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Definition
| Environmental Protection Agency. In charge of pretecting human health and guarding the environment, air, water and land. |
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Definition
| National Environmental Policy Act. 1) authorizes council on Enviro Quality, oversight board for general enviro conditions 2) directs federal agencies to consider enviro consequences 3) requires enviro impact statement for every major federal project with major impact. |
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Definition
| United States Forest Service. Administers the nation's national forests and nation grasslands. |
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| Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Faced with danger of oil drilling. |
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Definition
| Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabilty Act. Provides a superfund to protect people, famlies, communites, etc from toxic waste. |
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Definition
| National Environmental Policy Agency. A law that applies to federal agenices and the programs they fund. Require considering environmental impacts if taking any major action. |
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| Polyvinyl Chloride. Creates byproducts and leaching, is persistant in the environment. |
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Definition
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration. To prevent work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths by issuing and enforcing rules and regulations. |
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| Non-governmental Organization. Doesn't have string attached, has more flexibility. |
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Definition
| Cholorfluorocarbons. Prohibited by Montreal Protocol because of their effect on the ozone. Persistant. |
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Definition
| Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane. The first pesticide used initially to combat insect-borne disease and agricultural insecticide. Harmful to humans, animals, plants. |
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Definition
| Locally Unwatned Land Use. A planning term, land uses which are detrimental for neighboring land. |
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| Not In My Backyard. Residents oppose a development as inappropriate for their local area. |
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| Zero Population Growth. Condition of demographic balance where population in a specified population neither grows nor declines. |
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| Disability-Adjusted Life Years. Measure of the overall "burden of disease". To quantify the impact of premature death and disabilty by combining them. |
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Definition
| Fish and Wildlife Service. Dedicated to managing and preserving wildlife, fish, plants and their habitats. |
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| World Health Organization. Agency of the Un that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. |
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| National Park Service. Manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties. |
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| Persistant Organic Pollutants. Organic compounds that are resistant to enviro degredation through chemical, biological and photolytic processes. |
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Definition
| Polychlorinated Biphenyl. Manufactured as cooling and insulating fluids. Banned due to high toxicity. Persistant. |
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Definition
| Volatile Organic Compound. Used in paint thinners, cleaners, etc. Damages the soil and groundwater, also air pollution. |
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Definition
| Man And Biosphere. Humans are part of the environment. Start in a core and move outwards. |
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Definition
| Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Protect humans from harm by waste disposal, encourage RRR, clean up spilled or improperly stored waste |
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Definition
| Endangered Species Act. Protect critically imperiled species from extinction. |
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Definition
| Endangered Species Act. Protect critically imperiled species from extinction. |
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Definition
| Endangered Species Act. Protect critically imperiled species from extinction. |
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Term
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Definition
| Endangered Species Act. Protect critically imperiled species from extinction. |
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Definition
| Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. An international agreement aimed to ensure the international trade of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. |
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| Bureau of Land Management. Administers America's public land. |
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Definition
| Genetically Modified Organism. An organism whose genetic material has been altered. |
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Definition
| International Whaling Commission. Promote and maintain whale fishery stocks. |
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Definition
| Dissolved Oxygen. Too low levels can be harmful. |
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Definition
| Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Evaluates the risk of climate change brought on by humans. |
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Definition
| Assigned mandatory emission limits for the reduction of greenhouse gases. |
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Definition
| An international treaty designed to protect the ozone by phasing out substances related to ozone depletion |
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| A declaration of fundamental values and principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society by the 21st century. |
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Definition
| Related to the reduction of smog and air pollution in general. |
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Term
| Marine Mammal Protection Act |
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Definition
| prohibits the "taking" of marine mammal. Prohibit import of any marine product or fish if it is harassed, hunted, captured or killed (in relation to marine mammals.) |
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Term
| Surface Mining and Reclamation Act |
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Definition
| Requires mine operators to use reclamation techniques to restore the shape of theland to original contour and revegatate it to minizmize the impacts. |
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Definition
| Regarding the transboundary movement of hazardous waste and it's disposal. |
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| Resource Conservation Recovery Act |
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Definition
| Regulated hazardous waste storage, treatment, transportation and disposal. |
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Definition
| Set national water quality goals and created pollutant discharge permits. |
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| A pioneer in wildlife ecology. Bought land to use as a lab and wrote "Sand County Almanac" about his experiences. Tested theories about land conservation. |
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Definition
| A geologist and first president of the Sierra Club. Argued that nature deserves the right to exist for it's own sake. Aesthetic and spiritual value was the core of nature protection. |
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Definition
| Wrote Silent Spring and made the public aware of the threats of pollution and toxic chemicals to humans and other species. |
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Definition
| Started the Green Belt Movement which planted over 30 million trees across Kenya to prevent soil erosion. |
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| An activist that spent 2+ years in a redwood tree protesting the clear-cutting of Headwaters Forest. |
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Definition
| An American zoologist who stdied gorillas. Wanted to save the mountain gorillas from extinction and supported the "active conservation" and opposed zoos. |
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Definition
| Policies were pragmatic utilotarian conservation. Argued that forests should be saved because they provide homes and jobs for people. Resources dhould be used for the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest. |
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Definition
| Lead the populist, progressive movement. Pragmatic utilitarian conservationist. |
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Definition
| Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and earth Island Institute. Introduced many techniques of modern environmentalism. |
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Term
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Definition
| Nitrogen Oxides. Highly reactive gases formed in the presence of oxygen. bad for the environment. Causes destruction to the ozone. |
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Term
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Definition
| the simultaneous production of electricity and steam or hot water in the same plant. |
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Definition
| Abandoned or underused urban areas in which redevelopment is blocked by liability or financing issues related to toxic contamination. |
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Definition
| efficient use of land resoures and existing urban infastructure. |
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Term
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Definition
| Looking honestly at both our opportunities and our mistakes by applying the principles of environmental science. |
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Term
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Definition
| The world is characterized by scarcity and competition in which too many people fight for too little resources. |
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Definition
| aka Promethean Environmentalism. Those who believe that technology and human enterprise will find cures for all our problems. |
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Definition
| Humans hold a special place in nature being centered primarily on humans and human affairs. |
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Term
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| Suggests how humans could reconcieve themselves and their relationships in nondominating ways. |
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| Emphasizs the fundamental right of living organisms to exist and to pursue their own goods. |
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Definition
| Resources should be used for the greates good for the greatest number for the longest time. |
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Definition
| A specific biological community and it's physical environemtn interacting in an exchange of matter and energy. |
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Definition
| The populations of plants, animals, andmicroorganisms living and interacting in a certain area at a certain time. |
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Definition
| a complex interlocking series of individual food chains in an ecosystem. |
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Definition
| A linked feeding series, in an ecosystem the sequence of organisms through which energy and materials are transferred, in the form of food from one level to another. |
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Definition
| A group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area. |
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Definition
| the total mass or weight of all the living organisms in a given population or area. |
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| Compounds evaporate from water and soil in warm areas and then condense and precipitate in colder regions. |
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Definition
| Porous, water-bearing layers of sand gravel and rock below earth's surface. reserviors for groundwater. |
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Definition
| Specific locations of highly concentrated pollution discharge. |
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Definition
| Scattered, diffused sources of pollutants. |
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Definition
| An attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environment now and into the future. |
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Definition
| An area of dry land below sea level. CO2 sink - storage of nutrients or a place of CO2 storage. |
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Term
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Definition
| an artificial lake used to store water for various users. |
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Term
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Definition
| the place or set of environmental conditions in which a particular organism can live. |
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Definition
| the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. How a population responds to abundance of resources or enemies. |
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Definition
| in a biological community, various populations sharing environmental resources through specialization, thereby reducing direct competition. |
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Definition
| A species whose impacts on it's community or ecosystem are much larger and more influential than would be expected from mere abundance. |
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Definition
| A change in species composition, physical conditions or other ecological factors at the boundary between two ecosystems. |
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Definition
| Environmental sabotage, to construction equiptment or to prevent logging, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| problems with no simple right or wrong answer where there is no single, generally agreed-on definition of or solution for the particular issue. |
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Term
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Definition
| Dramatically increased agricultural production brought about by "miracle" strains of grain; usually require high inputs of water, nutrients, and pesticides. |
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Term
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Definition
| the prctice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. |
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Term
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Definition
| roasting ore to release metals. |
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Term
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Definition
| sparse vegetation and high levels of concrete and glass allow rainfall to run off quickly and create high rates of heat absoprtion during the day and radiation and night. Tall buildings create convective updrafts that sweep pollutants into the air. |
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Definition
| a landfill in which garbage and municipal waste is buried every day under enough soil or fill to eliminate odors, vermin and litter. |
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Definition
| Use of biological organisms to remove or detoxiy pollutants from a contaminated area |
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Definition
| A recognition that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental right of all human beings. |
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Term
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Definition
| Decisions that restrict certain people or groups of people to polluted or degraded environments on the basis of race. |
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Term
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Definition
| Control pollution by providing economic incentives. Company A can sell their extra "pollution" to Company B. |
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Term
| Integrated Pest Management |
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Definition
| An ecologically based pest-control strategy that relies on natural mortality factors, and carefully applied pesticides. |
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Definition
| Forgiveness of international debt in exchange for nature protection in developing countries. |
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Definition
| Chemicals released directly into the air in a harmful form. |
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Term
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Definition
| Chemicals modified to hazardous form after entering the air or that are formed by chemical reactions as components of the air, mix and interact. |
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Definition
| Inflammation and fibrosis caused by accumulation of coal dust in the lungs and airway. |
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Term
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Definition
| The biological degredation of organic material under aerobic conditions to produce compost, a nutrient-rich soil amendment and conditioner. |
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Definition
| Move to the suburbs and rural areas. cities spread over landscape, consuming open space and wasting resources. |
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Term
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Definition
| To help businesses remain sustainable; pollution prevention, restorative technology, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| a chemical dose lethal to 50% of the test population |
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Term
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Definition
| The decision to leave a margin of safety for unexpected developments. |
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Definition
| The emergance of discontinuties in an organism's preferred environemtn. Process of environmental change, important in evolution and conservation biology. |
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Term
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Definition
| Minerals a country cannot produce on it's own but is used for essential materials or processes. |
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Definition
| Denuding and degrading a once-fertile land, initiating a desert-producing cycle that feeds on itself and causes long-term changes in soil, climate, and biota (?) of an area. |
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Term
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Definition
| To be filled with silt. to fill, cover or obstruct with silt. |
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Definition
| oxygen decline downstream from a pollution source that introduces materials with high biological oxygen demand. |
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Definition
| the process by which organisms occupy a site and gradually change environmental conditions so that other species can replace the original inhabitants. |
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Definition
| a pattern of falling death rates and birthrates in response to improved living conditions. |
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Definition
| an inexorable process of degredation of communal resources due to selfish self-interest of "free riders" who use or destroy more than their fair share of common property. |
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Term
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Definition
| the selective absorption and conservation of molecules by cells. |
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Definition
| increase in concentration of certain stable chemicals in successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web. |
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Definition
| A need for constantly increasing doses or new pesticides to prevent pest resurgence. |
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Definition
| dry area on the downwind side of the mountain. |
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Definition
| the land surface and groundwater aquifers drained by a particular river system. |
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Definition
| an increase in the primary productivity of any ecosystem. |
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Definition
| an increase in biological productivity and ecosystem succession caused by human activity. |
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