Global Environment test #2

What has been the overall trend for species diversity throughout the ages of Earth’s

history?

Increased

What percentage of species that have ever existed on the Earth are now extinct?

Over 90%

As biodiversity disappears, the biosphere will become…?

Less adaptable to change

In order to preserve the biosphere for future generations, humans must…

align their activities and technologies with natural systems by actively curbing environmental damage and restoring ecological balance

What does the H in HIPPO stand for?

Habitat Loss

What does the I in HIPPO stand for?

Invasive species

What does the P(1) in HIPPO stand for?

Pollution/Poaching

What does the P(2) in HIPPO stand for?

Population

What does the O in HIPPO stand for?

Overharvesting

The concept of species triage can be applied to determine…

If a species is worth/capable of being saved or if they’ll have to be left to die in favor of saving another species

Charismatic species are…

A popular animal that people like, therefore they get more funding for conservation

Why is international cooperation crucial to securing future biodiversity?

The same issues regarding conservation are being experienced around the world, as well as smuggling, if we work together the problem has a higher chance of being solved

What are the top four Federal land management agencies?

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and National Park Service (NPS)

__________ are/is a subset of resources that have been located and have the potential for

use but are not being used because costs outweigh the benefits

Reserves/Economic Reserves

Renewable matter resources are often…

Resources that can be replaced within a human time scale

Preservation refers to…

non-use; generally, land (an ecosystem) set aside and protected in as close as its pristine state as possible

Conservation attempts to __________ the use of a natural resource

Sustain

Using hemp instead of plastic is an example of…

a sustainable alternative

Which of the following post-consumer waste products could reduce landfill waste the

most by recycling?

Paper

Which of the following is true about resource reserves?

They’re not currently serving the economy

A landfill is an example of the __________ approach to waste management

concentration and containment

Recycling is part of the __________ approach to waste management.

Recycling is part of the three-R (or reduce, reuse, and recycle) or circular economy

Select the most common approach to municipal waste disposal in use today.

Landfills

Which of the following were commonly selected as sites for early landfills and dumps?

swamp areas and wetlands, which were thought of as useless land.

What biological process produces methane?

anaerobic decomposition of organic material

What is the law of diminishing returns?

As you continuously add a variable input (such as fertilizer, water, energy, or conservation funding) to a fixed natural system (such as a plot of land, an ecosystem, or a habitat), the additional environmental or agricultural output will eventually reach a peak and begin to shrink

How has society historically responded to declines in a resource?

Intensify production or find substitutes

What is sustainability?

The ability to maintain, support, or continue a process, system, or way of life over a long period without depleting natural resources or damaging the environment

What does a sustainable world aim to achieve?

A fully implemented program of reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting, combined with separation and removal of hazardous waste for special disposal, would leave very little material to be placed in a landfill.

Which of the following activities produces the least amount of waste?

Source Reduction

According to the principle of the waste management hierarchy, the most desirable option

is:

waste prevention

According to the principle of the waste management hierarchy, the least desirable option

is:

Disposal

Select the substance most commonly used in the production of plastic:

Ethylene (derived from crude oil or natural gas)

Select the most common means of waste management through human history

dilute and disperse

What industry has been using deep-well injection?

oil and gas extraction

What is leachate?

liquid generated from rainfall and the natural decomposition of waste that filters through a landfill

How many times can plastic be recycled?

Some can be recycled up to 10 times, some only once, and some none. It depends on the type of the plastic.

A “cradle to cradle” (sustainable) approach toward overhauling mineral use might

include which of the following?

substitution and the production of more durable goods

What is a “cradle to cradle” approach?

Mimics natural processes in so far as materials are put back into the system for continued and perpetual use

Extinction

Complete disappearance of a species from the planet

Extirpation

Disappearance of a species from a specific geographic region, state, or habitat, even though the species continues to survive elsewhere in the world

Endemic

native, restricted to, or constantly present within a specific geographic area, population, or group

Species Richness

The total number of different species present in a defined area, sample, or community.

Species Evenness

The relative abundance or proportion of individuals among each of the different species in an are

What does the S in HIPPOS stand for?

Societal/Public Awareness and Understanding

what does H.I.P.P.O.S. represent?

the primary human-driven threats to global biodiversity.

Extrinsic Value

depends on its direct benefit or usefulness to humans.

Intrinsic value

is independent of its direct benefit to humans or its value to humans for use

Net Yield

The actual profit or return you keep from an investment or asset after all related expenses, maintenance costs, fees, and taxes have been subtracted

Open-loop recycling

recycling a material a limited number of times. The material is degraded or deteriorated in the recycling process

Closed-loop recycling

recycling a material again and again, indefinitely. The material is not degraded or deteriorated in the recycling process

Extended producer responsibility (EPR)

An environmental policy that shifts the cost and management of a product's waste from local cities and taxpayers to the companies that make and sell it

municipal solid waste (MSW)

Everyday trash or garbage collected from homes, schools, offices, and businesses

Compare and contrast preservation and conservation

conservation allows the responsible, sustainable use of nature, while preservation seeks to protect nature completely from human use and extraction

resource recovery facilities

A plant that takes trash or wastewater and turns it into useful things instead of sending it all to a landfill