Fossil Fuels
The three most abundant greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere
What are water vapor(H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane(CH4)?
The process in which adverse environmental effects of surface mining are minimized and mined lands are partially restored to some kind of beneficial end use.
What is mine reclamation?
Trees and other plants can use this biological process to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store carbon as biomass.
What is photosynthesis?
This word describes all the different kinds of life you'll find in one place or the unique variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria.
What is biodiversity?
The three most commonly burned fossil fuels.
What are coal, oil, and natural gas?
The differing techniques used to economically extract valuable minerals, ores, or geological materials from the Earth's crust.
What are mining methods/techniques (different ways of mining)?
Non-permeable surfaces (like buildings and concrete) can lead to this effect in cities like New York.
What is the urban heat island effect?
This practice can help preserve biodiversity and make sure that future generations can use the resources.
What is sustainable use?
A natural process where atmospheric greenhouse gases trap sun-emitted infrared radiation, warming the Earth's surface to a habitable average temperature, making life on Earth possible
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
This sphere of the Earth is where valuable minerals are formed, found, and extracted.
What is the geosphere?
Farming techniques that balance environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity to meet current resource and food needs without overusing the land.
What are sustainable agricultural practices?
This unfortunate process results in a loss of biodiversity.
What is extinction?
Fossil fuels are often described as this type of resource, meaning it takes millions of years to be replenished.
What is a non-renewable resource?
The solid, liquid, or semi-solid material left over after extracting and processing minerals, including slag and sludge.
What is mining waste (pollution)?
A self-regulating biological or mechanical mechanism that stabilizes a system by counteracting changes, pushing variables back toward a set point. (Ex: Increasing temperatures cause more evaporation, leading to more clouds. These clouds reflect incoming solar radiation back into space, decreasing temperatures.)
What is a negative feedback loop?
This is the most common cause of extinction.
What is habitat loss (caused by human land use)?
In order to slow increasing global temperatures, humans must do this.
What is decrease our fossil fuel consumption (or use less fossil fuels, transition to renewable energy, etc.)?
This is also known as the "price" or drawback of something. It does NOT have to mean literal $$$, but it can be.
What is cost?
A process that amplifies or intensifies a change, moving a system further away from its initial state rather than returning it to balance. It creates a self-perpetuating cycle. (Ex: Increasing tree canopy leads to increasing biodiversity, leading to decreasing tree death, leading to increasing tree canopy)
What is a positive feedback loop?
This describes a non-native species to the ecosystem whose introduction causes or is likely to cause harm to other species in the ecosystem.
What is an invasive species?