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Environmental Science Word Study

Chapter 1 – Science and the Environment

Directions: Study the following words by reading and rereading them each evening so you will be prepared for the word study test each week. You may use one index card to write as many words and definitions on as possible to use for the test. The card must written in ink, be in your handwriting, and have your name, chapter, and period recorded in the top, right corner with no obvious erasures or mark outs. If all the criteria are met, you may use your index card during the test. It will then be stapled to your test.

1.) environmental science – the study of the air, water, and land

surrounding an organism or community, which ranges from a

small area to Earth’s entire biosphere; it includes the study of

the impact of humans on the environment

2.) ecology – the study of the interactions of living organisms with one

another and with their environment

3.) agriculture – the practice of growing, breeding, and caring for

plants and animals that are used for food, clothing, housing,

transportation, and other purposes

4.) natural resource – any natural material that is used by humans,

such as water, petroleum, minerals, forests, and animals

5.) pollution – an undesirable change in the natural environment that

is caused by the introduction of substances that are harmful

to living organisms or by excessive wastes, heat, noise, or

radiation

6.) biodiversity – the variety of organisms in a given area, the genetic

variation within a population, the variety of species in a

community, or the variety of communities in an ecosystem

7.) law of supply and demand – a law of economics that states that as

the demand for a good or service increases, the value of the

good or service also increases

8.) ecological footprint – a calculation that shows the productive area

of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country

and includes all the food, clothes, and materials that the one

person uses during his or her lifetime

9.) sustainability – the condition in which human needs are met in

such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely

10.) hunter-gatherer society effects – hunter-gatherers affected their

environment by setting fires to prevent the growth of trees,

overhunting, protecting specific landscapes, or destroying specific

landscape

11.) agricultural revolution – when hunter-gatherer societies began to

grow crops and live in one place causing a great increase in

human population growth, soil erosion, habitat destruction,

and the domestication of many plants and animals over the

last 10,000 years

12.) Industrial Revolution – a period from the 18th to 19th century

when major changes occurred in agriculture, manufacturing,

mining, and transport had a major impact the economy

starting in the United Kingdom, then spreading throughout

Europe, North America, and eventually the world by changing

the draft-animal-based economy toward machine-based

manufacturing.

13.) renewable resources - a resource that replenishes itself quickly

enough so that it will not be used faster than it can be

produced; examples include wood, solar power from the sun,

wind energy, biomass or plants grown as energy sources such

as sugar cane or corn

14.) nonrenewable resources – a natural resource that is used more

quickly than it can be formed in the earth naturally;

examples include fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, natural gas),

nuclear power made from uranium, and metals such as copper

15.) developed country – countries with higher average incomes,

slower population growth, diverse industrial economies, and

stronger social support systems; examples include United

States, Canada, Japan, and the countries of Western Europe

16.) developing country – countries with lower average incomes, simple

and agriculturally-based economies, and rapid population

growth

17.) “The Tragedy of the Commons” – an essay about areas of land

called 'commons' that belonged to whole villages and

everyone used them for their animals to graze on, however,

many times too many animals would graze on a plot of land

and it would become eroded and unusable - 'commons' were

eventually replaced by closed fields owned by individuals who

took better care of the land

18.) biodegradable – a material that can be broken down by biological

processes such as wood, leaves, cotton, straw, corn, plants,

and animals

19.) resource depletion – when large fractions of a resource have been used

up - an example would be water because 97% of the world's water supply is salt water and only 3% is available for human use -

water demand in many countries already exceeds the amount of fresh water available causing a shortage of fresh water

20.) fossil fuels – a nonrenewable energy resource formed from the remains

of organisms that lived long ago; examples include oil, coal, and

natural gas

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