APES Unit 1

solar energy

suns energy warms planet/provides energy plants use to produce nutrients

chromosome

thousands of genes make up a single chromosome

thinking critically

three steps: be skeptical, evaluate evidence, evaluate personal assumptions

element

type of matter with a set of properties that cannot be broken to simpler substances

way to deal with tragedy of commons

use shared resources at a rate well below estimated sustainable yield, or convert shared ownership to private ownership

waste

useful resource, wastes/decayed bodies of organisms become nutrients/materials for other organisms

high quality matter

useful, found near earths surface

biodiversity

variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes, provides ways for species to adapt to changing environmental conditions

scientific law

well tested and accepted description of observations

scientific theory

well tested and accepted scientific hypothesis

ecosystem

biological community of organisms within defined area of land or volume of water that interact w/ one another and w/ the nonliving chemical/physical factors

sustainability

capacity of earths natural system (support life and human economic systems in order to be able to survive/adapt to changing environmental conditions)

energy

capacity to fo work/transfer heat (work=force x distance)

Nucleus

center of the atom, contains one or more protons

genes

certain sequences of nucleotides, each coded unit of info leads to a trait

chemical change

chemical reaction takes place to change chemical composition

chemical cycling

circulation of nutrients from the environment through various organisms and back to environment

compounds

combinations of two or more different elements held together in fixed proportions

poverty's effect on environment

degraded forests, topsoil, and grasslands; depleted fisheries and wildlife populations

biomimicry

describes rapidly growing scientific effort to understand, mimic, and catalog ways nature has sustained life for 3.8 billion years

science

field of study on discovering how nature works and using that to describe what will happen in nature, base on assumption that events follow cause and effect patterns

ecological deficit

footprint is larger than biological capacity for replenishment

polymers

form when number of simple organic molecules are linked by chemical bonds (carbs, proteins, and nucleic acids)

ecology

key component of environmental science, branch of bio that focuses on how living organisms interact with living/nonliving parts of their environment

sustainability revolution

learning how to reduce our ecological footprints and live more sustainably

Living sustainably

living on natural income: renewable sources provided by natural capital

win-win solutions

look for win-won solutions to environmental problems, ones that will benefit the largest number of people and environment

natural resources

materials/energy provided by by nature that is essential to us

Biocapacity

measure of sustainability/ability of ecosystems to renew renewable resources used by a population in given time period and to absorb resulting waste/pollution

natural capital

natural resources and ecosystem services that keep humans/other species alive and that support human economics

ecosystem services

natural services produced by ecosystems to support life and economies at no monetary cost (forests help purify water/air, regulate climate, and recycle nutrients)

hydroxide ions

negative ions of OH--; can be produced when bases are dissolved in solution

physical change

no change in chemical composition

Nature Deficit Disorder

not having enough contact with nature

low quality matter

not highly concentrated, is often located deep underground or dispersed in the ocean or atmosphere, and usually has little potential for use as a resource

high quality energy

organized & concentrated, can perform useful work (ex. fossil fuels & nuclear).

potential energy

stored energy that results from the position or shape of an object

environmental science

study of connections in nature

commercial energy

1% of the energy we use, comes from burning nonrenewable mineral resources

fullcost pricing

2 ways to implement; shift from harmful subsidies to beneficial subsidies, and increase taxes on income/wealth

life-centered worldview

All species have value in fulfilling their particular role within the biosphere regardless of their potential use in society.

ion

An atom or group of atoms that has a positive or negative charge.

organic compounds

Compounds that contain at least 2 carbon atoms

reliable science

Data, hypothesis, models, theories, and laws widely accepted by experts

rule of 70

Doubling time (in years) = 70/(percentage growth rate).

model

another way to study nature, approximate physical/mathematical behavior of complex natural system

matter

anything with mass that takes up space

IPAT

Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology

Law of conversation of energy

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, when energy converts from one form to another, it ends up with lower quality energy

affluence and unsustainable resource use

as total resource consumption and average resource consumption per person increase so does degration/waste/pollution

Law of Conservation of Matter

Matter is not created nor destroyed in any chemical or physical change

feedback loop

Occurs when an output of matter, energy, or information is fed back into the system as an input and leads to changes in that system.

industrial-medical revolution

People invented machines for large scale production of goods in factories

atom

basic building blocks of matter, smallest unit of matter an element can be divided into

Tradegy of the Commons

The idea that where there is no clear ownership of rights to a natural resource, the users of the resource are likely to overexploit it. This becomes an argument either for strong government intervention or for privatization of rights to the resource.

agricultural revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering

information and globalization revolution

Use of new technologies to enable people to have increasingly rapid access to much more information on a global scale, resulted in pollution and more resource use

LDC (Less Developed Country)

all other nations, some with middle income and some with less, 83% of population, uses 30% of resources

human-centered worldview

Worldview that sees the natural world as a support system for human life.

molecule

a combination of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds

electromagnetic radiation

a form of energy that exhibits wavelike behavior as it travels through space

energy quality

a measure of the capacity of a type of energy to do useful work

nonrenewable resource

a resource that exists in a fixed amount in various places in Earth's crust and can be replaced only by geological, physical, and chemical processes that take hundreds of millions of years (oil, gas, coal, metallic mineral resources, salt, clay, sand)

species

each organism belongs to a species, group of organisms having a unique set of characteristics that set it apart from other groups

sustainable system

earth is a sustainable system that has experienced many catastrophic changes

low quality energy

energy that is dispersed and has little ability to do useful work

environment

everything around us

economic depletion

exhaustion of about 80% of nonrenewable resources

inexhaustible resources

expected to last forever on human timescale (solar energy)

full cost pricing

gives customers info about harmful environmental impacts of the good and services they use

sustainable yeild

highest rate renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing available supply

cell theory

idea that all living things are composed of cells, cells are the basic units of structure and function in living things, and new cells are produced from existing cells

peer review

important part of scientific process, scientist publish details of methods, results, and reasoning behind hypothesis

MDC (more developed country)

industrialized nations with high average income per person (US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany, most European countries) includes 17% of worlds population, uses 70% of natural resources

planet's life support system

our lives depend on clean air and water, food, shelter, energy, soil, and a livable climate

human activities

overused 60% of earths ecosystem services since 1950

natural capital degration

people waste, deplete, and degrade much of earths life sustaining natural capital

scientific methods

practice to advance knowledge of natural world

tentative science

preliminary scientific results not gone under testing/peer review

environmentally sustainable society

protects natural capital and lives on its income

key ecosystem services

purification of air/water, renewable of topsoil, pollination, pest control, nutrient cycling

open access resources

renewable resources not owned by anyone (atmosphere/ocean)

renewable resources

resource that can be reused because its replenished through natural processes as long as it is not used faster than nature can renew it (forests, grasslands, clean air, fresh water)

unreliable science

results/hypothesis not hone under review

pH scale

scale with values from 0 to 14, used to measure the concentration of H+ ions in a solution; a pH of 0 to 7 is acidic, a pH of 7 is neutral, and a pH of 7 to 14 is basic

science has limits

scientific research cannot prove a theory is 100% true

scientific hypothesis

testable explanation of collected data

per capita ecological footprint

the average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area

kinetic energy

the energy an object has due to its motion

atomic theory

the idea that everything is made of small particles

atomic number

the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom

ecological tipping point

the point at which we reach an irreversible shift in behavior of a natural system.

mass number

the sum of the number of neutrons and protons in an atomic nucleus