SOS Exam 1

What is sustainability?

Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It balances environmental protection economic prosperity and social well-being.

How has the definition of sustainability evolved?

Sustainability began as a focus on conserving natural resources and has expanded to include economic development social equity environmental protection and long-term global well-being.

What are the three dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line?

People (social well-being) Planet (environmental protection) and Profit (economic prosperity).

How do Sustainable Development Goals support sustainability efforts?

The SDGs provide a framework of 17 global goals that guide governments organizations and individuals toward sustainable development.

What are externalities and why do they affect environmental decision-making?

Externalities are costs or benefits experienced by people not directly involved in an activity. They affect decisions because markets often fail to account for them.

What is the Tragedy of the Commons?

A situation where individuals overuse a shared resource because they act in their own self-interest causing resource depletion.

How do environmental ethics influence policy decisions?

Environmental ethics shape beliefs about human responsibilities toward nature and influence laws regulations and environmental policies.

What characteristics make sustainability challenges wicked problems?

They are complex interconnected involve many stakeholders have competing interests and lack simple permanent solutions.

Sustainability

Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Example: using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.

Triple Bottom Line

A sustainability framework that measures success using People Planet and Profit. Example: a company reducing pollution while remaining profitable and supporting employees.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Seventeen United Nations goals created to improve environmental social and economic conditions worldwide by 2030. Example: Goal 13 Climate Action.

Externality

A cost or benefit that affects people who are not directly involved in an activity. Example: factory pollution affecting nearby communities.

Trade-off

A compromise where gaining one benefit requires sacrificing another. Example: increasing agricultural land may reduce wildlife habitat.

Wicked Problems

Complex problems with many causes and stakeholders that have no easy solution. Example: climate change.

Tragedy of the Commons

The depletion of a shared resource because individuals act in their own self-interest. Example: overfishing in international waters.

Collective Action

People working together to achieve a common goal that benefits the group. Example: a community conservation project.

Environmental Justice

Fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decisions regardless of race income or background. Example: ensuring equal protection from pollution.

Intrinsic Value

The idea that nature has value simply because it exists regardless of human use. Example: protecting endangered species even when there is no economic benefit.

Utilitarian Value

The value of something based on its usefulness to humans. Example: preserving forests for timber recreation and clean air.

Socio-Ecological-Technological System (SETs)

A system showing how human societies ecosystems and technologies interact and influence one another. Example: an urban water supply network.

Feedback Loop

A process in which the output of a system affects future behavior of the same system. Example: melting ice reduces reflectivity and increases warming.

Resilience

The ability of a system to absorb disturbances adapt and recover while maintaining its main functions. Example: a forest regrowing after a wildfire.

Tipping Point

A critical threshold where a small change causes a large and often irreversible shift in a system. Example: rapid collapse of a glacier after sufficient warming.

People (Triple Bottom Line)

The social dimension of sustainability focused on human health equity well-being and quality of life.

Planet (Triple Bottom Line)

The environmental dimension of sustainability focused on conserving natural resources and ecosystems.

Profit (Triple Bottom Line)

The economic dimension of sustainability focused on financial viability and long-term prosperity.

Environmental Ethics

Principles and values that guide how humans interact with and care for the natural environment.

SDG 1 No Poverty

End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

SDG 2 Zero Hunger

End hunger achieve food security and improve nutrition.

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

SDG 4 Quality Education

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.

SDG 5 Gender Equality

Achieve gender equality and empower all people.

SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation.

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Ensure access to reliable sustainable modern energy.

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Promote sustained inclusive economic growth and productive employment.

SDG 9 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure

Build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation.

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Reduce inequality within and among countries.

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Make cities inclusive safe resilient and sustainable.

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

SDG 13 Climate Action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Conserve and sustainably use oceans seas and marine resources.

SDG 15 Life on Land

Protect restore and sustainably use terrestrial ecosystems.

SDG 16 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions

Promote peaceful societies and effective accountable institutions.

SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals

Strengthen global partnerships to achieve sustainable development.

How does energy move through ecosystems?

Energy flows from the sun to producers and then to consumers and decomposers. Energy is lost as heat at each trophic level.

Why is biodiversity important to ecosystem stability?

Biodiversity increases ecosystem resilience productivity and stability by ensuring multiple species can perform important ecological roles.

What are ecosystem services?

Benefits humans receive from ecosystems including food water pollination climate regulation and recreation.

How do trophic cascades affect ecosystems?

Changes in predators can cause ripple effects through lower trophic levels altering populations and ecosystem structure.

What factors influence population growth?

Birth rates death rates immigration emigration resource availability disease and environmental conditions.

What is the relationship between consumption and ecological footprint?

Higher consumption generally increases a person's ecological footprint because more resources and energy are required.

How can biomimicry contribute to sustainability solutions?

Biomimicry uses designs and processes inspired by nature to create efficient sustainable technologies and systems.

First Law of Thermodynamics

Energy cannot be created or destroyed only transferred or transformed from one form to another. Example: sunlight converted into plant energy through photosynthesis.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Every energy transfer increases entropy and some energy is lost as heat making energy conversions less efficient. Example: organisms lose energy as heat during metabolism.

Net Primary Productivity (NPP)

The amount of energy captured by plants through photosynthesis minus the energy they use for respiration. It represents energy available to consumers.

Food Web

A network of interconnected food chains showing feeding relationships within an ecosystem.

Trophic Cascade

A chain reaction within an ecosystem caused by changes at one trophic level especially among predators. Example: wolves affecting deer populations and vegetation growth.

Biodiversity

The variety of life including genetic species and ecosystem diversity. Example: a rainforest containing thousands of species.

Restoration Ecology

The scientific practice of repairing damaged ecosystems. Example: restoring wetlands after pollution or development.

Rewilding

Restoring ecosystems by reintroducing species and allowing natural processes to recover. Example: bringing wolves back to Yellowstone National Park.

Ecosystem Services

Benefits provided by ecosystems that support human life and well-being. Example: clean drinking water from watersheds.

Provisioning Services

Ecosystem services that provide tangible products. Example: food timber fresh water and medicinal resources.

Regulating Services

Ecosystem services that regulate environmental conditions. Example: climate regulation flood control and pollination.

Cultural Services

Nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Example: recreation spiritual value education and tourism.

Ecosystem Valuation

The process of estimating the economic and social value of ecosystem services to support decision-making.

Demographic Transition

A model describing how population growth changes as a country develops from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

Ecological Footprint

A measure of the amount of land and resources required to support a person's lifestyle or a population's activities.

Biomimicry

Designing products systems or processes based on solutions found in nature. Example: Velcro inspired by burrs attaching to animal fur.

Producer

An organism that makes its own food usually through photosynthesis. Example: plants and algae.

Consumer

An organism that obtains energy by eating other organisms. Example: deer wolves and humans.

Decomposer

An organism that breaks down dead organic matter and recycles nutrients. Example: fungi and bacteria.

Trophic Level

A feeding position within a food chain or food web. Example: producer primary consumer secondary consumer.

Primary Consumer

An organism that eats producers. Example: rabbits eating grass.

Secondary Consumer

An organism that eats primary consumers. Example: snakes eating mice.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size an environment can sustainably support over time.

Entropy

A measure of disorder or energy unavailable for useful work in a system.

Photosynthesis

The process by which plants convert sunlight carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen.

Population Growth

The increase in the number of individuals in a population over time.

Limiting Factor

A resource or environmental condition that restricts population growth. Example: food water or shelter.

Sustainability and Ecosystems

Healthy ecosystems support long-term sustainability by providing resources services and resilience needed for human societies.

Describe one ecosystem service that you depend on daily. What could happen if that service were degraded?

Example answer: I depend on water purification provided by natural ecosystems. If this service were degraded drinking water could become contaminated more expensive to treat and less available for communities.

How does population growth affect sustainability?

Population growth increases demand for food water energy land and other resources which can place greater pressure on environmental and social systems.

What is the ecological footprint model?

The ecological footprint model measures the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to support a person's or population's resource use and waste generation.

How have humans altered Earth's natural cycles?

Human activities such as burning fossil fuels deforestation agriculture and pollution have disrupted the carbon nitrogen water and phosphorus cycles.

What causes eutrophication?

Eutrophication is caused by excess nutrients especially nitrogen and phosphorus entering water bodies often from fertilizers sewage and runoff.

How do pollutants affect atmospheric systems?

Pollutants can contribute to smog acid rain ozone depletion climate change and respiratory health problems.

How can conservation efforts reduce environmental impacts?

Conservation reduces resource depletion protects biodiversity preserves ecosystems and promotes sustainable use of natural resources.

Demographic Transition Model

A model showing how population growth changes as a country develops from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

Ecological Footprint

A measure of the amount of biologically productive land and water required to support an individual's or population's lifestyle and consumption patterns.

Water Budget

The balance between water entering and leaving a system through precipitation evaporation runoff infiltration and storage.

Eutrophication

The excessive enrichment of water with nutrients leading to algal blooms oxygen depletion and ecosystem damage.

Watershed

An area of land where all water drains to a common body of water such as a river lake or ocean.

Groundwater

Water stored beneath Earth's surface in soil and rock formations called aquifers.

Primary Pollutant

A pollutant emitted directly into the atmosphere from a source. Example: carbon monoxide from vehicle exhaust.

Secondary Pollutant

A pollutant formed in the atmosphere through chemical reactions involving primary pollutants. Example: ground-level ozone.

Ozone

A gas composed of three oxygen atoms. In the stratosphere it protects Earth from ultraviolet radiation while at ground level it is a harmful pollutant.

Acid Rain

Precipitation made acidic by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides reacting with water vapor in the atmosphere.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population size that an environment can sustainably support over time.

Conservation

The protection and careful management of natural resources ecosystems and biodiversity to ensure long-term sustainability.

Anthropogenic Impact

Environmental change caused by human activities. Example: climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon Cycle

The movement of carbon among the atmosphere oceans living organisms and Earth systems.