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Environmental Science 9
Chapter 1 Flash Cards from Living in the Environment
34
Science
9th Grade
01/11/2011

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Term
Environmental Science
Definition
An interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the environment of living and nonliving things
Term
Environmentalism
Definition
A social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life-support systems for us and all other forms of life
Term
Natural Capital
Definition
the natural resources and natural services that keeps us and other forms of life alive and support or economies.
Term
Solar Capital
Definition
Supports Natural Capital. Energy from the sun which warms the planet and supports photosynthesis
Term
Natural resources
Definition
materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans. Classified as renewable and nonrenewable.
Term
Natural services
Definition
Functions of nature such as purification of air and water which support life and human economics.
Term
Nutrient Cycling
Definition
circulation of chemicals necessary for life, from the environment through organisms and back to the environment.
Term
sustainability
Definition
the ability of the earth's various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely
Term
natural income
Definition
renewable resources provided by natural capital
Term
gross domestic product
Definition
annual market value of all goods and services produced by al firms and organisations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country.
Term
per capita GDP
Definition
measurement of a country's economic growth per person
Term
per capita GDP PPP
Definition
measure of the amounts of things that a country's averagae inhabitant could buy in the US
Term
economic development
Definition
using economic growth to improve living standards
Term
developed countries
Definition
US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and many European countries
Term
developing countries
Definition
5.5 billion people; most in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
Term
environmentally sustainable economic development
Definition
using politics and economics to discourage forms of economic growth that harm the environment and encourage things that benefit the environment and sustainable forms of economic development
Term
resource
Definition
anything obtained from the envionrment to meet our needs and wants
Term
conservation
Definition
management of natural resources with the goal of minimising waste and sustaining supplies.
Term
perpetual resource
Definition
something that is renewed continuously and lasts a long time
Term
renewable resource
Definition
a resource that can be replenished fairly quickly through natural processes as long as it is used sustainably
Term
sustainable yield
Definition
highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply
Term
tragedy of the commons
Definition
degradation of common property and open access resources due to the thought that if one does not use the resource, another would.
Term
non-renewable resource
Definition
exist in a fixed quantity, or stock, in the earth's crust
Term
reuse
Definition
using a resource over and over in the same form.
Term
recycling
Definition
collecting waste materials and processing them into new materials
Term
ecological footprint
Definition
the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply the people in a particular country or area with resources and to absorb and recycle the waste and pollution produced
Term
point source pollution
Definition
single, identifiable sources of pollution
Term
nonpoint source pollution
Definition
pollution that is dispersed and difficult to identify.
Term
biodegradable pollutants
Definition
pollutants that can be broken down naturally
Term
nondegradable pollutants
Definition
harmful materials that natural processes cannot break down
Term
input pollution control
Definition
reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants
Term
output pollution control
Definition
cleaning up or diluting pollutants after they have been produced
Term
5 basic causes for environmental problems
Definition
population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, failure to include the environmental costs of goods in their market prices, and insufficient knowledge of how nature works
Term
four principles of sustainability
Definition
reliance on solar energy, biodiversity, nutrient cycling, population control
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