Chapter 1

Question 1

Environment

Answer 1

The sum of our surroundings. It includes Earth’s biotic and abiotic components, as well as the built environment (ex// urban centers)

Question 2

Environmental science

Answer 2

The study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment.

Question 3

Science

Answer 3

A systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it. It also refers to the accumulated body of knowledge that arises from observation, testing, and discovery.

Question 4

Why is scientific knowledge important?

Answer 4

Science helps us develop solutions to the problems we face today (environmental, social…)

Question 5

Environmentalism

Answer 5

A social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world, and humans, from undesirable changes brought about by human actions and choices.

Question 6

According to Jared Diamond, what are the 5 factors that determine the survival of civilizations?

Answer 6

o	Climate change 
o	Hostile neighbours
o	Trade partners
o	Environmental problems
o	The society’s response to the environmental problems (the only wholly controllable one and is the crucial determinant of survival)

Question 7

Natural Resources

Answer 7

The substances and energy sources provided by the environment that are of economic value and that we need for survival and the functioning of society.

Question 8

Renewable Natural Resources + examples

Answer 8

They are replenish-able over short periods and are inexhaustible (sun, wind, wave energy).

Question 9

Non-renewable Natural Resources

Answer 9

They are finite and depletable because they are formed much more slowly than we use them (fossil fuels, mineral deposits).

Question 10

What resources may be depleted if we use them at a rate that exceeds the rate at which they are renewed?

Answer 10

Stock and flow resources. Examples include: crops, fresh water, soils, forest products.

Question 11

Resource Management

Answer 11

Strategic decision-making and planning to balance the use of a resource with its protection and preservation. Its basic premise is to balance the rate of use with the rate of renewal or regeneration.

Question 12

Stock

Answer 12

Harvestable portion of a resource.

Question 13

Goods

Answer 13

Tangible material things that can be extracted from the environment (food, water, material for shelter, energy resources).

Question 14

Services

Answer 14

Natural functions and processes that are useful or vital to support living organisms (nutrient cycling, climate regulation by the ocean and atmosphere).

Question 15

Carrying capacity

Answer 15

The measure of the ability of a system to support life.

Question 16

How is carrying capacity quantified

Answer 16

Environmental scientists quantify carrying capacity in terms of the number of individuals of a particular species that can be sustained by the biological productivity of a given area of land without incurring permanent damage.

Question 17

What are the 4 periods of societal change that triggered increases in population size?

Answer 17

1- Paleolithic Period: old stone age (people began using stone and fire as tools)
2- Neolithic/Agricultural Period: 10,000-12,000 years ago (transition from a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a settled, agricultural way of life)
3- Industrial Revolution: mid 1700s (shift from rural life to an urban society powered by fossil fuels. It marked the beginning of industrial scale production, but many other environmental and social problems)
4- Medical-Technological Revolution: now (advances in medicine, sanitation, modern agricultural practices, but new environmental issues as well)

Question 18

What is the formula used to quantify the impacts of tech and population on the environment?

Answer 18

I= PxAxT

• P : population
• A: affluence
• T: technology

Question 19

Ecological Footprint

Answer 19

Helps us quantify our impacts and resource consumption relative to the planet’s carrying capacity. It expresses the environmental impact of an individual or population in terms of the area of land and water required to provide the raw materials that person or population consumes, and to absorb or recycle their wastes.

Question 20

Sustainability

Answer 20

Sustainability means leaving the next generations a world as rich and full as the world we live in now. It means not depleting earth’s natural capital so when we’re gone, our descendants will be able to use the resources we have.
- The United Nations has defined sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

Question 21

Biodiversity

Answer 21

The cumulative number and diversity of living things.

Question 22

What are the 9 systems that are important to earth systems as a whole?

Answer 22

1. Stratospheric ozone layer
2. Biodiversity
3. Toxic chemicals dispersion
4. Climate change
5. Ocean acidification
6. Freshwater consumption and the global hydrological cycle
7. Land system change
8. Nitrogen and phosphorous inputs to the biosphere and oceans
9. Atmospheric aerosol loading

Question 23

What 3 boundaries have been crossed?

Answer 23

Climate change, nitrogen cycle, biodiversity loss.