Module 1 | 1. Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

Vocabulary terms and definitions related to environmental problems, their causes, and the principles of sustainability as presented in Miller/Spoolman, Environmental Science, 15e.

Sustainability

The ability of ecosystems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt together to constantly changing environments over long periods of time.

Environment

Everything around us, including both living and nonliving things.

Ecosystem

A group of organisms in a defined geographic area, either terrestrial or marine, that interact with each other and their environment.

Environmentalism

A social movement dedicated to sustaining the earth’s life-support system.

Environmental Science

The study of how life on earth has survived and thrived, how humans interact with the environment, and how to deal with environmental problems to live sustainably.

Dependence on solar energy

A scientific principle of sustainability where the sun supplies nutrients, both directly and indirectly, to support life.

Biodiversity

A scientific principle of sustainability that provides ecosystem services and adaptability through a variety of genes, species, and ecosystems.

Chemical cycling

A scientific principle of sustainability, also known as nutrient cycling, where waste in nature becomes useful resources for other organisms.

Natural capital

The combination of natural resources and ecosystem services that keep humans and other species alive and support human economies.

Natural resources

Materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans, categorized as inexhaustible, renewable, or nonrenewable.

Ecosystem services

Processes provided by healthy ecosystems, such as air and water purification, climate control, and nutrient cycling, which support life at no cost.

Full-cost pricing

An economic principle of sustainability that includes the harmful environmental and health costs of goods and services in their market prices.

Win-win solutions

A political science principle of sustainability that focuses on cooperation and compromise to benefit both people and the environment.

Responsibility to future generations

An ethical principle of sustainability suggesting that we should leave the planet's life-support systems in at least as good a condition as what we now enjoy.

Resource

Anything we obtain from the environment that can be readily available for use or require technology to acquire.

Inexhaustible resource

A resource that is perpetually available and expected to last for billions of years, such as solar energy.

Renewable resource

A resource that can be replenished by natural processes within hours to centuries, as long as it is not used up faster than it can be replaced.

Sustainable yield

The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Nonrenewable resources

Resources that exist in a fixed quantity in the earth's crust and take millions to billions of years to renew through geologic processes.

Industrialized countries

Highly developed nations that make up approximately $17\%$ of the world’s population, including the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.

Developing countries

Middle-income or low-income nations that make up approximately $83\%$ of the world’s population.

Environmental degradation

The depletion and wasting of the earth’s natural capital at an accelerating rate.

Pollution

The contamination of the environment by chemical, noise, or heat substances that are harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms.

Point sources

Single, identifiable origins of pollutants, such as the smokestack of a coal-burning power or industrial plant.

Nonpoint sources

Dispersed and often difficult to identify origins of pollutants, such as pesticides blown from the land into the air or trash in streams.

Pollution cleanup

A method of dealing with pollution that involves cleaning up or diluting pollutants after they have been produced.

Pollution prevention

Efforts focused on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants.

Tragedy of the commons

The cumulative degradation of shared or open-access renewable resources because the users believe their individual impact is too small to matter.

Ecological footprint

The amount of land and water needed to supply a population or geographic area with renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the waste and pollution produced.

Ecological deficit

A situation where the total ecological footprint of a population is larger than its biological capacity to replenish resources and absorb wastes.

IPAT model

A model used to estimate the environmental impact ($I$) of human activities based on Population ($P$), Affluence ($A$), and Technology ($T$), expressed as $I = P \times A \times T$.

Exponential growth

Growth in which some quantity, such as population size, increases at a constant rate per unit of time, as seen in the human population reaching $7\text{ billion}$ in $2011$.

Poverty

A condition in which people are unable to fulfill their basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health care, and education.

Environmental worldview

A set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what you think your role in the world should be.

Human-centered worldview

A worldview that sees the natural world as a support system for human life, including planetary management and stewardship variations.

Life-centered worldview

The belief that all species have value as participating members of the biosphere, regardless of their potential or actual use to humans.

Earth-centered worldview

The belief that we are part of, and dependent on, nature and that the earth’s life-support system exists for all species.

Planetary management worldview

A human-centered view that nature exists mainly to meet our needs and wants and that we can manage the earth's life-support systems for our benefit.

Stewardship worldview

A human-centered view that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers, or stewards, of the earth.

Preservationist school

A conservation movement led by John Muir that advocated for leaving wilderness areas on some public lands untouched.

Conservationist school

A movement led by Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot that advocated for managing public lands wisely and scientifically to provide resources for people.

Natural income

The renewable resources, such as plants, animals, soil, clean water, and clean air, provided by the earth’s natural capital.

Upcycling

A process mentioned to mitigate environmental impacts by transforming waste materials into something of higher value or quality.

Gifford Pinchot

A key figure in the conservationist school who advocated for the wise and scientific management of public lands.

John Muir

A key figure in the preservationist school who wanted wilderness areas on some public lands to be left untouched.

Tianjin, China

A real-life example of an entirely sustainable eco-city developed on non-arable land in a water-shortage area.

Nutrient recycling

The process by which chemicals necessary for life are circulated from the environment through organisms and back to the environment.

Affluence

Wealth that allows high levels of consumption and waste but can also lead to cleaner technologies and better environmental education.

Open-access resources

Renewable resources that are not owned by anyone and can be used by almost anyone, such as the atmosphere or the open ocean.

Environmentally sustainable society

A society that protects natural capital and lives off its income without depleting or degrading the resources that supply it.