6.2 Environmental risks

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6.2 Environmental risks

IB Geography HL 

Unit 6: Global risks and resilience

This presentation is for a large extend based on: Matt Podbury -ibgeographypods  

and Oxford IB Prepared

Transboundary Pollution 

Case study option 1: The Chernobyl disaster, April 1986 (or another major nucleair disaster). For those of you feel bored and have time to watch 5 episodes, there is a very good HBO series about Chernobyl in which you see the local and transboundary effects of this disaster that happened 3 days before I was born. There is also a podcast of this series and the Oxford IB Prepared book also gives information on Chernobyl. 

Transboundary Pollution

Case study option 2: Southeast Asian haze is a fire-related large-scale air pollution problem that occurs regularly. These haze events have caused adverse health and economic impact on Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and to a lesser degree, the Philippines and Thailand. The problem flares up every dry season, in varying degrees. Transboundary haze in Southeast Asia has been recorded since 1972.

Southeast Asian Haze

The haze is largely caused by illegal agricultural fires due to industrial-scale slash-and-burn practices in Indonesia, especially from the provinces of South Sumatra and Riau in Indonesia's Sumatra island, and Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo. Burned land can be sold at a higher price illegally, and eventually used for activities including oil palm and pulpwood production. Burning is also cheaper and faster compared to cutting and clearing using excavators or other machines. 

Palm oil (especially for Milan ;-)

Clearly, unregulated Palm Oil production, on top of being partly to blame for this TBP event, also links in to food production systems and is big agri-business. You have seen the wider atmospheric environmental issues caused by this burning and we will now take a look at the impacts on biodiversity as well as the alternatives. 

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Palm Oil podcast 

• Which animal has traditionally been associated with palm oil destruction? 
• What other crops are perhaps overlooked in terms of their environmental impacts? 
• Why can biodiversity still be maintained in the oil plantations above other crop type? 

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Palm oil boycott could actually increase deforestation

Read the 2018 article from 'The Conversation'.

Make notes on the reasons why a ban on palm oil could result in the destruction of even more rainforest and reduction of biodiversity and link this in to soy bean production. 

Localized pollution along shipping lanes

Shipping containers and container ships are responsible for the transport and distriubution of an extremely high percentage of consumer goods around the planet. For example, in Australia, they account for 99% of the total merchandise trade. This extremely cost effective way of moving non-perishable manufactured goods from South East Asia to the rest of the world has led to more complex supply chains and ultimately cheaper costs passed on to the consumer. 

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The ship map

Listen to the voice over on the map for explanation. 

A Satellite’s View of Ship Pollution

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A Satalite's view of Ship Pollution

For more than a decade, scientists have observed “ship tracks” in natural-color satellite imagery of the ocean. These bright, linear trails amidst the cloud layers are created by particles and gases from ships. They are a visible manifestation of pollution from ship exhaust, and scientists can now see that ships have a more subtle, almost invisible, signature as well.

A Satalite's view of Ship Pollution

Data from the Dutch and Finnish-built Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite show long tracks of elevated nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels along certain shipping routes. NO2, is among a group of highly-reactive oxides of nitrogen, known as NOx, that can lead to the production of fine particles and ozone that damage the human cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Combustion engines, such as those that propel ships and motor vehicles, are a major source of NO2 pollution.

Study the maps & Analyse

Describe the global distribution of shipping lanes 

Outline the possible links between the shipping industry and air pollution. 

A Satalite's view of Ship Pollution

The map above is based on OMI measurements acquired between 2005 and 2012. The NO2 signal is most prominent in an Indian Ocean shipping lane between Sri Lanka and Singapore, appearing as a distinct orange line against (lighter) background levels of NO2. Other shipping lanes that run through the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea also show elevated NO2 levels, as do routes from Singapore to points in China. These aren’t the only busy shipping lanes in the world, but they are the most apparent because ship traffic is concentrated along narrow, well-established lanes.

Example exam question: 

Using examples, analyses the human impact of the environmental consequences of the global flows of resources and materials. 12

Carbon footprints for global flows of food, goods and people

Page 190 in IB Prepared

Importing food may result in lower overall emissions than harvesting and storing local products for many months. For example, storage accounts for 60% of the carbon emissions associated with carrots; in Sweden, tomatoes produced locally require ten times more energy than field-grown tomatoes imported from southern Europe. 

True or False? 

For food products derived from animals, such as meat and dairy goods, transportation contributes only a small proportion of their carbon emissions, but for plant-based products, such as fruit and vegetables, transport contributes a higher proportion of their carbon emissions. 

True  

For food products derived from animals, such as meat and dairy goods, transportation contributes only a small proportion of their carbon emissions, but for plant-based products, such as fruit and vegetables, transport contributes a higher proportion of their carbon emissions. 

Environmental issues linked with the global shift of polluting manufacturing industries

Two tweets

Above are two tweets written by President Donald Trump within three hours of each other in April 2017. 

1. What do you think was said in response to the first tweet that merited the President tweeting for a second time?

2. How could economic growth lead to enhanced environmental protection? 

the Kuznet Curve 

the Kuznet Curve 

3. Explain the model in your own words. 

4. To what extent was Donald Trump's tweet correct when talking about the USA? 

5. Could the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, make the same claim in 2020? 

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Read the article from The Conversation 

1. What does the 'greening of manufacturing' refer to? 

2. What does 'brown imports' mean? 3. What % of pollutants emitted in China is caused by the production of goods for the export market / USA? 

4. What does the term 'offshoring' refer to? 

5. Outline how some HIC manufacturers keep the "dirty" segment of their production process away from their home. 

6. What is the suggested relationship between the outsourcing of dirty manufacturing awy from the USA and toxic air emissions from manufacturing in the USA? 

7. What drives the outsourcing of pollution manufacturing away from the USA? 

8. Why is this polluting manufacturing accepted in some poor countries?

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Test yourself 

Explain the global shift of polluting manufacturing industries. 

food production systems for global agribusiness

food production systems for global agribusiness

Agribusiness results in the conversion and degradation of natural ecosystems around the world to highly simplified agricultural ecosystems. Agribusiness is often based on monoculture (the growing of single crop varieties over large areas). 

food production systems for global agribusiness

Pesticides are any substance used to destroy unwanted organisms. HOwever, they have environmenal and health impacts. They may be toxic to non-target organims. They can increase surface and groundwater pollution. 

food production systems for global agribusiness

The use of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) ferstilizers is a major source of pollution of water. It can lead to eutrophication and the creation of "dead zones" in coastal and inland waters. The manufacture of fertilizers is energy intensive and requires a substantial input of fossil fuels. 

food production systems for global agribusiness

The number and size of contenctrated animal feeding operations has increased. these produce large amounts of manue and significant nitrate pollution of air, water and groundwater. There are also significant demands on water, leading to groundwater depletion, alinization and ecreases in water availability for other users. In western USA, some 90% of water is used for agriculture. 

Tip

If you have extra time these could be some interesting documentaries to watch: 

Yeah, you made it until the last slide! :D 

Big thanks to:

Matt Podbury -ibgeographypods 

www.ibgeographypods.org/

and Oxford IB Prepared