Managing pollution

1. Managing pollution So… we’ve looked at pollution and monitoring it. Now we want to think about… How we can manage pollution. • Individually come up with 3 methods you can think of for managing pollution. • Write them on the paper provided.

2. Learning outcomes You should all be able to: • Outline approaches to pollution management. • Identify the different approaches when they have been used in specific case studies Most of you should be able to: • Discuss the human factors that affect the approaches to pollution management

3. The three-level model of pollution management. This is a model that shows different ways for reducing the impact of pollutants: It can be called the “replace, regulate and restore” model. Throughout this topic we will look at various different types of pollution and for each one we will need to use this model to help us suggest methods for reducing that pollution.

4. Processes of pollution and management strategy – “Replace, regulate, restore” model Earlier • Altering human activity through education, incentives and penalties to promote: • Development of alternative technologies • Adoption of alternative lifestyles • Reducing, reusing, recycling What are the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy? • Regulating and reducing the pollutant at the point of emission by: • Setting and imposing standards • Introducing measure for extracting the pollutant from waste emissions Think about the strategies that you identified at the beginning and decide which area they would fit into. Can you think of any other ideas for the other areas? • Cleaning up the pollutant and restoring ecosystems by: • Extracting and removing the pollutant from the ecosystem • Replanting and restocking with animal populations Later

5. Factors influencing choice of policies Cultural values • Subsistence farmers may pollute less because they have a closer relationship to the environment Political systems • Weak regulation and lack of enforcement in LEDCs • Strong corporate involvement and lobbying in policy decisions in MEDCs Economic systems • If you have economic security you have the “luxury” of worrying about a good environment because your basic needs have been met. • If it’s cheaper to continue polluting businesses will continue to pollute. • If penalties are less than clean-up costs, pollution will continue. • People living in poverty recycle more out of necessity. Case study: China

6. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/chinas-toxic-sky/100449/http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/chinas-toxic-sky/100449/ “Beijing's air pollution has soared to hazardous levels, but cleaning up the problem is not straightforward, and is dependent on prioritising quality of life over economic growth.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21198265 China For years, the government has played down air pollution calling it fog. In January last year air pollution went beyond levels considered hazardous by the WHO. WHO guidelines say average concentrations of the tiniest pollution particles - called PM2.5 - should be no more than 25 microgrammes per cubic metre. Air is unhealthy above 100 microgrammes and at 300, all children and elderly people should remain indoors. Anunofficial reading from a monitor at the US embassy recorded levels of 526 at 06:00 on Tuesday 8/01/13 (22:00 GMT on Wednesday). Two weeks ago, levels of over 800 were recorded. The problems are caused by China developing at a speed and scale unprecedented in history. Coal-burning energy plants power the country's factories, they provide the heat for hundreds of millions of homes, but they also spew out toxins into the air. In Beijing alone, five million cars choke the streets - an illustration of the country's growing prosperity. These readings were called “foreign interference”.

7. China China's lakes, rivers and underground water supplies have all been badly polluted by lightly regulated industry.  On Tuesday (29/01/13), 103 factories were ordered to shut down, and a third of government cars ordered off the roads to combat what was already being described as the worst January smog since 1954. The city has already proposed scrapping older vehicles, banning new polluting factories and fining street sellers who barbecue food outside on smoggy days, reports the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing. BUT Economic growth remains the government's top priority. Without it, the authorities worry about instability, if large numbers of people are left unemployed. There are still hundreds of millions of Chinese who want the keys to their first car, their first air-conditioner, even a fridge. Who is going to be the one to deny them their dream? "Setting off fireworks contributed greatly to air pollution in Beijing for half a month after Spring Festival in 2011," according to Du Shaozhong, former deputy director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. But the office in charge of Beijing's firework industry has said that residents can set off fireworks during the Spring Festival holiday according to the regulations.

8. Case studies In your groups of three: Each one of you reads one of the case studies and answers the following questions: • At what level (if at all) are pollution management strategies being implemented? • What factors are influencing their choice of strategy? When you have finished describe your case study to the other people in your group. Tell them: • What the pollutant is/was • Where it comes/came from • What level of pollution management strategy was introduced • What factors influenced their choice of strategy