Save Our Planet

Question 1

Environmental Equilibrium

Answer 1

The natural balance among changes taking place in the environment. Humans upset this balance on a large scale with pollution, construction, etc. ultimately threatening the continuation of all spcies on this planet

Question 2

Denudation

Answer 2

The loss of the layer on Earth’s surface that contains living things (trees, soil, insects, etc.)

Question 3

What is Denudation caused by?

Answer 3

Erosion causes this naturally, but human activities, glaciation, and volcanic eruptions accelerate it unnaturally

Question 4

Why is Denudation dangerous?

Answer 4

We upset the natural balance of nature, losing soil to grow food and trees to produce oxygen. The food chain and water cycles are interrupted.

Question 5

Natural Resources

Answer 5

Substances that occur in nature and can be depleted and/or lost permanently like clean water, wood, minerals, oil, coal, gas, fresh air

Question 6

Conservation

Answer 6

A program to protect and preserve our natural resources (recycling paper, tin cans, and glass bottles; protecting wetlands, etc. from development)

Question 7

List 4 methods to prevent soil erosion

Answer 7

Contour plowing
Terracing
Strip-cropping
Damming of gullies

Question 8

What is contour plowing?

Answer 8

Farmers create furrows in the soil on hillsides to retain water and prevent it from running downhill

Question 9

What is terracing?

Answer 9

On a hillside, a series of plateaus are created to keep water from running directly downhill

Question 10

What is strip-cropping?

Answer 10

Between rows of crops such as corn, cover crops (like soybeans) are planted to keep the otherwise exposed soil from eroding

Question 11

What is the damming of gullies?

Answer 11

A dam in a gully, formed on a hillside where there is much rain, prevents erosion

Question 12

List two ways in which wind erosion can be prevented

Answer 12

1. Planting of cover crops keeps soil from being carried away by wind
2. A row of trees planted at the edge of a field blocks and reduces the force of wind (a windbreak)

Question 13

Nitrogen cycle

Answer 13

Cycle that returns nitrogen to the atmosphere. N compounds are formed in the atmosphere. Rain carries them to soil where they become part of compounds present in plants and animals. These organisms die and decay; nitrogen-fixing bacteria remove nitrogen and return to atmosphere

Question 14

Crop rotation

Answer 14

Planting of different kinds of crops in the same soil in different years so that the nutrients in the soil do not get depleted

Question 15

Renewable resources

Answer 15

Natural resources that can be replenished as they are removed from the Earth

Question 16

Examples of renewable resources

Answer 16

Nitrogen
Water
Salt
Wood
Food
Wool

Question 17

Nonrenewable resources

Answer 17

Natural resources that once removed from the earth and used up cannot be replaced

Question 18

Examples of non-renewable resources

Answer 18

Gas, oil, coal, mineral ores (gold, copper, silver, etc.)

Question 19

What are the two most important types of pollution we must control?

Answer 19

Water pollution, air pollution

Question 20

3 ways we can protect our natural resource of water

Answer 20

1. conserving and not wasting
2. keeping sewage out
3. preventing companites from polluting with chemical/thermal waste

Question 21

4 ways we can protect our natural resource of air

Answer 21

1. keeping factories from polluting with chem. waste
2. driving less often, keeping cars tuned, using unleaded gas, hybrid cars
3. preventing nuclear explosions
4. controlling pesticides