AP ENV. CHAP 1 REVIEW

Examples of renewable resources

trees in forests, grasses in grasslands, wild animals, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, most groundwater, fresh air, and fertile soil.

Nonrenewable resources

are resources 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. Examples include copper, aluminum, coal, and oil.

Define Natural services

are the processes of nature like the purification of air and water and pest control, which support life and human economies.

Explain why individuals matter in dealing with the environmental problems we face

finding solutions and making a transition to more sustainable societies comes from the individual actions—as well as individuals acting together—to bring about change through bottom-up grassroots actions.

What is a resource?

a. Anything obtained from the environment to meet human needs and wants. It can also be applied to other species

What is sustainability?

a. Sustainability is the capacity of the earth's natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future

What is economic growth?

an increase in gross domestic product (GDP). increase in the capacity to provide people with goods and services

Define natural resources

are materials such as air, water, and soil and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans

Reusing a resource

( one of the three "R" ) means using a product over and over again in the same form. Ex:collecting, washing, and refilling glass beverage bottles.

Three major problems with pollution cleanup are:

(1) it is only a temporary solution (2) it usually transfers a pollutant to another location (3) it is too costly.

Describe how finding solutions to environmental problems involves making trade-offs

Finding solutions to environmental problems always involves trade-offs, or compromises which is another component of sustainability. ( see ex. of the timber company)

environmentalism.

b. Environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life-support systems for all forms of life.

why should we care about it?

because our lives and economies depend on energy from the sun and on natural resources and natural services (natural capital) provided by the earth.

nutrient cycling- Why it is important ?

because the earth receives no new supplies of these chemicals. Without chemical cycling, there would be no air, no water, no soil, no food, and no life.

environmental science integrate information and ideas from the natural sciences such as

biology, chemistry, and geology;

how can we use these principles to live more sustainably?

by learning how to reduce our ecological footprints and to live more sustainably by using the three principles of sustainability to guide our lifestyles and economies.

What are three principles that nature has used to sustain itself for at least 3.5 billion years?

by relying on solar energy, biodiversity and chemical cycling.

Describe how we can degrade natural capital

by using normally renewable resources faster than nature can restore them, and by overloading natural systems with pollution and wastes.

Per capita GDP ?

equals 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.

GDP ?

equals the annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country.

environment science integrate the social sciences such as

geography, economics, and political science

What is economic development?

happens when there is an improvement in the human living standards by economic growth.

Define natural capital

includes all natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support our economies.

Define nutrient cycling

involves the circulation of the chemicals from the environment that are necessary for life (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment.

What is the tragedy of the commons?

involves the depletion or degradation of a potentially renewable resource to which people have free and unmanaged access. Ex:the depletion of commercially desirable fish species in the open ocean beyond areas controlled by coastal countries.

less-developed countries.

is a country that has low to moderate industrialization and a low to moderate per capita GDP.

renewable resource

is a 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.

What is an ecosystem?

is a set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with and their environment of nonliving matter and energy.

Define environment.

is about all the external conditions, factors, matter, and energy, living and nonliving, that affect any living organism or other specified system.

a perpetual resource

is an essentially inexhaustible resource on a human time scale because it is renewed continuously. Solar energy is an example

environmental science

is an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment.

Pollution cleanup (output pollution control)

is any device or process that removes or reduces the level of a pollutant . Ex: automobile emission control devices and sewage treatment plants.

Pollution prevention (input pollution control)

is any device, process, or strategy used to prevent a potential pollutant or reduce it. Ex: New pollution laws.

an organism

is any form of life.Every organism is a member of a certain species

A point source of pollution

is any single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment. Ex: the smokestack of a power plant.

Define pollution

is any undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, water, soil, or food that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms.

more-developed countries

is one that is highly industrialized and has a high per capita GDP

A sustainable yield

is the highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Recycling

is the process of collecting and reprocessing a resource so that it can be made into new products; one of the three R's of resource use. EX. aluminum cans

ecology

is the study of ecosystems

Define and give three examples of environmental degradation (natural capital degradation).

occurs when there is depletion or destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as soil, grassland, forest, or wildlife that is used faster than it is naturally replenished

environment science integrate the humanities such as

philosophy and ethics.

A species is a group of organisms

that have a unique set of characteristics that distinguish them from all other organisms and that reproduce sexually, can mate and produce fertile offspring.