Honors Environmental and Ecology

Environment

All living and nonliving things with in which an organism interacts

Environmental Science

the study of how the natural world works, how the environment affects human, and affects the enviorment

Environmentalism

a social movement dedicated to protecting the natural world - and by extension people - from the harmful changes produced by human activities

Natural Resources

any of the natural materials and energy source provided by nature that humans need to survive

Renewable Natural Resources

a resource that is replenished, or renewed over a short period of time

Nonrenewable Natural resource

a resource that is formed much more slowly than it is used

Sustainable

able to meet the current demand for a resource without depleting the future supply

Fossil Fuel

a carbon - containing fuel formed over millions of years from the remains of living things

Ecological Footprint

the environmental impact of an individual or population in terms of the total amount of land and water required (1) to provide the raw materials the individual or population consumes and (2) to dispose of or recycle the waste in individual or population produces

hypothesis

a testable idea that attempts to explain a phenomenon or answer a scientific question

prediction

a statement of what a scientific expects to observe if a hypothesis is true

independent vaiable

the variable that is manipulated, or changed, in an experiment

dependent variable

the variable that changes in response to the conditions set in an experiment

controlled study

a study in which only one factor is manipulated, or damaged

Data

information collected using scientific methods

peer review

the formal process of submitting research for examination by the scientific community

theory

a well - tested explanation of observations and experimental findings

Ethics

the branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad, and of right and wrong

Enviromental Ethics

the application of ethics standards to relationships between humans and their environment