| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Groundwater | Water stored in soil and rock beneath Earth's surface |
| Sewage | The water and human wastes that go down sinks, toilets, and showers |
| Agricultural waste | Animal wastes, fertilizer, and pesticides |
| Wastewater treatment facilites | A facility where sewage is fitered and treated with bacteria and chemicals to clean wastewater |
| Prevention of water pollution | Proper sewage treatment, the reduction of pollutants, and effective cleanup of oil and gasoline spills are the keys to clean water |
| Water Cycle | The continuous process by which water moves from the Earth's surface to its atmosphere and back |
| Acid Rain | Precipitation that is more acidic than normal because of emissions from the burning of coal and oil |
| Renewable energy resources | Resources that are always avaliable or naturally replaced in a very short time; for example: solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal energy |
| Nonrenewable energy resources | Resources that are will not always be avalible or take a very long time to be replaced; for example: coal, oil, and natural gas |
| Alternative energy sources | Energy sources different from those used wide spread currently |
| Solar energy | Energy from the sunt that can be converted into electricity through solar cells or a solar power plant. It produces no pollution, and Earth gets enough in one day to power the world for forty years. However, the sun has to be shining for it to work and the energy is very spread out. |
| Wind energy | Wind turns many windmills on a wind power plant, which generates electricity. They are a major source of power where fuel is hard to transport. However, windmills can be blown over and are noisy. Also, wind doesn't blow consistently in many places, |
| Geothermal energy | Heat from the Earth's interior that warms magma close to the Earth. In a power plant, cold water is piped down by the magma, is converted to steam, and then turns a turbine, creating electricity. However, drilling the wells nessecary is expensive, and there are only a few places where the magma can be tapped. |
| Hydroelectric energy | Electricity produced by flowing water. A dam is used, and when its floodgates are opened, water flows through the tunnels at the bottom and turn the turbine. But, a lot of rivers have already been dammed and they can have negative effects on the river. |
| Nuclear energy | Energy produced by nuclear fission. A neutron is fired at an unstable Uranium atom, splits it into two, and produces more neutrons, causing a chain reaction. This process causes huge amounts of heat, which create steam that turns the turbine, creating electricity. However, disasterous meltdowns can occur, when the generator overheats, and we don't have a way to safely store nuclear waste. |
| Hydrogen energy | Energy that is non-polluting and exisits in large supply, hydrogen is a promising future fuel. When an electric current is run through water (hydrogen and oxygen), pure hydrogen is produced. The problem is it takes more energy to get the hydrogen than the hydrogen makes. The fuel is being developed in cars and being produced by excess hydroelectric plant energy. |
| Biomass energy | Energy that is made from living things. Leaves,wood, and even food wastes and manure can be used as fuel. Alcohol made from plants like corn can create gasohol, a mixture of alcohol and gasoline, and a car fuel. Buildings can be heated from methane that bacteria produce as they decompose biomass fuels. Biodiesel fuel can be made from soybeans and other plants.They are renewable, but it takes times for things like trees to grow again, also producing the methane and alcohol can be expensive. |
| Biodiversity | The number of different species in an area. |
| Value: Economic and Ecological | Biodiversity is important in ecosystems, where every part plays a role. If one piece is gone, it affects the other parts of the ecosystem. Also, economically, biological products are very important to the economy, if a species is not there, the ecosystem is disoriented, and causes repercussions through nature and economy. |
| Most diverse communities | The most diverse communites are rain forests, they are abundant of species. Millions of insect species, bursting with plant life and hundreds of tree species plus all kinds of animals make this community have more species than all other communities or reigons combined. |
| Smog | A thick brownish haze that appears when certain gases react with sunlight. When its level is high, it settles over a city as a haze, and causes problems like throat irritation and breathing problems. It is caused by the gases emitted by cars and trucks. |
| CO2 emissions | Pollutant released into the air. It is released by the burning of fossil fuels. Motor vehicles are the main source of emissions, which used to be coal burning factories. Emissions are also caused naturally by things like volcanic eruption that sends huge amounts of emissions to the air. |
| Air pollutants | Air pollution is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and in that, the main pollutant are motor vehicles. Also, indoor air pollution can be caused toxic chemicals like glue and cleaning supplies, and cigarette smoke. Indoor air pollution can also be caused by pet hair and dust, but that pollution only affects those sensitive to them. |
| Prevention of air pollution | Controlling factory emissions, controlling vehicle emissions with a pollution control device, and little things you do can prevent it. You can walk, ride a bike, or carpool to take a car off the road, and thus reduce emissions. |
| Carbon footprint | The increase of the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to human activites. Increased human burning of wood, coal, oil, and gasoline add carbon dioxide to the Earth's atmosphere. Through the last hundred years, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased greatly due to the burning of these fuels. |
| Greenhouse effect | The effect in which gases trap the heat of the sun coming to Earth in the atmosphere, keeping it in instead of letting exit like it should. Gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane contribute to this process as greenhouse gases. It is what is heating the Earth and causing global warming. |
| Global warming's impact on plants and animals | Cool farmland could plant two crops a year, and places that are now to cold for farming can become farmable. Also, evaporating water from the soil would make farmland dry and today's fertile fields could become dust bowls. Animals would have to live in a warmer enviroment which would cause them to migrate to cooler places where they don't belong. Other species also might just become threatened because of global warming like polar bears, whose habitat is being destroyed by it. |
| Global warming's impact on health | A rise in sickness and even death can be caused. More, longer deadly heat waves will be caused, its effect on rainfall could increase mosquitos and thus, diseases like malaria. The increase of air pollution creates more smog, and more kinds of pollen released into the air, which can cause increases in asthma and allergies. |
| Global warming's impact on climate/weather patterns | A warmer ocean could cause stronger hurricanes. Also the sea level has rose 10-20 cm over the last hundred years, by 2100, it could rise another 25-80, this rise could flood low costal areas and marshes, key to flood prevention. Also events like El Nino and La Nina can still happen, altering a possibly very different climate. |
| Obama's stance on the enviroment | He wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and make the U.S. a world leader on climate change. Also, wants 10% of our energy to be renewable by 2012, develop clean coal burning, and prioritize the Alaska natural gas pipeline. He also wants to put a million plug in hybrid cars on the road by 2015 and create a new standard for national low carbon levels. |
| McCain's stance on the enviroment | He wants a climate policy based on mandatory targets for emission reduction and timetables. He also wants to expand domestic oil and natural gas production. Additionally, will take away dependence on foreign oil by using biomass, and prizes to develop cleaner cars and improve battery technology of hybrid and fully electric cars. Wants America to become a leader in an international green economy, make 45 nuclear power plants by 2030, and encourage alternative fuels in the market. |
| CHMS waste audit | CHMS students went through the trash of the three lunch periods to see how much waste our school was producing. We made more waste than last year, but through the waste audit, we are able to see what we need to do to reduce our waste. |
| CHMS solar panels | Solar panels at CHMS add alternative fuel to the energy mix at the school, taking some burden off of polluting energy sources. The solar panels provide zero pollution and produce electricity to power the school. |
| CHMS composting bins | A way of utilizing one of the "Rs", CHMS is able to reduce its waste by letting biodegradible waste be decomposed naturally instead of in a dumpster or landfill. Things like food waste, raked leaves, and grass clippings can be composted. The compost pile also creates a great fertilizer. |
| CHMS eco-friendly cafeteria products | This factored the choice of the new lunch company, as its green products could help reduce waste. Compostable utensils can be used in compost piles, and things made from recycled materials are green. These help our efforts at CHMS to reduce our waste. |
| Incinerators | Incinerators are used to incinerate or burn trash. Incinerators aren't very big, they can't pollute groundwater, and the heat can be used to generate electricity. All incinerators though, emit some pollution into the air, and waste that can't be burned and from the burning still need to be dealt with, on top of all this, the incineration facilites are expensive to build. |
| Landfills | Beginning in 1976 with the ban of unsightly, polluting open dumps, landiflls provide a place to hold waste more safely. These can sanitarily hold construction, municipial, agricultural, and industrial wastes. When they are full, they're capped to prevent rainwater getting mixed in with the waste. They can also be used as things like parks once, capped, but they still pose a risk of polluting groundwater. |
| Recycling | Reclaiming raw materials and enabling people to use them again. It saves money and causes less pollution than making new products. It also reduces fossil fuel emissions without having to use oil for the creation of plastic. 90% energy is saved in this process just from aluminum products. |
| The Three R's | Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce: Create less waste than you would originally. Reuse: Find different uses for an object instead of throwing it away. Recycle: Collect recyclable materials and recycle, not throw them away. This reuses raw materials instead of having to make new ones. |
| Hazordous waste | They are classified as toxic, explosive, flammable, and corrosive. Toxic wastes are poisonous, explosive react quickly with air or water or explode when dropped, flammable catch fire easily, and corrosive dissolve many materials. People exposed to them can cause health problems. A way is needed for a safe permenant disposal of these wastes and are needed to be disposed of carefully. They may be put in special landfills, incinerated, broke down by living things, or put in deep rock layers. |
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