Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Abundance (parts per trillion)INDIVIDUALSMATTER15,00012,0009,0006,0003,000Ray Turnerand His RefrigeratorRay Turner, an aerospace managerat Hughes Aircraft in California,made an important low-techozone-saving discovery by usinghis head—and his refrigerator.His concern for the environment led him to lookfor a cheap and simple substitute for the CFCsused as cleaning agents to remove films of oxidationfrom the electronic circuit boards manufacturedat his plant.He started by looking in his refrigerator. He decidedto put drops of various substances on a corrodedpenny to see whether any of them removedthe film of oxidation. Then he used his solderinggun to see whether solder would stick to the surfaceof the penny, indicating the film had beencleaned off.First, he tried vinegar. No luck. Then he triedsome ground-up lemon peel, also a failure. Next hetried a drop of lemon juice and watched as the soldertook hold. The rest, as they say, is history.Today, Hughes Aircraft uses inexpensive citrusbasedsolvents that are CFC-free to clean circuitboards. This new cleaning technique has reducedcircuit board defects by about 75% at Hughes. AndTurner got a hefty bonus. Now other companies,such as AT&T, clean computer boards and chipsusing acidic chemicals extracted from cantaloupes,peaches, and plums. Maybe you can find a solutionto an environmental problem in your refrigerator,grocery store, drugstore, or backyard.The ozone protocols set an important precedentfor global cooperation and action to avert potentialglobal disaster by using prevention to solve a serious environmentalproblem. Nations and companies agreedNo protocol1987MontrealProtocol01950 1975 2000 2025Year1992CopenhagenProtocol2050 2075Figure 21-27 Solutions: projected concentrations of ozonedepletingchemicals (ODCs) in the stratosphere under threescenarios: no action, the 1987 Montreal Protocol, and the1992 Copenhagen Protocol. (Data from World MeteorologicalOrganization)2100to work together to solve this problem for three reasons.First, there was convincing and dramatic scientificevidence of a serious problem. Second, CFCs wereproduced by a small number of international companies.Third, the certainty that CFC sales would declineover a period of years unleashed the economic and creativeresources of the private sector to find even moreprofitable substitute chemicals.The atmosphere is the key symbol of global interdependence.If we can’t solve some of our problems in the face of threatsto this global commons, then I can’t be very optimistic aboutthe future of the world.MARGARET MEADCRITICAL THINKING1. In preparation for the 1992 UN Conference on theHuman Environment in Rio de Janeiro, President GeorgeH. W. Bush’s top economic adviser gave an address inWilliamsburg, Virginia, to representatives of governmentsfrom a number of countries. He told his audiencenot to worry about global warming because the averagetemperature increases scientists are projecting weremuch less than the temperature increase he experiencedin coming from Washington, D.C., to Williamsburg,Virginia. What is the fundamental flaw in this reasoning?2. What changes might occur in (a) the global hydrologiccycle (Figure 4-28, p. 76) and (b) the global carbon cycle(Figure 4-29, p. 78) if the troposphere experiences significantwarming? Explain.3. What will be the likely effect of clearing forests andconverting them to grasslands and crops on (a) theearth’s reflectivity (albedo) and (b) the earth’s averagesurface temperature? Explain.4. One way to help slow the rate of CO 2 emissions is toreduce the clearing of forests—especially in developingcountries where intense deforestation is taking place.Should the United States and other developed countriespay poorer countries to stop cutting their forests? Explain.5. Of the three schools of thought on what should bedone about possible global warming (p. 478), which doyou favor? Explain.6. Of the proposals in Figure 21-17 (p. 479) for reducingemissions of greenhouse gas emissions into the troposphere,with which do you disagree? Why?7. Of the proposals in Figure 21-20 (p. 483) for preparingfor the effects of global warming, with which do you disagree?Why?8. What consumption patterns and other features ofyour lifestyle directly add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?Which, if any, of these things would you be willingto give up to slow global warming and reduce otherforms of air pollution?http://biology.brookscole.com/miller14489