APES Chapter 1 Vocabulary: What is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?

developing country

Country that has low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GDP. Most are located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

biodegradable pollutant

Material that can be broken down into simpler substances (elements and compounds) by bacteria or other decomposers. Paper and most organic wastes such as animal manure are biodegradable, but can take decades to biodegrade in modern landfills.

pollution prevention AKA input pollution control

device, process, or strategy used to prevent a potential pollutant from forming or entering the environment or to sharply reduce the amount entering the environment

perpetual resource

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

experimental growth

growth in which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases at a constant rate per unit of time

sustainable yield (sustained yield)

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

environmental ethics

human beliefs about what is right or wrong with how we treat the environment

economic development

improvement of human living standards by economic growth

environmental science

interdisciplinary 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 to deal with environmental problems

non-degradable pollutant

material that is not broken down by natural processes; examples include the toxic elements lead and mercury

natural resources

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

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

natural capital

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

ecosystem

one or more communities of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up their nonliving environment

environmental/sustainable revolution

Cultural change that includes halting population growth and altering lifestyles, political and economic systems, and the way we treat the environment with the goal of living more sustainably. It requires working with the rest of nature by learning more about how nature sustains itself.

environmental degradation

Depletion or destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as soil, grassland, forest, or wildlife that is used faster than it is naturally replenished. If such use continues, the resource becomes nonrenewable (on a human scale) or nonexistent (extinct).

environmentally sustainable economic development

Development that meets the basic needs of the current generations of humans and other species from meeting their basic needs. It is the economic component of an environmentally sustainable society.

nutrient cycling

the circulation of chemicals necessary for life, from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment

renewable resource

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. Examples include trees in forests, grasses in grasslands, wild animals, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, most groundwater, fresh air, and fertile soil. If such a resource is used faster than it is replenished, it can be depleted and converted into a nonrenewable resource.

ecological footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources in uses and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. It is a measure of the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas.

per capita ecological footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply each person or population with the renewable resources they use and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. It measures the average environmental impact of individuals or populations in different countries and areas.

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.

resource

Anything obtained from the environment to meet human needs and wants; it can also be applied to other species

nonrenewable 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 of years. Examples include copper, aluminum, coal and oil. We classify these resources as exhaustible because we are extracting and using them at a much faster rate than they are formed.

point source

Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment; examples include the smokestack of a power plant or an industrial plant, drainpipe of a meatpacking plant, chimney of a house, or exhaust pipe of an automobile.

solar capital

Solar energy that warms the planet and supports photosynthesis, the process that plants use to provide food for themselves and for us and other animals. This direct input of solar energy also produces indirect forms of renewable solar energy such as wind and flowing water.

environmental wisdom worldview

Worldview holding that humans are part of and totally dependent on nature and that nature exists for all species, not just for us. Our success depends on learning how the earth sustains itself and integrating such environmental wisdom into the ways we think and act.

planetary management worldview

Worldview holding that humans are separate from nature, that nature exists mainly to meet our needs and increasing wants, and that we can use our ingenuity and technology to manage the earth's life support systems, mostly for our benefit. It assumes that economic growth is unlimited.

stewardship worldview

Worldview holding that we can manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers, or stewards, of the earth. It calls for encouraging environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and discouraging environmentally harmful forms.

sustainability

ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely

environment

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

gross domestic product (GDP)

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

ecology

biological science that studies the relationships between living organisms and their environment; study of the structure and functions of nature

nonpoint sources

broad and diffuse areas, rather than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of surface water or air; examples include runoff of chemicals and sediments from cropland, livestock feedlots, logged forests, urban streets, parking lots, lawns, and golf courses

developed country

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

pollution cleanup AKA output pollution control

device or process that removes or reduces the level of a pollutant after it has been produced or has entered the environment; examples include automobile emission control devices and sewage treatment plants

natural services

processes of nature, such as purification of water and air and pest control, which support life and human economics

natural income

renewable resources such as plants, animals, and soil provided by natural capital

social capital

result of getting people with different views and values to talk and listen to one another, find common ground based on understanding and trust, and work together to solve environmental and other problems

conservation

sensible and careful use of natural resources by humans

environmental worldview

set of assumptions and beliefs about how people think the world works, what they think their role in the world should be, and what they believe is right and wrong environmental behavior (environmental ethics)

environmentalism

social movement dedicated to protecting the earth's life support systems for us and other species

environmentally sustainable society

society that meets the current and future needs of its people for basic resources in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations of humans and other species from meeting their basic needs

pollution

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