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| 2815098702 | Environment | Everything around us. It includes the living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) things (air, water, energy) with which we interact in a complex web of relationships that connect us to one another and the world we live in | 0 | |
| 2815101874 | Environmental science | The interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment | 1 | |
| 2815103792 | Three goals of environmental science | To learn how nature works, to understand how we interact with the environment, and to find ways to deal with environmental problems and to live more sustainably. | 2 | |
| 2815104115 | A key component of environmental science is | Ecology | 3 | |
| 2815105900 | Ecology | The biological science that studies how organisms, or living things, interact with one another and with their environment. | 4 | |
| 2815106410 | Every organism is a member of a certain _____ | Species | 5 | |
| 2815108248 | Species | A group of organisms that have a unique set of characteristics that distinguish them from all other organisms and, for organisms that can preproduction sexually, can mate and produce fertile offspring. | 6 | |
| 2815109450 | Humans are a member of species that biologists named | Homo sapient sapiens | 7 | |
| 2815115192 | A major focus of ecology is the study of ______ | Ecosystems | 8 | |
| 2815117409 | Ecosystem | A set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy | 9 | |
| 2815120088 | Example of an ecosystem: a forest ecosystem consists of plants (esp. Trees), animals, and tiny microorganisms that decompose organic materials and recycle their chemicals, all interacting with one another and with solar energy and the chemicals in the ecosystem's air, water, and soil. | ... | 10 | |
| 2815122537 | We should not confuse environmental science and ecology with environmentalism (a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life-support systems for all forms of life. It is practiced more in the political and ethical areas than in the realm of science. | ... | 11 | |
| 2815123090 | Nature's survival strategies follow three principles of sustainability | ... | 12 | |
| 2815127480 | Three principles of sustainability that nature's survival strategies follow | Solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling (CBS) | 13 | |
| 2815130394 | The three overarching themes relating to the long-term sustainability of life on this planet are solar energy, chemical cycling, and biodiversity. In other words, rely on the sun, promote multiple options for life, and reduce waste. | ... | 14 | |
| 2816602537 | Reliance on solar energy | The sun warms the planet and supports photsynthesis- a complex chemical process used by plants to provide the nutrients, or chemicals that most organisms need in order to stay alive and reproduce. The sun also powers indirect forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water, which we can use to produce electricity | 15 | |
| 2816607593 | Biodiversity | Short for biological diversity; this refers to the astounding variety of organisms, the natural systems in which they exist and interact (such as deserts, grasslands, forests, and oceans)m and the natural services that these organisms and living systems provide free of charge (such as renewal of topsoil, pest control, and air and water purification). Biodiversity also provides countless ways for life to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Without it, most life would have been wiped out long ago. | 16 | |
| 2816613171 | Chemical cycling | Also referred to as nutrient cycling, this circulation of chemicals from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment is necessary for life. Natural processes keep this cycle going, and the earth receives no new supplies of these chemicals. Thus, for life to sustain itself, these nutrients must be cycles in this way, indefinitely. Without chemical cycling, there would be no air, no water, no soil, no food, and no life. | 17 | |
| 2816613889 | Sustainability has three key components | Natural capital, natural resources, and natural services | 18 | |
| 2816614782 | Natural capital | The natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our human economies. | 19 | |
| 2816616171 | Natural resources | Materials and energy in natural that are essential or useful to humans. Hey are often classified as renewable resources (such as air, water, soil, plants, and wind) or nonrenewable resources (such as copper, oil, and coal) | 20 | |
| 2816617369 | Natural services | Processes in nature, such as purification of air and water and renewal of topsoil, which support life, and human economies. | 21 | |
| 2816618896 | Natural capital can support the earth's diversity of species as long as we use its natural resources and services in a sustainable fashion | ... | 22 | |
| 2816619323 | Natural capital= natural resources + natural services | ... | 23 | |
| 2816619848 | One vital natural service is nutrient cycling/chemical cycling | ... | 24 | |
| 2816621600 | Topsoil | The upper layer of any soil in which plants can grow. It provides the nutrients that support plants, animals, and microorganisms living on land. Without nutrient cycling in topsoil, life as we know it could not exist. Hence, chemical/nutrient cycling is the basis for one of the three principles of sustainability. | 25 | |
| 2816622785 | Natural capital is supported by energy from the | Sun, without solar energy, natural capital and the life it supports would collapse. | 26 | |
| 2816623679 | Three components of sustainability | Natural capital, degrading natural capital, and solutions | 27 | |
| 2816625295 | Many humans degrade natural capital by using normally renewable resources faster than nature can restore them, and by overloading natural systems with pollution and wastes. | ... | 28 | |
| 2816628677 | Third component of sustainability: solutions | Finding scientific solutions. The search for solutions often involves conflicts. | 29 | |
| 2816629215 | Trade-offs | Compromise, another component of sustainability | 30 | |
| 2816633597 | Three components of sustainability | Reduce, reuse, recycle | 31 | |
| 2816634514 | Sustainability begins at personal and local levels | ... | 32 | |
| 2816635138 | Some resources are renewable and some are not | ... | 33 | |
| 2816635816 | Resource | Anything we can obtain from the environment t omelet our needs and wants. | 34 | |
| 2816637630 | Perpetual resource | It's supply is continuous..example: solar energy | 35 | |
| 2816643422 | A resource that takes anywhere from several days to several hundred years to be replenished through natural process is called a renewable resource. As long as we can do not use it up faster than nature can renew it. Ex: forests, grasslands, fish populations, freshwater, fresh air, and fertile topsoil. The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available supply is called a sustainable yield. | ... | 36 | |
| 2816644724 | Sustainable yield | The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource without reducing its available supply | 37 | |
| 2816648740 | Nonrenewable resources | Resources that exists in a fixed quantity/stock, in the earth's crust. Example: energy resources (coal and oil), metallic mineral resources (such as copper and aluminum), and nonmetallic mineral resources (such as salt and sand) | 38 | |
| 2816691702 | Economic growth | An increase in a nation's output of goods and services. Usually measured by a country's GDP | 39 | |
| 2816693701 | MDC: 19% of world's population, uses 88% of world's resources, produce 77% of world's pollution | ... | 40 |
