Sustainability Essay

Sustainability: The ability of humans to indefinitely use natural capital (air, water, soil,

other species) to meet their needs. The practice of sustainability does not deplete

habitats or other species and will serve to benefit future generations of human beings.

(Miller, p.4)

Resources: Resources are materials that the earth provides for the existence of life.

They can be produced by living things (biotic) or through non-living processes

(abiotic). Some of these resources cannot be produced on a time scale that is relevant

to human life spans; these are referred to as non-renewable resources. Other resources,

that can be replenished in a relatively short period of time or that are perpetual, are

referred to as renewable resources. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/list-of-natural-

resources.html)

Pollution: Point source vs. Non-point source- Pollution is any addition to air, water, soil, or food that threatens the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms. Point sources- are sources of pollution that are easy to identify such as factories or wastewater treatment plants. Non-point sources are harder to identify. They accumulate through everyday activities such as cutting a lawn or driving a car. (Miller, p.10)

Economics: A social science that studies how individuals, governments, firms, and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited wants. (http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economics.asp)

Globalization: The process of global social, economic, and environmental change that leads to an increasingly integrated world. (Miller, p.7)

Tragedy of the Commons: An economic problem in which every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource until it eventually exhausts or runs out. (Miller, p.11)

Developed vs. Developing Countries: Developed countries have low birthrates, low death rates, and lower infant mortality, as for in developing countries, they have high birthrates, high death rates, and high infant mortality, but also have more pollution.

Hunter Gatherer: People who survived by collecting edible wild plant parts, hunting, fishing, and scavenging meat from animals killed by other predators. (Miller, p.22)

Agricultural Revolution: A cultural shift about 10-12 thousand years ago that began in

several regions of the world. It involved a gradual move from usually nomadic

hunting-and-gathering groups to settled agricultural communities in which people

domesticated wild animals and cultivated wild plants. (Miller, p. 22)

Industrial revolution: Began in the 1700's and spread to the US in the 1800's. It led to a

rapid expansion in the production, trade, and distribution of material goods. (Miller, p.

23)

Information age: New cultural shifts in which new technologies such as the telephone,

radio, television, computers, the internet, automated databases, and remote sensing

satellites which now means we have more access to information on a global scale.

(Miller, p. 24)

Conservation vs. Preservation: Conservation is the preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources;an occurrence of improvement by virtue of preventing loss or injury or other change. Preservation is the activity of protecting something from loss or danger;a process that saves organic substances from decay; the condition of being (well or ill) preserved. (http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-conservation-and-preservation/)

Environmentalist vs. Ecologist: Ecologist (Scientist) are concerned with how

organisms interact with each other and their surroundings. Environmentalist (people)

are concerned with the harmful effects of human activities on the environment.

Ecology is a vast subject matter that requires study of various disciplines like physics,

chemistry, geology, biology, and so on whereas environmentalism mainly studies the

effects of human interaction with ecology and how to minimize that harmful effects.

(http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-ecology-and-vs-

environmentalism/)

Ecological Footprint: the amount of land needed to produce the resources needed by

an average person in a country. A hectare is 10,000 meters squared, a unit of area used

in land and sea floor measurement and equal to 2.471 acres,100 Ares, 10,000 square

meters, 4,840 square yards, 107,637 square feet. (http://www.thelandman.net/

What_is_a_Hectare.htm)

Ecosystem: Community of different species interacting with one another and with the

chemical and physical factors making up its nonliving environment. Living and

nonliving things working together. (http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/

nwepecosystems.htm)

Biodiversity: Variety of plants and animals and other living things in a particular area

or region, such as animals that live in LA are different than those in San Francisco

because of their different needs. (http://biodiversity.ca.gov/Biodiversity/

biodiv_definition.html)