Unit 1 Sustainable Development - Eviroemntal science

Vocabulary flashcards covering historical conservation philosophies, foundational environmental science terms, human dimensions of resource use, and global sustainable development concepts.

Utilitarian Conservation

A philosophy championed by Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot arguing that forests and usable natural resources should be protected for future generations.

Preservation Movement

A philosophy holding that nature and its rights exist for its own sake, led by John Muir who founded the Sierra Club and opposed utilitarian conservation.

Gifford Pinchot

The chief conservation adviser to Teddy Roosevelt who argued that forests should be protected as usable resources for future generations.

John Muir

Founder of the Sierra Club who advocated for nature preservation for its own sake using a romantic approach, opposing Gifford Pinchot's utilitarian view.

Silent Spring

A 1962 book published by Rachel Carson that raised public environmental awareness by showing how pesticides like DDT caused bird mortality.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency, the government agency in charge of environmental protection.

Histogram

A graph showing the distribution of data.

Aldo Leopold

A conservation thinker who stated that the challenge in conservation is less about managing natural resources and more about managing people.

Throughput

The amount of resources that a society uses and disposes of.

Ecosystem Services

The services or resources provided by environmental systems.

Tragedy of the Commons

The concept that population growth inevitably leads to the overuse and destruction of shared common resources, such as overfishing.

Extreme Poverty

A condition defined as living on less than $\$1.90\,\text{a day}$, affecting people who act as both victims and agents of environmental degradation.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A metric scaled from $0$ to $1$ (where $1$ is the best) that indexes hunger, poverty, health, and education.

Environmental Science

The systematic study of our environment and our place in it, intersecting disciplines such as anthropology and political science.

Preindustrial Concentration of CO2

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prior to industrialization, which was $280\,\text{ppm}$, compared to $415\,\text{ppm}$ today.

Systems

Networks of interconnected parts.

System Drivers

Factors or processes that cause persistence or change within a system.

Transformational Change

A shift in fundamental processes or aspects of a system.

Bretton Woods

The 1945 post-WWII monetary foundation formed by allies USA and USSR that established the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Development

The process of making human lives better and improving well-being through economic growth, democratization, global health, education, and equality of opportunity.

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising or ruining it for the future, originating from the Brundlat / Brooklyn report.

Development Environmental Paradox

The situation where industrial and digital age advancements allow global gains to expand at the expense of hurting the environment.