ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE RESOURCE USE AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

SEMI-FINAL REVIEWER Artificial fertilizer and pesticides require a lot of

energy to create, making these unsustainable due to
M4L1: FOOD SECURITY AND MALNUTRITION their dependence on cheap fossil fuels. The
manufacture of these chemicals contributes to
Food security climate change, which is a major factor for the long-
term sustainability of food production because fossil
= all people at all times have physical, social, and economic
fuels produce greenhouse gases. Tractors
access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their
and graders are examples of agricultural machinery
preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
used in traditional agriculture that is powered by
Malnutrition fossil fuels. The air pollutants that are released by this
machinery have an effect on people's health who live
= state of nutrition in which a deficiency or excess of energy,
far from the location of food production and
protein, and micronutrients causes measurable adverse effects
contribute to climate change.
on the tissue, body form and function, and clinical outcome.
Nutrition Methane, a significant greenhouse gas, is released
during the production of livestock animals, which is
= intake of food that meets the dietary needs of a body. another way that farming contributes to climate
Overnutrition change. These animals consume plants, which cause
the production of methane gas in their digestive
= overconsumption of nutrients and food. tracts, which is then expelled as gaseous waste. Over
Undernutrition the course of their lives, farm animals consume a
huge amount of food, which also causes them to
= outcome of insufficient food intake and repeated infectious produce an immense amount of solid waste. A herd
diseases. of 100 cattle, for instance, would produce more than
1.25 million kg of waste annually if each cow
FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MALNUTRITION
produced 35 kg of dung every day. However, this
1. Clinical causes quantity of manure is useless and only helps to
damage the air, water, and land. Smaller amounts of
When it doesn’t obtain (lacking) a sufficient quantity and/or
dung can be used as a natural fertilizer.
quality of food and nutrients, a body becomes malnourished
fundamentally. AFTER FOOD PRODUCTION
.
2. Social Causes The environmental damage of food production from
These are related to society, status in life, and income of wages conventional agriculture is not limited to
that contributes to malnutrition. deforestation and pollutants associated with crop
growth. Harvesting the crop represents a significant
3. Environmental causes amount of nutrients, water, and energy being taken
from the land. This leaves the land barren, and
These pertain to the state of the environment and what’s
unfriendly for the growth and development of new
happening in it that encourages malnutrition.
organisms and ecosystems. This is especially true of
land used for industrial monoculture farms.

M4L2: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF FOOD PRODUCTION

 ‘Monocultures’ refer to areas of land where
Food Production is all about preparing food, in which raw a single crop is grown, like corn or wheat.
materials are converted into ready-made food products for They are particularly damaging to soils
human use either in the home or in the food processing because plants affect and are affected by soil
industries. in different ways. If different types of crops
are grown together (crop rotation), they can
Ecological Footprint is the measurement of the impact of work in concert to improve soil quality. This
human activities. It adds up all the productive areas for which does not happen with monocultures, and so
a population, a person, or a product competes. And food the land is left barren and unhealthy after
production is a major contributor to the increase of harvesting. Sometimes, with the help of
greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. artificial fertilizers, the soil is revitalized and
USE OF CHEMICALS FOR AGRICULTURE used again for agriculture. If it is not, then the
dry dirt will blow away in the wind, further
After the area has been cleared, it needs to be prepared for contributing to the growing trend of
massive food production. Heavy applications of artificial desertification on our planet.
fertilizers and herbicides are used to achieve this. The fertilizer
boosts the nutrients that are accessible in the soil to increase Transportation of food is another factor that
the crop's production, while the herbicides are meant to stop influences the unsustainability of our food
the growth of undesirable plants that would "take" nutrients production systems. The conventional agriculture
from the crop. To meet the demand for agricultural production, model supports small numbers of people tending
unfertile soils might need even higher dosages of fertilizer. large monocultures and using industrial equipment to
harvest and process the crop. The crops are then transported waste disposal method. It is primarily practiced in
to their destination, where they are sold to consumers. In our health care facilities and similar institutions.
global economy, food crops are often produced by workers  Avoidance / Waste Minimization
who are paid very little for their work, given very few rights, The easiest method of waste management is to
and forced to work in conditions that are detrimental to their reduce the creation of waste materials thereby
health and wellbeing. reducing the amount of waste going to landfills.

M4L4: GROUNDWATER AND SURFACE WATER

M4L3: WHAT IS WASTE MANAGEMENT? INTERACTION

Waste Management Groundwater

= the collection, transportation, and disposal of garbage, = water underground that could also be found in
sewage, and other waste products. voids and fissures in sand, rock, and soil. (ex: wells,
springs); It is far from the surface so it is less prone
VARIOUS METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL to pollution.
 Landfills  Causes
= the oldest traditional and most popularly used method - Nutrients, bacteria, plastics, and
of waste disposal used today. This process of waste chemicals
disposal focuses attention on burying the waste in the  Effect
land. Landfills are commonly found in developing - Hypoxia, toxic algal blooms in rivers and
countries. There is a process used that eliminates the coastal areas, erosion, sedimentation,
odors and dangers of waste before it is placed into the loss of habitat for aquatic and other
ground. wildlife.
 Incineration/Combustion
= method in which municipal solid wastes are burned at Surface water
high temperatures. The process eventually converts = when rain falls to the ground, it becomes surface
them into residues and gaseous products. The biggest water where it may move across the ground in the
advantage of this type of method is that it can reduce the forms of streams, rivers and to the ocean or remain
volume of solid waste to 20 to 30 percent of the original in one place in the form of lakes or ponds. That is
volume. why rain is the main source of groundwater, surface
 Recovery and Recycling water, and fresh water; It is on the surface itself and
.
exposed to a lot of pollutants so it is highly prone to
= Resource recovery is the process of taking useful
pollution.
discarded items for a specific next use. These discarded
 Causes
items are then processed to extract or recover materials
- Landfills, sewage leaks, gas stations,
and resources or convert them to energy in the form of
factories dumping their waste
useable heat, electricity or fuel. Recycling is the process
 Effects
of converting waste products into new products to
- Erosion, land and water pollution
prevent energy usage and
consumption of fresh raw materials.
3 TYPES OF SURFACE WATER:
 Plasma gasification
.

= Plasma is primarily an electrically charged or highly  PERENNIAL

ionized gas. Lighting is one type of plasma. For this type = permanent; surface water persists
of waste disposal, they use plasma torch to create syngas throughout the year and is replenished with
or artificial gas. groundwater when there is little
 Composting precipitation. (ex: oceans, seas)
= easy and natural bio-degradation process that takes
organic wastes i.e., remains of plants and garden and  EPHEMERAL
kitchen waste and turns into nutrient-rich food for your = semi-permanent; surface water exists for
plants. only part of the year. (ex: small creeks,
 Waste to Energy (Recover Energy) lagoons and water holes)
.

= Waste-to-Energy, also widely recognized by its

acronym (WtE) is the generation of energy in the form of  MAN-MADE
heat or electricity from waste. Waste to energy (WtE) = found in artificial structures, such as dams,
process involves the conversion of non-recyclable waste constructed wetlands and fishponds.
items into useable heat, electricity, or fuel through a
variety of processes. 3 BASIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GROUNDWATER
 Special Waste Disposal AND SURFACE WATER:
.

= There are certain waste types that are considered

hazardous and cannot be disposed of without special 1. Gaining stream = streams gain water from inflow
handling which will prevent contamination from of groundwater through the streambed. When the
occurring. Biomedical waste is one example of such a altitude of the water table is higher than the stream
surface, the stream will gain.
 1. loss from storage facilities
2. Losing stream = stream lose water by outflow through the 2. spillage during delivery and;
streambed. When the altitude of the surface water is higher 3. deliberate disposal of waste oil to drainage
than the water table, then the stream will lose. systems

3. Inflow and outflow depending upon the location along the  Radioactive Substances
.
stream = gain or loss is persistent. During the year, depending
Radioactive waste is another source of water pollution.
on the water table’s variations, a stream segment could either
Radioactive substances are used in nuclear power plants,
gain or lose groundwater.
industrial, medical and other scientific processes. They
can be found in watches, luminous clocks, television sets
and x-ray machinery. There are also naturally occurring
M4L5: WATER EVERYWHERE
radioisotopes from organisms and within the
environment. If not properly disposed of,
Water is a colorless, transparent, odorless liquid that forms the
radioactive waste can result in serious water
seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living
pollution incidents.
organisms.
 River dumping
Sources of Water .

Amongst most of the water, 97% is found in salt water. The Lots of people dump plastics, electronic waste,
remaining, about 3% is found in fresh water; slightly two-thirds and other wastes into rivers or river banks. This is
of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. Air also contains illegal and offenders may be charged for fly-
water. tipping if caught. River dumping not only causes
water pollution; it also harms wildlife and
Scarcity of Water increases the risk of flooding. Fly-tipping (this
includes river dumping) is a criminal offence.
Now the world is heading towards water crises due to the
excessive and uneconomical use of water by the large human  Marine Dumping
.

population. Human beings waste tons of water while brushing The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates
teeth, bathing, washing clothes, vehicles, and utensils etc. that a staggering amount of waste enters into the
Overuse of water has led to a decrease in the supply of water sea every year. Part of this is due to
available for human use. Polluting water, deforestation and deliberate dumping of waste into coastal waters.
overpopulation have also disturbed the water cycle which, in Other sources of waste at sea include plastics and
turn, the annual rainfall varies in different parts of our country. other materials blown or washed from land.
If efforts are not made for managing and saving water, we are Marine dumping is illegal under international and
going to have an acute water crisis. UK legislation.

M4L6: SOURCES OF WATER POLLUTION

SOURCES OF WATER POLLUTION

This lesson gives information about the most significant
sources of water pollution.
 Sewage (Waste Water)
Life is like an exam I
.

Sewage is another name for waste water from domestic 

and industrial processes. am determined to
 Agricultural Pollution
pass.
.

Agricultural processes such as uncontrolled spreading of

slurries and manure, disposal of sheep dip, tillage,
ploughing of the land, use of pesticides and fertilizers can
cause water pollution. Accidental spills from milk dairies
can also affect the quality of water.

 Oil Pollution “Have fun on your review, my dear students”

.

Oil spillages affect water quality in a number of ways. Oil ~Ma’am Nisan
can make drinking water unsafe to drink. A substantial
amount of oil released into oceans and seas will destroy
wildlife and the ecosystems that sustain them. Oil spills
also reduce oxygen supplies within the water
environment. The main causes of oil related water
pollution are: