Environmental Quality Factors

Environmental Quality

• Environmental quality refers to the standard of the environment around us, which affects human wellbeing and liveability.
• Higher environmental quality is linked to better human wellbeing and liveability.

Natural Hazards

• Natural hazards can negatively affect the liveability of a place.
• There are two types of natural hazards: atmospheric hazards and hydrologic hazards.
• Atmospheric hazards include:
  • Cyclones
  • Bushfires
  • Severe thunderstorms
• Hydrologic hazards include:
  • Floods
  • Droughts
• Droughts occur due to a lack of rainfall over an extended period, leading to:
  • Water supplies drying up
  • Crops not growing
  • Animals dying
  • Dust storms
• Droughts can lead to bushfires, as seen in the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 and the Black Saturday bushfires.

Tropical Cyclones

• A tropical cyclone is an area of rapidly rising air that rotates around a central core called the eye.
• Wind speed must exceed 119 km/h to be considered a cyclone.
• Cyclones can cover large areas, from 80 km to 1000 km in diameter.
• Cyclones need warm water (26°C or more) to form, which leads to:
  • Evaporation and condensation into clouds
  • Release of heat, warming the air and making it rise
  • Addition of more air, making the cyclone more intense
• The Earth's rotation causes cyclones to spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.

Conflict

• Military conflict can harm the environment, as seen in the Gulf War in the early 1990s, where:
  • Bombing campaigns destroyed infrastructure
  • Oil pipelines were destroyed, polluting soil and waterways

Population Pressures

• Overpopulation can lead to:
  • Excessive food consumption
  • Lack of food security
  • Decreased environmental quality
• Pollution decreases the liveability of a place, as seen in Mumbai, where breathing air is equivalent to smoking 2.5 cigarette packets per day.
• Traffic is a major contributor to air pollution, producing carbon dioxide and polluting the environment, as seen in Bangkok.