UPSC Static Quiz – Environment : 18 June 2024

Solution: b)

Statement 1 and 2 is correct.

Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present.

Zero tillage not only reduce the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement and weed effect which is better than tillage. Zero Tillage (ZT) also called No Tillage or Nil Tillage.

Mixed farming is a type of farming which involves both the growing of crops as well as the raising of livestock.

Intercropping is a multiple cropping practice involving growing two or more crops in proximity. 

Vertical farming is the practice of growing produce in vertically stacked layers. The practice can use soil, hydroponic or aeroponic growing methods. Vertical farms attempt to produce food in challenging environments, like where arable land is rare or unavailable.

Solution: d)

Phytoremediation refers to the usage of “hyperaccumulator” plants to absorb the toxic materials present in the soil and accumulate in their living tissue. Even though most plants do sometimes accumulate toxic substances, hyperaccumulators have the unusual ability to absorb hundreds or thousands of times greater amounts of these substances than is normal for most plants.

What are the advantages of phytoremediation with hyperaccumulators?

One of the primary advantages of phytoremediation is the fact that it is quite cost-effective in comparison with other remediation methods. The only major costs attached are related to crop management (planting, weed control, watering, fertilisation, pruning, fencing, harvesting etc.). This method is also relatively simple and doesn’t require any new kinds of specialised technology. Also, no external energy source is required since the plants grow with the help of sunlight.

Another important advantage of this method is that it enriches the soil with organic substances and microorganisms which can protect its chemical and biological qualities. Also, while the plants are growing and accumulating toxic heavy metals, they protect the soil from erosion due to wind and water.

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

There are several ways of removing particulate matter; the most widely used of which is the electrostatic precipitator, which can remove over 99 per cent particulate matter present in the exhaust from a thermal power plant.

A scrubber can remove gases like sulphur dioxide. In a scrubber, the exhaust is passed through a spray of water or lime.

Catalytic converters, having expensive metals namely platinum-palladium and rhodium as the catalysts, are fitted into automobiles for reducing emission of poisonous gases. As the exhaust passes through the catalytic converter, unburnt hydrocarbons are converted into carbon dioxide and water, and carbon monoxide and nitric oxide are changed to carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas, respectively. Motor vehicles equipped with catalytic converter should use unleaded petrol because lead in the petrol inactivates the catalyst.

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Aerosols:

• Aerosols are defined as a combination of liquid or solid particles suspended in a gaseous or liquid
• In the atmosphere, these particles are mainly situated in the low layers of the atmosphere (< 1.5 km) since aerosol sources are located on the terrestrial surface.
• certain aerosols can still be found in the stratosphere, especially volcanic aerosols ejected into the high-altitude layers.
• The origin of atmospheric aerosols is either natural or the result of anthropogenic activities

Effects of aerosols:

• They affect the atmospheric chemical composition.
• They can reduce visibility.
• They have important impacts on air quality and human health (e.g., aerosols can cause damage to heart and lungs).
• They serve as nuclei for cloud droplets or ice crystals in ice clouds.

Solution: d)

The usage of the term ‘carbon bombs’ picked up after an investigative project of The Guardian from May this year. The project reported the plans of countries and private companies all over the world to engage in 195 ‘carbon bomb’ projects. Each such project, it is believed, will release huge amounts of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

What are carbon bombs?

Defining the term in its report, The Guardian said that it is “an oil or gas project that will result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.”

Whenever coal, oil, or gas is extracted it results in pollution and environmental degradation. Further, carbon emissions take place in particularly large amounts when fuel is burned.

Net zero emissions means that all carbon emissions into the atmosphere must be absorbed by methods like increasing the forest cover, and decreasing man-made emissions.