Earth Under Siege

Each chapter ends with Questions and Problems. Foreword by Carl Sagan Preface Preface to the First Edition 1. Introduction 1.1: The Cronus Syndrome 1.2: On the Quality of Life 1.3: Global Change and Preservation 1.4: Methodology for Study Part I. Fundamentals 2. Air: The Medium of Change 2.1: What Is Air? 2.1.1: Sensing Air 2.1.2: The Basic Ingredients 2.1.3: The Basic Properties 2.2: A Short History of Discovery 2.2.1: The Air Revealed 2.2.2: The Mechanics of Air 2.3: The Structure of the Atmosphere 2.3.1: How Much Air Is There? 2.3.2: Temperature Profiles 2.3.3: The Stratification of the Atmosphere 2.4: Air in Motion 2.4.1: Local Winds and Weather 2.4.2: Global Wind Systems 3. Basic Physical and Chemical Principles 3.1: The Mechanical Behavior of Gases and Particles 3.1.1: Gas Laws and Hydrostatics 3.1.2: Particles in Suspension 3.1.3: Clouds and Precipitation 3.2: Radiation and Energy 3.2.1: Sunlight and Heat 3.2.2: Scattering and Absorption 3.2.3: Common Optical Effects 3.3: Chemistry and the Environment 3.3.1: Symbols and Terminology 3.3.2: Properties of Common Substances 3.3.3: The Mechanisms of Chemical Reactions 3.3.4: Basic Chemical Reactions 4. The Evolution of Earth 4.1: The Origin of the Earth 4.1.1: Early Evolutionary Phases 4.1.2: Box Models for Earth Reservoirs 4.1.3: The Prebiotic Atmosphere 4.2: The Coevolution of the Environment and Life 4.2.1: The Evolution of Life Processes 4.2.2: Ancient Organisms and Greenhouse Gases 4.2.3: Photosynthesis and the Ozone Layer 4.3: The Mass Extinction of Life 4.3.1: Fossil History 4.3.2: The Dinosaurs: A Lesson in Longevity 4.3.3: Goddess Gaia and Homeostasis 4.4: The Coevolution of Intelligence and Pollution 4.4.1: Population and Technology Part II. Local and Regional Pollution Issues 5. Sources and Dispersion of Pollutants 5.1: The Source of the Problem 5.1.1: What to Call Pollutants? 5.1.2: Distributed and Point Sources 5.1.3: Size Scales of Dispersion 5.2: The Dispersion of Pollutants 5.2.1: Diffusion and Turbulence 5.2.2: Convection and Lofting 5.2.3: Advection and Long-Range Transport 5.3: Temperature Inversions 5.3.1: Temperatures in the Lower Atmosphere 5.3.2: Atmospheric Stability 5.3.3: Large-Scale Inversions 5.4: Plumes of Pollution 5.4.1: Smokestack Plumes 5.4.2: Ground Plumes 5.4.3: Urban Heat Islands 5.5: Regional Dispersion of Pollutants 5.5.1: In Coastal Zones 5.5.2: Near Mountain Barriers 6. Smog: The Urban Syndrome 6.1: The History of Smog 6.1.1: Air Pollution and Poets 6.1.2: London Smog 6.1.3: Los Angeles Smog 6.2: Primary and Secondary Pollutants 6.2.1: The Basic Ingredients 6.2.2: Clean and Dirty Air 6.3: Smog Scenarios: A Typical Polluted Day 6.3.1: Carbon Monoxide 6.3.2: Nitrogen Dioxide 6.3.3: Ozone 6.4: Dissecting Smog 6.4.1: The Evolution of Smoggy Air 6.4.2: Trends in Air Pollution 6.5: Haze and Visibility 6.5.1: Total Suspended Particulate 6.5.2: Seeing through Air 6.5.3: Acid Particles and Fog 6.6: Controlling Smog: Everyone's Job 6.6.1: Reducing Emissions of Primary Pollutants 6.6.2: Alternative Fuels 6.6.3: Lifestyles for Health and Survival 7. Effects of Exposure to Pollution 7.1: How Pollutants Affect Health 7.1.1: The Discovery of Toxicity 7.1.2: The Physiology of Toxicity 7.2: The Toxic Effects of Air Pollutants 7.2.1: Common Ingredients of Smog 7.2.2: Eye Irritants 7.2.3: Organic Vapors 7.2.4: Problem Particles 7.2.5: Persistent Environmental Toxins 7.3: Radioactivity 7.3.1: Stability of the Elements 7.3.2: Sources of Radioactivity 7.3.3: The Physiological Effects of Radioactivity 7.4: Assessment of Health Risks 7.4.1: Defining the Threat 7.4.2: Risks and Benefits of Pollution 7.4.3: Box Models for Risk Assessment 7.4.4: Urban Smog: A Case Study 7.5: Limiting Risk 8. Indoor Air Pollution 8.1.: What Are "Indoor" Air Pollutants? 8.1.1: The Special Character of Indoor Pollution 8.1.2: Indoor Pollution and the News 8.2: Radon: Mother and Daughters 8.2.1: Poison from the Earth 8.2.2: Radon Exposure and Its Effects 8.3: Formaldehyde 8.3.1: Embalmers' Fluid 8.3.2: Formaldehyde's Impacts on Health 8.4: Tobacco Smoke 8.4.1: Composition of Tobacco Smoke 8.4.2: Tobacco Smoke's Effects on Health 8.4.3: Smoke and Mirrors 8.5: Other Indoor Pollutants 8.5.1: Biogenic Pollutants 8.5.2: Indoor Water Pollution 8.6: Indoor Versus Outdoor Pollution 8.6.1: Is It Safe to Go Indoors? 8.6.2: Making Indoors Safe 9. Acid Rain 9.1: The Tainted Rain 9.2: Acidity and pH 9.2.1: The pH Scale 9.2.2: Acids in Water 9.2.3: Alkalinity: The Acid Buffer 9.3: Sources of Environmental Acids 9.3.1: How Acid Is Acid Rain? 9.3.2: Sulfur Oxides and Acid Rain 9.3.3: Nitrogen Oxides and Acid Rain 9.4: Acid Fog 9.5: The Costs of Excess Acidity 9.5.1: Dying Forests and Lakes 9.5.2: A Potpourri of Destruction 9.5.3: Health Implications 9.6: Controlling Acid Rain and Fog Part III. Global-Scale Pollution Issues Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect Ozone Depletion and the Ozone Hole Climate Change Caused by Nuclear War: Nuclear Winter The Relationship between Population and Pollution 10. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10.1: The Grand Chemical Cycles of Earth 10.1.1: Reservoirs in the Earth System 10.1.2: Simple Reservoir Models 10.2: Biogeochemical Cycles of the Primary Elements 10.2.1: Sulfur 10.2.2: Nitrogen 10.2.3: Oxygen 10.2.4: Carbon 10.3: The Hydrological Cycle 10.4: A Global Garbage Dump? 11. The Climate Machine 11.1: Weather and Climate 11.2: Energy from the Sun 11.2.1: Solar Illumination 11.2.2: The Four Seasons 11.3: The Temperature of Earth 11.3.1: Sunlight In, Earthglow Out 11.3.2: An Energy Balance Model 11.3.3: The Temperatures of the Planets 11.4: The Greenhouse Effect 11.4.1: Atmospheric Band Absorption 11.4.2: Radiation Emission from the Earth 11.4.3: Clouds and Radiation 11.4.4: The Greenhouse Energy Balance 11.5: Energy Reservoirs: The Climate Flywheel 11.5.1: Reservoirs for Heat 11.5.2: Ice: The Cool Reservoir 11.5.3: A Coupled Climate System 11.6: Causes of Climate Change 11.6.1: Climate Variability 11.6.2: Solar Variability: External Forcing 11.6.3: Ice Ages 11.6.4: Volcanic Eruptions 11.6.5: The Albedo Effect 11.7: The Vulnerability of Life to a Changing Climate 11.7.1: Modern Society and Climate 11.7.2: Do We Need Climate Insurance? 12. Greenhouse Warming 12.1: Greenhouse Gases 12.1.1: The Greenhouse Culprits: A Rogue's Gallery 12.1.2: Water Vapor: Innocent Bystander or Good Samaritan? 12.2: Carbon Dioxide 12.2.1: Increasing CO[2: What Is the Cause? 12.2.2: The Problem with Energy Addiction 12.3: Other Greenhouse Gases 12.3.1: Methane 12.3.2: Nitrous Oxide 12.3.3: Chlorofluorocarbons 12.3.4: Ozone 12.4: the Warming Effect of Greenhouse Gases 12.4.1: Climate History and the Greenhouse Effect 12.4.2: Recent Temperature Trends 12.4.3: Forecasts of Greenhouse Warming 12.4.4: Uncertainty Is the Future 12.4: Solutions? 12.5.1: Recyclable Fuels 12.5.2: Alternative Energy Sources 12.5.3: Climate Correction: Endangering the Environment 13. The Stratospheric Ozone Layer 13.1: The Ozone Shield 13.2: The Formation and Destruction of Ozone 13.2.1: The Photochemistry of Ozone 13.2.2: The Destruction of Catalytic Ozone 13.3: The Distribution of Ozone in the Atmosphere 13.3.1: Dobson Units: Ozone Overhead 13.3.2: How Much Ozone Is There? 13.4: Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation 13.4.1: Regions of the Ultraviolet Spectrum 13.4.2: Health Effects of UV-B Radiation 13.4.3: Environmental Effects of UV-B Radiation 13.5: Threats Against Ozone 13.5.1: A Litany of Threats 13.5.2: Chlorine 13.5.3: Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone Change 13.5.4: Bromine and the Halons 13.6: Forecasts of Global Ozone Depletion 13.6.1: Scenarios and Projections 13.6.2: Signature of the Culprit 13.7: The Ozone Hole 13.7.1: Discovery 13.7.2: The Polar Vortex 13.7.3: Polar Stratospheric Clouds 13.7.4: Ozone Depletion: The Hole Story 13.7.5: A Global Ozone Disaster? 13.8: Solutions and Actions 13.8.1: The Montreal Protocol 13.8.2: Saving the Earth's Ozone Layer 14. Global Environmental Engineering 14.1: What Is Global Environmental Engineering? 14.1.1: Living Thermostats: Natural Compensation 14.1.2: Planetary Engineering 14.2: Technological Traps 14.2.1: Nuclear Winter 14.2.2: Carbon Dioxide 14.2.3: Chlorofluorocarbons 14.3: Technological Cures 14.3.1: Preventing Armageddon 14.3.2: Cooling Down the Greenhouse 14.3.3: Fixing the Ozone Shield 14.4: A Rational Approach to Environmental Management Appendix A. Scientific Notation, Units, and Constants A.1: Scientific Notation Applications of Scientific Notation Large and Small Numbers Using Mixing Ratios A.2: The Metric System: Units and Conversions Common Units of Measure Manipulation of Dimensions and Units A.3: Physical and Mathematical Constants Physical Constants (and Their Common Symbols) Mathematical Constants A.4: Mathematical Operations Squares and Square Roots Higher Powers Exponentials and Logarithms Algebraic Equations Inequalities Appendix B. Demonstrations of Common Natural Phenomena Demonstration 1: Light Scattering by Small Particles Background Experimental Procedure Demonstration 2: Gas-to-Particle Conversion in Smog Background Experimental Procedure Demonstration 3: Atmospheric Pressure and Water Vapor Condensation Background Experimental Procedure Demonstration 4: Acid Rain Formation Background Experimental Procedure Appendix C. Radiation Nomenclature Index: