Environment Quiz: Environment Climate Change & Mitigation Strategies | Nov 26,2020

Deep, cold ocean waters are naturally under saturated with carbonate ions causing the shells of most calcifying organisms to dissolve.
•Surface waters are over saturated with carbonate ions and do not readily dissolve shells of calcifying organisms.
•The saturation horizon is the level below which calcium carbonate minerals undergo dissolution.
•Those organisms that can survive below the saturation horizon do so due to special mechanisms to protect their calcium carbonate from dissolving.
•As ocean acidification causes this horizon to rise vertically in the water column so more and more calcifying organisms will be exposed to under saturated water and thus vulnerable to dissolution of their shells and skeletons.
•The saturation horizon of calcite occurs at a greater ocean depth than that for aragonite, but both horizons have moved closer to the surface presently when compared to the 1800s.
Source: Shankar

Ozone is a natural gas; it is an allotrope of oxygen consisting of three atoms of oxygen bound together in a non-linear fashion. The chemical symbol of ozone is O3.
•It is found in two different layers of the atmosphere. Ozone in the troposphere is “bad” because it dirties the air and helps to form smog, which is not good to breathe.
•Ozone in the stratosphere is “good” because it protects life on Earth by absorbing some of the sun’s harmful Ultra Violet (UV) rays.
•The ozone layer is very important because the configuration of the ozone molecule and its chemical properties are such that ozone efficiently absorbs ultraviolet light, thus acting like a sun-screen.
Source: Shankar

CFCs molecules are made up of chlorine, fluorine and carbon. They are used as refrigerants, propellants in aerosol sprays, foaming agents in plastic manufacturing, fire extinguishing agents, solvents for cleaning electronic and metallic components, for freezing foods etc.
Two-thirds of CFC is used as refrigerants while one-third is used as blowing agents in foam insulation products.
Source: Shankar

The Umheher technique: the most common measure of total ozone abundance is the Dobson unit (named after the pioneering atmospheric physical Gordon Dobson) which is the thickness of the ozone column (compressed at Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP)) in milli-centimeters. At STP one Dobson unit is equal to 2.69×1020 molecules per square meter.
Source: Shankar

Climate Change can affect crop yield as well as the types of crops that can be grown in certain areas, by impacting agricultural inputs such as water for irrigation, amounts of solar radiation that affect plant growth, as well as the prevalence of pests.
•Rise in temperatures caused by increasing green house gases is likely to affect crops differently from region to region.
•For example, moderate warming (increase of 1 to 3°C in mean temperature) is expected to benefit crop yields in temperate regions, while in lower latitudes especially seasonally dry tropics, even moderate temperature increases (1 to 2°C ) are likely to have negative impacts for major cereal crops.
•Warming of more than 3°C is expected to have negative effect on production in all regions.
Source: Shankar

Carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS or carbon sequestration, describes the technologies designed to tackle global warming by capturing CO2 at power stations, industrial sites or even directly from the air and permanently storing it underground.
Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming. Carbon sequestration may be carried out by pumping carbon into ‘carbon sinks’— an area that absorbs carbon.
•Natural sinks – Oceans, forests, soil etc.
•Artificial sinks – Depleted oil reserves, unmineable mines, etc.
Source: Shankar

Carbon offsets are credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions made at another location, such as wind farms which create renewable energy and reduce the need for fossil-fuel powered energy.
•Carbon offsets are quantified and sold in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
•Buying one tonne of carbon offsets means there will be one less tonne of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there would otherwise have been.
Source: Shankar

The National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), which seeks to strengthen the market for energy efficiency by creating conducive regulatory and policy regime.
•NMEEE has been envisaged to foster innovative and sustainable business models to the energy efficiency sector.
•The NMEEE seeks to create and sustain markets for energy efficiency in the entire country which will benefit the country and the consumers”.
Four New Initiatives to Enhance Energy Efficiency:
•Perform Achieve and Trade
•Market Transformation for Energy Efficiency
•Energy Efficiency Financing Platform (EEP)
•Framework for Energy Efficient Economic Development (FEEED)
Source: Shankar

India is one of the better-performing countries in the global Animal Protection Index 2020, created by international animal welfare charity, World Animal Protection.
•The Animal Protection Index (API) aims to showcase where countries are doing well, and where they fall short on animal welfare policy and legislation, so they can take steps to improve.
•The index ranks countries from A (being the highest score) to G (being the weakest score) according to their policy and legislation.
•India has attained a C ranking in the index, along with countries like New Zealand, Mexico, France, and Spain.
Source: The Hindu

The term ‘acid rain’ refers to the deposition of wet or dry acidic materials from the atmosphere on the earth’s surface.
•Although most conspicuously associated with rainfall, the pollutants may fall on the earth’s surface either in the form of snow, sleet, hail or fog or in the dry form of gases or particulate matter.
•Sulphuric acid and nitric acid is considered as the principal agents responsible for acid rain. But the major culprits are human beings.
•Smokes emitted from the industries are the major source of sulphur dioxide whereas smokes emitted from the motor vehicle is the major source of nitrogen oxide.
•These emissions mixed with atmospheric moisture from the sulphuric acid and nitric acids which, sooner or later precipitate on earth in various form.
Source: NCERT