Biodiversity: How Many Species on the Planet?

1
Biodiversity How Many Species on the Planet?

• E.O. Wilson-1.4 million species-4 million species
  
• But some scientists say it may be 4-40 million.
• Why such a large difference?

2
Insects and Biodiversity

• Terry Erwin-possibly as many as 40 million
  INSECTS
• Studies in Amazon-sites only 50 meters apart
  shared only 8.7 of the species. Sites 1500 km
  apart shared 2.6.
• Tremendous degree of host specificity?
• How do you study insects? Why do we care?

3
Mineral Resources Scarce or Abundant?

• Copper- average grade of copper ore declined
  from 5 to 0.4.
• But technology improved so much price of copper
  fell (1900-1950).
• Demand for copper fell because of substitution
  (fiber optics-made from glass).
• So copper reserves increased between1950-1980 by
  500.

4
Mineral Resources and Sink Problems the case
of aluminum

• Discovered in the 1820s, aluminum is the most
  abundant metal on earth.
• one million tons of aluminum containers and
  packaging (soda cans, TV dinner trays, aluminum
  foil) are thrown away each year.
• Americans throw away enough aluminum every three
  months to rebuild our entire commercial air
  fleet.

5
Aluminum A Sink and Energy Problem, not a
Resource Problem

• Recycling aluminum produces 95 less air
  pollution and 97 less water pollution than
  making aluminum in the first place.
• 20 recycled cans can be made with the energy
  needed to produce one can using virgin ore.
  Aluminum has been called congealed electricity.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to
  keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four
  hours or run your television for three hours.

6
Aluminum Recycling A relative success story

• aluminum lying in our landfills will still be
  around in 200 or more years.
• Every minute of every day, an average of 123,097
  aluminum cans are recycled. Today, the national
  average of aluminum can recycling is two out of
  every three cans.
• an aluminum can recycled today will be back on
  the grocery shelf in about 90 days.

7
The Throwaway Society

• Our dominant social paradigm (DSP)..we are still
  a throwaway society between 30-40 of all
  municipal waste is packaging materials..we like
  the convenience of individual packaging,
  disposable razors, disposable everything.
• Only a generation ago, its was common for people
  to carry their own containers to the supermarket,
  to recycle milk and soft drink bottles and to
  compost vegetable waste.

8
Sources of Solid Wastes
75 mining and oil and gas refining 13 from
agriculture 9.5 from industry 1.5 municipal
garbage 1 sewage sludge Mining, oil, gas and
refining-highly localized
9

• We throw away
• Enough vehicle tires to encircle the planet
  almost three times.
• About 2.5 million nonreturnable plastic bottles
  an hour.
• Enough disposable diapers per year which, if
  lined up end to end, would reach the moon and
  back seven times.
• For more, see Harper p. 64

10
In 2002, the US produced 369 million tons of
solid waste of all types. 98.7 million tons
(26) were recycled or composted, 28.5 million
tona (8) were burned in waste-to-energy (WTE)
plants, and 242 million tons (66) went to
landfill
11
Recycling Basics

• "source separation" -separate the bottles and
  cans from the newspapers here in Miami. Other
  places- general paper.
• Recycling creates three-six times more jobs per
  unit of material than landfilling or
  incineration.
• Seattle and economic incentives "pay as you
  throw" . Curbside recycling of plastic beverage
  bottles, glass, cans newspapers, newspapers is
  free. Pay 10.70 a month for 19 gallon can but
  31.75 for three 32 gallon cans.
• Four out of five households in the city recycle
  trash and 90 put out one can or less of
  non-recyclable trash a week.

12
Paper or Plastic?

• Is paper better than plastic?
• more than four times as much energy to
  manufacture a paper bag from non-recycled
  material as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.
  
• most paper comes from tree pulp, forest have to
  be cut down
• Paper bags generate 70 more air and 50 times
  more water pollutants than plastic bags.
• It takes 91 less energy to recycle a pound of
  plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper
  
• nothing completely degrades in modern landfills
  because of the lack of water, light, oxygen and
  other important elements that are necessary for
  the degradation process to be completed

Source www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id7
13

• Is plastic better?
• Plastic bags kill thousands of whales, dolphins,
  sea turtles, and other marine mammals that
  mistake them for food every year
• Plastic bag production requires millions of
  gallons of oil, very fossil fuel dependent
• Experts estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion
  plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually
  worldwidemore than a million per minute.
• Plastic bags arent biodegradable. They actually
  go through photodegradationbreaking down into
  smaller and smaller toxic particles that
  contaminating both soil and water, and end up
  entering the food chain when animals accidentally
  ingest them.
• Plastic bags can actually be found all over
  Antartica, the oceans are filled with them with
  tiny plastic particles.

14
Banning plastic bags?

• MD is proposing a bill that would ban plastic
  bags from major supermarkets
• Similar law in San Francisco is already in place
• Boston, Oakland, Santa Monica, and cities in
  Colorado may follow
• Proponents argue that it takes more than 1,000
  years for plastic bags to degrade.
• Every piece of plastic ever created is still
  around
• The bill is trying to protect Chesapeake Bay,
  where fish and birds often die after ingesting
  discarded plastic bags

15
Pros and Cons

• PROS
• To make 100 billion plastic bags (the amount we
  use in the US in 1 year) it takes 12 million
  barrels of oil
• No oil is used to produce recycled paper bags
• The bills requires the use of recycled paper
  bags, meaning no trees are cut down.
• Only 1 of all plastic bags are recycled in the
  USnot energy efficient

• CONS
• It costs 2 cents to produce a plastic bag and 5
  cents to produce a paper bag
• Some stores already offer a 3-cent credit for
  every bag customers return
• Less energy to recycle plastic than paper
• Costs to the stores would triple if law is
  adopted

16
A better option?

• Reuse plastic and paper bags
• Bring excess paper and plastic bags back to the
  store for recycling
• Bring your own bag
• some stores actually charge their customers for
  the use of either paper or plastic to encourage
  them to bring their own.
• My solution dont use a bag at all, pile up the
  stuff in your cart, put it into boxes in your
  trunk, carry it in in the boxes