Environmental Science Question

Overview

1. Below is data from the United States Geological Survey on water withdrawal in the United States. Water withdrawal is the amount of fresh water being taken from groundwater of surface water sources for use. Use the two columns of data below and create a "Line chart" in Google Sheets. Make a plot of Withdrawal vs Time (Y-axis vs. X-Axis). Plots should always have a descriptive title, axis labels on the x and y axes, a reasonable scale (all data shown on plot, but plot is not tiny), units for labels (if necessary), and a legend.

Year          U.S. Water Withdrawal (billion gallons per day)

1950              184

1955              246

1960               271

1965               314

1970              372

1975              412

1980              435

1985              396

1990               403

1995               398

2000               416

2005               410

2010                355

2015                322

• You can copy and paste the table into Google Sheets
• Data from www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/total-water-use-united-states?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objectsLinks to an external site.

1. Using the data on water withdrawal in the U.S. and the plot you created in question 2, identify 2 trends in the plot. For each trend state the years that it is happening and what the trend is (increasing, decreasing, staying the same). Create a reasonable explanation for the trends in water withdrawal you listed.
2. There are two species of trees, Tree A and Tree B. Tree A has a range of tolerance between 10 and 40 degrees C, and Tree B has a range of tolerance between 12 and 20 degrees C. Describe how well you expect tree A and B would grow (use a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being dead and 5 being excellent) starting at 13 degrees C to 29 degrees C, using an increment of 2 degrees C. Come up with an experiment to test this scenario. Explain your experiment as much as possible.
3. What are the four ways we can measure the wealth of nations discussed in lecture (Hint: they all have acronyms)? What are the problems with only using GNP and GDP to measure national wealth?
4. Explain why understanding the impact human activity has on the environment is important to determining economic policies?
5. Most plastics are considered organic compounds (made of combinations of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen). What happens to plastics that are in landfills, dumps, or in the ocean? (In other words: How long does it take them to decompose?) Using this information and the Law of Conservation of Matter, what is happening to the natural availability of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen? Why might this be a problem?