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Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Terms in this set (17)

Exponential Growth
Growth in which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases at a constant rate per unit of time. Ex: 2, 4, 6, 8... J curve
Environment
All external conditions, factors, matter, and energy, living and nonliving, that affect any living organism or other specified system.
Environmental Science
Interdisplinary study that uses information and ideas from the physical sciences (such as biology, chemistry, and geology) with those from the social sciences and humanities (such as economics, politics, and ethics) to learn how nature works, how we interact with the environment, and how we can help deal with environmental problems.
Ecology
Biological science that studies the relationships between living orgamisms and their environment; study of the structure and function of nature.
Environmentalism
Social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life support systems for us and other species.
Sustainability
Ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating with a country.
Per capita GDP
Annual gross domestic product (GDP) of a country divided by its total population at midyear. It gives the average slice of the economic pie per person. Used to be called per capita GNP. See gross domestic product.
Per capita GDP PPP (Purchasing Power Parity)
Measure of the amount of goods and services that a country's average citizen could buy in the United States.
The Wealth Gap
The difference between the wealthiest and the poorest.
Resouce
Anything obstained from the environment to meet human needs and wants. It can also be applied to other species.
Conservation
Sensible and carful use of natural resouces by humans. People with this view are called conservationist.
Renewable Resource
Resource that can be replenished rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is replaced. Example: trees, grasses, wild animals, fresh surface water, fresh air, fertile soil...
Non-renewable Resource
Resource that exists in a fixed amount (stock) in the earth's crust and has the potential for renewal by geological, physical, and chemical processes taking place over hundreds of millions to billions of years. Example: copper, aluminum, coal, and oil.
Sustainable Yield
Highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.
Point Sources
Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment. Examples: power plant or an industrial plant, drainpipe, chimney, exhaust pipe.
Non-point Sources
Broad and diffuse areas, rather than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of surface water or air. Examples: runoff of chemicals and sediments from cropland, livestock feedlots, logged forests, urban streets, parkinglots, lawns, and golf courses.
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