Flashcards

An informal term for the most recent period in Earth’s history during which human activities have had significant impact on climate and ecosystems.

The maximum number of individuals that a given environment can support indefinitely.

A self-organizing system of interacting elements, regulated by feedbacks and resulting in emergent behavior.

A measure of the demand a person, population, or activity places on nature in order to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, usually expressed as acres or hectares of productive land and water.

A system of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.

The essential benefits people obtain from ecosystem processes.

The spontaneous appearance of novel properties at the level of a system that cannot be predicted by knowledge of the system’s parts.

The state of a system in which opposing influences are balanced and in which the system will remain unless disturbed.

A circular mechanism in which the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influence the initial process.

The planting of a single crop over a large area.

Environmental resources and ecosystem services that make all economic activity possible.

The role an organism plays in its ecosystem.

The amount by which resource consumption and waste production exceed nature’s capacity to create new resources and absorb waste.

The capacity of a system to accommodate change and still retain the same function and structure.

The state in which the needs of all members of the biosphere are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

An interdisciplinary field of study of the interactions between natural, social, and human systems and with how those interactions impact sustainable development.

Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

An integrated whole made of interconnected parts.

The critical transition at which accumulated small changes a cause a system to shift abruptly and irreversibly into a new state.

Chemical compounds containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine that are harmful to the ozone layer of the atmosphere.

A closed-loop economy with a continuous cyclic flow of materials, where output from one process becomes input for another.

Historic term for a community resulting from a process of ecological succession that remains unchanged in the absence of disturbance.

Early twentieth century view of nature as a resource to be efficiently managed for human use.

A measure of the demand a person, population, or activity places on nature in order to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, usually expressed as acres or hectares of productive land and water.

The study of the relationships between organisms and their environment.

A system of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.

A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

The branch of philosophy that studies the moral value of, and humans’ ethical relationship to, the nonhuman world.

The study of human relationships to the natural world through time.

The concept that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental human right.

A method for quantifying the total environmental impacts of a material, product, or building through all phases of its life from cradle to grave; also known as life cycle analysis.

The addition of a species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction to a list of endangered species such as the international IUCN Red List or the lists mandated by the US Endangered Species Act.

An international treaty adopted in 1997 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and expiring in 2012 which limited carbon dioxide emissions for those developed countries that signed it.

Progressive change in species composition, structure, and ecosystem characteristics in a community, often in response to a disturbance,

A species considered to be likely to become endangered in the near future.

The position a group of organisms with similar feeding function occupies in a food web.

A view of reality in which human values and interests are primary.

A view of reality in which all living things have intrinsic value and are morally considerable.

A view of reality in which ecosystems or biotic communities, and not just individuals, have intrinsic value and are morally considerable.

The branch of philosophy that studies the moral value of, and humans’ ethical relationship to, the nonhuman world.

The concept that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental human right.

The assumption that a thing is valuable only insofar as it benefits humans.

The assumption that a thing has value in and for itself, regardless of its usefulness to humans.

Living systems or processes that occur in the presence of oxygen.

A measure of a surface’s ability to reflect sunlight, often expressed as a decimal fraction on a scale of 0 to 1.

Living systems or processes that occur in the absence of oxygen.

The movement of matter in cycles through the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Examples include the carbon cycle and the hydrologic cycle.

A major regional habitat type characterized by particular climate and soil conditions and particular biological communities.

The part of the Earth system on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere inhabited by living organisms.

A group of interacting species living in a particular area.

A natural or human-caused event such as fire, flood, or urban development that changes the structure and function of an ecosystem.

The total complex of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere that influence conditions at the Earth’s surface.

The spontaneous appearance of novel properties at the level of a system that cannot be predicted by knowledge of the system’s parts.

The ability to do work

A network of feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

The physical environment where an organism lives and finds food, water, cover, and space to grow and reproduce.

Any physical substance; something which occupies space and has mass.

A mechanism in which a damaged habitat is rehabilitated or an intact habitat area is set aside to compensate for habitat that is destroyed elsewhere.

The role an organism plays in its ecosystem.

A group of individuals of one species living within a particular area.

A location where energy or matter are stored in systems.

The capacity of a system to accommodate change and still retain the same function and structure.

A reservoir where matter is stored and removed from system interactions.

A storage compartment in the environment that releases matter to another location.

Progressive change in species composition, structure, and ecosystem characteristics in a community, often in response to a disturbance,

A relationship between two organisms from different species who live with and interact with each other, benefiting both of them.

A branch of physics that deals with the transformation of energy.

The total number of people born in a given year.

The supply of resources available.

Resources from which it is difficult to exclude or limit users and in which use of the resources by one person decreases the benefits for other users.

A common pool resource plus a community plus a set of protocols: the rules and social practices for managing the resources.

The condition in which development occurs without increases in environmental impact.

The shift from high birth rates and death rates to low birth rates and death rates in developed countries.

A field of social science that applies the principles of population ecology to human populations.

An increase in the quality of goods and services, with or without quantitative growth; development is a qualitative measure.

A discipline that merges economics and ecology and conceives of the economy as a subsystem of the Earth ecosystem.

A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

A cost which is external to the entity creating the damage and not reflected in the price.

A state, or self-governing political body, in which the ability to govern has broken down.

A state which is in the process of breaking down toward a failed state.

The process of decision-making by which an organization or society regulates activities and exercises control over resources; often refers to collective actions of multiple stakeholders working together in order to achieve common goals.

A measure of economic growth consisting of the total value of goods and services produced within the boundaries of a country.

An increase in size or an increase in production; growth is a quantitative measure.

The concept that all human generations, including present and future, have an equal right to a stable climate and healthy biosphere.

A fundamental framework for understanding the world; a coherent set of assumptions and concepts that defines a way of viewing reality.

The number of births per woman that will maintain the human population size constant at zero population growth.

A person or group who can be impacted by an outcome or decision.

An approach to economics which says that human and natural capital are not interchangeable and that natural capital is the limiting factor.

The number of children born to an average woman during her lifetime.

The discipline which studies the effects of environmental factors on human health.

The concept that access to a clean, healthy environment is a fundamental human right.

The fair distribution of resources and opportunities to all people which enables them to reach an equal outcome.

The concept that all human generations, including present and future, have an equal right to a stable climate and healthy biosphere.

Adjustment to a new or changing environment.

A measure of a surface’s ability to reflect sunlight, often expressed as a decimal fraction on a scale of 0 to 1.

Resulting from human activities.

The buying and selling of permits to pollute; also known as emissions trading.

Technology which removes carbon dioxide from industrial processes and stores it underground or under the ocean floor.

The climate impact of a greenhouse gas expressed as the tons of carbon dioxide that would result in the same impact; determined by multiplying the tons of the given gas by its global warming potential.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net carbon emissions; also known as climate neutral.

The removal and storage of carbon in a carbon sink through biological or physical processes.

A significant change in measures of climate such as temperature, precipitation, and wind lasting for an extended period of time; can result from natural processes or human activity.

The climate change that would still occur even with no further human influence, resulting from greenhouse gases already emitted.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net climate impact; also known as climate neutral.

A molecule composed of two atoms.

The buying and selling of permits to pollute; also known as cap and trade.

A circular mechanism in which the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influence the initial process. An interaction which increases or amplifies the original change is called positive feedback; an interaction which decreases the original change is called negative feedback.

An average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface.

A ratio that indicates the greenhouse effect of a particular gas relative to that of the same quantity of carbon dioxide over a fixed period of time, usually 100 years.

The warming of a planet’s surface as a result of certain atmospheric gases which absorb some of the infrared solar radiation that would otherwise escape into space and re-radiate this energy back to the surface.

A gas that absorbs infrared radiation in the atmosphere; greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and others.

Regularly recurring changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis, precession of Earth’s axis, and eccentricity of Earth’s orbit which influence cycles of cooling and warming climate.

Measures undertaken to minimize the extent or impact of a problem such as climate change.

The condition in which the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere equals the amount that is removed.

A voluntary payment made to reduce pollution or emissions at one location in order to compensate for an equal quantity of pollution or emissions at another location.

Parts per billion; the number of parts of a chemical found in one billion parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

Parts per million; the number of parts of a chemical found in one million parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

An indicator which stands in for another measurement.

The removal and storage of an element such as carbon in a sink through biological or physical processes.

An underground water-bearing layer of permeable rock, sand, or gravel capable of supplying wells or springs.

Wastewater from toilets, kitchen sinks, and dishwashers.

The initial quantity of water that runs off a surface at the beginning of a rainstorm.

Untreated wastewater collected from bathroom sinks, showers, bathtubs, and clothes washers which has not come into contact with toilet waste.

Water that has accumulated in saturated soil or rock below the Earth’s surface.

The subsurface environment below a stream channel.

Water which is suitable for drinking.

The amount of rainwater which can be captured on a particular site.

The process of collecting water that falls as rain and storing it for later use.

The average amount of time that a substance spends in a particular reservoir.

The movement of saltwater into freshwater aquifers.

Water that falls as rain.

The quantity of water required for the production of food or other goods, measured at the place where they were actually produced.

The virtual water content of a good or service.

An informal term for the most recent period in Earth’s history during which human activities have had significant impact on climate and ecosystems.

The normal rate at which species go extinct in the absence of human factors.

One of several areas that contains an especially great diversity of endemic species facing a high risk of extinction.

The variety of genes, species and ecosystems found in a particular area.

A bird that lays its eggs in the nest of another bird, which then cares for the offspring.

Activity to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function in a particular area.

A legal agreement in which a landowner retains ownership of their property but permanently relinquishes the right to build on or develop the property, often in exchange for financial or tax benefit.

The act of returning a buried stream to the surface and allowing it to flow aboveground.

The removal of a formerly endangered species from the list of endangered species.

Activity to assist the recovery of degraded biodiversity and ecosystem function in a particular area.

Altered environmental conditions that impact organisms living near the edge of a fragmented habitat.

A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

The breaking up of a habitat patch into two or more smaller pieces, usually by human activities such as agriculture, urban development, or roads.

The gradual loss of genetic variation in a small population due to random events.

A species introduced outside its normal distribution which increases in abundance at the expense of native species, interfering with an ecosystem’s normal functioning.

A nonprofit organization that works to acquire land, to help others acquire land or conservation easements, and to provide stewardship.

The addition of a species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction to a list of endangered species such as the international IUCN Red List or the lists maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, mandated by the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

A collection of local populations of the same species linked by some degree of migration; a " population of populations."

Small-scale variations in the shape of the surface of the land, resulting in a diversity of microhabitats.

A mechanism in which a damaged habitat is rehabilitated or an intact habitat area is set aside to compensate for habitat that is destroyed elsewhere.

Species that developed in the place where they live and are adapted to conditions there.

The action of predators who eat juvenile birds in the nest.

A self-organizing ecosystem composed of species and their interactions that differ from those that prevailed historically, resulting from human influence.

The study of the growth, decline, and changes in populations of organisms.

An approach to restoration that deliberately shares the places where humans live with other species.

Precipitation containing higher than normal amounts of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, formed when natural rainwater combines with sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted by burning of fossil fuels.

Living systems or processes that occur in the presence of oxygen.

Minute solid or liquid airborne particles that remain suspended in the atmosphere for at least several hours.

A substance that activates the body’s immune system, causing a response when a response is not necessary.

Living systems or processes that occur in the absence of oxygen.

The process in which the concentration of a substance taken in by an organism increases faster than the rate at which the organism can remove it.

The addition of microorganisms to a polluted site to assist in bioremediation.

A measure of organic content in water, given by the amount of dissolved oxygen consumed by aquatic organisms as they break down organic matter.

The process in which the concentration of a substance increases as it passes to successively higher trophic levels of a food web.

The use of microorganisms to break down pollutants in soil or water.

An abandoned or under-used industrial site in which redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous material.

A greater-than-expected number of cancer cases in a particular location, usually associated with exposures to toxins in the workplace.

A substance known to increase the risk of developing cancer.

Major water pollutants regulated by the U.S. Clean Water Act: biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, fecal coliform bacteria, pH, and oil and grease.

Major air pollutants regulated by the U.S. Clean Air Act: particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, lead, and ground-level ozone.

A pollutant that interferes with normal hormone functions.

Accelerated plant growth and decay in aquatic environments caused by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and resulting in oxygen depletion.

The description of how a pollutant changes over time.

A group of bacteria found in the feces of humans and other animals which are used as indicators of disease-causing bacteria.

Open space that has never been built upon.

A list of chemicals identified by the EPA which are considered particularly dangerous.

A plant which can accumulate larger amounts of micronutrients than most other plants.

Particles of synthetic plastic which are smaller than a few millimeters.

A substance which damages genetic material, or DNA, in cells.

The use of fungi to break down contaminants.

Particles of synthetic plastic which are smaller than a few micrometers.

A toxin that damages the nervous system.

A diffuse source of pollutants that cannot be tied to a specific point of origin.

The emission of volatile organic compounds from synthetic and natural products.

Matter in the form of fine solid particles or liquid droplets small enough to be suspended in air or water.

The property of a substance which lasts a long time without changing.

A class of organic chemicals that remain unchanged for long periods of time, accumulate in the food chain, and are toxic to humans and other animals.

A synthetic substance designed to kill unwanted organisms; categories of pesticides include insecticides, rodenticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

A scale which indicates the degree of acidity or alkalinity, based on a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in water.

The use of plants to treat pollutants.

A source of pollution that comes from a single, identifiable source.

The accumulation of substances with adverse effects on the health of living organisms.

Parts per billion; the number of parts of a chemical found in one billion parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

Parts per million; the number of parts of a chemical found in one million parts of a particular gas, liquid, or solid mixture.

The emission of atomic particles as atomic nuclei decay.

The process of cleaning up a polluted site using physical, chemical or biological means.

Air pollution formed by the interaction of pollutants and sunlight.

A substance which causes abnormalities in developing embryos.

An unhealthy change in water temperature.

Fine particles suspended in water, too small to be removed by settling.

A substance that is harmful to living organisms.

A toxicant produced by a living organism.

The ways in which a pollutant moves through the environment.

A measure of water clarity resulting from suspended particles which block light.

Organic compounds that vaporize at room temperature.

A liquid volume equal to 42 US gallons, used to indicate quantities of petroleum products.

A fuel made of oils from plant materials or animal fats and used as a diesel fuel substitute or diesel fuel extender.

A liquid fuel made of plant material and used as a partial substitute for gasoline.

Plant or animal material, often wood or grasses, that can be converted into energy through burning or through conversion into a gas or liquid fuel which is then burned.

A long-term investment in the improvement of a fixed asset, such as a building or infrastructure, requiring a comparatively high financial outlay.

The production of electricity and useful heat using a common energy source.

The systematic process of verifying and documenting that building systems are functioning as intended.

The total energy used to produce, transport, and dispose of a product.

A systematic, detailed analysis of how and where a building uses energy.

Using less energy to perform the same tasks.

The amount of useful work done by each unit of fuel.

A company which provides measurement and verification and energy efficiency services for a building and whose fees are paid for out of the energy savings.

An index used to measure building efficiency, usually expressed as a ratio of Btu per square foot of gross floor area per year.

Combustible geologic deposits formed from partially decomposed remains of organisms trapped in the Earth’s crust and converted to coal, oil, and natural gas by exposure to heat and pressure.

A device that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

A network of interconnected transmission and distribution lines that distributes electricity from power generation stations to users.

A written plan which verifies that investments in energy efficiency measures are providing the benefits expected.

A billing arrangement that allows customers who generate their own electricity to sell excess electricity to the local power utility.

A net-zero energy building is one which produces as much energy as it uses over the course of a year.

The point at which oil reaches its highest production levels, after which the rate of production declines.

Partially decomposed plant material that has accumulated in a water-saturated anaerobic environment.

One of the three types of fossil fuel; also known as oil.

Energy consumed by electronic devices when they are turned off or in standby mode.

A semiconductor device which converts solar energy directly to electricity.

The total known amount of an economically recoverable resource.

The total quantity of a material that exists in the Earth’s crust, whether or not it has been discovered.

The genetically encoded emotional need of human beings to affiliate with nature and with other living organisms, rooted in human biology and evolution.

An approach to designing the built environment in ways that connect people with the natural world.

A fast-paced planning process in which participation by multiple stakeholders produces a collaborative solution.

A roof covered with material which reflects rather than absorbs sunlight.

The use of natural sunlight for illumination in order to reduce or eliminate electric lighting.

An approach to designing the built environment in which decisions are based on the best available current research evidence.

An energy- and water-efficient building made of nontoxic and often locally-sourced materials that is environmentally responsible and healthy for its occupants; also known as a high-performance building.

A kind of roof covering made of a waterproof layer, growing medium, and plants.

A net-zero energy building is one which produces as much energy as it uses over the course of a year.

Methods for using sunlight for heating without the use of active mechanical devices such as pumps or fans.

Methods for using air movement for cooling without the use of active mechanical devices such as pumps or fans.

A measure of a material’s resistance to heat flow.

A heavy, dense building material which absorbs heat, stores it, and reradiates it slowly.

The phenomenon in which air temperature in cities is several degrees warmer than in surrounding rural areas.

Coarse particles of rock, used in concrete and paving.

A vegetated linear depression used to cleanse and infiltrate stormwater.

Wastewater from toilets, kitchen sinks, and dishwashers.

A process in which particles of soil are pushed together and the pore spaces between them are reduced in size or closed off.

Decomposed organic matter which has been broken down by microorganisms in a controlled environment.

A wetland feature engineered to use natural processes of plants, soils, and bacteria living in association with wetland plant roots for the purpose of water or wastewater treatment.

The area around a tree within which soil must be protected from excavation or compaction; also known as the tree protection zone.

A physical area with a particular combination of environmental conditions, including climate, topography, geology, and vegetation.

A process in which rock or soil is loosened, removed, and transported from one place to another by the action of water, wind, or other natural agents.

An ecologically based strategy which controls insects with minimal use of pesticides.

A proprietary biological wastewater treatment system which use a series of tanks containing communities of bacteria, plants, and animals.

A compact device for wastewater treatment consisting of a series of tanks where bacteria living on membranes break down nutrients.

A layer of organic material spread over the surface of soil.

Aggregate all of which is within the same size range.

A planted depression in the landscape where stormwater runoff collects temporarily as it infiltrates into the soil below.

The average amount of time that a substance spends in a particular reservoir.

Water that falls as rain.

A linear drainage channel with a vegetated surface.

A collaborative planning approach to sustainable development at a neighborhood scale.

The technological support systems used to transport people, goods, water, waste, energy, and information in human communities.

An urban design movement similar to smart growth promoted by the Congress for the New Urbanism.

An approach to urban planning which features compact, walkable, and transit-oriented neighborhoods with a mix of uses, housing types, and affordability levels.

A human settlement pattern characterized by low-density land use, single-use zoning, and automobile dependency.

An element of smart growth in which neighborhood development is clustered around convenient transit stations and located along transit corridors.

A set of tools and strategies for changing travel behavior in order to reduce the number of automobile vehicle trips and vehicle miles driven.

A line adopted by a government body which separates an urban area within which development may occur from surrounding open lands where development is restricted.

The practice of cultivating plants and animals as food crops.

An interdisciplinary approach which applies principles of ecology to the practice of agriculture.

The intercropping of annual or perennial agricultural crops with trees or other woody plants.

The industrial farming of fish or seafood.

An approach to producing high yields of food crops in small spaces using raised beds; also known as French intensive agriculture.

Acronym for concentrated animal feeding operation, an industrial-scale facility for housing animals at high densities for feeding prior to slaughter; also known as a feedlot.

A procedure by which a third party verifies the level of performance of a product, process or service compared to some standard.

An approach to supplying food in which customers buy subscriptions to local farms in return for regular deliveries of shares of the harvests.

An approach to growing crops based on 3 principles: crop rotation, protecting soil with cover crops and retained crop residue, and no-till.

A large-scale animal factory.

An industrial-scale facility for housing animals at high densities for feeding prior to slaughter; also known as a CAFO.

An urban area in which residents do not have ready access to healthy food.

A small-scale form of agroforestry in a multi-story combination of food-bearing trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals.

The distance from where a product is grown to where it is eaten.

The state of having access at all times to sufficient, nutritionally adequate, and safe foods that meet dietary needs and food preferences.

A geographic area within which the food for a population is produced, transported, and consumed.

The state of having access at all times to sufficient, nutritionally adequate, and safe foods that meet dietary needs and food preferences.

The right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food along with their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

The practice of gathering food found in public or common spaces.

An organism whose genetic code has been altered in a way that could not have occurred naturally by mating or recombination.

The practice of gathering food from leftover crops in farmers’ fields.

The intensification of global food production in the mid-twentieth century based on technologies such as fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and high-yield crop varieties.

A food forest in a tropical region.

Large-scale farming using fossil fuel-driven machinery, large amounts of irrigation water, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and monoculture planting; also known as agribusiness.

A food processing method in which food is exposed to a dose of radiation for the purpose of killing pathogenic bacteria and insects by disrupting their DNA.

The planting of a single crop over a large area.

An approach to growing crops by planting in undisturbed soil covered by crop residues and other mulch.

The general method of growing crops using environmentally healthy methods and without using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides; also known as organic farming.

An approach to designing products or buildings using nature as a model.

A procedure by which a third party verifies the level of performance of a product, process or service compared to some standard.

A closed-loop economy with a continuous cyclic flow of materials, where output from one process becomes input for another.

A design approach in which materials are thought of as nutrients which recycle continuously.

The practice of designing products and manufacturing processes in environmentally responsible ways.

An approach to product and process design that seeks to minimize material consumption, waste, and pollution.

A complex of industrial facilities which applies the principles of industrial ecology in an industrial ecosystem.

A label which gives information about a product or service in terms of its environmental or social impacts.

The total energy used to produce, transport, and dispose of a product.

A formal system within an organization for developing, implementing, and maintaining environmental policies and procedures.

A concept which proposes that humans should reduce their consumption of resources to one-fourth of the current levels in order not to exceed the planet’s carrying capacity.

A concept which proposes that humans should reduce their consumption of resources to one-tenth of the current levels in order not to exceed the planet’s carrying capacity.

The use of chemical materials and processes with little or no toxicity.

The use of deliberately misleading terms in order to portray an environmentally responsible image.

An approach to the design of products and processes that helps an industrial system behave like an ecosystem, where the output from one industry is the input for another.

A characteristic of reprocessing a material in which the quality of the material decreases over time.

Liquid in a landfill consisting of rainwater, liquid from organic waste, and dissolved pollutants.

Waste from households, offices, institutions, and small businesses; called ‘municipal’ because such waste is the responsibility of local governments.

The design of a process or activity to reduce or eliminate the creation of pollution or waste at the source.

A waste disposal method which extracts materials from the waste stream and processes them so that they can be reused in some way.

A landfill engineered to prevent leaks from contaminating soil and water.

A process which captures methane from landfills and burns it in gas turbines to generate electricity or heat.

Unwanted or discarded material.

A measure of greenhouse gas emissions associated with an activity; technically expressed as area of land needed for carbon dioxide sequestration, but often used more loosely to mean the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted, measured in tons.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net carbon emissions; also known as climate neutral.

Living or doing business in a way which results in no net climate impact; also known as carbon neutral.

A measure of the demand a person, population, or activity places on nature in order to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, usually expressed as acres or hectares of productive land and water.

The total weight of material " carried" by a product; the material displaced in order to extract, process, and use the material over the course of its lifetime.

The buying and selling of permits to pollute; also known as cap and trade.

The process of decision-making by which an organization or society regulates activities and exercises control over resources; often refers to collective actions of multiple stakeholders working together in order to achieve common goals.

A composite indicator which combines multiple sources of data into one number.

The genetically encoded emotional need of human beings to affiliate with nature and with other living organisms, rooted in human biology and evolution.

An area with similar climate, topography, plant and animal communities.

Education which involves learning by doing.

An approach to learning in which curriculum is based on local knowledge.

Learning by doing while working on solutions to community problems.

Speech which uses the technical language of ecology to make the user appear ecologically aware.

A subdiscipline of linguistics which studies the role of language in environmental problems and solutions.

The use of deliberately misleading terms in order to portray an environmentally responsible image.

The application of marketing principles to support social change.

A large-scale event that could not have been predicted.

An emergent phenomenon of multiple crises interacting in a complex system.

A change in the fundamental attributes of a system.

The process of moving to a different state or condition in incremental steps.