Key Concepts in Environmental Science and Pollution

Climate change

A long‐term change in global or regional weather or climate patterns.

Drought

The absence of water in an area including (i) meteorological droughts, (ii) hydrological droughts, (iii) agricultural droughts, and (iv) socioeconomic droughts.

Meteorological droughts

75% or less of normal precipitation relative to a 30‐year average.

El Niño

Reversal of equatorial Pacific Ocean circulation that causes worldwide changes in weather.

Global warming

Climate change.

Greenhouse gas

A gas in the atmosphere that permits the input of sunlight, but which traps heat in the troposphere.

Industrial effect

The replacement of radiogenic carbon by dead carbon from the burning of fossil fuels.

Sea‐level rise

The increase in the height of the sea level because of melting ice caps.

Wildfire

An unplanned, unwanted, uncontrolled, and destructive fire in vegetation and especially forests.

Bioaccumulation

The intake and concentration of a persistent substance in the tissues of a living organism.

Biomagnification

The increase in the concentration of a pollutant at higher levels in the food web through predation.

Ecology

The science of the relation of organisms to each other and to their physical environment.

Ecosystem

A community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Habitat destruction

The processes that cause a natural habitat to no longer be able to support the native species.

Habitat fragmentation

The partitioning of a native landscape into unconnected fragments separated by impacted areas that do not support native species.

Invasive species

Plant, animals, insects, or other life introduced to a new area and ecosystem.

Landscape

Geographic areas of diverse interacting patches or ecosystems, both natural and human‐impacted.

Light pollution

Nighttime artificial light that is inappropriate and damaging.

Patches

The area fragments of native species and landscape resulting from habitat fragmentation.

Dead zones

Areas in the ocean that are devoid of marine life because of fertilizer‐induced hypoxic conditions.

Eutrophication

The biochemical process by which surface water becomes hypoxic as the result of overfertilization.

Fertilizer

Organic material used to enhance the growth and productivity of plants.

Herbicide

A chemical or biologic substance that removes unwanted plant species.

Hypoxia

A condition of low levels of dissolved oxygen in surface water.

Pesticide

A chemical or biologic substance that removes unwanted species.

Decay series

The sequence of parent to daughter elements/isotopes from a radioactive element to a stable element.

Fuel rods

Rods of uranium fuel pellets used in a nuclear power plant.

High‐level nuclear waste

Radioactive wastes with radioactivity ≥10 Ci/kg, mainly discarded by the military and some nuclear power plants.

Low‐level nuclear waste

Radioactive wastes with radioactivity ≤0.01 Ci/kg, largely from medical treatments, radiation equipment, materials exposed to radiation, and handling of radioactive materials.

Nuclear device

Basically a nuclear bomb but not necessarily in a bomb shape.

Nuclear powerplant

An electrical generating power station that uses nuclear power.

Nuclear reactor

A facility that houses a controlled nuclear reaction in a core.

Radiation

Electromagnetic fields and particle emissions from elements, devices, and outer space that can be damaging.

Radioactivity

The release of radiation during decay of radioactive isotopes.

Radioactive isotopes

Isotopes are elements having different atomic masses; some are radioactive and decay to daughter isotopes.

Hazardous waste landfill

A highly regulated and specified landfill of waste that is designated as hazardous to human health.

Landfill

A repository of waste of any kind, also a dump.

Leachate

Liquid waste produced by filtering water through solid waste or leaking out of solid waste.

Methane

Flammable gas produced by the decay of organic material that can accumulate in landfills and be mined and sold as natural gas.

Municipal waste landfill

A landfill composed primarily of household waste that is handled with less care than hazardous waste.

Bioremediation

Remediation of pollution using biologic methods, especially microbes and plants.

Brownfields

Federal legislation designed to make profoundly polluted sites clean enough to serve a purpose that does not require full remediation.

Delineation

Mapping the extent, types, and concentrations of pollutants in a medium.

DNAPL

Dense Non‐Aqueous Phase Liquids, which are pollutants that are dense enough to sink through water and are not soluble in it.

Environmental site assessment

The steps or phases in evaluating a polluted site.

Ex situ remediation

Remediation of polluted soil or water by removing it from the ground to another place for treatment.

In situ remediation

Remediation of polluted water or soil in the undisturbed ground.

LNAPL

Light Non‐Aqueous Phase Liquids, which are pollutants that are light enough to float on water and are not soluble in it.

Permeable reactive barriers

Chemically reactive material that is buried deep enough that groundwater can flow through it. The pollution in the water is neutralized by reacting with the barrier.

Phytoremediation

Remediation of pollution using plants.

Remediation

The repair and neutralization of water and/or soil at a polluted site.

1970 Clean Air Act

The first rigorous environmental legislation establishing the most dangerous "criteria" air pollutants.

1972 Clean Water Act

The first rigorous environmental legislation to protect surface and groundwater.

1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

The US federal act establishing the National Priorities List to identify and remediate profoundly polluted superfund sites.

Conservationist

A person who takes action to maintain natural areas and protect species for future generations.

Claire Patterson

The scientist and pioneer credited with eliminating lead from the environment and human impact.

Emerging pollutants

Recently identified chemicals primarily in water that are potentially dangerous to the environment and public health.

Environmentalist

A person who advocates for the protection of the environment from misuse through human activity.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

An enormous mass of floating garbage in the Pacific Ocean pushed together by currents.

Montreal Protocol

A worldwide agreement to reduce and eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons to protect and restore the stratospheric ozone layer.