Ch 21 Guiding Questions
1) Summarize briefly what happened at Love Canal. What parallels are there with this incident and Wyle Labs of Norco, CA?
2) How does the United States compare to other countries in its output of solid waste? What are factors that contribute to our "high-waste" society?
3) What major options exist for making less waste in our society? Explain each.
4) Reducing waste pollution is something we can individually make a difference in. Such as?
5) Describe what it would look like (sketch) and how an industry could benefit if it were to model its systems after biogeochemical cycles found in ecosystems?
6) Describe a service flow economy. How is it different from the present? How is it ecologically beneficial?
7) Reuse and recycling are pretty simple and practical concepts. Why are we not doing a better job of it? What could we do to overcome the obstacles (please rank the suggestions in the order you think are most helpful to you)?
9) Paper or plastic? Explain!!!!!
10) What are options given for disposing of solid wastes? Give the positives of each. Give the drawbacks of each.
11) Why and how is lead a threat to ecosystems and our health?
12) Why and how is mercury a threat to ecosystems and our health?
13) Why and how is chlorine a threat to ecosystems and our health?
14) Why and how is dioxins a threat to ecosystems and our health?
15) What regulatory acts regulate use and disposal of solid wastes? Explain what each regulates specifically.
16) What are brownfields? How common are they? What issues tend to present road blocks to their cleanup?
17) What are avenues that we can begin to travel to achieve a low-waste society?
Key Terms (Terms appear in the same font style as they appear in the text.)
dioxins (p. 551)
fertilizer
hazard
hazardous waste (p. 526)
lead (p. 547)
municipal solid waste (p. 526)
PCB’s
plasma (p. 542)
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
radioactive waste
resource productivity
sanitary landfill (p. 544)
solid waste (p. 526)
toxic waste