APES Unit 0 Sustainability & stewardship

module 31, 32, 24-1, 0

Ecological footprint

A measure of the area of land and water individual, population or activity required to produce all resources. It consumes to process the waste generates

Carbon footprint

A measure of the total carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emissions from the activities, both the direct indirect of a person, country, or other entity

Sustainability

Being able to use a resource or engage in activity now a jeopardizes the ability of future generations to engage in similar activities later

Sustainable development

Development that balances current human well-being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations

Maximum sustainable yield (MSY)

The largest quantity of a renewable resource that can be harvested indefinitely

Environmental indicators

Describe the current state of our environmental system

Anthropogenic

Derived from human activities

Tragedy of the commons

The tendency of a shared, limited resource to become depleted if it is not use it regulated in someway

Externality

The cost of benefit of a good or service that is not included in the purchase price of that good or service,

environment

the sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life

environmental science

the field of study that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature

ecosystem

a particular location on Earth with interacting biotic and abiotic components

biotic

living

abiotic

nonliving

environmentalism

a social movement that seeks to protect the environment through lobbying, activism, and education

environmental studies

the field of study that includes environmental science and additional subjects such as environmental policy, ecconomics, literature, and ethics

scientific method

an objective method to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, and protect the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes

hypothesis

a testable conjecture about how something works

variable

any categories, conditions, factors, or traits that differ in natural world or in experiemental situations

independent variable

a variable that is not dependent on other factors

dependent variable

a variable that is dependent on other factors

null hypothesis

a prediction saying that there is no difference bewteen groups/conditions that are being compared

control group

In a scientific investigation, a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experiemntal group, except for the isngle variable under study

natural experiment

a natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem

replication

the data collection procedure oftaking repeated measurements

sample size

The number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection (sometimes reffered to as n )

accuracy

how close a measured value is to actual or true value

precision

how close the repeated measurements of a sample are to one another

accuracy

how close a measured value is to the actual or true value

uncertainty

an estimate of how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value

inductive reasoning

the process of making general statements from specific facts or ex.

deductive reasoning

the process of applying a general statement to specific facts or situations

theory

a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance

first law of thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can change from one form to another

second law of thermodynamics

When energy is transformed, the quantity of energy remains the same, but the ability for the energy to do work diminishes

rangelands

dry, open grasslands primarily used for grazing cattle

clear-cutting

a method of harvesting trees that involves removing all or almost all of the trees within an area

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

-a 1973 Ｕ.S law designed by President Nixon

-to protect plant & animal species that are threatened within extinction, & the habitats that support those species

Clear Air Act (CAA)

-1970, original one in 1963, amended in 1990

-sets goals and standards for the quality and purity of air in the U.S

- A significant set of amendments in 1990 toughened air quality standards and placed new emphasis on market forces to control air pollution

Clean Water Act (CWA)

-regulates discharges of pollutants into the waters of the U.S

-began in 1948

-Amendments & significantly reorganized in 1972, establishing and maintaining goals and standards for U.S. water quality and purity.

-1987: increased controls on toxic pollutants, and in 1990, to more effectively address the hazard of oil spills

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

-1973 international agreement-wild trade regulation

-ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, & Liability Act (CERCLA) / Superfund

-1980 in response to the release of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment

- Established the requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites

- Assigns liability for persons responsible for the release of hazardous wastes at these sites

-Trust fund provided for cleanup when no party could be identified

Montreal Protocol

1987 international treaty to protect the ozone layer by limiting the production of substances harmful to the ozone layer, like CFCS

Kyoto Protocol

-1997 in Kyoto, Japan

- An international treaty that commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to reducing global warming

Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA)

-1974 Federal law that protects public drinking water

- EPA sets standards for water quality

-Groundwater is addressed here (CWA does not, it addresses bodies of water)

- Does not apply to bottled water

Delaney Clause of the Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act

-Food additives amendment of 1958

-Prohibits the use, in food, of additives which have not been tested

-If a substance were found to cause cancer in man or animal, then it could not be used as a food additive (Ex:  Herbicides, pesticides)

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

-1976:Management of non-hazardous and hazardous solid waste, including landfills and storage tanks. Set minimal standards for all waste disposal facilities and for hazardous wastes

-EPA has authority the to control hazardous waste for any industry from ”cradle to grave

Energy transfer

Energy cannot be destroyed, but whenever it flows through systems, it degrades

Interactions between Earth systems

Systems can inevitably change when they come into contact with things such as humans and natural factors

Interactions Between Different Species and Environment

Species interact with both other species and the environment

human alter natural systems and have an impact on environment for millions of yrs

Sustainability

development that ensures that future generations will have equal access to the resources that our planet offers

Bureau of Land Management (BoLM)

grazing, mining, timber harvesting, and recreation

United States Forest Service (USFS)

timber harvesting, grazing, and recreation

National Park Service (NPS)

recreation and conservation

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

wildlife conservation, hunting, recreation

Stewardship

living on Earth in a way that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of these resources

solutions to Tragedy of Commons

-privatization

-gov regulation

-education & cooperation, community management

Biocentric

A worldview that considers human beings to be just one of many species on earth, all of which have equal intrinsic value

Ecocentric

A worldview that places equal value on all living organisms and the ecosystems in which they live