Human Impact on the Environment
What is Climate change?
This is the long-term shift in global weather patterns and average temperatures.
What is any physical, chemical, or biological substance that makes water impure?
Pollutants
What do we call the tiny pieces of dust, dirt, and soot that float in the air and get into your lungs?
Particulate matter
What word means the general act of making the air, land, or water dirty and harmful?
Pollution
What is the Greenhouse effect?
This natural process traps heat in the atmosphere, keeping Earth warm enough for life.
What is pollution that comes from a single, identifiable location, such as a factory discharge pipe?
Point-source pollution
What is the colorless, odorless, and very dangerous gas that comes from burning fuel in cars or heaters?
Carbon monoxide
Define Deforestation.
The large-scale clearing or cutting down of trees and forests by humans.
What is Smog?
A thick, brownish gray haze of air pollution that forms when sunlight reacts with pollutants.
What is pollution that comes from many diffuse sources, like rainwater washing oil and trash off city streets?
Nonpoint-source pollution
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) is what?
the chemicals found in things like hairspray and paints that turn into gases and help create smog
What word means a non-native animal or plant that is brought into a new environment and might cause trouble?
Exotic Species
What is Acid Rain?
This occurs when sulfur and nitrogen emissions mix with water vapor in the air and fall to Earth.
Because it has no single point of origin, which type of pollution is generally the most difficult to regulate and control?
Nonpoint-source pollution
What is the heavy metal that used to be in gasoline and paint but is now banned because it's toxic to the brain?
Lead
Define Nonpoint-source pollution.
Pollution that comes from many different places (like rain washing trash off many streets) rather than just one single pipe.
What is Global warming?
The gradual increase in the Earth's overall temperature, often attributed to the greenhouse effect.
What do we call the liquid waste or "dirty water" that flows out into the ocean or a river?
Effluent
Which stinky gas comes from burning coal and is a main cause of acid rain?
Sulfur dioxide
What word means the liquid waste or sewage that is pumped out and discharged into a river or the ocean?
Effluent