Unit 5 Test (part II)

How can we start to think more sustainably about urbanization?

- Combat poverty (promote economic development and job creation) - Involve local community in local government - Reduce air pollution (upgrade energy use and alternative transport systems) - Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing - Promoting urban agriculture - Encouraging healthy diets - Reducing and managing food waste - Boosting green spaces for healthier environments and improved lifestyles - Reconnecting cities with surrounding rural areas

Main issues with urban sprawling

- Increased infrastructure costs - Social fragmentation - Decreased neighborhood quality - Increased energy consumption - Increased personal transportation costs - Increased private costs and risks - Reduced diversity - Decrease in social capital

Why is saltwater intrusion a problem?

- Water can't be used to irrigate crops - Contamination of fresh groundwater - strips the population of access to fresh water

Ecological overshoot

- a population's demand on an ecosystem exceeds the biocapacity of that ecosystem to regenerate the resources that are consumed and to absorb wastes

What is the impact of increased fossil use on the environment?

- air pollution - acid rain - eutrophication (excessive nutrients harm aquatic ecosystems by lowering oxygen levels - damage crops and forests - harm to wildlife

How does urbanization impact water use and availability?

- decreases water quality - greater frequency and severity of flooding - channel erosion - destruction of aquatic habitat - increasing per capita water consumption - wealthier people use more water, energy, and water-intensive goods - urban poor in the developing world can face inadequate access to drinking water and basic sanitation

3 pillars of sustainability

- environment - economy - society

What environmental impacts does urban runoff have?

- flooding - kills aquatic animals - damages property

What has the largest impact on how biocapacity and the ecological deficit change

- improved farming techniques - a growing population demanding goods

How does urbanization disrupt the water cycle

- increase in impervious or hard surfaces (rooftops and pavement) decreases the amount of water that soaks into the ground - increases surface runoff

What impact does urbanization have on storm water runoff?

- increased sediment transport capacity - increased erosion - increases stream temperatures due to the transfer of heat from impervious surfaces to storm water runoff

Why would coastal areas have saltwater intrusion?

- increased urbanization will decrease groundwater recharge - ultimate draining to coastal regions where the population is growing, which increases the likelihood of saltwater intrusion - sea levels rise along the coasts - saltwater moves onto the land - storm surges or high tides overtop areas low in elevation - saltwater infiltrates freshwater aquifers - raises the groundwater table below the soil surface

How does urbanization increase fossil fuel use?

- increases energy consumption per capita - shifts the energy used from traditional to modern fuels - increases the demand for goods and services - increases transport and household

What are sustainable ideas that will make urban areas better?

- planned infrastructure - public green spaces - smart waste removal - Public transportation - Walkable and bikeable neighborhoods - Vehicle charging stations - Solar farms - Green buildings - Food production - Accessible public resources

What are the health implications of urbanization?

- poor nutrition - pollution-related health conditions - communicable diseases - poor sanitation - housing conditions - health conditions

What is needed for urbanization to be stable?

- reducing costs - creating a vibrant culture - planned infrastructure - public green spaces - smart waste removal - self-sufficient in energy - more sustainable transport - manages and uses its natural resources correctly - built on the principles of ecology, education and equality

Urbanization

- the growth of cities - movement of people from rural areas

Urban Sprawl

- unplanned and uncontrolled expansion of urban areas - in the form of suburbs - developing over fertile agricultural land

An urban planner is designing a new urban housing development in a currently rural area near an existing city. The urban development will have five 10-story apartment buildings, two basketball courts, a playground with permeable foam pavers, a 10-acre green space with a small man-made pond, one 5-story parking deck, and direct access to the mass transit train line. What aspect of the design for this new urban development will best help to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere?

Access to the mass transit train line will provide inhabitants an alternative to driving personal vehicles - lower personal vehicle use - decrease carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere

What best describes an unintended environmental consequence of aquaculture fish-farm enclosures located in estuaries?

Aquaculture enclosures can harbor parasites that can negatively affect wild populations that breed in estuaries - Parasites (fish lice) can escape into estuaries, negatively affecting young wild fish in breeding areas

What would be considered an advantage of increased urban sprawl?

As individuals move out of urban areas to nearby suburbs, the population densities of cities will decrease, reducing the spread of infectious disease - Lower population densities in suburban areas can help to reduce the spread of disease - Urban sprawl decreases the population density in cities, which would be an advantage in reducing the spread of disease

What is a negative consequence of aquaculture?

excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus can leak from the location - excess food and the waste of many organisms can contaminate local waters

An urban planner is designing a new urban housing development in a currently rural area near an existing city. The urban development will have five 10-story apartment buildings, two basketball courts, a playground with permeable foam pavers, a 10-acre green space with a small man-made pond, one 5-story parking deck, and direct access to the mass transit train line. Which what in the design for this new urban development would most likely have the greatest negative environmental impact?

five apartment buildings - significantly reduce the permeable ground coverage for water infiltration - increase the chances for flooding - contribute to air pollution

An environmental agency wants to evaluate the effectiveness of rain gardens in reducing the impact of urban runoff from an impervious parking lot and from the roof of the building. The parking lot is slightly sloped so the rainwater flows toward the gardens. The runoff from the roof is collected by various downspouts and directed toward the gardens. Scientists at the agency plan to monitor the effectiveness by measuring the water quality of the storm water as it moves through the gardens during and after storm events. Plant selection is important for a rain garden. What would best describes the types of plants that would be most effective to use in the rain garden in this experimental design to reduce the impact of urban runoff?

Flood-tolerant plant species so that the plants can withstand large pulses of water from storms - Plants should be tolerant of occasional flooding as well as dry periods - Runoff from a roof and parking lot could move large volumes of water into the rain garden during and after storm events

What is an example of an environmental benefit of aquaculture?

Raising fish using aquaculture and feeding human populations with the harvest reduces the number of fish caught from the ocean - relieving the fishing pressure in the oceans is an environmental benefit of aquaculture.

An environmental agency wants to evaluate the effectiveness of rain gardens in reducing the impact of urban runoff from an impervious parking lot and from the roof of the building. The parking lot is slightly sloped so the rainwater flows toward the gardens. The runoff from the roof is collected by various downspouts and directed toward the gardens. Scientists at the agency plan to monitor the effectiveness by measuring the water quality of the storm water as it moves through the gardens during and after storm events. What would be the best control in this experimental design?

Water samples collected from the roof or parking lot before they passed through the gardens - this provides baseline water quality parameters (pH, nitrates, temperature, turbidity, etc.) before the storm water passes through the rain garden - could be compared to water samples collected after the runoff passed through the gardens

An environmental agency wants to evaluate the effectiveness of rain gardens in reducing the impact of urban runoff from an impervious parking lot and from the roof of the building. The parking lot is slightly sloped so the rainwater flows toward the gardens. The runoff from the roof is collected by various downspouts and directed toward the gardens. Scientists at the agency plan to monitor the effectiveness by measuring the water quality of the storm water as it moves through the gardens during and after storm events. What would be the best measure to use to determine the effectiveness of the rain gardens in reducing the impact of urban runoff?

speed and volume of the water exiting the gardens - velocity of water running off of impervious surfaces impacts runoff - a rain garden would reduce the amount and speed of the water moving through the garden as storm water infiltrates the vegetation and soil