General Sustainability
In 1800, this reached 1 billion for the first time.
What is the Human Population?
The most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere.
What is nitrogen?
The source of all fresh water on Earth.
What is evaporation / precipitation?
The total number of/ variety of species on the Earth.
What is biodiversity / diversity?
The process of putting a used and discarded resource back into circulation.
What is recycling?
According to Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the U.N., there is no...?
What is Planet B?
The source of almost all of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.
What is photosynthesis or the biosphere?
Where most of the world's fresh water is found.
What are glaciers / ice caps?
All plant, animal, fungal, and microbial life on Planet Earth.
What is the biosphere?
A general term for a resource that is naturally replenished on a human timescale.
What is renewable?
“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
What is the definition of sustainability?
The molecule in the stratosphere that forms a barrier to UV light.
What is ozone?
Where most of the world's accessible fresh water is found.
What is underground / groundwater?
The type of animal most prone to extinction.
What are amphibians?
The main source of excess carbon dioxide being added to the atmosphere every year.
What are fossil fuels?
The approximate amount of time it takes now to add 1 Billion people to the human population.
What is 12 years?
The layer of the atmosphere closest to the surface where clouds and water vapor are found.
What is the troposphere?
Most groundwater is extracted for this use.
What is agriculture / irrigation?
The biggest cause of extinction in the world.
What is habitat loss / destruction?
The exponential increase in energy and resource consumption associated with industrialization after World War II.
What is the Great Acceleration?
Sustainability lies at the intersection of these three pillars.
What are environment, society, and economics?
The three main greenhouse gases that trap heat near the Earth's surface.
What are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane?
The movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere to the land and back to the oceans.
What is the water cycle?
36% of habitable land area is now devoted to this activity.
What is food production?
The decrease in ocean pH caused by uptake of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?
What is ocean acidification?