environmental chapter 1 Flashcards

903014258	Environmental Science	The study of the impact that humans have on the environment	0
903014259	ecology	The study of how living things interact with each other and their nonliving environment	1
903014260	agriculture	The practice of growing, breeding and caring for plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing and transportation	2
903014261	natural resource	a natural material used by humans	3
903014262	non-renewable resource	a resource found on the earth that forms at a much slower rate that it is consumed example: fossil fuels	4
907440718	renewable resource	a resource that can be replaced relatively quickly	5
907440719	resource depletion	when all the resources are used up	6
907440720	pollution	an undesired change in the air, water and soil that adversely affects the environment	7
907440721	biodegradable pollutants	pollutants that break down by natural processes	8
907440722	non-degradable pollutants	pollutants that do not break down by natural pollutants	9
907440723	biodiversity	the number and variety of species that live in an area	10
907440724	law of supply and demand	a basic rule that states that the greater the demand is for a limited resource the more that it is worth	11
907440725	cost benefit analysis	balances the cost of the action against the benefits one expects from it	12
907440726	risk assessment	tool used to see if the risk is worth the cost to perform the service	13
907440727	developed country	a country has higher income, slower population growth, diverse industrial economies, and stronger social support systems	14
907440728	developing countries	countries with lower incomes, faster population growth simple agriculturally based economies	15
907440729	ecological footprints	show the productive area of the earth needed to support one person in a particular country	16
907440730	sustainability	a condition in which human needs are met so that the human population can survive indefinitly	17