| A | B |
|---|
| Renewable resources | natural resources that can be replaced in a relatively short time |
| Nonrenewable resources | Natural resources that are not replaced as they are used |
| Pollution | any change to the environment that has a negative effect on living things |
| Development Viewpoint | The belief that humans should be able to freely use and benefit from all of Earth's resources |
| Preservation Viewpoint | the belief that all parts of the environment are equally important, no matter how useful they are to humans |
| Conservation Viewpoint | the belief that people should use resources from the environment as long as they do not destroy those resources |
| Sustainable yield | a regular amount of renewable resources that can be harvested without reducing the future suppy |
| Biodiversity | the number of different species living in an area |
| Keystone species | a species that influences the survivial of many other species in an ecosystem |
| Extinction | the disappearance of all members of a species from Earth |
| Genes | the structures in an organism's cells that carry its hereditary information |
| Habitat destruction | the lose of a natural habitat |
| Habitat fragmentation | breaking larger habitats into smaller, isolated pieces, or fragments |
| Poaching | the illegal killing or removal of wildlife species |
| Captive breeding | the mating of animals in zoos or wildlife preserves |
| Endangered Species | an organism that is endangered of becoming extinct in the near future |
| Threatened Species | A species that could become endangered in the near future |
| Development | the construction of buildings, roads, bridges and dams |
| Litter | The top layer of the soil made up of dead leaves and grass |
| Topsoil | This soil layer has a mixture of rock fragments, nutrients, water, air and decaying animal and plant matter |
| Subsoil | Like the topsoil, but has less animal and plant matter |
| Bedrock | all of the rock that makes up the Earth's crust |
| Erosion | the process by which water, wind or ice moves particles of rock or soil |
| Nutrient depletion | when the soil becomes less fertile |
| Fallow | One way to prevent nutrient depletion by letting a field go unplanted with crops |
| Crop rotation | planting different crops in a field each year |
| desertification | the advance of desert-like conditions into an area |
| Land reclamation | the process of restoring an area of land to a more natural, productive state |
| Municipal Solid Waste | all of the wastes produced in homes, businesses, schools and other places |
| leachate | when rainwater falls on solid waste, dissolved chemicals from the waste form a polluted liquid called... |
| sanitary landfill | a place that holds municipal solid waste, construction debris and some types of agricultural and industrial wastes. |
| Incineration | the burning of solid waste |
| Biodegradable | a substance that can be broken down and recycled by bacteria and other decomposers |
| Composting | the process of helping the natural decomposition process break down many forms of waste |
| Hazardous waste | any material that can be harmful to human health or the environment |
| Toxic wastes | poisonous wastes which can damage the health of humans or other organisms |
| Explosive wastes | react very quickly if exposed to air or water or explode when dropped |
| Flammable wastes | catch fire easily and can begin burning at fairly low temperatures |
| Corrosive wastes | wastes that dissolve or eat through many materials |
| Radioactive wastes | wastes that contain unstable atoms |
| Air pollution | Any change to the atmosphere that has a harmful effect |
| Emissions | Particles and gases that are released into the air |
| Photochemical smog | a thick brownish haze formed when certain gases in the air react with sunlight |
| Ozone | a toxic form of oxygen found in the atmosphere |
| Temperature inversion | a layer of warm air prevents the |
| Acid rain | Precipitation that is more acidic than normal |
| Ozone layer | a protective layer of gas in the upper atmosphere |
| Chlorofluorocarbons | a group of gases containing chlorine and fluorine, also known as CFC's |
| Greenhouse effect | the trapping of heat near the Earth's surface |
| GLobal warming | a prediction that states that an increase in carbon dioxide will cause average temperatures to rise |
| Groundwater | water stored in layers of soil and rock beneath Earth's surface |
| Drought | a period when less rain than normal falls in an area |
| Water pollution | any change to water that has a harmful effect on people or other living things |
| Sewage | water and human wastes that are washed down sinks, toilets and showers |
| Fertilizers | chemicals that provide nutrients to help crops grow better |
| Pesticides | chemicals that kill crop-destroying organisms |
| Sediments | Particles or rock, silt and sand in the water supply |
| Scrubber | a device that removes pollutants from emissions using a stream of water droplets |
| Catalytic converter | a device that reduces emissions of CO, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides |
| Primary treatment | the treatment that removes the solid materials from the waste water |
| Secondary treatment | treatment using bacteria to break down wastes |
| Combustion | the process of burning a fuel |
| Fossil fuels | energy-rich substances formed from the remains of once-living organisms |
| Hydrocarbons | energy-rich chemical compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen |
| Petroleum | another name for oil |
| Refinery | a factory where crude oil is seperated into fuels and other products by heating |
| Petrochemicals | compounds that are made from oil |
| Passive Solar System | converts sunlight into thermal energy without using pumps or fans |
| Active solar system | captures the sun's energy, then uses fans and pumps to redistribute the heat |
| Hydroelectric power | electricity produced by flowing water |
| Biomass fuels | a group of fuels made from living things |
| Geothermal energy | the intense heat from Earth's interior that warms the magma |
| Gasohol | adding alcohol to gasoline |
| Nuclear fission | the splitting of an atom's nucleus into two smaller nuclei |
| Nucleus | the central core of an atom |
| Reactor vessel | the section of a nuclear reactor where nuclear fission occurs |
| fuel rods | rods of U-235 |
| Control rods | rods made of cadmium which are placed between the fuel rods |
| Meltdown | when the fuel rods in a reactor generate so much heat they start to melt |
| Nuclear fusion | the combining of two atomic nuclei to produce a larger nucleus |
| energy conservation | reducing energy usage |
| Efficiency | the percentage of energy that is actually used to perform work |
| Insulation | a layer of material that helps block the transfer of heat between the air inside and outside a building |
