Water Degradation: Dams and Pollutants

• Water degradation is caused by overuse, pollutants, and damming.

Dams

• Dams are barriers that stop or restrict the flow of water or underground streams.
• Dams are built to create a reservoir for irrigation/urban water supply, or to capture energy for hydroelectricity.

Pollutants

• Physical pollutants include soil particles eroded from the landscape, plastic bags, and cigarette butts.
• Soil is a major pollutant source because particles cloud waterways, preventing sunlight from reaching plants/animals.
• Chemical pollutants include heavy metals, oil, pesticides, and salt.
• Biological pollutants include bacteria, parasites, and invasive species.

Direction 2031

• Direction 2031 guides housing, infrastructure, and service planning to accommodate growth scenarios.
• Direction 2031 gives direction on:
• Providing for a growing population within available resources (land, water, energy)
• Focusing development and support through land use and transport patterns
• Protecting high-quality natural environments and resources
• Identifying necessary infrastructure to support growth
• The document is based on projected growth in Western Australia, estimated to reach 2.2 million by 2031.
• The statement is to create a world-class liveable city that will be green, vibrant, compact and accessible
• Five strategic themes/objectives support Direction 2031:
• Liveable: Safe, comfortable, and enjoyable city experience.
• Prosperous: Building on current prosperity for global city success.
• Accessible: Easy access to education, employment, recreation, services, and consumer needs.
• Sustainable: Growing within environmental constraints.
• Responsible: Managing urban growth and efficient use of land and infrastructure.
• Direction 2031 & Beyond sets planning objectives and targets for Perth & Peel's future demands, focusing on a 'connected city'.
• Characteristics of a 'connected city':
• Balancing greenfield and infill developments.
• Protecting natural environments and farmland.
• Reducing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions.
• Encouraging urban renewal programs.
• Ensuring economic growth and employment opportunities.
• Ensuring adequate housing supply.
• Facilitating increased housing diversity choice.
• Developing public transport and transit-oriented developments (TODs).
• Improving freight movement between activity and industrial centers.
• Maximizing use of essential service infrastructure to meet future population growth.

Wellbeing

• Wellbeing is defined as the ability of people to access what they need to live happily, healthily, and contentedly.
• Five factors that affect wellbeing: environmental, social, economic, historic, and political factors.
• Environmental factors include climate, land quality, water availability, location, and resources.
• Social factors include population size/growth and cultural norms like gender roles.
• Economic factors include trade laws and access to trade routes.
• Historic factors include colonial past and past conflicts.
• Political factors include political stability, corruption levels, wars, and civil unrest.
• Primary requirements of wellbeing include freshwater, secure food supply, shelter, clothing, and safety.
• Secondary requirements include good health, education, and the ability to make a decent living.
• The three most important variables influencing wellbeing: health, wealth, and education.
• Health is important due to the ability to treat/control disease, provide healthcare, care for the vulnerable, and provide emergency services.
• Wealth is important as it determines the ability to purchase goods/services for needs and wants.
• The 3 richest people in the world are wealthier than 48 of the world's poorest countries combined.
• Education improves wellbeing through employment opportunities, higher wages, and better living conditions.
• Obstacles preventing education include war/conflict, poverty, and gender inequality.

Urban Challenges

• Urban challenges are issues that urban areas face.
• The main urban challenges: housing, housing issues in Perth/Australia, urban sprawl, transportation (Australia), transportation (global), traffic congestion, environmental degradation, waste management, liveability, land abandonment, and social-spatial inequality.
• The housing challenge is the inability to provide enough housing for a growing population
• This results in poorly built, low-cost, illegal housing often lacking essential services, and being flood-prone
• Housing issues in Perth/Australia:
• Homelessness due to social/economic issues.
• Housing prices beyond reach for those on government support or low income.
• Urban sprawl is the outward expansion of cities from the CBD, typically low density and car-dependent, making it costly and environmentally damaging.
• Transportation in Australia heavily relies on cars (70% of passenger movement), causing economic issues in road funding and environmental concerns.
• Transportation is shifting globally towards eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
• Traffic congestion is caused by:
• Rapid population growth.
• Peak hour traffic times.
• High car ownership levels.
• Limited public transport.
• Urban sprawl.
• Market economics favoring trucks over rail.
• Environmental degradation in urban areas:
• Destruction of ecosystems, leading to biodiversity loss
• Land/soil degradation.
• Water degradation.
• Air degradation.
• Noise pollution.
• Greenhouse gas emissions.
• Waste management requires improved solutions for landfill, recycling, and wastewater plans.
• Liveability issues arise in large cities due to safety concerns, but better infrastructure/services can enhance safety.
• Land abandonment is caused by:
• Population declines.
• Economic struggles leading to empty factories/shops.
• Lack of redevelopment devaluing adjacent properties.
• Social-spatial inequality refers to unequal access to resources/services due to location within an urban area.
• Social-spatial inequality is linked to economic inequality, with wealthy and poor residents aggregating separately.
• Results of social-spatial inequality:
• Poor housing opportunities.
• Lack of access to medical services.
• Increased distance from shops and workplaces.
• Poor access to transport.

Layers of the Atmosphere

• The layers of the atmosphere are: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere.
• The layers with pauses: troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, stratopause, mesosphere, mesopause, thermosphere.

Troposphere

• Composition: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, CO2, water vapor, neon, helium, methane, krypton, H2, etc.
• Density at sea level: 1.225 kg/m^3.
• Height: 6-20 km.
• Temperature: 17°C to -51°C.
• The ozone layer is above the tropopause.

Thermosphere

• Composition: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, CO2, etc.
• Height: 85km-600km.
• Temperature: 2500+°C.
• Density: ~10^-6 to 10^-12 kg/m^3.

Mesosphere

• Composition: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, CO2, etc.
• Density: ~10^-3 to 10^-6 kg/m^3.
• Height: 50km-85km.
• Temperature: -90°C.

Stratosphere

• Composition: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, CO2, etc.
• Density: 10^-1 to 10^-3 kg/m^3.
• Height: 12km to 50km.
• Temperature: -60 to 0°C.

Sunlight

• 70% of sunlight entering Earth reaches the surface.
• 4% is reflected by Earth's surface (snow, etc.).
• 20% is reflected by clouds.
• 6% is reflected by the atmosphere.
• 51% of solar radiation is absorbed by the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

• The enhanced greenhouse effect occurs when increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reflect escaping sunlight back to Earth.
• Increased absorption of the 51% leads to rising temperatures.

Carbon Cycle

• Carbon enters the atmosphere through combustion and respiration.
• It is absorbed through photosynthesis.
• Animals eat plants, incorporating carbon into their bodies.
• When animals and plants die, they release carbon back into the atmosphere.

Hydro Cycle

• The hydro cycle consists of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.

Climate Change Consequences

• Rising sea levels.
• Climate refugees.
• Loss of biodiversity.
• Changes in the Gulf Stream
• Desertification.
• Loss of industry.
• Flash floods.
• Increased tropical storms.
• Heatwaves and forest fires.

Causes of the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

• Increased CO2 levels caused by:
• Burning fossil fuels.
• Melting permafrost.
• Deforestation.
• Farming.

Evidence of the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

• Sea levels are rising due to thermal expansion and melting of land ice and glaciers.

Anthropocene

• The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch defined by the dominant influence of human activities.
• Main events on the timeline of human influence:
• Pre-industrial era.
• Industrial Revolution.
• Anthropocene.
• Signalled by the mid-20th century explosion of human population, industrialization, and nuclear testing.
• The 'Dawn of the Anthropocene' had been marked by plastics, pollution, and urbanization.
• Main drivers of the Anthropocene:
• Population growth.
• Technological advancement.
• Globalization.

Impacts of the Anthropocene

• Climate change.
• Biodiversity loss.
• Resource depletion.
• Pollution.

Biodiversity Loss

• Includes endangered species, habitat destruction, invasive species, and overexploitation.

Climate Change

• Includes greenhouse gas emissions, global temperature rise, and climate extremes.

Plastics

• Includes plastic production, plastic pollution, and ecological impacts.

Urbanisation

• Includes rapid urbanization, resource competition, and environmental impacts.

The Importance of the Anthropocene

• Understanding the Anthropocene is crucial for developing sustainable practices.
• Protecting and restoring biodiversity is essential for maintaining Earth's ecological resilience.
• This requires intergenerational responsibility.