Ap Environmental Science
Environment - includes all the living and nonliving things that we interact with
Environmental science - Study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment
Paul and Anne Ehrlich - Neo-Malthusians that worte The Population Bomb
Garrett Hardin - Disputed the economic theory that unfettered exercise of individual self interest will serve the public interest, wrote Tragedy Of The Commons
Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees - Created the concept of ecological footprint
Overshoot - Excess use of resources, humans are currently using 30% more
Jared Diamond - SCientist and author that made the book Collapse, success and persistence depend largely on how scoeities interact with the environment
Interdisciplinary field - ONe that borrrows techniques from numerous disciplines
Environmental science is the pursuit of knowledge about the workings of the environment, environmentalism is a social movement dedicated to protecting the world
Carl Sagan - Late astronomer and author that wrote The Demon Haunted World, he thinks that science is essential if we hope to sort fact from fiction
Scientific Method - A technique for testing ideas with observations, several steps
Scientific method relies on the fact that the universe functions in accordance with fixed natural laws, all events arise from some cause or causes, and we can use our senses and reasoning abilities to detect and describe natural laws
Make observations, ask questions, develop a hypothesis, make predictions, test the predictions, analyze and interpret results
Predictions - Specific statements that can be directly and unequivocally tested
Experiment - An activity designed to test the validity of a prediction or hypothesis
Variables - Conditions that can chang
Independent variable - A variable the scientists manipulates
Dependent variable - A variable that depends on the independent variable
Controlled experiment - The scientist controls all the variables except for the one they’re testing for
Control - An unmanipluated point of comparison for the manipulated treatment
Correlation - Statistical relationships among variables
Scientists prefer quantitative data because it is precise
Manipulative experiment - An experiment in which the researcher actively chooses and manipulates the independent variable, and it provides the strongest type of evidence
Natural experiment - An experiment where the scientists use the conditions that nature provides them
Science of ecology - Science that deals with the distribution and abundance of organisms, and all their interactions
Scientific Process - The scientific method is embedded into a larger process
Peer review - Several others judge and provide criticism
Conference presentation - Scientists present their work to other scientists for feedback and criticism
Grants/Funding - When the scientists’ application gets accepted, they are granted a large sum of money for their research
Repeatability - A scientist should repeat their hypothesis until it’s evident
Theories - A widely accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause and effect relationship that has been validated by research
Thomas Kuhn - He wroted the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions which argued that science goes through periodic revolutions
Biodiversity - The cumulative number and diversity of living things
Edward O. Wilson - Biologist that warned that the loss of biodiversity would threaten our environment
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - The most comprehensive scientific assessment of the present condition of the world’s ecological system
Bjorn Lomborg - Danish statistician that believes the environment is getting better, not worse
Cornucopian - Means “horn of plenty” in Greek, the name for a magical goat’s horn that overflowed with food, people that believe this think the environment is infinite
Cassandras - After the mythical princess of Troy with the gift of prophecy whose dire predictions were not believed, people who follow this believe things are geting worse
Three questions: Whether the impacts being debated pertain only to humans or other organisms, the proponents of each view are thinking in the short or long term, and finally if they are considering all costs and benefits, or only some
Sustainability - The guiding principle of modern environmental science
Sustainable development - The use of renewable and nonrenewable resources in a manner that satisfies our current needs but also the future’s
Triple bottom line - Sustainable solutions that meet environmental, economic, and social goals simultaneously
Aboriginal people/Aborigines - Native people who lived ain the remote outback of Austrialia’s Northern Territory before the British colonized Australia
Kakadu National Park - Australia’s largest national park,a World Heritage Site which also contains massive amounts of uranium
Uranium - Naturally occurring radioactive metal valued for its use in nuclear stuff
Ranger’s Mine - The first uranium mine whic is near the Mirrar Clan’s land
Yvonne Margarula and Jacqui Katona - Two Mirrar leaders that were given the Goldman Prize, the world’s foremost award honoring grassroot environmentalists
Robert Wilson - Rio Tinto’s CEO that cited economic factors as well as ethical factors as reasons for abandoning Jabiluka’s development
Culture - The ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned ways of life shared by a group of people
Worldview - Reflects a person/group’s beliefs about the world
Religion can shape people’s worldviews and perception of the environment
Vested interest - An individual with a strong interest in the outcome of a decision that may result in his or her private gain or loss
Ethics - Set of moral principles or branch of philosophy that involves the study of good and bad
Relativists - People who believe that ethics do and should vary with social context
Universalists - People who maintain that there exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and situations
Ethical standards -Criteria that help differentiate right from wrong, such as virtue which is the personal achievement of moral excellence, or categorical imperative which is the Christian “golden rule”
Environmental ethics - Application of ethical standards to relationships between humans and nonhuman entities
Roderick Nash - Wrote The Rights of Nature which emphasized that all living things should be ethically represented
John Ruskin - Called cities “little more than laboratories for the distillation into heaven of venomous smokes and smells.” and complained that people valued material benefits over nature’s benefits
Transcendentalism - Started by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, these people viewed nature as a direct manifestation of the divine
John Muir - A Scottish immigrant in California that is associated with the preservation ethics, which fights to protect the natural environment in an unaltered state
Gifford Pinchot - A professionally trained American forester that was motivated by Muir to create the conservation ethics due to his anthropocentric view of preservation
Aldo Leopold - Young forester and wildlife manager that argued that both humans and the land were members of the same community after killing a wolf, wrote The Land Ethic
Deep ecology - Humans are inseparable form nature and that the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the foods we consume are both products of the environment
Environmental justice - The fair and equitable treatment of all people with respect to enviornmental policy and practice, regardless of their income, race, or ethnicity
Toxic waste was dumped into the African American community of Warren County
U.S. General Accounting Office said that ¾ of toxic waste filled poor communities
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 1990 - A federal law that compensated Navajo miners who suffered health effects from unprotected work in the mines
Economics - Study of how people decide to use scarce resources to provide goods and services in the face of demand, oikos
Economy - Social system that converts resources into goods and services
Subsistence economy - The oldest type of economy, in this system people meet most or all their daily needs directly from nature
Capitalist market economy - In this system, the interactions among buyers and sellers determine which goods and services are produced
Centrally planned economics - Government determines how to allocate resources
Ecosystem services - Support the life that makes our economic activity possible, since nature provides certain services
Adam Smith - The father of classical economics, he believed that when people pursue their own economic self interests, the market will be guided by an invisible hand
Wrote the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Neoclassical economics - Examines the psychological factors underlying consumer choices, explaining market prices in terms of consumer preferences
Supply and demand, buyers want low but sellers want high
Cost-benefit analysis - Estimated costs for a proposed action are totaled up and compared to the sum of benefits estimated to result from the action
Externalities - Costs or benefits of a transaction that involve people other than the buyer or seller, external cost is a cost borne by someone not involved in the trade’
Affluenza - A social condition that arises from the desire to be more wealthy or successful
Ecological economists - These people argue that a couple centuries is not a very long time and that history suggests that civilizations don’t overcome environmental limitations
Steady state economics - Intended to mirror natural ecological systems
Environmental economists - Agrees with ecological economists that economies are unsustainable if population growth and resource use isn’t reduced
John Stuart Mill - British economist that hypothesized that as resources became harder to find, economic growth would slow and eventually stabilize
Net Economic Welfare (NEW) - Adjusted GDP, adds the value of leisure time and personal transactions while deducting costs of environmental degradation
The Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) - Based on income, wealth distribution, natural resource depletion, benefits associated with volunteerism, and environmental degradation
United Nations’ Human Development Index - Assesses a nation’s standard of living, life expectancy, and education
Nonmarket values - values not usually included in the price of a good or service because the market doesn’t assign value to ecosystem services
Contingent valuation - Uses surveys to determine how much people are willing to pay to protect or restore a resource
Market failure occurs when markets do not take into account the environment’s positive effects on economies or when they do not reflect the negative effects of economic activities on the environment
Socially responsible investing - Entails investing only in companies that have met certain criteria for environmental or social sustainability
Daniel Etsy and Andrew Winston - Wrote Green to Gold, “green wave” of consumer preference for sustainable products and business practices
Tijuana River Affluenza flows into the beaches of San Diego, surfers avoid the pollution
Watershed - Consists of all the land from which water drains into the river
Public Policy - Policy made by governments that consists of laws, regulations, orders, incentives, and practices intended to advance societal welfare
Environmental policy - Policy that pertains to human interactions with the environment, aiming to regulate resource use or reduce pollution to promote human welfare
Legislative branch - Statutory laws/legislations are made by Congress, conisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives
Regulations - Specific rules based on the more broadly writtent statutory laws
Regulatory taking - When the government deprives a property owner of some or all economic uses of his or her property
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) - Signed by President Nixon, it created an agency called the Council of Environmental Quality and required EIS
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - A report of results from detailed studies that assess the potential impact on the environment that would likely result from projects
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - Conducted and evaluated research, monitoring environmental quality, setting and enforcing standards for pollution levels
Comision Estatal de Servicios Publicos de Tijuana - Th;e city agency that manages water and wastewater in Tijuana
Customary law - International laws arises from long standing practices, or customs, held in common by most cultures
Conventional law - International laws that arose from conventions or treaties, into nations enter
United Nations (U.N.) - This organization’s purpose was to maintain international peace and security
United Nations Environment Programme - Helps nations understand and solve environmental problems
European Union (UE) - Seeks to promote Europe’s unity and its economic and social progress
World Trade Organization (WTO) - Represents multinational corporations and promotes free trade by reducing obstacles to international commerce and fairness
Lobbying - Anyone who spends time or money trying to change an elected official’s mind is engaged in lobbying mf
Revolving Door - Movement of individuals between the private sector and government agencies is known as revolving door
Subsidy - A government giveaway of cash or publicly owned resources that is intended to encourage a particular activity
Permit Trading - The government creates a market in permits for an environmentally harmful activity, and companies, utilities, or industries are allowed to buy/sell/trade the activity
Green taxes - Taxes that are applied to companies that harm the environment
Cap and trade - is an approach that harnesses market forces to reduce emissions cost-effectively
Command and control - is a type of environmental regulation that allows policy makers to specifically regulate both the amount and the process by which a firm should maintain the quality of the environment.