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Sustainability

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is the capacity of the earth's natural systems and human cultural systems to survive, flourish, and adapt to changing environmental conditions into the very long-term future

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environmental science

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an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment.

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ecology

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the biological science that studies how living things interact with one another and with one another and with their environment.

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organisms

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all living things

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species

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a group of organisms that has a unique set of characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms.

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ecosystem

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is a set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.

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environmentalism

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a social movement dedicated to trying to protect the earth's life-supporting systems for all forms of life.

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what are the three scientific principles of sustainability?

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dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling or nutrient cycling

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dependence on solar energy

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the sun warms the planet and provides energy that plants use to produce nutrients or the chemicals necessary for their own life processes along with those of most other animals, including humans. the sun also powers indirect forms of solar energy such as wind and flowing water, which we use to produce electricity.

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nutrients

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the chemicals necessary for their own life process along with those of most other animals, including humans.

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solar energy

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powered by the sun, and indirect forms like wind and flowing water to produce electricity

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Biodiversity

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is the variety of genes, organisms, species, and ecosystems in which organisms exist and interact.

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chemical cycling or nutrient cycling

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is the circulaiton of chemicals necessary fo rlife from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment.

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natural capital

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the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other species alive and support human economies

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natural resources

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are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans.

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natural services or ecosystem services

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are processes provided by healthy ecosystems

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What are the social science principles of sustainability?

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Full-cost pricing, win-win solutions, and a responsibility to future generations

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full-cost pricing (from economics)

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the practice of finding ways to include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices.

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Win-win solutions (political science)

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we can learn to work together in dealing with environmental problems by focusing on solutions that will benefit the largest possible number of people, as well as the environment.

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a responsibility to future generations (from ethics)

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we should accept our responsibility to leave the planet's life-support systems in at least as good a shape as what we now enjoy, for future generations.

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Resource

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anything that we can obtain from the environment to meet our needs and wants

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inexhaustible resource

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a continuous supply is expected to last for at least 6 billion years, until the sun dies like solar energy

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renewable resource

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can be replenished by natural processes within hours to centuries, as long as we do not use it up faster than natural processes can renew it.

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sustainable yield

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the highest rate at which we can use a renewable resources indefinitely without reducing its available supply

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nonrenewable or exhaustible resources

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exist in a fixed quantity, or stock, in the earth's crust

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More-developed countries

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industrialized nations iwht high average income- have 17% of the world's population and include the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and most of European countries

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less-developed countries

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most of them in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, are middle-income, moderately developed countries such as China, India, Brazil, Thailand, and mexico, the 83% of the world

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environmental degradation or natural capital degradation

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the process of wasting, depleting, and degrading the earth's natural capital at an accelerating rate

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pollution

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contamination of the environment by a chemic or other agent such as noise or heat to a level that is harmful to the health, survival, or activities of humans or other organisms

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point sources

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singe, identifiable sources

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non-point sources

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dispersed and often difficult to identify like pesticides

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pollution cleanup

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cleaning up or diluting pollutants after we have produced them

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pollution prevention

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efforts focused on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants

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affluence

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wealth, allows them to consume large amounts of resources far beyond their basic needs and live in large homes filled with possessions, more than needed.

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ecological footprint

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the amount of land and water needed to supply a person or an area with renewable resources such as food and water, and that are need to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use

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per capita ecological footprint

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the average ecological footprint of a n individual in a given country or area

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Sustainability revolution

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learning to live more sustainably with smaller ecoogoical footprints during this century, like using energy-efficient compact fluorescent and LED light-bulbs

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environmental worldview

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your set of assumptions and values reflecting how you think the world works and what you think your role int he world should be

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Environmental ethics

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the study of our various beliefs about what is right and wrong with how we treat the environment, provides important ways to examine our worldviews

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environmentally sustainable society

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one that meets the current and future basic resource needs of its people in a just and equitable manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs.

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planetary management worldview

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we are separate from and in charge of nature, that nature exists mainly to meet out needs and increasing wants, and that we can use our ingenuity and technology to manage the earth's life-supporting systems, mostly for our befit, into the distant future

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stewardship worldview

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we can and should manage the earth for our benefit, but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers, or stewards, of the earth. it says we should encourage environmentally beneficial forms of economic growth and development and discourage environmentally harmful forms

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environmental wisdom worldview

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we are part of, and dependent on, nature and that the earth's life-support system exists for all species, not just of us. our success depends on learning how the earth sustains itself and integrating such environmental wisdom into the ways we think and act. `

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Natural income

answer

living on the renewable resources such as plants, animals, soil, clean air, and clean water, provided by the earth's natural capital

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