have implications for
the health and well-being of people in every country, have resulted in such cooperation.

Also described as global warming or the greenhouse effect, most scientists now agree that the
climate is warming up - the expert Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has
predicted a possible rise in the average global temperature of 1 degree Celsius by 2025 and 3
degrees Celsius before the end of the 21st century.

As well as nitrogen and oxygen, the atmosphere also contains small amounts of water vapour,
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone; these are sometimes referred to as
"greenhouse gases" as they keep the earth's surface about 30 degrees C warmer than it would
otherwise be.

In the last few hundred years the rising human population and industrialization have increased
the levels of these gases in the atmosphere. Water vapour is an important greenhouse gas, but its
concentration is determined by the weather which is beyond our control. Carbon dioxide is
increasing due to the burning of coal, gas and oil (fossil fuels) and the destruction of forests.
Methane (CH4) is generated through modern agricultural practices ranging from rice growing to

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livestock farming, as well as emissions from coal mining, natural gas production and
distribution, refuse and sewage disposal.

There are still uncertainties about the effects on the climate of increasing concentrations of
greenhouse gases and the extent and rate at which the climate is changing.

Climate change is likely to affect human health through the shifts in the distribution of diseases,
such as malaria and respiratory disorders. Local authorities can also help to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases by:

 Reducing fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide through energy conservation and energy
efficiency programmes.
 Stopping the destruction of forests; planting trees to reabsorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere.
 Encouraging the use of timber from sustainable managed sources for building, rather than
energy intensive materials such as steel, bricks and cement.
 Encouraging the reduction in use, and where possible elimination, of products containing
CFCs.
 Reducing transport emissions.

Concern over depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer - which helps to filter out some of the
sun's harmful rays - was first raised in the 1970s. Exposure to these rays (ultraviolet radiation)
increases the risk of skin cancer and eye cataracts, can depress the human immune system, and
harm aquatic systems and crops. Scientists now reckon that over the last ten years or so average
global ozone concentrations have decreased by 3%.

Current efforts to reduce production and use of chemicals affecting the ozone layer will however
not have an immediate effect in restoring the ozone layer and damage is expected to go on
getting worse.

Many manufacturers now use alternatives to CFCs and wherever possible local authorities
should consider using products that do not contain ozone depleting chemicals. Consumers should
also be encouraged to switch to CFC-free products. Local authorities should encourage
consumers to dispose of their old unit safely, perhaps by having it removed by the manufacturer
or retailer as CFCs can be recycled.

The term "acid rain" is used to mean rain made more acidic by acid gas pollution. A more
accurate term is acid deposition. Wet deposition occurs when pollutants are carried in rain,
snow, mist and low cloud.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Scandinavian rivers and lakes and their aquatic life began to
show signs of being adversely affected by pollution, and in the late 1970s trees in Central
European forests showed signs of being similarly affected. Investigations suggested the causes
to be acidification of the ground and the water from atmospheric depositions of sulphur dioxide

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and nitrogen oxides - from mainly industrial sources - carried in the air over long distances.

The Convention on the Long Range Transport of Air Pollution was adopted in 1979. It covers
Europe and North America and calls on countries to "endeavour to limit and, as far as possible,
gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long range trans-boundary air pollution".
The protocols under the Convention aim to reduce emissions of pollutants which can result in
acid deposition and ground level ozone formation.

Since most acid pollution comes from burning fossil fuels, local authorities can help to reduce
national emissions by reducing the overall demand for energy, by encouraging energy
conservation and by improving the efficiency of electricity generation.

Review Questions

1. Discuss the various health effects of air pollution on humans.

2. Explain other effects of air pollution in our lives.
3. What are the global effects of air pollution?
4. Discuss the efforts that have been made to reduce the effects of air pollution globally.

CHAPTER 5: FOOD IRRADIATION

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what food irradiation is.

 Discuss the benefits of food irradiation.
 Discuss the impact of food irradiation in the world.

What is Food Irradiation?

Food irradiation is the process of exposing foodstuffs to a source of energy capable of stripping
electrons from individual atoms in the targeted material (ionizing radiation). The radiation can be
emitted by a radioactive substance or generated electrically.

This treatment is used to preserve food, reduce the risk of food borne illness, prevent the spread
of invasive pests, delay or eliminate sprouting or ripening, increase juice yield, and improve re-
hydration. It is permitted by over 50 countries, with 500,000 metric tons of foodstuffs annually
processed worldwide.

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Food irradiation is criticized because irradiation can initiate chemical changes which are
different from those that occur when heating food. Some people worry that there is the potential
of danger from these substances.

The regulations that dictate how food is to be irradiated, as well as the food allowed to be
irradiated, vary from country to country. In Austria, Germany, and many other countries of the
European Union only dried herbs, spices, and seasonings can be processed with irradiation and
only at a specific dose, while in Brazil all foods are allowed at any dose.

Irradiation is also used for non-food applications, such as medical devices, plastics, tubes for gas
pipelines, hoses for floor heating, shrink-foils for food packaging, automobile parts, wires and
cables, and even gemstones.

Uses

Irradiation is used to reduce the pathogens in foods. Depending on the dose, some or all of the
microorganisms, bacteria and viruses present are destroyed, slowed down, or rendered incapable
of reproduction. This reduces or eliminates the risk of food borne illnesses. Some foods are
irradiated at sufficient doses to ensure that the product is sterilized and does not add any spoilage
into the final product.

Irradiation is used to delay the ripening of fruits and the sprouting of vegetables by slowing
down the enzymatic action in foods.

By halting or slowing down spoilage and slowing down the ripening of food, irradiation prolongs
the shelf life of goods. If this food was processed by irradiation, spoilage would cease and
ripening would slow down, yet the irradiation would not destroy the toxins or repair the texture,
color, or taste of the food.

Insect pests are sterilized using irradiation at relatively low doses of irradiation. This stops the
spread of foreign invasive species across national boundaries, and allows foods to pass quickly
through quarantine and avoid spoilage.

Public perception and impact

Irradiation has been approved by the FDA for over 50 years, but the only major growth areas for
the commercial sale of irradiated foods for human consumption are fruits and vegetables that are
irradiated to kill insects for the purpose of quarantine. Because consumer demand for irradiated
food is low, reducing the spoilage between manufacture and consumer purchase and reducing the
risk of food born illness is currently not sufficient incentive for most manufactures to supplement
their process with irradiation.

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 It is widely believed that consumer perception of foods treated with irradiation is more negative
than those processed by other means, although some industry studies indicate the number of
consumers concerned about the safety of irradiated food has decreased in the last 10 years to
levels comparable to those of people concerned about food additives and preservatives.

Some common concerns about food irradiation include the impact of irradiation on food
chemistry, as well as the indirect effects of irradiation becoming a prevalent in the food handling
process. Irradiation does not make food radioactive, and the food is shown to be safe, but it does
cause chemical reactions that alter the food and therefore alters the chemical makeup, nutritional
content, and the sensory qualities of the food. Some of the potential secondary impacts of
irradiation are due to the reduction of food quality, the loss of bacteria, and the irradiation
process. Because of these concerns and the increased cost of irritated foods, there is not a
widespread public demand for the irradiation of foods for human consumption.

Food quality

The changes in quality and nutrition vary greatly from food to food. The changes in the flavor of
fatty foods like meats, nuts and oils are sometimes noticeable, while the changes in lean products
like fruits and vegetables are less so. For some properly treated fruits and vegetables irradiation
is seen by consumers to improve the sensory qualities of the product, when compared to
untreated fruits and vegetables.

Indirect effects/cumulative impacts of irradiation

Many of the concerns and benefits of irradiation are related to what would occur if food
irradiation was a common process. When food is irradiated some nutrition is lost. Therefore, if
the majority of food was irradiated at high levels to decrease its nutritional content significantly,
there could be an increase in nutritional deficiencies due to a diet composed entirely of irradiated
foods.

Multiple studies prove that an increased rate of pathogen growth may occur when irradiated food
is cross-contaminated with a pathogen, as the competing spoilage organisms are no longer
present. This would seem to contradict the assertion there would be a reduction of the prevalence
of food born illnesses, but this impact would be outweighed by the decrease illnesses due to a
non cross contaminated source, and the decrease in the possibility of cross contamination.

The ability to remove bacterial contamination through post processing by irradiation may reduce
the fear of mishandling food. Because of this, the introduction of more non bacteria based
contaminates could increase due to irradiation. Concerns that the pasteurization of milk would
lead to increased contamination of milk were prevalent when mandatory pasteurization was
introduced. These fears never materialized after adoption of this law. Therefore, it is unlikely for
irradiation to cause an increase of illness due to non bacteria based contamination.

If irradiation becomes a standard process there are concerns that irradiating food might create
dangerous or radiation tolerant pathogens. Repeatedly processing the same product with
irradiation has been shown to produce irradiation tolerant bacteria. Because of this some are

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worried that pathogens will develop resistance to irradiation the way that strains of bacteria have
developed resistance to antibiotics. Products that pass through irradiation plants are processed
once, and are not processed and reprocessed, much like pasteurization plants. Therefore,
irradiation does not encourage the growth of irradiation tolerant bacteria in the target species.

Review Questions

1. What is food irradiation?

2. Discuss the arguments advanced in support of food irradiation.
3. What are the various uses of food irradiation?
4. What are the negative impacts of food irradiation?

CHAPTER SIX: GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what genetically modified foods are.

 Discuss the arguments advanced for genetically modified foods
 Discuss the criticisms against genetically modified foods.
 Discuss the regulations governing the labeling of GM foods.

What are genetically-modified foods?

The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer
to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology
techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as
increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired
traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding
methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on
the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy.
For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that
gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as
well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant
organisms also can be used.

What are the advantages of GM foods?

The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years.
Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge
in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:

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i) Pest resistance: Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastating
financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use many
tons of chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated
with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from
excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the
environment. Growing GM foods such as B.t. corn can help eliminate the application of
chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market.
ii) Herbicide tolerance: For some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical
means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides (weed-
killer) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and expensive process that requires care so that the
herbicide doesn't harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to
be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by
reducing the amount of herbicides needed. For example, Monsanto has created a strain of
soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup ®6. A
farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of
multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste
run-off.
iii) Disease resistance: There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases.
Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these
diseases.
iv) Cold tolerance: Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from
cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze
gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified
seedlings.
v) Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance: As the world population grows and more land is
utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations
previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of
drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly
inhospitable places.
vii) Nutrition: Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples
rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain
adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically
engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated.
For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in third world
countries.
viii) Pharmaceuticals: Medicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes
require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries. Researchers are
working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes. These vaccines will be much easier
to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines.
ix) Phytoremediation: Not all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and groundwater pollution
continues to be a problem in all parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees have been
genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil.

Criticisms against GM foods

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Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations
and other scientists and government officials have all raised concerns about GM foods, and
criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the
government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. Most concerns about GM foods
fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns.

Environmental hazards

i) Unintended harm to other organisms: B.t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae
indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a B.t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests
and remain harmless to all other insects.
ii) Reduced effectiveness of pesticides: Just as some populations of mosquitoes developed
resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will
become resistant to B.t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own
pesticides.
iii) Gene transfer to non-target species: Another concern is that crop plants engineered for
herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide
resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These "superweeds" would then be herbicide
tolerant as well. Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops planted next to
GM crops.

There are several possible solutions to the three problems mentioned above. Genes are
exchanged between plants via pollen. Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive
introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce
pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene. Cross-
pollination would not occur, and if harmless insects such as monarch caterpillars were to eat
pollen from GM plants, the caterpillars would survive.

Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops. For example, non-
GM corn would be planted to surround a field of B.t. GM corn, and the non-GM corn would not
be harvested. Beneficial or harmless insects would have a refuge in the non-GM corn, and insect
pests could be allowed to destroy the non-GM corn and would not develop resistance to B.t.
pesticides. Gene transfer to weeds and other crops would not occur because the wind-blown
pollen would not travel beyond the buffer zone.

Human health risks

i)Allergenicity: Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to
peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a
new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a
gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected
allergic reactions. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of
harm to consumers with food allergies.
ii) Unknown effects on human health: There is a growing concern that introducing foreign
genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health. But with

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the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to
human health.

Economic concerns

Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech
companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Many new plant genetic
engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big
concern of agribusiness. Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant
varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not
be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It
is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture, more companies and non-profits will follow the lead of
the Rockefeller Foundation and offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations.

GM foods labeling compliance

Labeling of GM foods and food products is a contentious issue. On the whole, agribusiness
industries believe that labeling should be voluntary and influenced by the demands of the free
market. If consumers show preference for labeled foods over non-labeled foods, then industry
will have the incentive to regulate itself or risk alienating the customer. Consumer interest
groups, on the other hand, are demanding mandatory labeling. People have the right to know
what they are eating.

There are many questions that must be answered if labeling of GM foods becomes mandatory.
First, are consumers willing to absorb the cost of such an initiative? If the food production
industry is required to label GM foods, factories will need to construct two separate processing
streams and monitor the production lines accordingly. Farmers must be able to keep GM crops
and non-GM crops from mixing during planting, harvesting and shipping. Industry will certainly
pass these additional costs to consumers.

Secondly, what are the acceptable limits of GM contamination in non-GM products? The EC has
determined that 1% is an acceptable limit of cross-contamination, yet many consumer interest
groups argue that only 0% is acceptable. Some companies such as have pledged to avoid use of
GM foods in any of their products. But who is going to monitor these companies for compliance
and what is the penalty if they fail? Once again, the FDA does not have the resources to carry out
testing to ensure compliance.

What is the level of detectability of GM food cross-contamination? Scientists agree that current
technology is unable to detect minute quantities of contamination, so ensuring 0% contamination
using existing methodologies is not guaranteed. Yet researchers disagree on what level of
contamination really is detectable, especially in highly processed food products such as
vegetable oils or breakfast cereals where the vegetables used to make these products have been
pooled from many different sources. A 1% threshold may already be below current levels of
detectability.

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Finally, who is to be responsible for educating the public about GM food labels and how costly
will that education be? Food labels must be designed to clearly convey accurate information
about the product in simple language that everyone can understand. This may be the greatest
challenge faced be a new food labeling policy: how to educate and inform the public without
damaging the public trust and causing alarm or fear of GM food products.

In January 2000, an international trade agreement for labeling GM foods was established. More
than 130 countries, including the US, the world's largest producer of GM foods, signed the
agreement. The policy states that exporters must be required to label all GM foods and that
importing countries have the right to judge for themselves the potential risks and reject GM
foods, if they so choose. This new agreement may spur the U.S. government to resolve the
domestic food labeling dilemma more rapidly.

Conclusion

Genetically-modified foods have the potential to solve many of the world's hunger and
malnutrition problems, and to help protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and
reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. Yet there are many challenges ahead
for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and
food labeling. Many people feel that genetic engineering is the inevitable wave of the future and
that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However,
we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the
environment as a result of our enthusiasm for this powerful technology.

Review Questions

1. What are genetically modified foods?

2. What are the advantages of GM foods?
3. Discuss the criticisms against GM foods.
4. What does GM foods labeling compliance entail?

CHAPTER SEVEN: WASTE MANAGEMENT

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what waste management is.

 Discuss the various methods of waste disposal
 Discuss the benefits of the international waste movement.
 Discuss the challenges of waste management in developing countries.

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What is waste management?

It is the "generation, prevention, characterization, monitoring, treatment, handling, reuse and

residual disposition of solid wastes”. There are various types of solid waste including municipal
(residential, institutional, commercial), agricultural, and special (health care, household
hazardous wastes, sewage sludge).The term usually relates to materials produced by human
activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment
or aesthetics.

Methods of disposal

Landfill

Disposal of waste in a landfill involves burying the waste and this remains a common practice in
most countries. Landfills were often established in abandoned or unused quarries, mining voids
or borrow pits. A properly designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively
inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials. Older, poorly designed or poorly managed
landfills can create a number of adverse environmental impacts such as wind-blown litter,
attraction of vermin, and generation of liquid leachate. Another common product of landfills is
methane and carbon dioxide, produced from anaerobic breakdown of organic waste. This gas can
create odour problems, kill surface vegetation and is a greenhouse gas.

Design characteristics of a modern landfill include methods to contain leachate such as clay or
plastic lining material. Deposited waste is normally compacted to increase its density and
stability and covered to prevent attracting vermin (such as mice or rats). Many landfills also have
landfill gas extraction systems installed to extract the landfill gas. Gas is pumped out of the
landfill using perforated pipes and flared off or burnt in a gas engine to generate electricity.

Incineration

Solid organic wastes are subjected to combustion so as to convert them into residue and gaseous
products. This method is useful for disposal of residue of both solid waste management and solid
residue from waste water management. This process reduces the volumes of solid waste to 20 to
30 percent of the original volume. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment
systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment". Incinerators convert waste materials
into heat, gas, steam and, ash.

Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by individuals and on a large scale by industry. It
is used to dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous waste. It is recognized as a practical method of
disposing of certain hazardous waste materials (such as biological medical waste). Incineration is
a controversial method of waste disposal, due to issues such as emission of gaseous pollutants.

Incineration is common in countries such as Japan where land is scarcer, as these facilities
generally do not require as much area as landfills. Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste

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(EfW) is a broad term for facilities that burn waste in a furnace or boiler to generate heat, steam
or electricity. Combustion in an incinerator is not always perfect and there have been concerns
about pollutants in gaseous emissions from incinerator stacks. Particular concern has focused on
some very persistent organic compounds such as dioxins, and furans, which may be created and
which may have serious environmental consequences.

Recycling

Recycling is a resource recovery practice that refers to the collection and reuse of waste
materials such as empty beverage containers. The materials from which the items are made can
be reprocessed into new products. Material for recycling may be collected separately from
general waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles, a procedure called curbside
collection. In some communities, the owner of the waste is required to separate the materials into
various different bins (e.g. for paper, plastics, metals) prior to its collection. In other
communities, all recyclable materials are placed in a single bin for collection, and the sorting is
handled later at a central facility. The latter method is known as "single-stream recycling."

The most common consumer products recycled include aluminiums such as beverage cans,
copper such as wire, steel from food and aerosol cans, old steel furnishings or equipment,
polyethylene, glass bottles and jars, paperboard cartons, newspapers, magazines and light paper,
and corrugated fiberboard boxes.

The recycling of complex products (such as computers and electronic equipment) is more
difficult, due to the additional dismantling and separation required.

The type of material accepted for recycling varies by city and country. Each city and country has
different recycling programs in place that can handle the various types of recyclable materials.
However, certain variation in acceptance is reflected in the resale value of the material once it is
reprocessed.

Sustainability

The management of waste is a key component in a business' ability to maintaining ISO14001

accreditation. Companies are encouraged to improve their environmental efficiencies each year
by eliminating waste through resource recovery practices, which are sustainability-related
activities. One way to do this is by shifting away from waste management to resource recovery
practices like recycling materials such as glass, food scraps, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles
and metal.

Biological reprocessing

Recoverable materials that are organic in nature, such as plant material, food scraps, and paper
products, can be recovered through composting and digestion processes to decompose the
organic matter. The resulting organic material is then recycled as mulch or compost for
agricultural or landscaping purposes. In addition, waste gas from the process (such as methane)
can be captured and used for generating electricity and heat (CHP/cogeneration) maximizing

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efficiencies. The intention of biological processing in waste management is to control and
accelerate the natural process of decomposition of organic matter.

Energy recovery

Energy recovery from waste is the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat,
electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes, including combustion, gasification,
pyrolyzation, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery. This process is often called waste-
to-energy. Energy recovery from waste is part of the non-hazardous waste management
hierarchy. Using energy recovery to convert non-recyclable waste materials into electricity and
heat, generates a renewable energy source and can reduce carbon emissions by offsetting the
need for energy from fossil sources as well as reduce methane generation from landfills.
Globally, waste-to-energy accounts for 16% of waste management.

The energy content of waste products can be harnessed directly by using them as a direct
combustion fuel, or indirectly by processing them into another type of fuel.

Resource recovery

Resource recovery is the systematic diversion of waste, which was intended for disposal, for a
specific next use. It is the processing of recyclables to extract or recover materials and resources,
or convert to energy. These activities are performed at a resource recovery facility. Resource
recovery is not only environmentally important, but it is also cost effective. It decreases the
amount of waste for disposal, saves space in landfills, and conserves natural resources.

Resource recovery (as opposed to waste management) uses LCA (life cycle analysis) attempts to
offer alternatives to waste management. For mixed MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) a number of
broad studies have indicated that administration, source separation and collection followed by
reuse and recycling of the non-organic fraction and energy and compost/fertilizer production of
the organic material via anaerobic digestion to be the favoured path.

Avoidance and reduction methods

An important method of waste management is the prevention of waste material being created,
also known as waste reduction. Methods of avoidance include reuse of second-hand products,
repairing broken items instead of buying new, designing products to be refillable or reusable
(such as cotton instead of plastic shopping bags), encouraging consumers to avoid using
disposable products, removing any food/liquid remains from cans and packaging, and designing
products that use less material to achieve the same purpose (for example, light weighting of
beverage cans).

International waste movement

While waste transport within a given country falls under national regulations, trans-boundary
movement of waste is often subject to international treaties. A major concern to many countries
in the world has been hazardous waste. The Basel Convention, ratified by 172 countries,

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deprecates movement of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries. The
provisions of the Basel convention have been integrated into the EU waste shipment regulation.
Nuclear waste, although considered hazardous, does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Basel
Convention.

Benefits

Waste is not something that should be discarded or disposed of with no regard for future use. It
can be a valuable resource if addressed correctly, through policy and practice. With rational and
consistent waste management practices there is an opportunity to reap a range of benefits. Those
benefits include:

1. Economic - Improving economic efficiency through the means of resource use, treatment
and disposal and creating markets for recycles can lead to efficient practices in the
production and consumption of products and materials resulting in valuable materials being
recovered for reuse and the potential for new jobs and new business opportunities.
2. Social - By reducing adverse impacts on health by proper waste management practices, the
resulting consequences are more appealing settlements. Better social advantages can lead to
new sources of employment and potentially lifting communities out of poverty especially in
some of the developing poorer countries and cities.
3. Environmental - Reducing or eliminating adverse impacts on the environmental through
reducing, reusing and recycling, and minimizing resource extraction can provide improved
air and water quality and help in the reduction of greenhouse emissions.
4. Inter-generational Equity - Following effective waste management practices can provide
subsequent generations a more robust economy, a fairer and more inclusive society and a
cleaner environment.

Challenges in developing countries

Waste management in cities with developing economies and economies in transition experience
exhausted waste collection services, inadequately managed and uncontrolled dumpsites and the
problems are worsening. Problems with governance also complicate the situation. Waste
management, in these countries and cities, is an ongoing challenge and many struggles due to
weak institutions, chronic under-resourcing and rapid urbanization. All of these challenges along
with the lack of understanding of different factors that contribute to the hierarchy of waste
management affect the treatment of waste.

Technologies

Traditionally the waste management industry has been slow to adopt new technologies such as
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags, GPS and integrated software packages which enable
better quality data to be collected without the use of estimation or manual data entry.

 Technologies like RFID tags are now being used to collect data on presentation rates for
curb-side pick-ups.

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  Benefits of GPS tracking is particularly evident when considering the efficiency of ad
hoc pick-ups (like skip bins or dumpsters) where the collection is done on a consumer
request basis.
 Integrated software packages are useful in aggregating this data for use in optimization of
operations for waste collection operations.
 Rear vision cameras are commonly used for OH&S (Occupational Health & Safety)
reasons and video recording devices are becoming more widely used, particularly
concerning residential services.

Review Questions

1. What is waste management?

2. Discuss the various methods of waste disposal.
3. What is the international waste management movement and what are its benefits?

CHAPTER EIGHT: PRINCIPLES OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Discuss the principles of waste management.

 Describe the waste hierarchy pyramid.
 Explain what ground water contamination is.
 Discuss dangers of groundwater contamination.
 Explain the sources of groundwater pollution.

There are a number of concepts about waste management which vary in their usage between
countries or regions. Some of the most general, widely used concepts include:

1. Waste hierarchy - The waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs" reduce, reuse and recycle, which
classify waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste
minimization.

The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of
the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate
the minimum amount of waste recovery. The waste hierarchy is represented as a pyramid because
the basic premise is for policy to take action first and prevent the generation of waste. The next
step or preferred action is to reduce the generation of waste i.e. by re-use. The next is recycling
which would include composting. Following this step is material recovery and waste-to-energy.
Energy can be recovered from processes i.e. landfill and combustion, at this level of the

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hierarchy. The final action is disposal, in landfills or through incineration without energy
recovery. This last step is the final resort for waste which has not been prevented, diverted or
recovered. The waste hierarchy represents the progression of a product or material through the
sequential stages of the pyramid of waste management. The hierarchy represents the latter parts
of the life-cycle for each product.

2. Life-cycle of a product - The life-cycle begins with design, then proceeds through
manufacture, distribution, use and then follows through the waste hierarchy's stages of reuse,
recovery, recycling and disposal. Each of the above stages of the life-cycle offers opportunities
for policy intervention, to rethink the need for the product, to redesign to minimize waste
potential, to extend its use. The key behind the life-cycle of a product is to optimize the use of
the world's limited resources by avoiding the unnecessary generation of waste.

3. Resource efficiency - the current, global, economic growth and development can not be
sustained with the current production and consumption patterns. Globally, we are extracting
more resources to produce goods than the planet can replenish. Resource efficiency is the
reduction of the environmental impact from the production and consumption of these goods,
from final raw material extraction to last use and disposal. This process of resource efficiency
can address sustainability.

4. Polluter Pays Principle – requires that the polluting party pays for the impact caused to the
environment. With respect to waste management, this generally refers to the requirement for a
waste generator to pay for appropriate disposal of the unrecoverable material.

GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION

Groundwater has also been referred to as the great hidden resource. It conjures up images of
vast underground rivers or lakes, pure and pristine, flowing from distant places. Groundwater is
more like the water within a saturated sponge, moving slowly through the earth’s pores and
cracks and it is replenished locally. Most available fresh water is groundwater. Groundwater is
an important source for our drinking water and stream flow. Although most of our
groundwater supplies are clean, they are, due to human neglect and carelessness, vulnerable
and threatened.

Groundwater contamination occurs when man-made products such as gasoline, oil, road salts and
chemicals get into the groundwater and cause it to become unsafe and unfit for human use.

Materials from the land's surface can move through the soil and end up in the groundwater. For
example, pesticides and fertilizers can find their way into groundwater supplies over time. Road
salt, toxic substances from mining sites, and used motor oil also may seep into groundwater. In
addition, it is possible for untreated waste from septic tanks and toxic chemicals from
underground storage tanks and leaky landfills to contaminate groundwater.

Dangers of contaminated groundwater

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Drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. Diseases such as hepatitis
and dysentery may be caused by contamination from septic tank waste. Poisoning may be caused
by toxins that have leached into well water supplies. Wildlife can also be harmed by
contaminated groundwater. Other long term effects such as certain types of cancer may also
result from exposure to polluted water.

Sources of Groundwater Contamination

 Storage Tanks

May contain gasoline, oil, chemicals, or other types of liquids and they can either be
above or below ground. There are estimated to be over 10 million storage tanks buried in
the United States and over time the tanks can corrode, crack and develop leaks. If the
contaminants leak out and get into the groundwater, serious contamination can occur.

 Septic Systems

On-site wastewater disposal systems used by homes, offices or other buildings that are
not connected to a city sewer system. Septic systems are designed to slowly drain away
human waste underground at a slow, harmless rate. An improperly designed, located,
constructed, or maintained septic system can leak bacteria, viruses, household chemicals,
and other contaminants into the groundwater causing serious problems.

 Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste

In the U.S. today, there are thought to be over 20,000 known abandoned and uncontrolled
hazardous waste sites and the numbers grow every year. Hazardous waste sites can lead
to groundwater contamination if there are barrels or other containers laying around that
are full of hazardous materials. If there is a leak, these contaminants can eventually make
their way down through the soil and into the groundwater.

 Landfills

Landfills are the places that our garbage is taken to be buried. Landfills are supposed to
have a protective bottom layer to prevent contaminants from getting into the water.
However, if there is no layer or it is cracked, contaminants from the landfill (car battery
acid, paint, household cleaners, etc.) can make their way down into the groundwater.

 Chemicals and Road Salts

The widespread use of chemicals and road salts is another source of potential
groundwater contamination. Chemicals include products used on lawns and farm fields to
kill weeds and insects and to fertilize plants, and other products used in homes and
businesses. When it rains, these chemicals can seep into the ground and eventually into
the water. Road salts are used in the wintertime to put melt ice on roads to keep cars from

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 sliding around. When the ice melts, the salt gets washed off the roads and eventually ends
up in the water.

 Atmospheric Contaminants

Since groundwater is part of the hydrologic cycle, contaminants in other parts of the
cycle, such as the atmosphere or bodies of surface water, can eventually be transferred
into our groundwater supplies.

Review Questions

1. What are the principles of waste management?

2. With an aid of a diagram, describe the waste disposal hierarchy.
3. What is groundwater contamination?
4. Discuss the dangers of contaminated groundwater?
5. Explain the various sources of groundwater contamination?

CHAPTER NINE: HUMAN OVERPOPULATION

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what human population is and why it’s of concern.

 Discuss the causes of human overpopulation.
 Explain the effects of human overpopulation.
 Discuss impact of human overpopulation in the world.

Introduction
Human overpopulation occurs if the number of people in a group exceeds the carrying capacity
of a region occupied by that group. Overpopulation can further be viewed, in a long term
perspective, as existing when a population can't be maintained without the rapid depletion of
non-renewable resources or without the degradation of the capacity of the environment to give
support to the population.

The term often refers to the relationship between the entire human population and its
environment: the Earth, or to smaller geographical areas such as countries. Overpopulation can
result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or an
unsustainable biome and depletion of resources. It is possible for very sparsely populated areas
to be overpopulated if the area has a meager or non-existent capability to sustain life (e.g., a

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desert). Advocates of population moderation cite issues like quality of life, carrying capacity and
risk of starvation as being a basis to argue against continuing high human population growth.

The most significant population increase has been in the last 50 years, mainly due to medical
advancements and increases in agricultural productivity. The United Nations has expressed
concern on continued excessive population growth in sub-Saharan Africa. As of August 21, 2014
the world's human population is estimated to be 7.184 billion by the United States Census
Bureau, and over 7 billion by the United Nations. Most contemporary estimates for the carrying
capacity of the Earth under existing conditions are between 4 billion and 16 billion. Depending
on which estimate is used, human overpopulation may or may not have already occurred.
Nevertheless, the rapid recent increase in human population is causing some concern. The
population is expected to reach between 8 and 10.5 billion between the year 2040 and 2050.

Most countries have no direct policy of limiting their birth rates, but the rates have still fallen due
to educating people about family planning, increasing access to birth control and contraception.
Only China has imposed legal restrictions on having more than one child. Extraterrestrial
settlement and other technical solutions have been proposed as ways of mitigating
overpopulation in the future.

Causes of overpopulation

From a historical perspective, technological revolutions have coincided with population

explosions. There have been three major technological revolutions – the tool-making revolution,
the agricultural revolution, and the industrial revolution – all of which allowed humans more
access to food, resulting in subsequent population explosions. For example, the use of tools, such
as bow and arrow, allowed primitive hunters greater access to high energy foods (e.g. animal
meat). Similarly, the transition to farming about 10,000 years ago greatly increased the overall
food supply, which was used to support more people. Food production further increased with the
industrial revolution as machinery, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides were used to increase
land under cultivation as well as crop yields. In short humans have increased their population as
soon as food became more abundant as a result of technological innovations.

Significant increases in human population occur whenever the birth rate exceeds the death rate
for extended periods of time. Traditionally, the fertility rate is strongly influenced by cultural and
social norms that are rather stable and therefore slow to adapt to changes in the social,
technological, or environmental conditions. For example, when death rates fell during the 19th
and 20th century – as a result of improved sanitation, child immunizations, and other advances in
medicine – allowing more newborns to survive, the fertility rate did not adjust downward fast
enough, resulting in significant population growth. Prior to these changes, seven out of ten
children died before reaching reproductive age, while today about 95% of newborns in
industrialized nations reach adulthood.

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Human psychology and the cycle of entrenched poverty, as well as the rest of the world's
reaction to it, are also causative factors. Areas with greater burden of disease and warfare,
contrary to popular belief, do not experience less population growth over the long term, but far
more over a sustained period as poverty becomes further entrenched. This is because parents and
siblings who have experienced calamitous conditions suffer from a kind of post traumatic stress
syndrome about losing their family members and overcompensate by having "extra" babies.
These extra babies and calamities fuel a vicious cycle and only in the small minority of cases
does it cease. As this cycle is compounded over generations, calamities such as disaster or war
take on a multiplier effect. For example, the AIDS crisis in Africa is said to have killed 30
million to date, yet during the last two decades money and initiatives to lower population growth
by contraception have been sidelined in favor of combating HIV and feeding the population. In
1990, Africa’s population was roughly 600 million; today it is over 1,050 million.

Effects of human overpopulation

Raw numbers of people are only one factor in the effects of people. The lifestyle (including
overall affluence and resource utilization) and the pollution (including carbon footprint) are
equally important. In 2008 the New York Times stated that the inhabitants of the developed
nations of the world consume resources like oil and metals at a rate almost 32 times greater than
those of the developing world, who make up the majority of the human population.

Some problems associated with human overpopulation and over-consumption are:

 Inadequate fresh water for drinking as well as sewage treatment and effluent discharge.
Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, use energy-expensive desalination to solve the
problem of water shortages.
 Depletion of natural resources, especially fossil fuels.
 Increased levels of air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination and noise pollution.
Once a country has industrialized and become wealthy, a combination of government
regulation and technological innovation causes pollution to decline substantially, even as
the population continues to grow.
 Deforestation and loss of ecosystem that valuably contribute to the global atmospheric
oxygen and carbon dioxide balance; about eight million hectares of forest are lost each
year.
 Changes in atmospheric composition and consequent global warming.
 Loss of arable land and increase in desertification.
 Mass species extinctions from reduced habitat in tropical forests due to slash-and-burn
techniques that sometimes are practiced by shifting cultivators, especially in countries
with rapidly expanding rural populations; present extinction rates may be as high as
140,000 species lost per year.
 High infant and child mortality associated with poverty. Rich countries with high
population densities have low rates of infant mortality.
 Intensive factory farming to support large populations. It results in human threats
including the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria diseases, excessive air
and water pollution, and new viruses that infect humans.

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  Emergence of new epidemics and pandemics. For many environmental and social
reasons, including overcrowded living conditions, malnutrition and inadequate,
inaccessible, or non-existent health care.
 Starvation, malnutrition or poor diet with ill health and diet-deficiency diseases (e.g.
rickets). Poverty coupled with inflation in some regions and a resulting low level of
capital formation. Poverty and inflation are aggravated by bad government and bad
economic policies.
 Low life expectancy in countries with fastest growing populations.
 Unhygienic living conditions for many based upon water resource depletion, discharge of
raw sewage and solid waste disposal.
 Elevated crime rate due to drug cartels and increased theft by people stealing resources to
survive.
 Conflict over scarce resources and crowding, leading to increased levels of warfare.
 Less personal freedom and more restrictive laws. Law serves as a primary social
mediator of relations between people. The higher the population density, the more
frequent such interactions become, and thus there develops a need for more restrictive
laws to regulate these interactions.

Impact of overpopulation on the environment

As the century begins, natural resources are under increasing pressure, threatening public health
and development. Water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss of forests, air and water pollution, and
degradation of coastlines afflict many areas. As the world’s population grows, improving living
standards without destroying the environment is a global challenge.

Most developed economies currently consume resources much faster than they can regenerate.
Most developing countries with rapid population growth face the urgent need to improve living
standards. As we humans exploit nature to meet present needs, we are destroying resources
needed for the future.

 Public health: Unclean water, along with poor sanitation, kills over 12 million people
each year, most in developing countries. Air pollution kills nearly 3 million more. Heavy
metals and other contaminants also cause widespread health problems.

 Food supply: In 64 of 105 developing countries studied by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, the population has been growing faster than food supplies. Population
pressures have degraded some 2 billion hectares of arable land — an area the size of
Canada and the U.S.

 Freshwater: The supply of freshwater is finite, but demand is soaring as population

grows and uses per capita rises. By 2025, when world population is projected to be 8
billion, 48 countries containing 3 billion people will face shortages.

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  Coastlines and oceans: Half of all coastal ecosystems are pressured by high population
densities and urban development. A tide of pollution is rising in the world’s seas. Ocean
fisheries are being overexploited, and fish catches are down.
 Forests: Nearly half of the world’s original forest cover has been lost, and each year
another 16 million hectares are cut, bulldozed, or burned. Forests provide over US$400
billion to the world economy annually and are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Yet, current demand for forest products may exceed the limit of sustainable consumption
by 25%.
 Biodiversity: The earth’s biological diversity is crucial to the continued vitality of
agriculture and medicine — and perhaps even to life on earth itself. Yet human activities
are pushing many thousands of plant and animal species into extinction. Two of every
three species is estimated to be in decline.
 Global climate change: The earth’s surface is warming due to greenhouse gas
emissions, largely from burning fossil fuels. If the global temperature rises as projected,
sea levels would rise by several meters, causing widespread flooding. Global warming
also could cause droughts and disrupt agriculture.

Review Questions

1. What is human overpopulation and why is it of concern to planners?

2. Discuss the causes of human overpopulation.
3. Explain the effects of human overpopulation in the world.
4. What are the effects of human overpopulation on the environment?

CHAPTER TEN: OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

 Explain what ozone layer depletion is about.

 Discuss why experts are concerned about ozone layer depletion.
 Explain the consequences of ozone layer depletion.
 Discuss effects of ozone layer depletion on global warming.

Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a
steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere (the
ozone layer), and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar
regions. The latter phenomenon is referred to as the ozone hole. In addition to these well-known
stratospheric phenomena, there are also springtime polar tropospheric ozone depletion events.

Since the ozone layer prevents most harmful ultraviolet light (UV light) from passing through the
Earth's atmosphere, observed and projected decreases in ozone have generated worldwide
concern. This has led to adoption of the Montreal Protocol that bans the production of CFCs,
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halons, and other ozone-depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethane. It
is suspected that a variety of biological consequences such as increases in skin cancer, cataracts,
damage to plants, and reduction of plankton populations in the ocean's photic zone may result
from the increased UV exposure due to ozone depletion.

Interest in ozone layer depletion

While the effect of the Antarctic ozone hole in decreasing the global ozone is relatively small,
estimated at about 5% per decade, the hole has generated a great deal of interest because:

 The decrease in the ozone layer was predicted in the early 1980s to be roughly 7% over a
60-year period.
 The sudden recognition in 1985 that there was a substantial "hole" was widely reported in
the press. The especially rapid ozone depletion in Antarctica had previously been
dismissed as a measurement error.
 Many of those unsure about what the ozone hole was and what caused it were worried
that ozone holes might start appearing over other areas of the globe, but to date the only
other large-scale depletion is a smaller ozone "dimple" observed during the Arctic spring
over the North Pole. Ozone at middle latitudes has declined, but by a much smaller
extent.
 If the conditions become more severe, global ozone may decrease at a much greater pace.
Standard global warming theory predicts that the stratosphere will cool.
 When the Antarctic ozone hole breaks up, the ozone-depleted air drifts out into nearby
areas. Decreases in the ozone level of up to 10% have been reported in New Zealand in
the month following the breakup of the Antarctic ozone hole with ultraviolet-B radiation
intensities increasing by more than 15% since the 1970s.

Consequences of ozone layer depletion

Since the ozone layer absorbs UVB ultraviolet light from the sun, ozone layer depletion is
expected to increase surface UVB levels, which could lead to damage, including increase in skin
cancer. This was the reason for the Montreal Protocol. Although decreases in stratospheric ozone
are well-tied to CFCs and there are good theoretical reasons to believe that decreases in ozone
will lead to increases in surface UVB, there is no direct observational evidence linking ozone
depletion to higher incidence of skin cancer and eye damage in human beings. This is partly
because UVA, which has also been implicated in some forms of skin cancer, is not absorbed by
ozone, and it is nearly impossible to control statistics for lifestyle changes in the populace.

Increased UV

Ozone is responsible for most of the absorption of UVB radiation. The amount of UVB radiation
that penetrates through the ozone layer decreases exponentially with the slant-path thickness and
density of the layer. When stratospheric ozone levels begin depleting, higher levels of UVB
reaching the Earth’s surface will become more frequent. This means that the less ozone there is,
the less protection there will be, and hence more UVB reaches the Earth. Correspondingly, a
decrease in atmospheric ozone is expected to give rise to significantly increased levels of UVB

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near the surface. Ozone-driven phenolic formation in tree rings has dated the start of ozone
depletion in northern latitudes to the late 1700s.

Increases in surface UVB due to the ozone hole can be partially inferred by radioactive transfer
model calculations, but cannot be calculated from direct measurements because of the lack of
reliable historical (pre-ozone-hole) surface UV data, although more recent surface UV
observation measurement programs exist (e.g. at Lauder, New Zealand).

UV-215 and more energetic radiation is responsible for creation ozone in the ozone layer from O
2 (regular oxygen). Less energetic radiation, UV-215 through UV-280 is only able to dissociate
the single oxygen bond of ozone. Therefore, as a result of reduction in stratospheric ozone, the
amount of this radiation reaching the surface increases. This less energetic radiation is however
powerful enough to disrupt DNA bonding.

Health effects

The main public concern regarding the ozone hole has been the effects of increased surface UV
radiation on human health. So far, ozone depletion in most locations has been typically a few
percent and no direct evidence of health damage is available in most latitudes. Were the high
levels of depletion seen in the ozone hole ever to be common across the globe, the effects could
be substantially more dramatic. As the ozone hole over Antarctica has in some instances grown
so large as to reach southern parts of Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South
Africa, environmentalists have been concerned that the increase in surface UV could be
significant.

Ozone depletion would change all of the effects of UV on human health, both positive and
negative.

UVB is generally accepted to be a contributory factor to skin cancer and to produce Vitamin D.
In addition, increased surface UV leads to increased tropospheric ozone, which is a health risk to
humans.

Effects on crops

An increase of UV radiation would be expected to affect crops. A number of economically

important species of plants, such as rice, depend on cyan bacteria residing on their roots for the
retention of nitrogen. Cyan bacteria are sensitive to UV radiation and would be affected by its
increase.

Ozone depletion and global warming

There are five areas of linkage between ozone depletion and global warming:

 Radioactive forcing from various greenhouse gases and other sources.

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  The same CO2 radioactive forcing that produces global warming is expected to cool the
stratosphere. This cooling, in turn, is expected to produce a relative increase in ozone
depletion in polar area and the frequency of ozone holes.
 Conversely, ozone depletion represents a radioactive forcing of the climate system. There
are two opposing effects: Reduced ozone causes the stratosphere to absorb less solar
radiation, thus cooling the stratosphere while warming the troposphere; the resulting
colder stratosphere emits less long-wave radiation downward, thus cooling the
troposphere.
 One of the strongest predictions of the greenhouse effect is that the stratosphere will cool.
Although this cooling has been observed, it is not trivial to separate the effects of changes
in the concentration of greenhouse gases and ozone depletion since both will lead to
cooling.
 Ozone depleting chemicals are also often greenhouse gases.
 The long term modeling of the process, its measurement, study, design of theories and
testing take decades to document, gain wide acceptance, and ultimately become the
dominant paradigm.

Review Questions

1. What is ozone depletion?

2. Why is ozone depletion of human interest?
3. Discuss the consequences of ozone depletion.
4. What are the effects of ozone depletion on global warming?

Sample Exam Paper

Instructions: Answer question one and any other two questions

Question One

a) What is environmental journalism? (2marks)

b) What is the relevance of environmental journalism in the society? (8marks)
c) Environmental journalists are guided by certain principles that constitute their code of
ethics. Discuss five of these principles. ( 10marks)
d) Discuss any five challenges that environmental journalists face in their duties. (10marks)

Question Two

a) What is human overpopulation? (2marks)

b) Explain the causes of human overpopulation. (10marks)

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 c) What is the impact of human overpopulation on the environment? (8marks)

Question Three

Discuss the various causes of air pollution and its effects on the environment and human health.
(20marks)

Question Four

a) Discuss the various issues of concern about waste disposal (10marks)

b) Describe the several methods of waste disposal that are practiced in the world. (10marks)

Question Five

a) What are the causes of ozone layer depletion and its effects? (10marks)
b) Discuss the causes of groundwater contamination. (10marks)

Question Six

a) What are the benefits of genetically modified foods in the world? (10marks)
b) Despite the numerous benefits associated with genetically modified foods, there have been
criticisms from experts against the foods. Discuss five of these criticisms. (10marks)

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