unit 1 vocab Flashcards
Affluence
The rapid unsustainable consumption of resources that is associated with the lifestyles of citizens in developed countries.
Aldo Leopold
Known for the land ethic, stating that humans are only one member of a complex community and should not abuse nature as if it belongs to them.
Anthropogenic
Manmade chemicals in the environment.
Closed system
Systems that exchange energy but not matter across their boundaries. The global water cycle is one example of a closed system since no matter (water) enter or leaves the system.
Controlled experiment
A test where the person conducting the test only changes one variable at a time in order to isolate the results.
Dependent variable
What is measured during the experiment.
Developed nations
Highly industrialized and has a high per capita GDP.
Developing nations
Low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GDP. Most are located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Ecological footprint
The amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb the wastes from such resource use. It is a measure of the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas.
Ecosystem services
Natural services that support life on the earth and are essential to the quality of human life and the functioning of the world’s economies.
Environmental ethics
Human beliefs about what is right or wrong with how we treat the environment.
First law of thermodynamics
Also known as the law of the conservation of energy, establishes that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another.
Gross domestic product (GDP)
Annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country
Half-life
The time it takes for one-half of a sample to decay. (Radioactive elements)
Heat
A form of energy associated with movement.
Independent variable
Variable manipulated during an experiment.
Input
Matter, energy, or information entering a system.
Isolated system
Systems that exchange neither energy nor matter across their boundaries.
Negative feedback loop
Feedback loop that causes a system to change in the opposite direction from which it is moving.
Nonpoint source
A pollution source that introduces pollutants into the environment over a large area rather than at a single point.
Nonrenewable resource
Resources for which a fixed quantity is available for human use; they are not renewed in a viable period of time for human reuse. (coal, crude oil, copper, iron, and gold)
Open system
Systems that exchange both energy and matter across their boundaries.
Output
Matter, energy, or information leaving a system.
Per capita
By or for each person.
pH
Numeric value that indicates the relative acidity or alkalinity of a substance on a scale of 0 to 14, with the neutral point at 7. (Acid = lower than 7, Base = greater than 7)
Point source
Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment.
Positive feedback loop
When the initial change to a component of the system is amplified by the series of changes within the feedback loop.
Poverty
Inability of people to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
Power
The rate at which energy is used.
Renewable resource
Resource that can be replenished rapidly through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is replaced.
Second law of thermodynamics
States that in all energy conservations, some low-quality heat (waste heat) must always be produced.
Sustainability
The practice of using a resource at a rate that is less than or equal to the rate at which it is naturally replenished.
Tragedy of the commons
Depletion or degradation of a potentially renewable resource to which people have free and unmanaged access.
