ENGR 482 Lecture 20

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Guest lecture by Dr. Holtzapple

Environmental Ethics

Is the environment better now than it was 50 years ago?

Cuyahoga River Fire: June 22, 1969 (last of 13 river fires due to pollution)

Current population is 7.122 billion

• 1815: 1 G
• 1956: 2.8 G

O₃ Depletion

Ozone Acts as UV filter

Chlorine Free-radicals catalyze and destroy O₃

At 1 atm, the thickness of all the ozone for a particular point in the atmosphere is about the thickness of a quarter.

That's not much.

Fossil Fuel Reserves

• Gas Hydrates : 62%
• Coal: 30%-ish

Global Warming

"The sky is falling, and we're all going to roast."

vs.

"Weather and climate are variable"

Scientific Proof: Size of ladies' underwear and swimsuits.

deltaT[calc] = 0.336, but actual is 0.8

Split from projected natural climate change happened in 1960