CH 13: Environmental problems Flashcards
mix precipitation with air pollutants
Acid rain
The diversity of living organisms on earth
biodiversity
Material derived from plants and animals
Biomass
exposure to coal dust
Black lung disease
free-market, incentives to power plants and other industries for reducing carbon emissions.
Cap and trade programs
Particular species that have popular appeal, such as the panda, polar bear, monarch butterfly, and bald eagle, and that are used to draw public attention to larger environmental issues.
Charismatic megafauna
Establishes the first-ever federal limits on carbon emissions from U.S. power plants, establishing state-by-state targets for carbon emissions reductions and allowing states flexibility in how to meet these targets.
Clean power plan
A well-funded and aggressive misinformation campaign run by the fossil fuel industry and its allies that involves attacking and discrediting climate science, scientists, and scientific institutions.
Climate denial machine
People who do not accept the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming and climate change are scientific facts.
Climate deniers
Small-scale solar farms designed to support the power needs of a group of households.
Community solar gardens
When ocean water becomes too warm, coral will expel algae, causing the coral to turn white.
Coral bleaching
The view that maintaining the Earth’s natural systems should take precedence over human needs, that nature has a value independent of human existence, and that humans have no right to dominate the Earth and its living inhabitants.
Deep ecology
The conversion of forestland to nonforestland.
Deforestation
The degradation of semiarid land, which results in the expansion of desert land that is unusable for agriculture.
Desertification
Discarded electrical appliances and electronic equipment.
E-waste
The approximate date on which humanity’s annual demand on the planet’s resources exceeds what our planet can renew in a year.
Earth overshoot day
A biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment such as air, water, soil, and sunlight, that interact to keep the whole ecosystem functioning.
Ecosystem
The use or threatened use of illegal force by groups or individuals in order to protect environmental and/or animal rights.
Ecoterrorism
The demands that humanity makes on the Earth’s natural resources.
Environmental footprint
Also known as environmental racism, the tendency for marginalized populations and communities to disproportionately experience adversity due to environmental problems.
Environmental injustice
Hydraulic fracturin involves injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into drilled wells to crack shale rock and release natural gas into the well.
Fracking
Energy produced from the heat deep within the Earth; produced from the slow decay of radioactive particles deep within the inner core of the Earth.
Geothermal energy
The increasing average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and land, caused mainly by the accumulation of various gases (greenhouse gases) that collect in the atmosphere.
Global warming
Also known as clean energy—energy that is nonpolluting and/or renewable, such as solar power, wind power, biofuel, and hydrogen.
Green energy
The accumulation of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, which then acts like the glass in a greenhouse, holding heat from the sun close to the Earth.
Greenhouse effect
The increasing average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and land, caused mainly by the accumulation of various gases (greenhouse gases) that collect in the atmosphere.
Global warming
Also known as clean energy—energy that is nonpolluting and/or renewable, such as solar power, wind power, biofuel, and hydrogen.
Green energy
The accumulation of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, which then acts like the glass in a greenhouse, holding heat from the sun close to the Earth.
Greenhouse effect
The gases (primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) that accumulate in the atmosphere and act like the glass in a greenhouse, holding heat from the sun close to the Earth.
Greenhouse gases
College and university funds that are dedicated to financing cost-saving energy-efficiency upgrades and other projects that decrease resource use and minimize environmental impacts.
Green revolving funds (GRFS)
The way in which environmentally and socially damaging companies portray their corporate image and products as being “environmentally friendly” or socially responsible.
Greenwashing
A largely unconscious belief that humans are the masters of creation rather than just one species among millions. Also known as anthropocentrism.
Human supremacy
The first international agreement to place legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions from developed countries.
Kyoto protocol
Artificial lighting that is annoying, unnecessary, and/or harmful to life forms on Earth.
Light pollution
A process of coal mining in which the tops of mountains are dynamited and removed to access coal seams below.
Mountaintop removal
Also known as “environmental illness,” a condition whereby individuals experience adverse reactions when exposed to low levels of chemicals found in everyday substances.
Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)
Opposition by local residents to a proposed new development in their community, also known as NIMBY.
Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY)
An international agreement which calls for the countries of the world to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ward off what could become extinction-level global warming and climate change.
Paris climate accord
An international agreement which calls for the countries of the world to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ward off what could become extinction-level global warming and climate change.
Paris climate accord
The perception that a product is obsolete; used as a marketing tool to convince consumers to replace certain items even though the items are still repairable.
Perceived obsolescence
The manufacturing of products that are intended to become inoperative or outdated in a fairly short period of time.
Planned obsolescence
A grassroots movement of individuals and groups that employs unconventional and often illegal means of protecting wildlife or the environment.
Radical environmental movement
Large solar arrays owned by utility companies to contribute to their electricity supply, which is then sold to consumers. Also known as solar parks.
Solar farms
A process of coal mining by which large machines are used to remove topsoil and layers of rock to expose coal less than 200 feet underground.
Strip mining
The balancing point at which all human beings can live healthy, equitable, and peaceful lives without degrading our natural environment.
Sustainable development
Large, naturally occurring deposits of sand, clay, water, and a dense form of petroleum that looks like tar.
Tar sands
Oil that results from converting tar sands into liquid fuel. It is known as the world’s dirtiest oil because producing it requires energy, generates high levels of greenhouse gases, and leaves behind large amounts of toxic waste.
Tar sands oil
