Glossary - Essential Environment - W-Z

Question 1

zoning

Answer 1

The practice of classifying areas for different types of development and land use.

Question 2

zooplankton

Answer 2

Tiny aquatic animals that feed on phytoplankton and generally comprise the second tropic level of in an aquatic food chain.

Question 3

zooxanthellae

Answer 3

Symbiotic algae that inhabit the bodies of corals and produce food through photosynthesis

Question 4

xeriscaping

Answer 4

Landscaping using plants adapted to arid conditions

Question 5

worldview

Answer 5

A way of looking at the world that reflects a person’s or a group’s beliefs about the meaning, purpose, operation, and essence of the world

Question 6

World Trade Organization (WTO)

Answer 6

Organization based in Geneva Switzerland that represents multinational corporations and promotes free trade by reducing obstacles to international commerce and enforcing fairness among nations in trading practices

Question 7

world heritage site

Answer 7

A location internationally designated by the United Nations for its cultural or natural value. There are over 900 such sites worldwide.

Question 8

World Bank

Answer 8

Institution founded in 1944 that serves as one of the globe’s largest sources of funding for economic development, including such major projects as dams, irrigation infrastructure, and other undertakings.

Question 9

Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823-1913)

Answer 9

English naturalist who proposed, independently of Charles Darwin, the concept of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution and as a way to explain the great variety of living things.

Question 10

waste

Answer 10

Any unwanted product that results from a human activity or process

Question 11

waste management

Answer 11

Strategic decision making to minimize the amount of waste generated and to dispose of waste safely and effectively

Question 12

waste stream

Answer 12

The flow of waste as it moves from its sources toward disposal destinations

Question 13

waste-to-energy

Answer 13

An incinerator that uses heat from its furnace to boil water to create steam that drives electricity generation or that fuels heating systems.

Question 14

wastewater

Answer 14

Any water that is used in households, businesses, industries, or public facilities and is drained or flushed down pipes, as well as the polluted runoff from streets and storm drains

Question 15

wastewater treatment plant

Answer 15

A centralized facility that treats wastewater from municipal and/or industrial sources, then releases the treated effluent into the environment

Question 16

waterlogging

Answer 16

The saturation of soil by water in which the water table is raised to the point that water bathes plant roots. Waterlogging deprives roots of access to gases, essentially suffocating them and eventually damaging or killing the plants

Question 17

water pollution

Answer 17

The act of polluting water or the condition of being polluted by water pollutants

Question 18

watershed

Answer 18

The entire area of land from which water drains into a given river.