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Week 3: Human Population and Pollution Lab Report Form
Updated: 2/28/2018
Name:
Tiffany Jackson Date:
December 16, 2023
Professor:
Dr. Omar Clay
Important Note!
Section 1 of this lab requires that you track your waste production for five days. To complete this lab on time, please begin recording your trash production as soon as possible.
In addition to conducting a daily audit of the waste that you produce (either as a household or as an individual), the remaining components of the lab are estimated to take another 45 to 90 minutes to complete.
Introduction:
The human population first reached 1 billion (i.e. 1,000 million) people in 1804, roughly 5 thousand and a few hundred years from our earliest records of human writing. However it took just over a century for the global human population to gain another 1 billion people to reach a total of 2 billion people in 1927. Only thirty-three years later, the world population had gained yet another one billion people and by 1974 the human population reached 4 billion people. As our population skyrockets, our society has become ever more energy intensive. People everywhere are now using more energy, more material goods, and producing more waste than ever before. The intensity of this resource extraction and waste generation is depleting mineral and energy resources globally, destroying ecosystems, and threatening the livelihood of other species and humans alike. A recent estimate indicates that, on average, a US citizen generates almost 4.4 pounds of trash every day- which is 1.6 pounds (36%) more trash than Americans produced on average in 1960.
In this lab you will explore how much the global population has grown since your birth and how much trash you produce daily.
Section 1: Waste Audit Introduction
When asked about having a waste processing center (or dump) located in their community, it is common
for Americans to respond with the phrase, “Not in my backyard”. Of course no one really wants to be near the areas where we collect the trash and waste produced by our cities and communities. However, waste management may not always be something that we can export to poorer neighborhoods or less populated areas. As you monitor how much waste you produce on a daily basis, consider what it would be like if you could put your waste nowhere other than in your backyard.
The resource list below can be useful when you analyze your trash for what can and can’t be recycled or composted.
Resources
What can I Recycle? Retrieved from: http://www.wm.com/thinkgreen/what-can-i-recycle.jsp
What is waste recycling? Retrieved from: http://www.eschooltoday.com/waste-recycling/what-
is-recycling.html
A simple list of what can and can’t be recycled. Retrieved from: https://www.ecoscraps.com/blogs/sustainable-living/76411652-a-simple-list-of-what-can-and-
cannot-be-recycled
California’s list of what can be recycled: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publiced/earthday/what.htm
What you can and can’t compost: https://www.compostinstructions.com/what-you-can-and-
cannot-compost/
Advancing Sustainable Materials Management.
Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/smm/advancing-sustainable-materials-management-facts-and-figures
Directions
Log your production of trash for five days using Table 1.1. Catalog all of the waste that you generate within the categories listed below. If you keep a log book or notepaper and pen with you as you go through your day, you will be able to collect your data more accurately. You can then transfer the data at the end of each day to Table 1.1.
Observations
Table 1.1 Waste Log Aluminu
m and Metal
Cloth and Textile
Paper and Cardboa
rd
Glass Plastic Bags and Wrappi
ng
Plastic
Bottles
Styrofoa
m
Organic
and Food Other
Waste
Day 1
1
0
4
0
0
5
0
0
0
Day 2
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
Day 3
2
0
0
0
3
2
0
0
0
Day 4
0
0
0
0
1
3
1
0
0
Day 5
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
Total
3
0
4
0
6
13
1
0
0
Analysis There are many ways to reduce waste, including reducing consumption of disposable items, reusing items, and recycling materials that we can no longer use. The impact of organic and food waste can also be minimized by composting. Use the references listed above or conduct your own research to estimate what percentage of each category of waste could be recycled. The “
What can I Recycle?”
site hosts an interactive tool that allows one to look up various items. Enter your estimates of the percentage of each waste category that was recyclable in Table 1.2, along with your estimate of how much of the waste in each category you actually did recycle, reuse, or compost.
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Table 1.2 Estimated Percent Recyclable, Reusable, or Compostable and Percent that You Did Recycle, Reuse, or Compost %
Plastic
Bottles
Plastic Bags & Wrappin
g
Glass Bottles
Aluminu
m or Metal Waste
Paper & Cardboard
Waste
Styrofoam
Waste
Cloth & Textile
Waste
Food &
Organic
Waste
Other
Waste
Able
to
13
0
0
3
4
1
0
0
0
Did
0.13%
0
0
0.03%
0.04%
0.01%
0
0
0
Conclusion Respond to each of these questions: 1.
In which categories did most of your waste fit into? Plastic Bottles
2.
In which categories was there the most opportunity for you to reduce your waste easily? Plastic Bottles
3.
In which categories was there the largest discrepancy between the percentage of waste that you
could recycle vs the percentage that you did recycle? I believe that I could have recycled more this week on paper and cardboard waste.
4.
In which categories did you recycle the most? Why? Plastic bottles or where I recycle the most Because I drink a lot of bottled drinks.
5.
How important would composting be to reducing your trash production?
If I could compost is would save on what food or organic waste, I do have but usually I don't have any food left over after meals. 6.
How much of your waste generation was related to your diet and products that you ate or drank? Didn't have any food waste and most come from what I drink.
7.
How much of your waste production was related to purchases that you could have easily avoided? I could have used a water bottle from home instead of drinking bottled water.
8.
Reflect on your observations and learning in this section. How do you think society might transition to producing less waste? I need to find was to recycle thing in my everyday use and help the world become a better place. If everyone found ways to recycle the earth would be a better place.
Section 2: Population Growth Resources
Year
World Population Estimate
1900
1,650 million people
1910
1,750 million people
1920
1,860 million people
1930
2,070 million people
1940
2,300 million people
1950
2,520 million people
1960
3,309 million people
1970
3,707 million people
1980
4,454 million people
1990
5,279 million people
2000
6,083 million people
https://www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/table_history.php
To find world population estimates for more specific dates, you can use one of the data sources listed here:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/global-mapping.html
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
http://ourworldindata.org/data/population-growth-vital-statistics/world-population-growth/
https://www.census.gov/popclock/
Observation Fill in the blank entries in Table 1.1 below using the resources provided above. The current global population can be found at census.gov
(the last link in the resources above).
Table 2.1: World Population Estimates Year or Date
Global Human Population estimate (millions)
1900
1900
1,650 million people
Year of Personal Birth
1995
6 billion Current population
2023
9 billion
Analysis Fill out Table 2.2 by using the entries in Table 2.1. For column 1 in Table 2.1, find the number of years between 1900 and your birth year and the number of years since your birth and the current date (your age in years). For column 2 in Table 2.1, find how many more people were on the planet in your birth year versus 1900, and how many more people are on the planet now than in your birth year. Table 2.2:
Human Population Growth Analysis Epoch of time
Time Period in years Population Change (number of people in millions)
1900 to Birth Year
5 years
272.7 million
Personal Birth Year to present 28 years 332.64 million
To fill out Table 2.3, column 1 Time Period in years will remain the same as in Table 2.2. To fill out column 2, the percent change in population, take the entry in each row of column 2 in Table 2.2. and divide it by the number in the same row of table 2.1. This is dividing the Population Change that you found in Table 2.2 (column 2) by the starting population for that epoch that you found in Table 2.1. If you now multiply this number by 100%, you get the population percent growth rate. For instance, if the Population Change you found in row 1, column 2 of Table 2.2 was 1,350 million people and the starting population in 1900 shown in Table 2.1 was 1,650 million people, the Percent Growth Rate for that period of time is 1,350/1,650 = .81, which means that from 1900 to 1959 the global
population increased by 81%! Table 2.3:
Human Percent Growth Epoch of time
Time Period in years Percent Growth Rate
1900 to Birth Year
5 years
34%
Personal Birth Year to present 28 years
42%
Conclusion Summarize your observations and results. What kinds of changes could human society make in order to accommodate your observations in a way that will preserve the possibility of future generations living well?
In observation of this lab this week if we start today with learning how to recycle in many different ways. We will be able to teach the future generation to come on how to help the earth by repurposing thing that we already have. We could even recycle food waste by using it to cook another meal in the week.
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