ES110: Environment, Sustainability and Society - Comprehensive Midterm Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering environmental ethics, Earth systems, the human sphere, climate change, freshwater and ocean systems, and forest ecosystems from the ES110 lecture notes.

Sustainability

The capacity to endure into the long-term future through linked human and ecological systems that persist over time, extending beyond mere conservation to address complex, interconnected environmental and social challenges.

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, as formulated in the 1987 Brundtland Report (Our Common Future).

Three Pillars of Sustainability

The framework balancing environmental viability (protecting nature), social equity (nurturing human communities and cultures), and economic prosperity (promoting long-term economic well-being).

3 Nested Dependencies Model

A sustainability model asserting that the economy is fully contained within and dependent on human society, which in turn is wholly contained within and dependent on the life-supporting environment.

Systems Thinking

An approach to understanding complexity by analyzing systems as integrated wholes and studying the interactions, feedbacks, and emergent properties among their components rather than isolating individual parts.

Social-Ecological System (SES)

An integrated, complex adaptive system in which human institutions and social structures continuously interact with, impact, and receive essential ecosystem services from ecological structures and functions.

Natural Capital

Earth's stock of natural assets—including air, water, soil, forests, minerals, and biodiversity—that produces a sustainable flow of valuable ecosystem goods and services.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size of a species that an ecosystem can support indefinitely without degrading the environmental resource base.

Ecological Overshoot

The condition that occurs when human resource consumption and waste generation exceed the regenerative and absorptive capacity of Earth's natural ecosystems.

Ecological Footprint

A metric developed at the University of British Columbia that quantifies human demand on nature by measuring the land and water area (in hectares) required to supply consumed resources and assimilate generated waste.

Planetary Boundaries

A framework identifying nine Earth-system processes—such as climate change, freshwater use, and biosphere integrity—that define a safe operating space within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive.

Resilience

The capacity of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbance, reorganize, and retain its essential structure, function, identity, and feedback mechanisms.

Environmental Ethics

The philosophical discipline that examines the moral relationship of human beings to the natural world and defines the moral value and status of non-human entities and ecosystems.

Instrumental Value

The value assigned to an entity or natural resource based solely on its usefulness as a means to achieve human ends, such as economic profit, food, or raw materials.

Intrinsic Value

The inherent worth of an entity, species, or ecosystem for its own sake, independent of whether it provides any direct benefit or utility to human beings.

Relational Value

The moral significance derived from the meaningful, reciprocal relationships and cultural connections between people and nature.

Anthropocentrism

A human-centred philosophical worldview holding that moral concern applies exclusively or primarily to humans, viewing nature as valuable strictly in terms of its utility to human survival and well-being.

Biocentrism

A life-centred philosophical worldview extending moral consideration to every individual living organism, positing that all living creatures possess an intrinsic will to live and a right to exist.

Ecocentrism

A system-centred philosophical worldview placing moral value on entire ecosystems, biological communities, habitats, and ecological processes rather than merely on isolated individual organisms.

Land Ethic

An ecological philosophy advanced by Aldo Leopold in 1949 that expands the boundaries of the ethical community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, affirming that an action is right when it preserves the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.

Rights of Nature

A legal and philosophical framework establishing that ecosystems possess inherent legal rights to exist, regenerate, maintain their vital cycles, and be defended in courts of law, first constitutionally enshrined by Ecuador in 2008.

Legal Personhood of Ecosystems

A legal doctrine granting ecosystems specific legal rights and liabilities comparable to corporate personhood, enabling guardians to litigate on their behalf (e.g., the Whanganui River in New Zealand and the Magpie River in Quebec).

Matter

Physical substances composed of chemical elements or compounds that occupy space and mass; Earth operates as a closed thermodynamic system with a fixed quantity of matter that must be continuously recycled.

First Law of Thermodynamics

The law of conservation of energy stating that energy cannot be spontaneously created or destroyed, only transferred from one body to another or transformed from one physical form into another.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The law of entropy stating that whenever energy is transformed or transferred, a portion of useful energy is degraded and dispersed into a less organized form (typically waste heat), reducing overall efficiency.

CHNOPS

An acronym representing the six essential chemical elements—Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and Sulphur—that constitute the primary building blocks of biological molecules such as proteins, DNA, and lipids.

Biogeochemical Cycles

The pathways through which essential chemical elements (such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) continuously circulate through the biological, geological, and atmospheric compartments of the Earth system.

Rock Cycle

The geologic model describing the dynamic transitions among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks driven by internal geothermal energy, tectonic processes, weathering, erosion, and sedimentation.

Critical Minerals

A designated group of metals and non-fuel mineral raw materials (such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements) that are economically and technologically essential for modern manufacturing, electronics, and the clean energy transition, but face significant supply disruption risks.

Biosphere

The global ecological sphere encompassing the thin zone of Earth where all life exists, functioning at the dynamic intersection of the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere.

Biome

A large-scale terrestrial or aquatic geographic region characterized by distinct climatic conditions, soil characteristics, and specific plant and animal communities adapted to those conditions.

Ecological Succession

The progressive, predictable change in species composition, community structure, and ecological function in an ecosystem following an environmental disturbance, beginning with pioneer species.

Gaia Hypothesis

A scientific theory formulated by James Lovelock proposing that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a complex, self-regulating system that maintains the planetary conditions necessary for sustaining life.

The Human Sphere

The component of the Earth system shaped by human populations, including cultural structures, economic markets, political institutions, and technological infrastructures.

Anthromes

Anthropogenic biomes; terrestrial ecological units that have been fundamentally altered and managed through ongoing human activities such as agriculture, forestry, settlements, and transportation.

IPAT Equation

A conceptual model formulated by Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren stating that total human environmental impact ($I$) is a mathematical product of population size ($P$), affluence or per capita consumption ($A$), and the technology used to produce goods ($T$): $I = P \times A \times T$.

Demographic Transition Model

A demographic model describing how human populations transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a society industrializes and achieves higher economic development.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The aggregate monetary value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders during a specific period, calculated as consumption plus government spending plus investment plus net exports.

Decoupling

The deliberate economic process of disconnecting economic development and human wellbeing from the consumption of finite natural resources and associated environmental degradation.

Common-Pool Resources

Natural or human-made resources characterized by rivalrous consumption and high difficulty in excluding potential beneficiaries, rendering them highly vulnerable to depletion or degradation.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite statistic created by the United Nations that measures average national achievement in three dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

Environmental Kuznets Curve

A hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship positing that environmental degradation initially intensifies as per capita income rises during early economic development, peaks, and subsequently declines as a wealthier society demands cleaner environments.

One Health

An integrated, collaborative, transdisciplinary approach recognizing that human health, domestic and wild animal health, plant health, and the health of the surrounding environment and ecosystems are inextricably linked.

Bandwidth Tax

The psychological phenomenon whereby the constant stress and mental energy consumed by poverty and chronic scarcity reduce cognitive processing capacity, impairing executive function and long-term planning.

Equality vs. Equity vs. Justice

Equality provides everyone the identical support regardless of circumstances; equity customizes support according to specific needs; justice systematically dismantles institutional and structural barriers.

Environmental Justice

The principle asserting fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, income, or origin regarding the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws and equitable distribution of environmental burdens.

Climate Justice

An ethical framework highlighting that those who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions frequently bear the earliest, most severe, and most disproportionate impacts of global climate change.

Doughnut Economics

An economic framework created by Kate Raworth that seeks to meet human needs within a minimum social foundation without overshooting Earth's ecological ceiling defined by planetary boundaries.

Weather versus Climate

Weather denotes the short-term, fluctuating state of atmospheric conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind) over hours or days, whereas climate represents the statistical pattern and long-term trends of weather conditions observed over an extended period (typically $30+$ years).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

An authoritative international body established in 1988 by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization to synthesize scientific, technical, and socio-economic research regarding human-induced climate change.

Climate Proxies

Preserved biological, chemical, and physical structures—such as ice cores, tree rings, coral reef skeletons, lake sediments, and speleothems—that encode past climatic and meteorological conditions prior to direct instrumental records.

Milankovitch Cycles

Periodic variations in Earth's orbital geometry—specifically eccentricity (orbital shape), obliquity (axial tilt changes over ~$41,000$ years), and precession (axial wobble)—that alter the distribution and intensity of incoming solar radiation over geological epochs.

Greenhouse Effect

The natural atmospheric process in which shortwave solar radiation penetrates the atmosphere, warms Earth's surface, and is re-emitted as longwave infrared radiation, which is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases to warm the lower atmosphere.

Arctic Amplification

The physical phenomenon whereby the Arctic region warms at a substantially faster rate than the global average—observed as nearly four times faster since 1979—primarily driven by positive sea ice-albedo feedbacks.

Thermal Expansion of Seawater

The increase in seawater volume that occurs purely as ocean water warms and absorbs heat, functioning alongside melting land ice as a primary driver of global sea level rise.

Climate Mitigation

Technological, economic, and policy interventions designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the source or enhance carbon sinks to limit the extent of future climate change.

Climate Adaptation

Structural, institutional, and behavioural adjustments in human and natural systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their impacts, moderating harm or exploiting beneficial opportunities.

Carbon Sink

Any natural or artificial reservoir—such as forests, soils, or oceans—that absorbs and stores more carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}_2$) from the atmosphere through physical and biological processes than it releases.

Montreal Protocol

An international environmental treaty signed in 1987 designed to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by systematically phasing out the production and consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances.

Paris Agreement

A legally binding international treaty adopted in 2015 under the UNFCCC committing global signatories to limit average global temperature rise to well below $2.0^\text{o}\text{C}$ above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts to cap it at $1.5^\text{o}\text{C}$ through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Climate Commitment

The inevitable ongoing global warming and sea level rise to which the planetary system is already committed over centuries due to the long atmospheric persistence of previously emitted greenhouse gases and the high thermal inertia of oceans.

Freshwater Ecosystem

A biological community of plants, animals, and microorganisms interacting within a natural water body characterized by low dissolved salt concentration, typically less than $1\%$, representing only $2.5\%$ of Earth's total water reserves.

Freshwater Maximum Density

The thermodynamic property of water reaching its greatest physical density at $4^\text{o}\text{C}$, causing ice to form and float at the surface while leaving cold, oxygenated liquid water insulated below for aquatic life during winter.

Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

The concentration of microscopic bubbles of gaseous oxygen dissolved in water, which enters through atmospheric diffusion and photosynthesis, dissolves more readily in cold water than warm water, and is vital for aquatic respiration.

Point-Source Pollution

Water pollution originating from a single, distinct, and identifiable stationary conveyance or discharge pipe, such as an industrial effluent pipe, wastewater treatment facility, or oil pipeline leak.

Non-Point Source Pollution

Diffuse, unconfined water contamination resulting from agricultural runoff, urban stormwater washes, atmospheric deposition, and road salts mobilized across broad geographic areas.

Eutrophication

The ecological process occurring when excess nutrient loading (primarily phosphorus and nitrogen) accelerates algal growth, resulting in dense blooms that block sunlight and induce severe microbial oxygen depletion during subsequent decay.

Bioaccumulation

The net buildup and gradual increase in the concentration of toxic chemical pollutants within the tissues of a biological organism over its lifetime as intake outpaces metabolism or excretion.

Biomagnification

The progressive increase in chemical contaminant concentrations across successive trophic levels within a food web, resulting in top predators exhibiting significantly higher toxin burdens than primary consumers.

Virtual Water

The hidden, embedded volume of freshwater consumed, evaporated, and polluted throughout the entire industrial and agricultural value chain required to manufacture a good or produce a crop.

Watershed

A topographically delineated land basin where all surface precipitation and subsurface water flow down through tributaries, streams, and rivers to drain into a single common recipient waterbody.

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

A systematic, coordinated process promoting the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources at the watershed scale to maximize economic and social welfare equitably without compromising ecosystem sustainability.

Marine Ecosystem

An aquatic biome comprising open ocean, seabed, coastal zones, and coral reefs, characterized by an average dissolved salinity of approximately $3.5\%$ ($35\text{ ppt}$).

Estuary

A dynamic coastal transition ecosystem where freshwater runoff from rivers and streams discharges into and mixes with marine saltwater, creating highly productive brackish water habitats.

Microplastics

Synthetic polymer fragments, particles, or fibres smaller than five millimeters in diameter derived from the breakdown of macro-plastics, industrial resin pellets, or commercial cosmetic microbeads.

Ocean Dead Zone

A region of hypoxia or anoxia in oceans and large lakes caused by upstream agricultural nutrient and organic pollution, depleting dissolved oxygen to levels lethal for fish and benthic organisms.

Coral Bleaching

The expulsion of endosymbiotic zooxanthellae algae from coral host tissues triggered by thermal stress and environmental changes, exposing the white calcium carbonate skeleton and starving the coral of its primary nutrient source.

Ocean Acidification

The ongoing reduction in the pH of the Earth's oceans caused by the uptake of anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}_2$), which forms carbonic acid and impairs the ability of calcifying organisms to build shells and skeletons.

Aquaculture

The commercial farming, propagation, and harvesting of aquatic organisms (including finfish, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic plants) under controlled freshwater or marine conditions.

Forest

A terrestrial biome where trees able to reach at least five meters in height in situ constitute the dominant continuous land cover, covering approximately $31\%$ of Earth's total land area.

Dendrochronology

The scientific discipline of dating past environmental conditions and wood age by analyzing the annual growth ring patterns within trees.

Taiga / Boreal Forest

A high-latitude northern forest biome characterized by cold snow forest climates, acidic soils, relatively low tree species diversity, and the dominance of coniferous evergreen trees like spruces and pines.

Tropical Rainforest

An equatorial forest biome characterized by year-round warm temperatures, high humidity, extensive rainfall, rapid nutrient cycling, and exceptionally dense biological diversity containing more than half of all terrestrial species.

Species Richness

The absolute count of distinct biological species present within a given ecological sample, community, or defined geographic area.

Species Evenness

A measure of the relative abundance, numerical equality, and balance among the different species comprising an ecological community.

HIPPO Framework

An acronym coined by conservation biologist E.O. Wilson identifying the primary drivers of global biodiversity decline: Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population growth, and Overexploitation.

Forest Disturbance

Any discrete natural or anthropogenic event (such as wildfire, insect pest outbreaks, windthrows, or logging) that modifies the structural composition, age profile, and biomass of a forest community.

Primary Forest

An undisturbed, naturally regenerated forest composed of native species where ecological processes remain largely intact with no clearly visible indications of human activities or industrial harvesting.

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs)

Biological goods gathered from wild forests excluding timber and commercial lumber, including edible products (maple syrup, wild mushrooms), botanical pharmaceuticals (e.g., Taxol), and decorative materials.

Restoration Ecology

The scientific and practical discipline of intentionally aiding the recovery, rehabilitation, and re-establishment of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

Reconciliation Ecology

The conservation science branch devoted to designing and modifying human-dominated landscapes to encourage biodiversity and foster dynamic coexistence between wildlife and anthropogenic activities.

Ecosystem Services

The broad array of functional benefits and resources that natural ecosystems provide to sustain human society, classified into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.