Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability

natural capital

The natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support human economies.

What is an important component of nutrient cycling?

Topsoil

Scientific principles of sustainability (pg. 5)

1. Dependence on solar energy 2. Biodiversity 3. Chemical cycling/nutrient cycling

Ecosystem

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

Environmentalism

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

Three goals of environmental science

1. To learn how life on the earth has survived and thrived 2. To understand how we interact with the environment 3. To find ways to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably

Species

A group of organisms that has a unique set of characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms.

Organism

A living thing

Environment

EVERYTHING AROUND US. It includes the living and no living things (air, water, and energy) with which we interact in a complex web of relationships that connect us to one another and to the world we live in.

Where is environmentalism more practiced?

In the political and ethical arenas than in the realm of science.

What are natural resources classified as?

Inexhaustible (energy from the sun and wind), renewable, nonrenewable (copper, oil, and coal) resources

Ecology

The biological science that studies how living things interact with one another with their environment.

Sustainability

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.

Environmental science

The interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and non living parts of their environment.

Are we (humans) dependent on the earth for clean air and water, food, shelter, energy, fertile soil, and everything in the planet's life-support system?

Yes

natural resources

are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans.