Short Quiz Flashcards

Natural capital

The global stock of the Earth's raw materials and physical environments. Example: A dense forest containing soil, freshwater streams, and harvestable timber.

Natural income

The annual yield of physical goods or life-supporting benefits derived from the Earth's environmental stock. Example: The physical timber harvested from a forest, or the flood protection that forest provides to a nearby town.

Ecosystem service

The natural, life-supporting processes provided by the environment that regulate the planet and benefit human societies. Example: Wetlands naturally purifying water, or trees regulating the climate through carbon sequestration.

Renewable resource

Raw materials that regenerate via biological or physical cycles at a rate equal to or faster than human consumption. Example: Crops and timber that grow back relatively quickly using solar energy and photosynthesis.

Non-renewable resource

Earth materials that are either entirely irreplaceable or only replenish over vast geological timescales, requiring a circular model to prevent depletion. Example: Mineral deposits like lithium, silver, and copper.

Renewable energy

Power derived from natural sources that continuously replenish and cannot be depleted by human use. Example: Electricity generated by offshore wind turbines or solar panels.

Non-renewable energy

Power derived from finite sources that are destroyed upon use and will eventually be exhausted. Example: Power generated by combusting fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas.

Energy storage system

Technology used to capture and hold surplus power for later use, crucial for smoothing out the intermittent supply of weather-dependent power sources. Example: Large-scale lithium-ion batteries or pumped hydroelectricity facilities.

Solid Domestic Waste (SDW)

Everyday physical garbage or trash discarded by residential households. Example: Discarded cardboard packaging, kitchen food scraps, and old clothing.

E-waste

Discarded consumer electronics and electrical appliances. Example: Broken smartphones, outdated computers, and old televisions sent to a landfill.

Circular economics

A system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual extraction of raw materials by designing products for constant reuse, repair, and recycling. Example: Designing a smartphone with modular parts so the battery or screen can be easily replaced and recycled, rather than discarding the entire device.

Environmental injustice

The disproportionate exposure of marginalized or low-income communities to pollution, hazardous facilities, and ecological degradation. Example: High-income countries exporting their toxic trash to low-income countries, or a city placing a polluting incinerator next to an impoverished neighborhood.