Sustaining Earth #1

sustainable yield

Highest rate at which we can use a potentially renewable resource without reducing its available supply throughout the world or in a particular area. See environmental degradation.

environmental wisdom worldview

Beliefs that (1) nature exists for all the earth's species, not just for us, and we are not in charge of the rest of nature and that our success depends on learning to cooperate with one another and with the rest of nature instead of trying to dominate and manage earth's life-support systems primarily for our own use. Compare planetary management worldview, spaceship-earth worldview.

planetary management worldview

Beliefs that (1) we are the planet's most important species; (2) there is always more, and it is all for us; (3) all economic growth is good, more economic growth is better, and the potential for economic growth is limitless; and (4) our success depends on how well we can understand, control, and manage the earth's life-support systems for our own benefit. See spaceship-earth worldview. Compare environmental wisdom worldview.

sustainability revolution

Major cultural transformation that would involve learning how to reduce our ecological footprints and to live more sustainability.

biodegradable pollutant

Material that can be broken down into simpler substances (elements and compounds) by bacteria or other decomposers. Compare degradable pollutant, nondegradable pollutant, slowly degradable pollutant.

environmental worldview

Set of beliefs about how the earth's life-support system works, how we should relate to it, and what is right and wrong environmental behavior (environmental ethics).

worldview

Set of beliefs about how the world works and about what one's role in the world should be. See environmental wisdom worldview, planetary management worldview, spaceship-earth worldview.

point source

Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment. Examples are 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. Compare nonpoint source.

environmentalism

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

pollution

Undesirable change or presence of a chemical or other agent 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.

reuse

Using a product over and over again in the same form. An example is collecting, washing, and refilling glass beverage bottles. Compare recycling.

stewardship worldview

View that because of our superior intellect and power or because of our religious beliefs, we have an ethical responsibility to manage and care for domesticated plants and animals and the rest of nature. Compare environmental wisdom worldview, planetary management worldview.

affluence

Wealth that results in high levels of consumption.

less-developed country

A country that has low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GNP. Most are located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Compare more-developed country.

resource

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

nutrient

Any food, element, or compound an organism must take in to live, grow, and reproduce.

organism

Any form of life.

renewable resource

A resource that can be replenished fairly rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes. Examples are 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. See environmental degradation. Compare nonrenewable resource, perpetual resource.

environment

All external conditions and factors, living and nonliving (chemicals and energy), that affect an organism or other specified system during its lifetime.

ecological footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a person or a country with the renewable resources and to absorb the wastes from such resource use. It is a measure of the ecological impact of individuals and countries.

per capita ecological footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply an individual with resources and to absorb the wastes from such resource use.

per capita GDP

Annual gross domestic product (GDP) of a country divided by its total population. See gross domestic product.

nonpoint source

Broad and diffuse areas, rather than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of surface water or the air. Compare point source.

biodegradable

Capable of being broken down by decomposers.

nutrient cycling

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

ecosystem

Community of different species interacting with one another and with the chemical and physical factors making up its nonliving environment.

mineral resource

Concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous material in or on the earth's crust in a form and amount such that extracting and converting it into useful materials or items is currently or potentially profitable. Mineral resources are classified as metallic (such as iron and tin ores) or nonmetallic (such as fossil fuels, sand, and salt).

poverty

Condition under which people are unable to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.

more-developed country

Country that is highly industrialized and has a high per capita GNP. Compare less-developed country.

tragedy of the commons

Depletion or degradation of a potentially renewable resource to which people have free and unmanaged access. An example is the depletion of commercially desirable fish species in the open ocean beyond areas controlled by coastal countries. See common-property resource.

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 can become nonrenewable (on a human time scale) or nonexistent (extinct). See sustainable yield.

pollution cleanup

Device or process that removes or reduces the level of a pollutant after it has been produced or has entered the environment. Examples are automobile emission control devices and sewage treatment plants. Compare pollution prevention.

pollution prevention

Device, process, or strategy used to prevent a potential pollutant from forming or entering the environment or sharply reduces the amount entering the environment. Compare pollution cleanup.

natural resources

Earth's natural materials and processes that sustain other species and humans.

malnutrition

Faulty nutrition, caused by a diet that does not supply an individual with enough protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients needed for good health. Compare overnutrition, undernutrition.

species

Group of organisms that resemble one another in appearance, behavior, chemical makeup and processes, and genetic structure. Organisms that reproduce sexually are classified as members of the same species only if they can actually or potentially interbreed with one another and produce fertile offspring.

economic development

Improvement of living standards by economic growth. Compare economic growth, environmentally sustainable economic development.

economic growth

Increase in the capacity to provide people with goods and services produced by an economy; an increase in GNI (GNP). Compare economic development, environmentally sustainable economic development.

environmental science

Interdisciplinary study that uses information from the physical sciences and social sciences to learn how the earth works, how we interact with the earth, and how to deal with environmental problems.

principles of sustainability

See scientific principles of sustainability, social science principles of sustainability.

natural capital

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

ecosystem services

Natural services that support life on the earth and are essential to the quality of human life and the functioning of the world's economies. See natural resources.

environmental ethics

Our beliefs about what is right or wrong environmental behavior.

natural income

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

nonrenewable resource

Resource that exists in a fixed amount (stock) in various places 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 are 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 were formed. Compare renewable resource.

sustainable society

Society that manages its economy and population size without doing irreparable environmental harm by overloading the planet's ability to absorb environmental insults, replenish its resources, and sustain human and other forms of life over a specified period, usually hundreds to thousands of years. During this period, it satisfies the needs of its people without depleting natural resources and thereby jeopardizing the prospects of current and future generations of humans and other species.

environmentally sustainable society

Society that satisfies the basic needs of its people without depleting or degrading its natural resources and thereby preventing current and future generations of humans and other species from meeting their basic needs.

ecology

Study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy; study of the structure and functions of nature.

scientific principles of sustainability

Three principles by which life on the earth has sustained itself over its 3.5-billion-year history: (1) Reliance on solar energy: the sun warms the planet and supports photosynthesis used by plants to provide food for themselves and for us and most other animals. (2) Nutrient cycling: natural processes recycle chemicals that plants and animals need to stay alive and reproduce. (3) Biodiversity: the variety of different organisms, the genetic information they contain, the ecosystems in which they exist, and the natural services they provide have yielded ways for life to adapt to changing environmental conditions throughout the earth's history.

social science principles of sustainability

Three principles derived from the social sciences by which we could be guided to living more sustainably: (1) Full-cost pricing (from economics): finding ways to include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices. (2) Win-win solutions (from political science): in any decision-making, focusing on solutions that will benefit the largest possible number of people, as well as the environment. (3) Responsibility to future generations (from ethics): accepting our responsibility to leave the planet's life-support systems in at least as good a condition as what we now enjoy, for future generations.

gross domestic product (GDP)

Total market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced within a country, usually during a year. Compare gross national income.

exponential growth

Type of growth in which some quantity, such as population size or economic output, increases by a fixed percentage of the whole in a given time period; when the increase in quantity over time is plotted, this type of growth yields a J-shaped curve.