Key Vocabulary
This is the term for the ability of a farming system to meet current food needs without harming future generations’ ability to do the same.
What is sustainability?
This practice involves planting different crops in a field in sequential seasons to improve soil health.
What is crop rotation?
This refers to a metropolitan area spreading out into surrounding rural areas.
What is urban sprawl?
This type of mining involves removing minerals from the surface by digging large pits.
What is surface mining?
This irrigation method involves flooding a field with water and letting it soak in.
What is flood irrigation?
This term describes the increase in the percentage of people living in cities.
What is urbanization?
This sustainable technique minimizes soil disturbance to prevent erosion and preserve organic matter.
What is no-till farming?
This is a major consequence of urban sprawl, involving the loss of trees and native vegetation.
What is deforestation?
This method of mining extracts minerals from underground tunnels or shafts.
What is subsurface mining?
This efficient irrigation method delivers water directly to plant roots through tubes or pipes.
What is drip irrigation?
This term describes the restoration of mined land to a natural or economically usable state.
What is land reclamation?
This method of growing crops together can reduce pests and improve biodiversity.
What is intercropping?
This type of land use includes roads, sidewalks, and parking lots that do not absorb water.
What is an impervious surface (or impermeable surface)?
This mining method is used to extract coal and causes significant surface disturbance.
What is strip mining?
This irrigation system uses gravity to channel water through small trenches between crop rows.
What is furrow irrigation?
Substances (organic or synthetic) are added to soil to supply nutrients that help plants grow.
What are Fertilizers?
This term refers to growing food without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or GMOs.
What is organic farming?
Urban areas with little vegetation and lots of concrete often experience higher temperatures, known as this effect.
What is the urban heat island effect?
This toxic chemical is often used in gold mining to separate gold from ore.
What is mercury?
This term describes the process where salts build up in soil due to excessive irrigation.
What is salinization?
A measure of how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and absorb its wastes.
What is the Ecological Footprint?
Using natural predators or beneficial insects to control pests is a key feature of this farming approach.
What is Integrated Pest Management (IPM)?
This sustainable building feature helps manage stormwater and reduce heat in cities.
What is a green roof?
This is the practice of mining minerals from the ocean floor, a growing but controversial method.
What is deep-sea mining?
This is the term for the loss of water through evaporation from soil or plant leaves.
What is evapotranspiration?