Basic Concepts

Introduction, General Issues and Key Themes in

Environmental Science

Lecture 2
 Today’s Themes
• 1. Layers of the Earth
• 2. Resources
• 3. Pollution
1. Layers of the Earth
 1. Layers of the Earth
• We can think of the earth as being made up of
several spherical layers:
• Atmosphere:
– Troposphere:
• First layer above surface, a thin envelope of air around the
planet
• Extends only about 17 km but contains most of the planet's air
– Stratosphere:
• Stretches 17-48 km above the earth's surface
• Contains enough Ozone (03) to filter out most of the sun's
harmful ultraviolet radiation, thus allowing life to exist
 1. Layers of the Earth
• Hydrosphere: Consists of the earth's:
– (1) Liquid water (both surface and underground)
– (2) Ice (polar ice, icebergs and ice in frozen soil
layers, or permafrost)
– (3) Water vapor in the atmosphere
• Lithosphere: Earth's crust and upper mantle.
the crust contains nonrenewable fossil fuels,
minerals and nutrients
 1. Layers of the Earth
• Biosphere: Portion of the earth where living
(biotic) organisms exist and interact with one
another and with their nonliving (abiotic)
environment
– Includes most of the hydrosphere and parts of the
lower atmosphere and upper lithosphere
2. Resources
 2.1 What is a Resource?
• From a human standpoint, a resource is
anything which is used to meet human needs
and wants e.g. food, water, shelter, raw
materials etc.
• Can be classified in many ways
 2.2 Classification of Resources
• Based on availability:
– Directly available: e.g. solar energy, fresh air,
wind, fresh surface water
– Not directly available: e.g. petroleum, iron,
groundwater
 2.2 Classification of Resources
• Based on short human time scale:
– Renewable resource: replenishes fairly rapidly
(hours to several decades) e.g. forests, grasslands,
fresh water
• Renews through natural processes as long as it is not
used up faster than it is replaced
• Sustainable yield: The highest rate at which a
renewable resource can be used indefinitely without
reducing its available supply
• Solar energy is called perpetual resource because it is
renewed continuously
2.2 Classification of Resources
– Nonrenewable resource: Exists in a fixed quantity
in Crust e.g. fossil fuels, metallic minerals, non-
metallic minerals etc.
• Geological processes can renew such resources in
millions to billions of years
 2.2 Classification of Resources
• Based on function:
– Ecological resource: Anything required by an
organism for normal maintenance, growth and
reproduction e.g. habitat, food, water and shelter
– Economic resource: Man-made or natural factors
which are used to make goods and services to
improve human life e.g. food, water, shelter,
manufactured goods, transportation,
communication and recreation
3. Pollution
 3.1 What is Pollution?
• Any addition to air, water, soil or food that
threatens the health, survival or activities of
humans or other living organisms is called
pollution
• An undesirable change in the physical,
chemical or biological characteristics of the air,
water, soil or food that threatens the health,
survival or activities of humans or other living
organisms is called pollution
3.2 How Pollutants Enter the Environment

• Pollutants can enter the environment:

– Naturally (e.g. from volcanic eruptions) or
– Through human (anthropogenic) activities (e.g.
from burning coal)
 3.3 Types of Pollutant Sources
• There are two types of Pollutant Sources:
– Point sources: Pollutants come from single,
identifiable sources e.g. smokestack of a coal-
burning power plant, drainpipe of a factory etc.
– Nonpoint sources: Pollutants come from
dispersed (and often difficult to identify) sources
e.g. fertilizers and pesticides mixing with streams
and lakes, pesticides sprayed into the air or blown
by the wind into the atmosphere
 3.4 Types of Pollutants
• Types of pollutants:
– Degradable
• Biodegradable
• Slowly degradable
• Rapidly degradable
– Non-degradable
– Non-threshold
– Threshold
– And many others
 3.4 Types of Pollutants
• Degradable pollutants: Can be decomposed,
removed or consumed and thus reduced to
acceptable level by natural physical, chemical
and biological processes
• There are two classes of Degradable pollutants:
– Slowly degradable or persistent pollutants e.g.
insecticide DDT and most plastics
– Rapidly degradable or non-persistent pollutants
e.g. human sewage, animal and crop wastes
 3.4 Types of Pollutants
• Biodegradable pollutants: A type of
Degradable pollutants which can only be
broken down into simpler elements by living
organisms (generally by microorganisms i.e.
specialized bacteria)
 3.4 Types of Pollutants
• Non-degradable pollutants: Cannot be broken
down by natural processes e.g. the toxic
elements Lead and Mercury
 3.4 Types of Pollutants
• Non-threshold: Harmful to a particular
organism in any concentration e.g. Mercury,
Lead etc.
• Threshold: Harmful only above given
concentration e.g. DDT and arsenic
 3.5 Pollutant Effects
• Acute and chronic effects of the pollutants:
– Acute: Occurs suddenly or shortly after exposure
– Chronic: Takes place over a long period of time
(continued at low conc. exposure)
• Synergism: The sum of individual effects of
pollutants (acting alone) is much less than that
of pollutants acting together e.g. Asbestos
workers who smoke have a much higher
chance of getting lung cancer
 3.6 Pollution Reduction/Prevention
• Reduction or elimination of the production of
pollutants
• Pollution can be prevented (or at least reduced)
by following the Five Rs of resource use:
– Refuse (do not use)
– Replace (find a less harmful substitute)
– Reduce (use less)
– Reuse
– Recycle