Environmental Sustainability

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the Environmental Sustainability lecture notes.

Sustainability

A concept focused on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Ecology

The study of relationships between living organisms and their interaction with the environment.

Environmentalism

A social movement dedicated to protecting life support systems for all species.

Sustainable Solutions

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Natural Capital

The natural resources and services that keep us alive.

Natural Resources

Materials and energy in nature that are essential to humans.

Natural Services

Processes in nature which help support life.

Perpetual Resource

Continuously renewed and expected to last (e.g. solar energy).

Renewable Resource

Replenished in days to several hundred years through natural processes.

Sustainable Yield

Highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

Nonrenewable Resources

Fixed quantities that are exhaustible (e.g. coal and oil).

Ecological Footprint

Amount of biologically productive land and water it takes to support a person.

Per Capita Ecological Footprint

Average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area.

Ecological Deficit

Ecological footprint is larger than the biological capacity to replenish resources and absorb wastes and pollution.

Point Sources Pollution

Single, identifiable sources of pollution (e.g., smokestack).

Nonpoint Sources Pollution

Dispersed and often difficult to identify sources of pollution (e.g., lawn runoff).

Affluenza

A disorder where affluent consumers shop until they drop.

Poverty

Occurs when the basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and education are not met.

Malnutrition

Weakened immune system.

Environmental Ethics

Beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment.

Planetary Management Worldview

The belief that we are separate from and in charge of nature.

Stewardship Worldview

The belief that we should manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers.

Environmental Wisdom Worldview

The belief that we are part of, and dependent on, nature and that nature exists for all species, not just for us.

Environmentally Sustainable Society

Societies that protect natural capital and live off its income and increase reliance on renewable resources and working together to solve environmental problems.