Chapter 1-Science and the Environment

Goods like food and fuel

The natural and managed ecosystems that provide essential goods and services to human enterprise

Processes like flood protection

Nonmaterial benefits like recreation

Those due to human activities

Aimed at curbing pollution from the release of chlorofluorocarbons refrigerants into the atmosphere

One hundred and sixty six nations met in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997. Treaty was ratified in 2004 to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases

Variability among living organisms

The study of how the world works (most multidisciplinary of all the sciences)

Doing too much of any one activity

Not paying attention to how the world works

Marked by increasing awareness of the environment

Persons and organizations with a strong focus on environmental concerns

The widespread development of the environmental movement

Deal with how we should conceptualize our task of forging a sustainable future

The basis for our understanding of how the world works and how human systems interact with it (scientific method)

The practical goal that our interactions with the natural world that we should be working toward

The actions and programs that manage natural resources and human well-being for the common good

Can be continued indefinitely, without depleting any of the material or energy resources required to keep it running

To harvest resources but stay within the capacity of the population to grow and replace itself

Entire natural systems that persist and thrive over time by recycling nutrients and by using the Sun as a source of sustainable energy

A society in a balance with the natural world, continuing generation after generation, neither depleting its resource base by exceeding sustainable yield nor producing pollutants in excess of nature’s capacity to absorb them

Development or progress that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs

The continued improvement of human well-being