Final Review

There is a down-loadable powerpoint of today's final review available here (you can also go to it from the main course website).

Environmental Economics

• What are the internal costs?
• What are the external costs?
• What are the true costs?
• How does the law of diminishing returns apply?
• How does opportunity cost apply?
• What are the pros/cons of internalizing external costs?

Air Pollution

• What is the composition of air?
• What is the difference between acute and chronic pollution effects?
• What are three factors that determine the severity of an air pollutant’s effects?
• What is a temperature inversion?
• How can temperature inversions be harmful?
• Why do we have smoke stacks?
• What is SPLONC?
• Why are VOCs in the atmosphere bad?
• What are the two types of smog?
• What can you do to reduce air pollution?

Water Pollution

• Four categories of ‘health disrupting’ pollutants
• What are endocrine disruptors? Why should we worry about them?
• What causes 80% of human disease worldwide?
• What are the four categories of ‘ecosystem disrupting’ pollutants?
• What is eutrophication? Why is it bad?
• What is a point source vs. a non-point source pollutant?
• What law does the EPA primarily use to regulate water quality?
• How can you combat non-point source water pollution?

Water resources

• Do you understand the hydrological cycle?
• What is evapotranspiration?
• What is water in the U.S. used for? Internationally? (relative percentages)
• What is an aquifer? Why do I care about its recharge and discharge areas
• What are the pros and cons of ‘additional’ water sources? (groundwater, cloud seeding, dams, diversions, desalination, conservation)

Soil and Food Resources

• What are soil horizons?
• Why does tropical ranforest have shallow topsoil?
• What are the forces behind soil erosion?
• What are the effects of soil erosion?
• Which anthropogenic activities cause soil erosion?
• What are some soil conservation methods
• Why should we worry about world food production?
• Why is it worrisome that 4 staple crops supply most of the world’s food?
• How can we make more food available to the ‘world market’
• What is integrated pest management?

Population Dynamics

• What is exponential population growth?
• What is carrying capacity?
• What determines whether a population size changes?
• What are the factors that affect birth rate? EXPLAIN.
• What is cultural carrying capacity?
• What is people ocerpopulation versus consumption overpopulation
• Who has the higherst per capita resource use?
• How would you deal with overpopulation?