Sustainable Living Guide Contributions- Sustaining Our Atmosphere and Climate

Sustainable Living Guide Contributions- Sustaining Our Atmosphere and Climate

Your Term: Oil Sands

Oil sands is a term describing particular nonconventional oil deposits. Oil sands refer to a mixture of sand, bitumen, clay, water, and minerals (Ramseur, 2015). Bitumen in this mixture refers to a type of crude oil that has degraded over many years (Ramseur, 2015). Bitumen is very thick or dense, has a very high viscosity, and has a consistency like that of molasses at room temperature (Ramseur, 2015). Oil sand production, especially in Canada, has been rising for decades. Notably, the economic importance of this industry cannot be overstated. Nonetheless, the rapid development of oil sands has aroused concerns regarding oil sands’ potential impact on the environment. Therefore, understanding this term is essential in understanding the current and future risks so as to improve the management of oil sands process-affected waters.

Oil sands have potential effects on living beings and the environment. It is worth noting that oil sand mining relies on water to separate bitumen from the oil sands ore (Mahaffey & Dubé, 2017). Consequently, oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) poses environmental risks due to its composition and toxicity. The main sources of this contamination are organic compounds, primarily from bitumen (Mahaffey & Dubé, 2017). Subsequently, this toxicity affects a variety of aquatic animals. This includes physiological changes such as disrupted endocrine system, compromised immunity, impaired reproduction, and developmental delay (Li et al., 2017). Other adverse effects include greenhouse gas emissions involved in oil sand extraction and processing. Also, regions involved in oil sand production incur high water treatment and land reclamation costs.

Notably, oil sands present considerable challenges regarding their impact on the environment. Therefore, devising methods to manage oil sands process-affected waters and promote environmental sustainability becomes imperative. One such method is partaking research to better understand the composition and toxicity of oil sand process-affected waters in order to devise strategies for averting the existing and future implications of oil sand extraction and processing. Another action to promote environmental sustainability concerning oil sands is supporting organizations like the Nature Conservancy. This nonprofit organization focuses on conserving nature and solving biodiversity loss (The Nature Conservancy, 2022). To support Nature Conservancy’s mission, one can volunteer or donate funds to help conserve or reclaim destructed biodiversity like the lands and waters impacted by oil sand production.

References

Li, C., Fu, L., Stafford, J., Belosevic, M., & Gamal El-Din, M. (2017). The toxicity of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW): A critical review. Science Of The Total Environment, 601-602, 1785-1802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.024

Mahaffey, A., & Dubé, M. (2017). Review of the composition and toxicity of oil sands process-affected water. Environmental Reviews, 25(1), 97-114. https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2015-0060.

Ramseur, J. (2015). Oil Sands and the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund: The Definition of “Oil” and Related Issues for Congress. Oil Sands and the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund: The Definition of “Oil”. Retrieved 15 August 2022, from https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20150122_R43128_587fa7ed94e17274e8f97fdf36fa3fc4b288b58f.pdf.

The Nature Conservancy. (2022). A New Day for Climate Action in the U.S. Retrieved 15 August 2022, from https://www.nature.org/en-us/.

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Sustainable Living Guide Contributions: Sustaining Our Atmosphere and Climate
[WLO: 3] [CLOs: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapters 7 and 8 in your course textbook.

The purpose of this assignment is twofold: first, to enable you to explore a term (concept, technique, place, etc.) related to this week’s theme of sustaining atmosphere and climate; second, to provide your first contribution to a collective project, the Class Sustainable Living Guide. Your work this week will be gathered (along with that of your peers) into a master document you will receive a few days after the end of the course. The document will provide everyone with a variety of ideas for how we can all live more sustainably in our homes and communities.

Sustainable Living Guide Contributions- Sustaining Our Atmosphere and Climate

To complete this assignment,

Select a term from the list of choices in the Week 4 – Term Selection Table located in the course. Type your name in the table next to the word that you would like to choose.
Do not select a term that a classmate has already chosen; only one student per term. If you choose a term that is hyperlinked to a source, that term is one that is not mentioned in our textbook. Instead of being required to use the text as your third source for completing the assignment, you will be expected to use the hyperlinked source provided for you.
Download the Week 4 Assignment Template Download the Week 4 Assignment Template available in the course and replace the guiding text with your own words based upon your online research.
Please do not include a cover page. All references, however, should be cited in your work and listed at the end, following APA Style expectations.
In the template, you will

Define the term thoroughly, in your own words.
Explain the importance of the term using evidence.
Discuss how the term affects living things and the physical world.
Suggest two specific actions that you and your peers might take to promote environmental sustainability in relation to the term.
Explain exactly how those actions will aid in safeguarding our environment in relation to your chosen term.
Provide detailed examples to support your ideas.
The Sustainable Living Guide Contributions: Sustaining Our Atmosphere and Climate paper

Must be a minimum of three paragraphs in length (not including title, any quoted text, or references) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.)
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must use at least two scholarly sources in addition to the course text. To receive optimal credit, use at least one scholarly source from a peer-reviewed academic journal. To aid you in your research, and particularly in locating scholarly sources via the UAGC Library or using Google Scholar, please review the following UAGC videos and tutorials:
Scholarly and Popular Resources (Links to an external site.)
Database Search Tips (Links to an external site.)
University of Arizona Global Campus Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Accessing full text and citations in Google Scholar: SCI207 – Google Scholar (Links to an external site)
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the UAGC Writing Center for specifications.