ENV101 Final

Vocab List For Second Half of Env101 2024 Fall

Chapter 11

Transpiration - when plants take up moisture and release water vapor from leaf pores

Evapotranspiration - the combined processes of evaporation and transpiration. 

Residence time - The length of time water typically stays in a compartment 

Water table - The top layer of the zone of saturation

Zone of aeration - Upper layers of soil

Zone of saturation - lower soil layers

Aquifers - Geologic layers that contain water,  may consist of porous layers of sand or gravel

or of cracked or porous rock

Recharge zones - Areas where surface water filters into an aquifer

Discharge - the amount of water that passes a fixed point in a given amount of time

Virtual water - Water used in the production of crops; often exported overseas from

water-scarce areas.

Subsidence - the gradual sinking of the ground surface, caused by the withdrawal of underground materials

Point sources - Specific locations of highly concentrated pollution discharge, (such as factories, power plants, sewage treatment plants, underground coal mines, and oil wells)

Nonpoint sources -  Scattered, diffuse sources of pollutants, (such as runoff from farm fields, golf courses, and construction sites.)

Coliform bacteria - Bacteria that live in the intestines (including the colon) of humans and other animals; used as a measure of the presence of feces in water or soil

Dissolved oxygen - Amount of oxygen dissolved in a given volume of water at a given temperature and atmospheric pressure; usually expressed in parts per million (ppm).

Biochemical oxygen demand - amount of dissolved oxygen consumed by aquatic microorganisms

Oxygen sag - Oxygen decline downstream from a pollution source that introduces materials with high biological oxygen demands.

Oligotrophic - Condition of rivers and lakes that have clear water and low biological productivity (oligo = little; trophic = nourished); are usually clear, cold, infertile headwater lakes and streams.

Eutrophic - Rivers and lakes rich in organic material (eu + trophic = well-nourished). 

Thermal pollution - Artificially raising or lowering of the temperature of a water body in a way that adversely affects the biota or water quality.

Primary treatment - A process that removes solids from sewage before it is discharged or treated further.

Secondary treatment - Bacterial decomposition of suspended particulates and dissolved organic compounds that remain after primary sewage treatment.

Tertiary treatment - The removal of inorganic minerals and plant nutrients after primary and secondary treatment of sewage.

Constructed wetlands - a complex of artificial marshes designed to filter and decompose waste.

“living machine” - A wastewater treatment system composed of tanks or beds or constructed wetlands in which living organisms remove contaminants, nutrients, and pathogens from water.

Bioremediation -  Use of biological organisms to remove pollution or restore environmental quality

Chapter 12

Mineral - A naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with definite chemical composition, a specific internal crystal structure, and characteristic physical properties

Rock - A solid, cohesive aggregate of one or more crystalline minerals.

Rock cycle -  The process whereby rocks are broken down by chemical and physical forces; sediments are moved by wind, water, and gravity; sedimented and reformed into rock; and then crushed, folded, melted, and recrystallized into new forms.

Igneous rocks - Crystalline minerals solidified from molten magma from deep in the earth’s interior; basalt, rhyolite, andesite, lava, and granite are examples.

Metamorphic rocks - Igneous and sedimentary rocks modified by heat, pressure, and chemical reactions.

Sedimentary rocks - Rocks composed of accumulated, compacted mineral fragments, such as sand or clay; examples include shale, sandstone, breccia, and conglomerates

Weathering - Changes in rocks brought about by exposure to air, water, changing temperatures, and reactive chemical agents.

Smelting - Roasting ore to release metals from mineral compounds.

Heap-leach extraction - A technique for separating gold from extremely low-grade ores. Crushed ore is piled in huge heaps and sprayed with a dilute alkaline cyanide solution, which percolates through the pile to extract the gold.

Minimills - Mills that use scrap metal as their starting material.

Floodplains - Low lands along riverbanks, lakes, and coastlines subjected to periodic inundation.

Chapter 16

Sustainable development - A real increase in well-beingand standard of life for the average person that can be maintained over the long term without degrading the environment or compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable development goals - a group of 17 global goals, including eliminating the most severe poverty and hunger; promoting health, education, and gender equality; providing safe water and clean energy; and preserving biodiversity.

National environmental policy act - The law that established the Council on Environmental Quality and that requires environmental impact statements for all federal projects with significant environmental impacts.

Environmental impact statement - An analysis of the effects of any major program or project planned by a federal agency; required by provisions in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970.

Statutes - Federal Laws passed by the federal legislature and signed by the chief executive

Regulatory capture - A regulatory agency comes to be dominated by, and to benefit, the industry it is intended to regulate; or an appointed agency head is antagonistic to the agency’s mission.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - An international convention to protect endangered species.

Montreal Protocol - An international treaty to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons that destroy stratospheric ozone.

Kigali Amendment - Amendment to the Montreal protocol to control ozone depleting substances, negotiated in Kigali, Rwanda, to accelerate the phaseout of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, and to replace them with climate-friendly alternatives.

Basel Convention - Restricts shipment of hazardous waste across international boundaries, especially to developing countries. 

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - Directs governments to share data on climate change, to develop national plans for controlling greenhouse gases, and to cooperate in planning for adaptation to climate change.

Environmental literacy - A basic understanding of ecological principles and the ways society affects, or responds to environmental conditions.

Citizen science - Projects in which trained volunteers work with scientific researchers to answer real-world questions.

Conspicuous consumption - A term coined by economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen to describe buying things we don’t want or need to impress others

Affluenza - An addiction to spending and consuming beyond one’s needs.

Chapter 8

Health - A state of physical and emotional well-being; the absence of disease or ailment.

Morbidity - Illness or disease

Mortality - Death rate in a population, such as number of deaths per thousand people per year.

Environmental health - The science of external factors that cause disease, including elements of the natural, social, cultural, and technological worlds in which we live.

Disability-adjusted life years - A health measure that assesses the total burden of disease. One DALY represents one lost year of healthy life.

Pathogens - Organisms that produce disease in host organisms, disease being an alteration of one or more metabolic functions in response to the presence of the organisms

Emergent diseases - A new disease or one that has been absent for at least 20 years.

Conservation medicine - Attempts to understand how changes we make in our environment threaten our health as well as that of natural communities on which we depend.

Acute - involving a short-term, often single exposure event

Chronic - involving repeated exposures over time. 

Allergens - Substances that activate the immune system and cause an allergic response; may not be directly antigenic themselves but may make other materials antigenic.

Antigens - Substances that stimulate the production of, and react with, specific antibodies

Sick building syndrome - A cluster of allergies and other illnesses caused by sensitivity to molds, synthetic chemicals, or other harmful compounds trapped in insufficiently ventilated buildings.

Mutagens - Agents, such as chemicals or radiation, that damage or alter genetic material (DNA) in cells.

Teratogens - Chemicals or other factors that specifically cause abnormalities during embryonic growth and development.

Endocrine hormone disruptors - Chemicals that interfere with the function of endocrine hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, thyroxine, adrenaline, or cortisone.

Bioaccumulation - The selective absorption and concentration of molecules by cells.

Biomagnification - Increase in concentration of certain stable chemicals (for example, heavy metals or fat-soluble pesticides) in successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or web.

Persistent organic pollutants - Chemical compounds that persist in the environment and retain biological activity for a long time.

Chlorpyrifos - A pesticide moderately toxic to humans

Synergistic effects - When effects of exposure to multiple factors is greater than the effects of exposure to each individually.

Retrospective study - A study that looks back in history at a group of people (or other organisms) who suffer from some condition to try to identify something in their past life that the whole group shares but that is not found in the control group as near as possible to those being studied but who do not suffer from the same condition.

Prospective study - A study in which experimental and control groups are identified before exposure to some factor. The groups are then monitored and compared for a specific time after the exposure to determine any effects the factor may have

Chapter 10

Conventional / criteria pollutants - The seven substances (sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulates, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, photochemical oxidants, and lead) identified by the Clean Air Act as the most serious threat of all pollutants to human health and welfare.

Ambient air - The air immediately around us.

Point source - Specific locations of highly concentrated pollution discharge, such as factories, power plants, sewage treatment plants, underground coal mines, and oil wells.

Fugitive emissions-  Substances that enter the air without going through a smokestack, such as dust from soil erosion, strip-mining, rock crushing, construction, and building demolition.

Primary pollutants - Chemicals released directly into the air in a harmful form.

Volatile organic compounds - Organic chemicals that evaporate readily and exist as gases in the air.

Particulate material - Atmospheric aerosols, such as dust, ash, soot, lint, smoke, pollen, spores, algal cells, and other suspended materials; originally applied only to solid particles but now extended to droplets of liquid.

Aerosols - Minute particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air.

Toxic release inventory - A program created by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1984 that requires manufacturing facilities and waste handling and disposal sites to report annually on releases of more than 300 toxic materials. You can find out from the EPA whether any of these sites are in your neighborhood and what toxins they release.

Catalytic converter - The device on an automobile that uses platinum-palladium and rhodium catalysts to remove NOx, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide from the exhaust