Terminology

See Cradle to Cradle

A soft, bluish-white metallic element used in low-friction alloys, solders, dental amalgams, and nickel-cadmium storage batteries; Symbol Cd; atomic number 48; atomic weight 112.40.

Webster's New College Dictionary

Recommendations for stabilizing world population agreed upon at the U.N. International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September 1994. The plan calls for improved health care and family planning services for women, children and families throughout the world, and also emphasizes the importance of education for girls as a factor in the shift to smaller families.

NRDC

In the legislative sense, a group of bills or proposals to be discussed or considered in a legislative committee or on the floor of the House or Senate.

NRDC

Unregulated growth of changed cells; a group of changed, growing cells (tumor).

NRDC

Layer of vegetation elevated above the ground, usually of tree braches and epiphytes. In tropical forests, the canopy may be more than 100 feet above the ground.

A forest's second layer, or roof. Consists of a network of branches and leaves, forms a covering that blocks some of the sunlight from lower plants

planetpals

By which water travels upward through small pore spaces as a result of evapotranspiration exceeding precipitation

The atmosphere contains a pool of Carbon Dioxide which is used by plants in photosynthesis to make carbohydrates e.g. starch. When animals eat plants, these carbohydrates are turned into animal carbohydrates e.g. glycogen. Eventually all animals and plants die and when bacteria or fungi decompose then, the Carbon is returned to the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide. In the carboniferous period carbon was removed from the system because in the waterlogged forests or at the bottom of the sea, it was not possible for decomposers to do their job. All this carbon was locked up as coal, gas, and oil. The amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere decreased. Now that we are burning all this fossil fuel, we are increasing the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and some say we are contributing to ""Global Warming"".

A gas found in air that is used in photosynthesis and produced by respiration; one of the green house gases

planetpals

A naturally occurring greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, concentrations of which have increased (from 280 parts per million in preindustrial times to over 350 parts per million today) as a result of humans' burning of coal, oil, natural gas and organic matter (e.g., wood and crop wastes).

NRDC

A metric measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases based upon their global warming potential

planetpals

What you leave behind for your daily life on the earth. A carbon footprint is a way of expressing the amount of CO2 emitted as a result of a person's day-to-day activities. For a business, it is the CO2 emitted as a result of its operations. Carbon footprints are usually expressed in tons of carbon dioxide emitted per year.

planetpals

The amount of carbon by weight emitted per unit of energy consumed.

planetpals

A charge on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) based on their carbon content. When burned, the carbon in these fuels becomes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the chief greenhouse gas.

NRDC

Any substance, radionuclide or radiation that is an agent directly involved in the promotion of cancer or in the facilitation of its propagation. Common examples of carcinogens are, inhaled asbestos, certain dioxins, and tobacco smoke.

Wikipedia

Any an organism that eats meat. Most carnivores are animals, but a few fungi, plants, and protists are as well.

Sharing a car to a destination to reduce fuel use, pollution and travel costs.

NRDC

A meeting of a political party, usually to appoint representatives to party positions.

NRDC

Plant fiber

planetpals

see Chlorofluorocarbons

As regards the U.S. government, either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

NRDC

Cancer-causing chemicals created when chlorine used for water disinfection combines with dirt and organic matter in water.

NRDC

A highly reactive halogen element, used most often in the form of a pungent gas to disinfect drinking water.

NRDC

(1) Gases that are released into the atmosphere as air pollutants and that change ozone to oxygen in the ozone layer. These greenhouse gases are used for refrigeration, air conditioning, packaging, insulation, solvents, or aerosol propellants. (2) Stable, artificially - created chemical compounds containing carbon, chlorine, fluorine and sometimes hydrogen. Chlorofluorocarbons, used primarily to facilitate cooling in refrigerators and air conditioners, have been found to damage the stratospheric ozone layer which protects the earth and its inhabitants from excessive ultraviolet radiation.

(1) planetpals and (2) NRDC

A green light-absorbing pigment used in photosynthesis

planetpals

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of deer, elk (wapiti), and moose. TSEs are caused by unusual infectious agents known as prions. To date, CWD has been found mainly in cervids (members of the deer family). First recognized as a clinical "wasting" syndrome in 1967 in mule deer in a wildlife research facility in northern Colorado, it was identified as a TSE in 1978 and has spread to a dozen states and two Canadian provinces. CWD is typified by chronic weight loss leading to death. There is no known relationship between CWD and any other TSE of animals or people.

Wikipedia

Thin, wispy clouds which form at the upper layer of the atmosphere and are composed mostly of ice crystals

planetpals

see Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

One of the last remaining unlogged watersheds on the west coast of Canada's Vancouver Island.

NRDC

Fuels which have lower emissions than conventional gasoline and diesel. Refers to alternative fuels as well as to reformulated gasoline and diesel.

NRDC

Treatment, remediation, or destruction of contaminated material.

NRDC

A logging technique in which all trees are removed from an area, typically 20 acres or larger, with little regard for long-term forest health.

NRDC

An area's weather over an extended period of time

planetpals

Climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer).

planetpals

A regional change in temperature and weather patterns. Current science indicates a discernible link between climate change over the last century and human activity, specifically the burning of fossil fuels.

NRDC

The five physical components (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere) that are responsible for the climate and its variations

planetpals

Which can be supported by the climatic conditions of an area over the long term

Which is self-contained, not having inputs and not producing outputs

The formal end to a debate or filibuster in the Senate requiring a three-fifths vote.

NRDC

Visible water vapor suspended in the air

planetpals

Fish that live in the open ocean at or near the water's surface but remain relatively close to the coast. Mackerel, anchovies, and sardines are examples of coastal pelagic fish.

NRDC

A desert with daytime temperatures below freezing for part of the year

planetpals

Animals that live in colonies.

planetpals

A large population whose members depend on each other

planetpals

A relationship in which a guest organism lives on or in a host organism. The guest organism benefits from the relationship, but the host is neither helped nor harmed

planetpals

The depletion of a population to the point where fisherman cannot catch enough to be economically worthwhile.

NRDC

The community consists of all the animals and plants living in one habitat. Different animals and plants will effect each other by competition, predation, grazing, sheltering and so on. So that we can understand these interactions, we need to look at populations of each species to find out if they are increasing or decreasing.

A group of different populations

planetpals

Florescent light bulbs small enough to fit into standard light sockets, which are much more energy-efficient than standard incandescent bulbs.

NRDC

Plants and animals compete with each other. This is a kind of race, if you win you survive, if you lose you die. Plants compete for physical space, for nutrients and water from the soil and for sunlight. Animals compete for territory, for food, and for mates.

Process whereby organic wastes, including food wastes, paper, and yard wastes, decompose naturally, resulting in a product rich in minerals and ideal for gardening and farming as a soil conditioners, mulch, resurfacing material, or landfill cover.

NRDC

The process by which a gas, such as water vapor, changes to a liquid when cooled; also the water that results from this process

planetpals

To change from a gas to a liquid as a result of being cooled

planetpals

A document published by the government printing office recording all debates, votes and discussions taking place in the Congress; available for free inspection at all government document repositories, as well as in some major libraries.

NRDC

A forest containing coniferous plants and existing where winters are very cold, summers are brief, and rainfall is low, such as in the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia, and in the world's mountain regions. Also called a boreal forest, northern coniferous forest, or taiga

planetpals

A plant, usually an evergreen, whose seeds are produced in cones and that typically has needles instead of leaves

planetpals

It would all be much easier if we used a bulldozer to flatten all the hills and removed all the forests. We could turn the world into one enormous road and airport; never mind the animals and plants. Why should we try to conserve our ecosystems? Good question! Wait for this page to be updated, or think about it.

To protect from waste or destruction

planetpals

Any organism which must consume other organisms (living or dead) to satisfy its energy needs. Contrast with autotroph.

Organisms (specifically, animals) that are not able to produce their own food and must eat other organisms.

planetpals

Pollution.

NRDC

The practice of planting crops across a hill rather than up and down the hill to prevent soil erosion by water

planetpals

Preventing conception and pregnancy.

NRDC

Live coral is made of polyps. Dead coral is a hard, stony substance made up of the skeletons of polyps

planetpals

The innermost part of the earth, center

planetpals

A system in which all material inputs and outputs are seen either as technical or biological nutrients both of which operate in their own, safe, closed loop. Technical nutrients can be recycled or reused with no loss of quality and biological nutrients composted or consumed then returned safely to soil.

William McDonough

A watercourse smaller than, and often tributary to, a river.

NRDC

A very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is ultimately fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases are caused by prions. The diseases are thus sometimes called prion diseases.

Wikipedia

The minimum mass of fissionable material that will support a sustaining chain reaction.

NRDC

The application of pesticides to plants by a low-flying plane.

NRDC

The practice of planting different crops each season so that the soil has time to renew itself

planetpals

A protozoan (single-celled organism) that can infect humans, usually as a result of exposure to contaminated drinking water.

NRDC

Rain clouds which can result in brief or less extended rainfall and thunderstorms

planetpals

Puffy clouds which mark unstable air and can be found at any level in the atmosphere

planetpals

see Chronic Wasting Disease

A small, capsule