Environmental Economics and Material Balance Principle

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to global warming, seed balls, and the Material Balance Principle from environmental economics.

Global warming

The current increase in temperature of the Earth's surface (both land and water) as well as its atmosphere.

Seed ball (or seed bomb)

A seed that has been wrapped in soil materials, usually a mixture of clay and compost, and then dried, functioning essentially as a pre-planted seed.

First law of thermodynamics

The law of conservation of matter and energy, which emphasizes that in any production system "what goes in must come out".

Material Balance Principle

An approach based on the first law of thermodynamics implying that mass inputs must equal mass outputs for every process, meaning resources drawn from the environment for production and consumption activities eventually return back to the environment as unwanted wastes and pollutants.

Production Sector (Material Balance Model)

The sector where firms produce output from inputs, resulting in the discharge of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes, represented by the relationship $R = F + W_1$.

Household Sector (Material Balance Model)

The sector where consumption activities take place, resulting in waste generation represented by the relationship $F = W_2$.

Input=Output balance

The overall condition in the Material Balance Model showing that total resource inputs equal total waste outputs, expressed as $R = W_1 + W_2$.

Material Balance Approach simple equation

The algebraic formula representing the material balance: $M = G - (R_c - R_p) + (R^r_p + R^r_c) = R^d_p + R^d_c$.