Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Tetraethyllead, Environmentalism, Radical Change
1 Jan 2016
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Lectures from oct 21st on for exam bdo (except ch 2) Most influential single organism on the impact on earths atmosphere: leaded gasoline (ethyl) chemist worked at gm. Problem: lead harmful pollutant, killed massive numbers of people from lead in atmosphere: freon (cfc): used to make refrigerators work better. Midgley"s death as a metaphor: invented string of series of pulleys and strangled himself in hospital bed. Incredible ingenuity and unforeseen consequences of that ingenuity. Symbol: terrible results that can follow from human intelligence combined with bad luck and failure to consider long-term consequences of actions. Serious environmental problems: loss of natural resources, ceilings on needed resources, harmful things we generate, population growth and per capita impact on planet. Wild food sources: fish- massive protein consumed human"s come from wild sources, thus disappearing. Toxic chemicals: lead to birth defects, air pollution. Alien species: species moving into new environment as a result of humans.
