Enviro Basics
What does environmental science study?
What is air, water, land,
*and human impact
How did Hunter-Gatherers obtain food?
What is by collecting plants and by hunting wild animals or scavenging their remains.
What energy sources shifted away during the Industrial Revolution?
What are animals and waterpower
Two root causes of environmental problems?
What is population growth and overuse of resources.
What is the condition in which human needs are met in such a way that a human population can survive indefinitely.
What is sustainability
What is the definition of ecology?
What is the study of organisms' interactions with the environment
What is the goal of the "slash and burn" technique?
What is burning land to clear for farming.
This word means to raise crops and livestock for food or for other products that are useful to humans
What is agriculture
Three categories of environmental problems?
What is resource depletion, pollution, and biodiversity loss
Developed nations use about __________ of the world’s resources
75%
Name three fields in environmental science
What is biology, chemistry, ecology (also physics, Earth science, and social science)
Name two ways Native Americans affected prairies
What is by overhunting buffalo and setting fires to keep open grasslands.
What is one positive and one negative effect of Industrial Revolution?
+ more food production, increased efficiency, reduced prices, advanced medicine
- more pollution, habitat loss, artificial substances/pesticides
Define biodiversity
What is the variety of life in an area.
___ are calculations that show the productive area of Earth needed to support one person in a particular country.
What is ecological footprints
Governments, businesses, and cities recognize that studying our environment is vital to maintaining what?
What is a healthy and productive society?
Name two effects of turning forests into farmland
What is soil loss and water shortages (also floods)
What are examples of renewable and nonrenewable resources. Give 1 example each
Renew: Sun, water, soil, trees, wind/air
Nonrenew: Fossil fuels, minerals, nuclear fuels, metal, sand, topsoil
What is pollution? Two main types?
Harmful changes; Air, water, soil pollution- biodegradable and nonbiodegradable
What does a cost-benefit analysis balance?
What is the cost of the action against the benefits one expects from it
What are the two main types of interactions between humans and their environment
What is 1. how our actions alter our environment and 2. the use of natural resources like water, coal, and oil.
What caused rapid population growth ~10,000 years ago?
What is the Agricultural Revolution
Why is Earth a closed system?
What is because only the sun enters and only heat escapes
What is the tragedy of the commons?
What is individuals overusing shared resources that harms all
What are the three things to remember when exploring Environmental Science
-Listen to different viewpoints
-Investigate source
-Gather info to draw conclusion