Apes Chapter 1 Vocab

Front 1

Environment

Back 1

everything around us

Front 2

Environmental science

Back 2

study of how humans interact w/ the environment of living/nonliving things

Front 3

Ecology (sub-filed of environmental science)

Back 3

studies how organisms (living things) interact

Front 4

Species

Back 4

a group of organisms w/ distinctive traits

Front 5

Ecosystem

Back 5

a set of organisms interacting w/ each other and their environment w/I a defined area

Front 6

Environmentalism

Back 6

a social movement dedicated to protecting life

Front 7

Sustainability

Back 7

The ability of earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environment

Front 8

Natural capital

Back 8

natural resources

Front 9

Natural services

Back 9

functions of nature which support life

Front 10

Nutrient cycling

Back 10

circulation of chemicals necessary for life from the environment

Front 11

Solar capital

Back 11

energy from the sun

Front 12

Environmentally sustainable society

Back 12

meets the current/future basic resource needs of its people

Front 13

Natural income

Back 13

renewable sources

Front 14

Economic development

Back 14

uses economic growth to improve living standards

Front 15

Developed counties

Back 15

us, Canada, japan, Australia, New Zealand, and most countries of Europe

Front 16

Developing countries

Back 16

Africa, Asia, Latin America

Front 17

Environmentally sustainable economic development

Back 17

using political and economic systems to discourage environmentally harmful and unsustainable forms of economic growth that degrade natural capital

Front 18

Resource

Back 18

anything obtained from the environment to meet our needs and wants

Front 19

Conservation

Back 19

the management of natural resources w/ the goal of minimizing resource waste

Front 20

Perpetual resource

Back 20

(sun) because it is renewed continuously and expected to last at least 6 billion years

Front 21

Renewable resource

Back 21

can be replaced fairly quickly through natural process as long as it is not used faster than renewed (ie: grasslands, freshwater, air, soil, etc)

Front 22

Sustainable yield

Back 22

the highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely w/o reducing its available supply

Front 23

Environmental degradation

Back 23

when we exceed the sustainable yield

Front 24

Nonrenewable resources

Back 24

exist in a fix quantity, or stock, in the earth's crust

Front 25

Reuse

Back 25

using a resource over and over in some form (glass bottles can be collected and washed)

Front 26

Recycling

Back 26

collecting waste materials and processing them into new materials (cans can be crushed and melted to make new ones)

Front 27

Ecological deficit

Back 27

country's footprint is larger than its biological capacity

Front 28

Per capita ecological footprint

Back 28

is an estimate of how much of the earth's renewable resources a person uses

Front 29

Culture

Back 29

the whole of a society's knowledge, beliefs, tech, and practices, and human cultural changes has profound effects on the earth

Front 30

Pollution

Back 30

anything in the environment that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans and other organisms

Front 31

Pollution clean up or output pollution control

Back 31

cleaning up or diluting pollutants after they have been produced

Front 32

Pollution prevention or input pollution control

Back 32

reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants

Front 33

Planetary management

Back 33

we are separate from nature, nature exists mainly to meet our needs and increasing wants; use earth's resources for our advantages

Front 34

stewardship

Back 34

we can and should manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers; encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and development and discourage environmentally harmful forms

Front 35

Environmental wisdom

Back 35

we are part of and totally dependent on nature; nature exists for all species not just for us; our success depends on learning how life on earth sustains itself and integrating such environmental wisdom into the ways we think and act

Front 36

Scientific principles of sustainability

Back 36

using them can help bring about an environmental or sustainability revelation during your lifetime