Essential Questions and Overview
In Unit 8 of APES, we’ll discuss how humans have altered ecosystems on the ground (as opposed to in the atmosphere in the previous unit) and those effects in the short-term and long-term Here are some questions to guide your thinking and possibly be answered in this unit:
- How does pollution impact human health? 🦠
- How can you decrease waste? 🚮
- How can you evaluate environmental solutions, like legislation, to reduce pollution? ♻️
- How do you use quantitative/lab data to identify sources and effects of pollution? 📊
- Why do increases in waste cause concern and global change?
So what are some of the significant ways humans have altered the environment? To start, we can divide it into two large categories being Aquatic and Terrestrial. Aquatic means anything liquid, including the oceans, lakes, rivers, and groundwater. The key here is to look at watersheds and how contaminants added to water can travel great distances and accumulate.
Terrestrial indicates “land,” and would include any pollution added to or on top of the land. Terrestrial pollution could include litter on the side of the road, landfills, or huge mining operations. When looking at human impact on land, we must think about it in terms of how much time it will take to recover. Recovery includes the decomposition of waste materials, development of healthy soils, and naturally occurring succession of producers.
APES isn’t just a class about the natural world, it is also imperative to think about how human actions impact other more vulnerable populations of humans! Historically, people in lower socioeconomic communities have to deal with the consequences of pollution more than people of higher economic classes might have to. For example, they may not have access to clean drinking water (having to settle for polluted water for survival), general sanitation, and may be more exposed to carcinogenic (cancer-causing) or endocrine-disrupting chemicals, because organic produce is expensive!
To understand the science of these chemicals, we will have to think back to biology class and take a look at how the human body works. By studying LD-50 and the Dose Response Curve, scientists can assist in creating legislation that sets safe limits for contaminants. We will also take a look at how human actions have created the opportunity for more infectious diseases to spread and how that also tends to impact populations without access to expensive, modern medical advances.
In this unit, it will also be very important to review the legislation (to remediate pollution) and the disasters that inspired that legislation. To review those fully, make sure to check out these study guides:
Major Legislation in this Unit:
| Piece of Legislation | "Tagline" |
|---|---|
| RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | Cradle-to-Grave Disposal of Hazardous Materials |
| CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act | Superfund to help clean up after abandoned waste sites become toxic |
| CWA: Clean Water Act | Unlawful to discharge waste in waterways without a permit |
| SDWA: Safe Drinking Water Act | Allows EPA to set Health Standards for Drinking Water Sources |
| Delaney Clause: of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act | Carcinogens (that cause reasonable harm) cannot be added to food or drugs |
Major Disasters in this Unit:
- Bhopal, India - Chemical Plant Hit By Earthquake
- Love Canal, New York - Toxic Industrial Waste Buried Beneath Neighborhood
- Minamata Disease, Japan - Biomagnification + Disease by Mercury
Glossary of Unit 8 Vocab
At the end of unit 8, come back to this list and quiz yourself. Can you explain each of these terms to someone else?
- Bioaccumulation
- Biomagnification
- Dose-Response curve
- Effective Dose 50% (ED50)
- Electronic waste
- Endocrine disruptors
- Eutrophication
- Human health issues from pollution
- Human pathogens
- Impacts on aquatic ecosystems
- Landfill structure
- Lethal Dose 50% (LD50)
- Nonpoint source pollutant
- Oceanic dead zones
- Oil spills
- Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
- Point source pollutant
- Recycling processes
- Sewage treatment
- Solid waste
- Thermal pollution
- Wetlands