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What is exponential growth?
Exponential growth refers to an increase that occurs at a constant percentage rate over time, resulting in a rapid and accelerating rise in value. This concept is often illustrated by populations or investments that grow by a fixed percentage each period.
What is sustainability?
Sustainability is the practice of preserving what’s currently available so future generations have equal access to resources.
What are some causes and implications of freshwater salinization and nitrogen pollution (from lecture)
Freshwater salinization is caused by unregulated road salts, which melt into drinking water basins and lead to unhealthy water quality.
Nitrogen pollution is caused by the algae and bacteria created from nitrogen and phosphorus in water, which decompose to suck up oxygen
Hypoxia: a dead zone in water with little oxygen
What are residence times?
Residence times: the amount of time a substance (water, carbon, nutrients) remains in a reservoir/pool before relocating
What are mass balance approaches?
Mass balance approaches: a method to analyze how a substance moves through a system by considering inputs, outputs, and internal changes
What are pools?
Pools: place where substances (water, carbon, nutrients) can subside / storage locations where matter accumulates in a system
What are fluxes?
Fluxes: the movements of materials between pools
What are steady states?
Steady state: a system is in steady state when inputs and outputs are balanced, meaning there is no net accumulation of depletion in the pools
What is Earth System Science?
Studies the earth as a whole and its components through the lens that the earth is a interconnected system
What is uniformitarianism vs. catastrophism?
Uniformitarianism: the earth’s processes are continuous and have been so throughout history to shape our earth today
Catastrophism: the earth has had a couple rapid changes (asteroid, etc) that changed it
What is Earth System Science and the 5 spheres?
Atmosphere: weather, climate, greenhouse effect
Lithosphere/geosphere: plate tectonics, minerals, rocks
Hydrosphere: water bodies (ocean, river, lake, groundwater, etc)
Anthroposphere: human activity (pollution, climate change, urbanization)
Biosphere: biodiversity and all living organisms and ecosystems
How have humans altered the nitrogen cycle and what are consequences?
Fertilizer
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer → extra nitrogen in soil → runoff of nutrients into water body
Fossil fuel combustion
Burning coal, oil, and gas has contributed to pollution of atmosphere → SMOG and acid rainHow have humans altered the nitrogen cycle and what are consequences?
What is the scientific method?
Observation → Hypothesis → test → validify → repeated one is a theory
Why is population growth an environmental problem?
There is a natural resource depletion in order to accomodate for population growth
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