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20 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

assumptions

statements accepted as true without proof

carrying capacity

the maximum number of individuals of a given species that an area's resources can support in the long term without significantly depleting or degrading those resources

sustainability

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

biodiversity

the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem

ecological footprint

a measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices

what are three common aspects of renewable energy?

- replenished by natural resources


- no direct air/water pollution


- no storage or use of toxic materials

how can the human population be growing while the growth rate of the population is declining

the rate is still greater than 1 though it is less than it was a decade ago


- one billion people only having one kid is still a lot of kids

what are three important skills for effective critical thinking?

- synthesize


- analyze


- reasoning

why has natural dethroned "king coal" and how this will effect U.S. GHG emissions

- cheaper and more abundant natural gas reserves


- environmental regulations


- climate change

4 large schale environmental changes that are a result of global climate change?

- ocean acidification


- changes in weather patterns globally


- melting arctic sea ice


- sea level rise

what has a decrease in coal powered energy production significantly reduced SO2 and NOx but not CO2?

policy required the scrubbing of SO2 and NOx but not CO2

what is the difference between adaptation and mitigation?

adaptation: the process of adjustment to actual/expected climate and its effects in order to either lessen or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities


mitigation: the process of reducing emissions or enhancing sinks of greenhouse gases so as to limit future climate change

local, regional, and global impacts of fracking

local: hazardous chemicals leaching into the local water supply


regional: increase in jobs come with more fracking wells


global: climate change from the burning of gases/oils extracted

two climate events in 2016 attributed to global climate change

hurricanes: an increase in hurricanes due to a change in global precipitation patterns brought on by climate change


sea ice melt: arctic sea ice is melting much faster than it's reforming

what is critical thinking?

moving beyond emotion to analyze and assess what hear/learn/think

why is it hard to determine the human carrying capacity of earth?

- as we increase knowledge we increase the carrying capacity (artificial nitrogen fixation)


- pollution has no political boundaries


- import goods when the area lacks them (Alaska)

List and describe three metrics used by sustainability indices

- agriculture


- water


- energy

natural gas

compound that occurs beneath the earth's surface that consists mainly of methane w/ small amounts of hydrocarbon liquids and nonhydrocarbon gases; used as a fuel or to make materials/chemicals

2 greenhouse gases that are not CO2

water vapor, methane

explain why solar energy is one of the most common sources of renewable energy in the US but is still providing significantly less electricity to our power grid than traditional fossil fuels

pros: renewable, sustainable, low maintenance, technology is improving


cons: expensive, storage is expensive, requires space