Transcript Environment - Ms. Drake's World Geography Class

Environment
 Transboundary
Pollution: pollution that is
created in one country, then spreads to
another
5
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main sources of air pollution:
Transportation
Industry
Oil refining
Power Operating
Waste Disposal
*Pollutants from human activity mix with sunlight
to create new pollutants*
Chernobyl: April 25, 1986
 Took
place near modern-day Kiev, Ukraine
(formerly part of the Soviet Union)
 Chernobyl
was a nuclear plant—used nuclear
reactions to provide energy
 What
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happened?
A nuclear reactor got too hot  explosion 
release of massive amounts of radiation
It was later discovered that the workers did not
follow routine safety checks
Effects
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Radiation spread to Sweden, central Europe, across
Asia & the Pacific, and the USA
Belarus:
 70%
of radioactive dust fell here, contaminating the soil,
air & water. People are still being exposed to radiation
 higher rates of cancer

Sweden
 Radiation
polluted their fishing grounds & reindeer herds,
killing them. Those that survived weren’t safe to eat
Immediate Effects
 Soviet
government
delayed the
announcement of the
incident—originally said
it was an “explosion” or
a “fire”
 Eventually, they took
measures:
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Built a concrete box
around the reactor
Relocated around
135,000 people living
very close to the plant
Long-Term Effects
 ~8,000
people have died in Ukraine due to
related health problems
 Lingering health problems among those who
were exposed and their offspring
 Increased awareness for safety in nuclear
plants
 Pripyat, one of the cities closest to Chernobyl,
will not be safe to live in for at LEAST 150
years.
Black Triangle
 Area
where Germany, Poland and the Czech
Republic meet
 Home of many factories & power plants
 Burn a soft brown coal (lignite) here  soot
released  blackens the air
 Also, the chemicals it releases mix with water
and create an acid  acid rainfall
 Pollution & acid rain is worse @ Sudety
Mountains
 They are downwind (face the direction of
where the wind carries these pollutants)
Black Triangle
 High
chimney use through cities (in power plants)
has caused the pollution to be carried elsewhere
due to wind
 Ironically—this
has improved the air quality in the
industrial areas
 Acid
rain and snow falls in many European
countries
 Ways to reduce:
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Rewards/incentives for companies who reduce
pollution
Promote technology that can lead to less pollution
Decrease dependency on coal as a fuel, look for
alternative sources of energy
Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill
 January
30, 2000
 Cyanide spilled into a tributary of the Danube
in Romania after a cyanide storage dam
from a local coal mining operation burst
 The toxic waste was enough to fill 30 Olympicsize swimming pools
Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill
 Immediate
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Effects:
Spread through the Tisza River  Danube River
 Black Sea
 Through
the countries of Romania, Hungary,
Serbia & Montenegro and Bulgaria
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Water systems shut down through the area
Fish, otters, birds died as a result
Tisza-Danube Cyanide Spill
 The
effects did not last long. Why?
 Cyanide
breaks down by sunlight, so the effects
didn’t last long
 By the time the water reached the Danube, it
wasn’t harmful to fish
 Positive
outcome: It brought awareness to the
pollution in the Danube & environmentalists
are working to clean up the area
 However, scientist do not know when the river
will completely recover