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Environmental Science > Chapter 1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability > Flashcards

Chapter 1: Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability Flashcards

1
Q

is a study of connections in nature

A

Environmental Science

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2
Q
  • is everything around us

- it includes all of the living and non-living things with which we interact

A

The Environment

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3
Q

an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the environment of living and non-living things

A

Environmental Science

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4
Q

5 Major Fields of Study Related to Environmental Science

A
  1. Biology
  2. Chemistry
  3. Earth Science
  4. Social Sciences
  5. Humanities
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5
Q

study of living things (organisms)

A

Biology

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6
Q

study of chemicals and their interactions

A

Chemistry

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7
Q

study of the planet as a whole and its nonliving systems

A

Earth Science

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8
Q

studies of human society

A

Social Sciences

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9
Q

study of the aspects of the human condition not covered by the physical and social sciences

A

Humanities

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10
Q

16 Subfields of Study Related to Environmental Science

A
  1. Ecology
  2. Botany
  3. Zoology
  4. Biochemistry
  5. Climatology
  6. Geology
  7. Hydrology
  8. Paleontology
  9. Anthropology
  10. Demography
  11. Geography
  12. Economics
  13. Political Science
  14. History
  15. Ethics
  16. Philosophy
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11
Q

study of how organisms interact with one another and with their nonliving environment

A

Ecology

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12
Q

study of plants

A

Botany

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13
Q

study of animals

A

Zoology

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14
Q

study of the chemistry of living things

A

Biochemistry

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15
Q

study of the earth’s atmosphere and climate

A

Climatology

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16
Q

study of the earth’s origin, history, surface, and interior processes

A

Geology

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17
Q

study of the earth’s water resources

A

Hydrology

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18
Q

study of fossils and ancient life

A

Paleontology

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19
Q

study of human cultures

A

Anthropology

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20
Q

study of the characteristics of human populations

A

Demography

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21
Q

study of the relationships between human populations and the earth’s surface features

A

Geography

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22
Q

study of the production, distribution, and consumption of foods and services

A

Economics

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23
Q

study of the principles, processes, and structure of government and political institutions

A

Political Science

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24
Q

study of information and ideas about humanity’s past

A

History

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25
Q

study of moral values and concepts concerning right and wrong human behavior and responsibilities

A

Ethics

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26
Q

study of knowledge and wisdom about the nature of reality, values, and human conduct

A

Philosophy

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27
Q
  • a key subfield of environmental science

- biological science that studies how organisms, or living things, interact with their environment and with each other

A

Ecology

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28
Q

a group of organisms with distinctive traits and, for sexually reproducing organisms, can mate and produce fertile offspring

A

Species

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29
Q

major focus of ecology

A

Study of Ecosystems

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30
Q

is a set of organisms interacting with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy within a defined area or volume

A

Ecosystem

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31
Q
  • a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life-support systems for us and all other forms of life
  • is practiced more in the political and ethical arenas than in the realm of science
A

Environmentalism

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32
Q

Three Principles of Sustainability

A
  1. Life depends on solar energy
  2. Biodiversity provides natural services
  3. Chemical/nutrient cycling means that there is little waste in nature
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33
Q
  • is the ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely
  • means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
A

Sustainability

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34
Q

7 Key Components of Sustainability

A
  1. Life depends on natural capital, natural resources, and natural services
  2. Many human activities can degrade natural capital
  3. Solutions are being found and implemented
  4. Sustainability begins at personal and local events
  5. Natural Capital
  6. Natural Resources
  7. Natural Services
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35
Q

the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our human economies

A

Natural Capital

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36
Q

are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans

A

Natural Resources

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37
Q

natural resources are often classified as _____ (such as air, water, soil, plants, and wind) or _____ (such as copper, oil, and coal)

A

renewable resources; nonrenewable resources

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38
Q

are processes in nature, such as purification of air and water and renewal of topsoil, which support life and human economies

A

Natural Services

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39
Q

Equation for Natural Capital

A

Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services

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40
Q

supported by energy from the sun - another of the _____

A

Natural Capital; principles of sustainability

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41
Q

Without it, natural capital and the life it supports would collapse

A

Solar Energy

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42
Q
  • one vital natural service
  • the circulation of chemicals necessary for life, from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment
A

Nutrient Cycling

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43
Q
  • an important component
  • the upper layer of any soil in which plants can grow
  • it provides the nutrients that support plants, animals, and microorganisms living on land
A

Topsoil

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44
Q

it is the basis for one of the three principles of sustainability that if without it, life as we know it could not exist

A

Nutrient cycling in topsoil

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45
Q

exist in fixed quantities

A

Nonrenewable resources

46
Q

e.g. coal and oil

A

Exhaustible Energy

47
Q

e.g. copper and aluminum

A

Metallic Minerals

48
Q

e.g. salt and sand

A

Nonmetallic Minerals

49
Q

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

A

Sustainable Solutions

50
Q

include the high income ones (e.g. United States, Canada)

A

Developed Countries

51
Q

include the low income ones (e.g. China, India)

A

Developing Countries

52
Q

any presence within the environment of a chemical or other agent such as noise or heat at a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms

A

Pollution

53
Q

are single, identifiable sources

A

Point Sources

54
Q

are dispersed and often difficult to identify

A

Nonpoint Sources

55
Q

is usually more expensive and less effective

A

Pollution Clean Up

56
Q

reduces or eliminates the production of pollutants

A

Pollution Prevention

57
Q

a biologist who called the degradation of openly shared resources the tragedy of the common in 1968

A

Garrett Hardin

58
Q

where individuals or companies own the rights to land, minerals, or other resources

A

Private Property

59
Q

where the rights to certain resources are held by large groups of individuals

A

Common Property

60
Q

owned by no one and available for use by anyone at little or no charge

A

Open-Access Renewable Resources

61
Q

means the ecological footprint is larger than the biological capacity to replenish resources and absorb wastes and pollution

A

Ecological Deficit

62
Q

Footprints can also be expressed as _____.

A

number of Earths it would take to support consumption

63
Q

scientists who developed the IPAT model in the early 1970s

A

Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren

64
Q

IPAT Model Equation

A

I (Environmental Impact) = P (Population Size) x A (Affluence/Person) x T (Technology’s Beneficial and Harmful Effects)

65
Q

4 Basic Causes of Environmental Problems

A
  1. Population Growth
  2. Unsustainable Resource Use
  3. Poverty
  4. Excluding Environmental Costs from Market
66
Q

is increasing at a fixed percentage so that we are experiencing double of larger and larger populations

A

Human Population

67
Q

Human population in 2009 was about _____.

A

6.8 Billion

68
Q

Based on the current increase rate, there will be _____ people by 2050.

A

9.6 Billion

69
Q

results in high levels of consumption and waste of resources

A

Wealth

70
Q

Average American consumes _____ as much as the average consumer in India.

A

30 times

71
Q

are afflicted with a disorder called affluenza

A

Shop-until-you-drop Affluent Consumers

72
Q

has provided better education, scientific research, and technological solutions, which result in improvements in environmental quality (e.g. safe drinking water)

A

Affluence

73
Q

occurs when the basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education are not met

A

Poverty

74
Q

a set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what your role should be

A

Each individual has their own environmental worldview

75
Q

are beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment

A

Environmental Ethics

76
Q

holds that we are separate from and in charge of nature

A

Planetary Management Worldview

77
Q

holds that we can and should manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers

A

Stewardship Worldview

78
Q

holds that we are part of, and dependent on, nature and that nature exists for all species, not just for us

A

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

79
Q

protect natural capital and live off its income

A

Environmentally Sustainable Societies

80
Q

provide a balance between the benefits and the costs

A

Trade-off Solutions

81
Q

Three Big Ideas

A
  1. Rely more on renewable energy from the sun
  2. Protect biodiversity by preventing the degradation of the earth’s species, ecosystem, and natural processes, and by restoring areas we have degraded
  3. Help sustain earth’s natural chemical cycles by reducing waste and pollution, not overloading natural systems with chemicals, and don’t remove natural chemicals faster than the cycles can replace them
82
Q

is a search for order in nature

A

Science

83
Q

are curious and skeptical, and demand lots of evidence

A

Scientists

84
Q

The Scientific Process

A
  1. Identify a problem
  2. Find out what is known about the problem
  3. Ask a question to investigate
  4. Perform an experiment and collect and analyze data to answer the question
  5. Propose an hypothesis to explain the
  6. Use the thesis to make testable predictions
  7. Test the predictions
  8. Accept or revise hypothesis
  9. Develop a scientific theory, if scientific hypothesis is well-tested and widely accepted
85
Q

Critical Thinking Involves Four Important Steps:

A
  1. Be skeptical about everything you read or hear
  2. Look at the evidence and evaluate it and any related information
  3. Be open to many viewpoints and evaluate each one before coming to a conclusion
  4. Identify and evaluate your personal assumptions, biases, and beliefs
86
Q

What is the goal of scientists?

A

To develop theories and laws based on facts and data that explain how the physical world works

87
Q

has been tested widely, is supported by extensive evidence, and is accepted as being a useful explanation of some phenomenon by most scientists in a particular field or related fields of study

A

Scientific Theory

88
Q
  • is a well-tested and widely-accepted description of events or actions of nature that we find happening repeatedly in the same way
  • cannot be broken except by discovering new data that lead to changes in the law
A

Scientific Law

89
Q

results that have not been widely tested or are not widely accepted

A

Tentative or Frontier Science

90
Q

consists of data, hypothesis, models, theories, and laws that are widely accepted by all or most of the scientists who are considered experts in the field under study

A

Reliable Science

91
Q

includes results that have not been rigorously peer reviewed or that have been discarded as a result of peer review

A

Unreliable Science

92
Q

Scientists use _____ that can take into account the interaction of many variables.

A

mathematical models

93
Q

the age of humans

A

Anthropocene

94
Q

For the Biggest Gains, We could Concentrate our Efforts on 4 Goals:

A
  1. An Energy Revolution
  2. A Food Revolution
  3. Manage the Ocean
  4. Rewild the World
95
Q

is a way to measure our human demand on nature

A

Ecological Footprint

96
Q
  • represents the impact of a person, a household, a city, a business or a country on nature
  • is expressed as the amount of land and water required to produce what we consume and to absorb the waste we generate
A

Footprint

97
Q

means that we need to keep three things in mind at once

A

Sustainable Development

98
Q

Three Things to Keep in Mind at Once

A
  1. Social Progress
  2. Economic Development
  3. Climate and Environment
99
Q

ensures that the temperature is correct and the the atmosphere emits exactly the right amount of solar energy

A

Climate System

100
Q

5 Nutrients that is Being Recycled in Chemical Cycling

A
  1. Water
  2. Carbon
  3. Nitrogen
  4. Sulfur
  5. Phosphorus
101
Q

Renewable Resources:

A
  • solar
  • wind
  • wave
102
Q

3 Main Goals of Environmental Science

A
  1. Learn how the natural world works
  2. Understand how we as humans interact with the environment
  3. determine how we affect the environment
103
Q

Rock

A

Lithosphere

104
Q

Air

A

Atmosphere

105
Q

Life

A

Biosphere

106
Q

Water

A

Hydrosphere

107
Q

Fields Under Biology

A
  • Ecology
  • Botany
  • Zoology
108
Q

Field Under Chemistry

A

Biochemistry

109
Q

Fields Under Earth Science

A
  • Climatology
  • Geology
  • Hydrology
  • Paleontology
110
Q

Fields Under Social Sciences

A
  • Anthropology
  • Demography
  • Geography
  • Economics
  • Political Science
111
Q

Fields Under Humanities

A
  • History
  • Ethics
  • Philosophy

Environmental Science (1 decks)

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