Pro orientaci v anglické literatuře připojuji ještě glosář od Jamese
Hayese-Bohanana, Brodgewater State College, USA
* Absolute scarcity: A condition when there is not enough of a resource in
existence to satisfy demand for it.
* Acid mine drainage: Water leaving a surface or underground mine enriched in
acid, usually surfuric acid.
* Acid deposition: The accumulation of acids, either in precipitation or through
dry dustfall, on the land surface.
* Active solar power: Solar energy gathered by a device that collects this energy
and mechanically distributes it to where it is needed.
* Advection inversion: A temperature inversion caused by warm air passing over
a cool surface.
* Agribusiness: Large-scale, organized production of food, farm machinery, and
supplies as well as the storage, sale, and distribution of farm commodities, for
profit.
* Agricultural runoff: Water leaving areas of agricultural land use, usually
enriched in nutrients, sediment, and agricultural chemicals.
* Ambient air quality: The chemical characteristics of air as it exists in the
environment; measures pollutant concentrations in the air.
* Amenity resource: A resource valued for nonmonetary characteristics, such as
its beauty or uniqueness.
* Amenity value: The nonmonetary, intangible value of a good or service.
* Anadromous fish: Fish that breed in fresh water but spend most of their adult
lives in salt water. Examples are salmon and striped bass.
* Animal unit month: The amount of forage needed to support a certain number
of grazing animals for one month.
* Anoxic: Water without dissolved oxygen.
* Anthracite: The highest rank of coal, most modified from its original plant
form.
* Anthropogenic: Of human origin, such as carbon dioxide emitted by fossil fuel
combustion.
* Aquiclude: An impermeable layer that confines an aquifer, preventing the
water in it from moving upward or downward into adjacent strata. Shale and
some igneous rocks often form aquicludes.
* Aquifer: A geologic unit containing groundwater; an underground reservoir
made up of porous material capable of holding substantial quantities of water.
* Arable land: Land that is capable of being cultivated and supporting
agricultural production.
* Arroyo: A deep, steep-sided gully found in semiarid areas, particularly in the
southwestern United States.
* Augur mining: A coal-mining technique using a screw that extracts coal as it is
drilled into a deposit.
ˇ
* Benefit-cost analysis: A process of quantitatively evaluating all the positive and
negative aspects of a particular action in order to reach a rational decision
regarding that action.
* Bioaccumulation: The tendency for a pollutant to accumulate in the tissues of
plants or animals.
ˇ Biochemical decay: Breakdown of pollutants in water through the action of
bacteria.
* Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): The amount of oxygen used in oxidation of
substances in a given water sample. Measured in milligrams per liter over a
specific time period.
* Biocide: Willful destruction of living things.
* Biogeochemical cycle: The movement of a particular material through an
ecosystem over long periods of time.
* Biological diversity: The range or number of species or subspecies found in a
particular area.
* Biomagnification: An increase in the concentration of a pollutant as it is passed
up the food chain, caused by a tendency for animals to accumulate the
pollutant in their tissues.
* Biomass: The total amount of living or formerly living matter in a given area,
measured as dry weight.
* Biomass harvesting: A forest harvest technique in which whole trees are
chipped and used as fuel.
* Biome: A major ecological region within which plant and animal communities
are similar in general characteristics and in their relations to the physical
environment.
* Bioregion: A geographic area defined by ecological characteristics. A bioregion
includes an area of relatively homogeneous ecological characteristics, or a
specific assemblage of ecological communities. It is similar to a biome but may
refer to a smaller area with more specific characteristics.
* Biosphere: The worldwide system within which all life functions; composed of
smaller systems including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.
* Biosphere resources: Resources associated with living organisms.
* Biotic potential: The maximum rate of population growth resulting if all
females in a population breed as often as possible and all individuals survive
past their reproductive periods.
* Birth rate: The number of babies born per year per 1000 population.
* Bituminous coal: A rank of coal below anthracite, characterized by a high
degree of conversion from the original plant matter and a high heat content per
unit weight.
* Boreal forest: A biome dominated by coniferous forests and found in relatively
high altitudes or latitudes, almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere.
* British thermal unit (BTU): The amount of energy required to raise the
temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit at or near 39.2F.
* Bubble approach: An approach to air pollution emissions control that allows a
plant to consider emissions from several sources as combined emissions from
the plant.
* Bureau of Land Management (BLM): The U.S. Bureau of Land Management,
located in the Department of the Interior, established in 1946 to administer
federal lands not reserved for military, park, national forest, or other special
uses.
* Carcinogen: A substance that causes cancer.
* Carrying capacity: The maximum number of organisms in one species that can
be supported in a particular environmental setting.
* Cartel: A consortium of producers of a single product who agree to limit
production to keep the price of the product high.
ˇ Catadromous fish: Fish that breed in salt water but live most of their adult
lives in fresh water. The American eel is an example.
* Centralized energy: An energy conversion technology in which the key
conversion (such as combustion of coal to create electricity) is made at a large
scale at a single site (such as a power plant).
* Chaparral: A subtropical drought-resistant and fire-prone shrubby vegetation
associated with Mediterranean-type climates.
* Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): A group of substances that are compounds of
chlorine, fluorine, and carbon. They are widely used in refrigeration and many
industrial processes, and contribute to deterioration of stratospheric ozone.
* Clean Air Act: The name given to a series of air-quality improvement laws and
their amendments passed in the United States beginning in 1963.
* Clean Water Act: The name given to a series of water-quality improvement
laws and their amendments passed in the United States beginning in 1964.
* Clear-cutting: A forest harvest technique in which all trees in a particular area
are cut, regardless of species or size.
* Coal gasification: A chemical process converting coal to a gas that can then be
used in place of natural gas.
* Cohort: A group of individuals of similar age.
* Coliform bacteria: Bacteria of the species Escherichia coli, commonly occurring
in the digestive tracts of animals; used as an indicator of the potential for
disease-causing organisms in water.
* Common property resource: Resource such as air, oceans, or sunshine that is
in theory owned by everyone but in practice utilized by a few. The question of
regulation arises to prevent or lessen resource abuse.
* Community: A collection of organisms occupying a specific geographic area.
* Concentration: In the context of air or water quality, the amount of a
substance per unit (weight or volume) of air or water.
* Conservation: The wise use or careful management of resources to attain the
maximum possible social benefits from them.
* Conservation tillage: An agricultural system using tillage techniques designed
to reduce soil erosion and overland flow. Most conservation tillage techniques
involve less manipulation of the soil than conventional techniques, leaving more
plant matter on the soil surface.
* Consumer theory of value: An approach to valuing commodities based on how
much a consumer is willing to pay for them.
* Consumptive use or Consumption: Water use that results in water being
evaporated rather than returned to surface water or groundwater after use.
* Contingent valuation method: A method for determining the value of a
resource by asking how much they would be willing to pay for it under certain
circumstances.
* Continental shelf: Area of the seafloor averaging less than 650 ft (200 m) deep,
which generally was exposed at times of lower sea level in the past.
* Contour plowing: A soil conservation technique involving plowing parallel to
the contour, across a slope rather than up and down it.
* Cost-effectiveness analysis: An analysis of all the costs involved in taking a
specified action to determine the most efficient way to carry out the chosen
action.
* Cost theory of value: An approach to valuing commodities based on the cost of
production.
ˇ Crisis management: A form of decision making that is a seat-of-the-pants
response to the issue of the moment with no consideration of longer-term
effects.
* Criteria pollutants: Air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons,
lead, oxidants, particulates, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides, for which
maximum permissible concentrations in ambient air are established.
* Critical mineral: A mineral necessary for defense of the United States and
available partly in America or partly from friendly nations.
* Criticality: A term used to describe environmental regions that are so degraded
that economic activity and human habitation are impossible in the short term.
* Crop rotation: A soil conservation technique involving changing crops grown on
a given parcel of land from year to year. Crop rotations may include fallow
periods.
* Cropland: Land in which crops are regularly planted and harvested. It includes
land in fallow or pasture as part of a regular rotation system.
* Crown fire: An intense forest fire that consumes the tops of trees as well as
lower strata of vegetation.
* Crude oil: Unrefined petroleum as it is extracted from the ground; it is liquid at
normal ambient temperatures.
* Death rate: The number of deaths per year per 1000 population.
* Decentralized energy source: An energy conversion system characterized by
numerous small-scale facilities located at or near the end-use site. Photovoltaic
cells are an example.
* Decreaser: A plant species in a range community that declines in importance as
a result of grazing pressure. Usually, decreasers are the most palatable to the
grazing animals.
* Deep ocean: Ocean areas seaward of the continental shelf.
* Deforestation: Any process of replacement of forest vegetation with other
types.
* Demographic transition: The process by which a human population goes
through a growth pattern, including an early phase of high birth and death
rates, an intermediate phase of high birth rates but low death rates, and a later
phase of low birth and death rates.
* Desalination: Artificial removal of salt from water, such as by distillation or
reverse osmosis.
* Desert: A biome characterized by plants and animals adapted to extreme
moisture scarcity.
* Desertification: A process of land becoming more desertlike as a result of
human-induced devegetation and related soil deterioration, sometimes
aggravated by drought.
* Dilution: In water quality, a reduction in pollutant concentration caused by
mixing with water with a lower concentration of the substance.
* Dissolved oxygen: Oxygen found in dissolved form in water.
* Dissolved solids: Substances normally solid at ambient temperatures but
dissolved into ionic form in water.
* Diversification: The trend in many large corporations toward ownership of a
wide array of companies producing unrelated goods and services.
* Domesticate: A species that has been bred for specific characteristics that
humans value, thereby rendering the species dependent on humans for its
continued survival.
ˇ Doubling time: The length of time needed for a population to double in size. It
is a function of the growth rate.
* Drainage basin: An area bounded by drainage divides and defined with respect
to a point along a stream. All the runoff generated within the area must pass
the point along the stream; runoff generated outside the basin will not pass
that point.
* Drip irrigation: An irrigation method involving small pipes placed at the base of
plants delivering water slowly to the plant roots.
* Drought: A period of time with unusually low precipitation.
* Dry farming: Agricultural production in climatically marginal lands without the
use of irrigation.
* Dry rock geothermal energy: A method of extracting heat from the earth by
pumping water through hot rocks.
* Earth Summit: The popular name given to the 1992 UN Conference on
Environment and Development held in Rio de Janiero.
* Ecology: The study of the interrelationships between living organisms and the
living and nonliving components and processes that make up their environment.
* Ecosystem: The collection of all living organisms in a geographic area together
with all living and nonliving things they interact with.
* Ecotone: A transitional zone between two adjacent ecosystems.
* Ecotourism: Tourism focused on appreciation of nature rather than on built
environments.
* El Nio/La Nia: A transient, periodic warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific
Ocean, associated with fisheries depletion and large-scale climatic fluctuations.
* Emissions trading: A procedure in air-quality regulation by which one polluter
can acquire permission to discharge pollutants formerly discharged by another
discharger that has ceased emitting pollutants.
* Endangered species: A species in imminent danger of extinction.
* Energy budget: An accounting of all energy inputs and outputs for a system.
* Energy conservation: Using energy resources in such a way as to minimize
energy consumption in relation to benefits gained.
* Energy efficiency: The amount of utility, either work performed or income
generated, gained per unit of an energy resource.
* Environmental cognition: The mental process of making sense of the world that
each of us inhabits.
* Environmental ethics: A philosophical position regarding the relation between
humans and nature.
* Environmental lapse rate: The average rate at which temperature declines
with increasing altitude in the troposphere.
* Environmental refugee: A person fleeing a natural or human-caused
environmental disaster.
* Environmental resistance: Factors such as food supply, weather, disease, and
predators that keep a population below its biotic potential.
* Equity: Fairness in the use and allocation of resources.
* Erosion: Removal of soil by running water or wind.
* Erosivity: The ability of rainfall to cause erosion. Erosivity is a function of
rainfall intensity and drop size.
* Estuary: A semi-enclosed water body, open to the sea, in which seawater is
significantly diluted by fresh water from the land.
ˇ Euphotic zone: The upper portion of the sea, in which sunlight is intense
enough to allow plant growth.
* Eutrophication: The process by which lakes become increasingly nutrient-rich
and shallow. It is a natural process that is accelerated by water pollution.
* Evapotranspiration: The process by which liquid water is conveyed to the
atmosphere as water vapor, including water use by plants.
* Exclusive economic zone: A zone of the oceans over which a particular nation
has claims or exclusive control of certain economic activities, such as fishing.
* Exploitation: Use of a resource at the maximum profitable short-term rate,
without regard for long-term resource quality or availability.
* Externality: A non-market exchange, in which at least one party to the
exchange is not compensated and may have little choice in the exchange.
* Extinction: The process by which a species ceases to exist.
* Farmland: Land that is part of farm units, including cropland, pasture, small
woodlots, and areas used for small farm roads and buildings.
* Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA): Passed in 1976 this law
consolidated diverse regulations of public land management and strengthened
the power of the BLM to manage public lands.
* Feedback: An information transmission that produces a circular flow of data in
a system.
* Fertility rate: The average number of children that women in a given
population bear in their reproductive years.
* Fertilizer: A substance added to the soil to improve plant growth. The most
commonly used fertilizers are those containing large amounts of nitrogen,
potassium, and phosphorus.
* Fire frequency: The average number of fires per unit time at a given location.
* First law of thermodynamics: The law of conservation of energy, which states
that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but merely transformed from one
state to another or converted to or from matter.
* Fission: A process of splitting heavy atoms of uranium or plutonium into lighter
elements, thereby releasing energy.
* Fixed costs: Costs of operating a business that do not vary with the rate of
output of goods and services.
* Flood irrigation: A means of irrigation whereby entire fields are occasionally
inundated.
* Flow resource: A resource that is simultaneously used and replaced. Perpetual
and renewable resources are flow resources.
* Food chain: A linear path that food energy takes in passing from producer to
consumers to decomposers in an ecosystem.
* Food security: The condition of having both physical and economic access to
the basic food that people need to function normally.
* Food web: A complex, interlocking set of pathways that food energy takes in
passing from producer to consumers to decomposers in an ecosystem.
* Furrow irrigation: A type of irrigation in which water is allowed to flow along
the furrows (troughs) between rows of crops.
* Fusion: The combination of two hydrogen atoms to create a helium atom,
yielding energy.
* Gaia hypothesis: A view of earth history that emphasizes the earth's tendency
to maintain a balance or equilibrium of natural systems.
ˇ GAP analysis: The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques to identify holes or
gaps in land ownership for species protection.
* General circulation model: A computerized representation of the earth's
atmospheric and oceanic circulation system used to simulate weather and
climate.
* General Systems Theory: A way of looking at the world or any part of it as an
interacting set of parts.
* Generational equity: The fairness doctrine applied to subsequent generations
so they receive the environment in the same or better condition than the
generation before them.
* Genetic damage: Damage to individual cell tissues resulting in changes that are
passed along to offspring in chromosomes.
* Geographic Information System (GIS): A computer database and datamanipulation
system designed to use geographically organized data.
* Geologic estimate of resource: An estimate of the amount of a mineral
resource in the earth based on information about the concentration and
distribution of that mineral in rocks, without regard for the economics of
extraction.
* Geothermal energy: Energy extracted from heat contained in rocks near the
earth's surface.
* Geopressurized resource: A geothermal resource in which hot groundwater is
pressurized by natural forces.
* Grassland: A biome dominated by grasses. Most grasslands have semiarid
climates.
* Green Revolution: A variety of agricultural systems developed for application in
developing countries, involving the introduction of improved seed varieties,
fertilizers, and irrigation systems.
* Greenhouse effect: The tendency of the atmosphere to be transparent to
shortwave solar radiation but opaque to longwave terrestrial radiation, leading
to a warming of the atmosphere.
* Greenhouse gases: Substances that are transparent to shortwave (solar)
radiation but absorb longwave (terrestrial) radiation and thus contribute to
warming of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons,
methane, and water vapor are important greenhouse gases.
* Ground fire: A forest fire that only burns at ground level, consuming litter and
downed trees but not live standing trees.
* Groundwater mining: See Overdraft.
* Groundwater: Water below the ground surface, derived from the percolation of
rainfall and seepage from surface water.
* Guest worker: A person allowed in a country on a temporary basis in order to
increase the available labor force in that country.
* Gully: A steep-walled stream channel incised in the soil by accelerated erosion.
* Gyres: A circular flow pattern in the ocean.
* Habitat: Land that provides living space and sustenance for plants and animals.
* Halocline: A marked change in salinity at a particular depth in the ocean or an
estuary; it signals the boundary between two layers of water.
* Hardwoods: Trees with particularly dense wood; primarily broad-leafed trees.
* Heavy-water reactor: A nuclear fission reactor using deuterium-enriched water
to moderate the fission reaction.
* High seas: Areas of the oceans beyond the legal control of any nation.
ˇ High-temperature gas-cooled reactor: A nuclear fission reactor using helium
gas to transfer heat from the core to a steam generator.
* Homestead Act: A law passed in 1862 providing 160 acres of federal land free
to settlers.
* Homocentric: A view of nature that only considers human, rather than plant or
animal, needs.
* Homosphere: The lower portion of the earth's atmosphere, characterized by
relatively uniform gaseous composition. Consists of the troposphere, the
stratosphere, and the mesosphere.
* Horizon: A layer in the soil with distinctive textural, mineralogical, chemical,
or structural characteristics.
* Hydroelectric power: Electricity generated by passage of runoff-derived water
through a turbine, usually at a dam.
* Hydrothermal mineralization: A process of concentration of metallic ores
caused by high-temperature geochemical processes in underground waters.
* Illegal immigrant: A person who enters and lives in a country in violation of that
country's laws.
* Incommensurables: Effects of a given action that can, with some effort, be
given monetary value.
* Increaser: A range plant species that is present in a range ecosystem prior to
grazing and that increases in numbers or coverage as a result of grazing.
* Incrementalism: A type of decision-making strategy that reacts to short-term
imperfections in existing policies rather than establishing long-term future
goals. Decisions are made on a sequential basis and do not radically depart from
existing policy.
* Infiltration capacity: The maximum rate at which a soil can absorb water.
* Inorganic: Describes a chemical substance that does not contain carbon.
* Input: Energy, matter, or information entering a system.
* In-stream uses: Uses of water that do not require it to be removed from a
stream or lake. They include such things as shipping, swimming, and waste
disposal.
* Intangible: A good, service, or effect of an action that cannot be assigned
monetary value.
* Integrated pest management: A pest control technique that relies on
combinations of crop rotation, biological controls, and pesticides.
* Interbasin transfer: A movement of water from one drainage basin to another,
such as from the east side of the Rocky Mountains into the west-flowing
Colorado River.
* Internal waters: Waters under the exclusive control of a coastal nation,
including bays, estuaries, and rivers.
* International Whaling Commission (IWC): An organization set up under the
International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946, to regulate the
whaling industry.
* Invader: A range plant species not present in a given area before grazing but
entering the area as a result of the ecological changes caused by grazing.
* Irrigation: The artificial application of water to a crop or pasture beyond that
supplied by direct precipitation.
* Kerogen: A waxy hydrocarbon found in oil shale.
* Labor theory of value: An approach to valuing commodities based on the
amount of human labor required to produce them.
ˇ Land Capability Classification System: A scheme used by the U.S. Natural
Resource Conservation Service for assessing and classifying the productivity of
land units.
* Landfill: A land-based disposal method, in which waste is deposited in layers
and covered with earth.
* Law of entropy: The second law of thermodynamics. Entropy is a measure of
disorder in a system.
* Law of the Sea Treaty: A treaty establishing jurisdiction over marine resources
in coastal and deep-sea areas.
* Leachate: Water seeping from the bottom of a layer of ground and containing
substances derived from that layer. Usually applied to landfills and other
contamination sources.
* Light-water reactor: A type of nuclear power plant that uses ordinary water as
the cooling medium.
* Lignite: A rank of coal characterized by a relatively low degree of modification
of plant matter.
* Limits to Growth: A world model developed in the 1970s by a group called the
Club of Rome; it predicted resource scarcity if world population and resource
use growth continued.
* Liquefaction: Conversion of coal into a liquid hydrocarbon that can be
transported by pipeline and burned as a liquid.
* Liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor: A nuclear fission reactor moderated and
cooled by liquid sodium, and used to convert nonfissionable material such as
uranium_238 to fissionable material such as plutonium-289.
* Liquid natural gas (LNG): Natural gaseous hydrocarbons that are pressurized
and cooled in order to be stored and/or transported in liquid form.
* Malthus: British economist who wrote (1798) that populations increase
geometrically while food supplies increase arithmetically.
* Materials balance principle: An approach to production systems that focuses on
accounting and balancing inputs and outputs.
* Maximum sustainable yield: The largest average harvest of a species that can
be indefinitely sustained under existing environmental conditions.
* Mesosphere: Layer of the atmosphere between 30 and 50 mi (50 and 80 km) in
altitude, characterized by decreasing temperatures with increasing altitude.
* Migration: The movement of people from one area to another in response to
warfare, environmental degradation or perceived better opportunities.
* Mined-land reclamation: The return of land disturbed by mining to a more
productive condition, usually a use similar to that existing before mining took
place.
* Minimum tillage: A soil and water conservation technique that leaves the crop
residue or stubble on the surface rather than plowing it under to minimize the
number of times a field is tilled. Weeds are controlled by herbicides.
* Mining Act: An act passed in 1872 providing free access to minerals on federal
lands.
* Mixed cropping: An agricultural system in which several different crops are
grown in close proximity, in a rotation system, or both.
* Mobile sources: Sources of air pollution that move, such as automobiles, boats,
trains, and aircraft.
* Monoculture: An agricultural system in which a single crop is grown repeatedly
over a large area.
ˇ Monopoly: Control of access to a good or service by a single entity.
* Montreal Protocol: An agreement signed in Montreal in 1987 in which signatory
nations consented to limit production and consumption of ozone-damaging
chemicals.
* Multinational corporation: A business entity that operates in many nations and
is not wholly subject to the laws of any one nation.
* Multiple use: The use of lands for as many different purposes as possible in
order to gain maximum benefit from them.
* Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act: A law passed in 1960 establishing the
principles of multiple use and sustained yield as guidelines for management of
the national forests.
* Municipal solid waste: Mixed solid waste derived primarily from residential and
commercial sources.
* National Forest Management Act: An act, passed in 1976, establishing
operating principles and administrative divisions for the U.S. Forest Service.
* National sovereignty: The right of individual nations to look after their own
interests first and foremost and to manage resources within their territorial
borders any way they see fit.
* Natural capital: The stock of natural resources that provide or can be used to
make benefical things.
* Natural gas: Gaseous hydrocarbons extracted from subterranean reservoirs that
hold gas at normal ambient temperatures.
* Natural increase: In demography, the net change in population without regard
to migration. It is the birth rate less the death rate, and it can be positive or
negative.
* Natural resource: Something that is useful to humans and exists independent of
human activity.
* Natural resource accounting: The inclusion of the full and often hidden costs
of damages to natural resources in traditional benefit/cost analysis.
* Neo-Malthusianism: Modern advocates of Thomas Malthus's ideas; those who
advocate birth control to avert overpopulation and who see overpopulation as
ultimately leading to widespread malnourishment and famine.
* NEPA: The National Environmental Policy Act, signed on January 1, 1970, which
established nationwide environmental goals for the United States and provided
for the preparation of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) to ensure
compliance with those goals.
* Net primary production: The net amount of biomass created by plants in an
ecosystem once the respiration by those plants is deducted.
* Neutral stuff: Something that exists but at present meets no known human
material or non-material needs.
* Nonpoint source: A pollution source that is diffuse, such as urban runoff.
* Nonrenewable or stock resources: Resources that exist in finite quantity and are
not replaced in nature.
* Off-stream use: Use of water that requires that it be removed or withdrawn
from surface or groundwater.
* Oil: Hydrocarbons found in the earth, liquid at normal ambient temperatures.
* Oligopolistic competition: A process in which a small group controls access to a
good or service by agreeing on a single price or by restricting access to these
commodities.
ˇ Oligotrophic: Describes lakes that are relatively deep and nutrient poor;
opposite of eutrophic.
* Organic: Refers to substances containing carbon.
* Output: Energy, matter, or information leaving a system.
* Overburden: Rock and soil that lie above coal or other mineral deposits and
that must be removed to strip-mine the coal.
* Overdraft or groundwater mining: Withdrawal of groundwater in excess of the
replacement rate over a long period of time.
* Overgrazing: Grazing by a number of animals exceeding the carrying capacity
of a given parcel of land.
* Overland flow: Water flowing on the soil surface and unchannelized, usually
derived from precipitation that has not infiltrated.
* Oxidants: A group of air pollutants that are strong oxidizing agents. Ozone and
peroxyacetylnitrate are among the more important oxidants.
* Ozone hole: A semi-permanent depletion in stratospheric ozone concentration
over a polar region. Most prominent over the South Pole.
* Parent material: The mineral matter from which soil is formed.
* Particulate matter: In reference to air quality, solid or liquid particles with
diameters from 0.03 to 100 microns.
* Passive solar power: The collection of solar energy as heat at the end-use site,
without any mechanical redistribution or storage of the energy.
* Pastoral nomad: A person who herds animals, and has no permanent place of
residence.
* Pastoralist: A person whose livelihood is based on grazing animals.
* Pasture: In U.S. terminology, land on which the natural vegetation is not grass,
but which is used primarily for grazing.
* Peat: The accumulated remains of plants, found in swampy or cool, humid
areas. It is the initial material from which coal may be formed; may be dried
and used for fuel.
* Performance-based resource estimate: An estimate of the quantity of a
mineral deposit available in the earth based primarily on the ability of
prevailing technology to extract the mineral under existing and probable future
economic conditions.
* Permafrost: Ground below 32F (0C) all year round.
* Permeability: A measure of the rate at which water will flow into or through
soil or rocks.
* Perpetual resources: Resources that exist in continual supply, no matter how
much they are used. Solar energy is an example.
* Pesticide: A general term used to refer to a chemical used to control harmful
organisms such as insects, fungi, rodents, worms, and bacteria. Insecticides,
fungicides, and rodenticides are kinds of pesticides.
* Petajoule: A unit of energy equal to 1015
[ten to the 15], or
1,000,000,000,000,000 joules, or 947,800,000,000 British thermal units.
* Photosynthesis: The formation of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and
water, utilizing light as energy.
* Photovoltaic cell: A semiconductor-based device used to convert sunlight
directly to electricity.
* Placer deposit: A deposit of a mineral formed by a concentration of heavy
minerals in flowing water, such as by a stream or waves.
ˇ Point source: A pollution source that has a precise, identifiable location, such
as a pipe or smokestack.
* Polluter pays principle, or residuals tax: A means of shifting the cost of
pollution from the community to the polluter, usually in the form of a tax.
* Pollution: Human additions of undesirable substances to the environment.
* Pollution prevention: The elimination of potential pollutants at their source
such as in a manufacturing process, rather than at the point of discharge to the
environment (end-of-pipe) or later.
* Pollution Standards Index (PSI): An index of air quality that is a combined
measure of the health effects of several pollutants. It ranges from 0 (healthy) to
500 (extremely unhealthy).
* Population dynamics: The study of the rapidity and causes of population
change.
* Population pyramid: A graphic representation of the number or portion of
males and females in each of several age categories in a population.
* Potential evapotranspiration: The amount of water that could be evaporated
or transpired if it were available.
* Potential resource: A portion of the natural or human environment that is not
today considered of value, but that one day may gain value as a result of
technological, cognitive, or economic developments.
* Preservation: The nonuse of resources; limited resource development for the
purpose of saving resources for the future.
* Primary standards: Air pollution standards designed to protect human health.
* Primary treatment: Sewage treatment consisting of removal of solids by
sedimentation, flocculation, screening, or similar methods.
* Principle of limiting factors: Whatever factor (nutrient, water, sunlight, etc.)
is in shortest supply will limit the growth and development of an organism or a
community.
* Prior appropriation: A doctrine of water ownership in which the first
productive user of water establishes the right to the water indefinitely; the
primary water-ownership doctrine in the western United States.
* Privatization: The transfer of government-owned resources, such as national
forests, to private ownership or management.
* Procedural Equity: A situation in which there is a differential application of
environmental regulations, laws, or treaties such that some areas bear more
pollution burdens than others.
* Production theory of value: An approach to valuing commodities based on the
inputs of some critical commodity needed to make it.
* Proxy value: A price applied to a commodity that has no established market
value.
* Quad: A measure of energy use, equal to one quadrillion
(1,000,000,000,000,000) British thermal units.
* Radiation inversion: A temperature inversion caused by radiational cooling of
air close to the ground.
* Radioactivity: The emission of particles by the decay of atoms of certain
substances.
* Railroad Acts: A series of acts passed in the United States in the 1850s and
1860s granting large amounts of land to railroad companies as a subsidy to
railway construction and stimulant to settlement of western lands.
ˇ Range condition: As defined by the U.S. Forest Service, an estimate of the
degree to which the present vegetation and ground cover depart from that
which is presumed to be the natural potential (or climax) for the site.
* Rangeland: Land that provides or is capable of providing forage for grazing
animals.
* Recycling: Reprocessing of a used product for reuse in a similar or different
form.
* Relative scarcity: Short supply of a resource in one or more areas due to
inadequate or disrupted distribution.
* Renewable energy: Energy resources that are produced naturally as fast as
they are consumed, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.
* Renewable resource: A resource that can be depleted but will be replenished
by natural processes. Forests and fisheries are examples.
* Replacement cost: The cost of replacing a resource that is used.
* Replacement level: The number of births that will replace a population at the
same size, without reduction or rise; also called Zero Population Growth.
* Reserve: In the context of mineral resources, a deposit of known location and
quality that is economically extractable at the present time.
* Residual: Waste products of production. Air pollution is an example of residuals
from manufacturing.
* Residual tax: A tax on production based on the amount of waste produced.
* Residuals management: An approach to production of goods and services that
includes accounting of waste products associated with both production and
consumption phases.
* Resource: Something that is useful to humans.
* Resource recovery: Separation of waste into recyclable components such as
metal, glass, and heat from incineration.
* Respiration: Oxidation of food that releases oxygen, water, and energy, which
are dissipated in the biosphere.
* Reuse: Repeated use of a product without reprocessing or remanufacture.
* Rill: A small channel created by soil erosion and small enough to be obliterated
by plowing.
* Riparian areas: Lands adjacent to and subject to flooding by streams.
* Riparian rights: A doctrine of water ownership in which those whose land
adjoins a stream have the right to use the water in the stream. It is the primary
water-ownership doctrine in the eastern United States.
* Ruminant: One of a group of grazing animals including cattle, bison, sheep,
goat, which have digestive systems particularly adapted to grasses.
* Sahel: A semiarid east-west swath across Africa, environmentally transitional
between the Sahara Desert (to the north) and equatorial rainforests (to the
south), in which recent desertification and drought have been particularly
severe.
* Salinity: The concentration of mineral salts in water. The average salinity of
the oceans is about 35 parts per thousand.
* Saltwater intrusion: Movement of salt water into aquifers formerly occupied by
fresh water as a result of groundwater withdrawal in coastal areas.
* Satisficing: A decision-making strategy that seeks a course of action that is good
enough but not necessarily perfect. A few alternatives are compared, and the
best course of action is chosen from this limited range of options.
* Savanna: Tropical or subtropical semiarid grassland with scattered trees.
ˇ Secondary standard: An air-quality standard designed to protect human welfare
(property, vegetation, etc.) as opposed to health.
* Secondary treatment: Sewage treatment that removes organic matter and
nutrients by biological decomposition using such methods as trickling filters,
aeration, and activated sludge.
* Sedentarization: Permanent settlement of once-nomadic people.
* Sedimentation: Deposition of solid particles by settling in a water body.
* Selective cutting: A timber-harvesting technique in which only trees of
specified size or species are taken, leaving other trees.
* Separate impacts: Effects of a system's activity that can be measured
separately.
* Shadow price: An artificial monetary value applied to those resources for which
a simple price tag is not easy to calculate, for example, wilderness, habitat.
* Shale oil: see also kerogen. A petroleum-like substance found in high
concentrations in some shale rocks.
* Shelterwood cutting: A two-phase timber-harvesting technique in which not all
trees are taken in the first phase so that some trees may provide shelter for
young seedlings; when these are established, the remaining older trees are cut.
* Smog: A term used to describe air pollution.
* Social cost: The cost of producing a good or service, plus its cost to humans in
terms of pollution and other negative socio-environmental effects.
* Social equity: Situations in which there are different pollution burdens or
access to resources based on race, ethnicity, age, or gender.
* Softwoods: Timber species with relatively low-density wood; primarily needleleaf
trees.
* Soil: A porous layer of mineral and organic matter at the earth's surface,
formed as a result of the action of chemical and biological processes on rocks
over a period of time.
* Soil erodibility: A measure of the inherent susceptibility of a soil to erosion,
without regard to topography, vegetation cover, management, or weather
conditions.
* Soil fertility: The ability of a soil to support plant growth through providing
water, nutrients, and a growth medium.
* Soil structure: The way in which individual soil particles form aggregates,
particularly the shapes and arrangement of such aggregates; especially
important to soil hydrologic characteristics.
* Soil texture: The mix of different sizes of particles in a soil.
* Solid waste: Refuse materials composed primarily of solids at normal ambient
temperatures.
* Somatic damage: Nonhereditary damage to individual cell tissues from
radiation.
* Species: A group of organisms with similar genetic and morphologic
characteristics that are capable of interbreeding.
* Spent fuel: Nuclear material that is no longer capable of sustaining the fission
process.
* Sprinkler irrigation: Irrigation by pumping water under pressure through
nozzles and spraying it over the land.
* Stakeholders: Individuals or groups who have a vested interest in a particular
issue or policy or could be adversely affected.
ˇ Stationary source: A pollution source that does not move, such as a
smokestack.
* Steady state: When a system has inputs that equal outputs.
* Stock resource: See Nonrenewable resources.
* Stockpiling: Amassing amounts of some substance well beyond present needs in
anticipation of a shortage of that substance.
* Strategic mineral: A mineral necessary for defense purposes for which the
United States is totally dependent on foreign sources.
* Stratification: A layering of a water body caused by differences in water
density. It is commonly caused by temperature or salinity differences.
* Stratified estuary: An arm of the sea in which fresh water from the land
overlies denser salt water.
* Stratosphere: Layer of the atmosphere between 3 and 30 mi (5 and 50 km) in
altitude, characterized by increasing temperature with altitude.
* Stress management: A decision-making strategy that is reactive in nature. Once
a resource issue becomes critical, then policy is determined to cope with the
immediate problem without any consideration of long-term implications of such
a policy.
* Strip cropping: A soil conservation technique in which parallel strips of land are
planted in different crops.
* Strip-mining or surface mining: Extraction of a mineral from the ground by
excavation at the ground surface.
* Stubble mulch: A soil covering composed of the unused stalks of crop plants.
* Subbituminous coal: A rank of coal intermediate between lignite and
bituminous coal.
* Subeconomic resource: A resource that at present is unavailable for use
because of the high cost of extraction.
* Subsidence inversion: A temperature inversion caused by differential warming
of a sinking air mass. Upper portions of the mass are warmed more than lower
portions, causing the inversion.
* Subsidence: Sinking of the land surface caused by removal of water, oil, or
minerals from beneath the surface.
* Substitutability: The degree to which one material can be substituted for
another in end uses.
* Sulfur content: The amount of sulfur found in coal. Combustion of coal with a
high sulfur content results in emissions of sulfur oxides, which contribute to
acid precipitation.
* Surface fire: A moderate-intensity forest fire in which low-level vegetation,
such as shrubs, is consumed along with some of the surfaces (bark) of trees, but
the crowns of trees are not consumed and trees survive.
* Surface water: Water and ice found in rivers, lakes, swamps, and other aboveground
water bodies.
* Suspended particulates: In reference to air quality, solid or liquid particles
with diameters from 0.03 to 100 microns.
* Sustainability: Economic growth with environmental responsibility; economic
activity that could be carried on indefinitely without resource depletion.
* Sustainable agriculture: An agricultural system that is dependent solely on
renewable resources and that maintains the soil in such a condition so that it
will continue to be productive indefinitely.
ˇ Sustained yield: Management of renewable resources conducted in such a way
as to allow a constant rate of harvest indefinitely.
* Synergistic impacts: Effects of a system's activity that are different from the
individual effects of component parts of the system.
* Synfuel: A contraction of synthetic fuel; liquid or gaseous fossil fuel
manufactured from other fuels that are less useful as found in nature.
* System: An entity consisting of a set of parts that work together to form a
whole. The human body, a transportation network, and the earth are all
systems.
* Tailings: Solid waste products derived from mineral extraction or refinement.
* Tar sand: Sandy deposits containing heavy oil or tar. The sand must be heated
to extract the oil.
* Taylor Grazing Act: An act passed in 1934 closing most United States public
lands to homesteading and establishing controls on grazing use of federal lands.
* Temperate forest: A biome characterized primarily by deciduous broad-leaved
trees.
* Temperature inversion: A condition in the atmosphere in which warm air
overlies cool air. Inversions restrict vertical air circulation.
* Terracing: A soil and water conservation technique consisting of ridges on the
contour, or level areas constructed on a slope.
* Territorial sea: A band of open ocean adjacent to the coast, over which the
coastal nation has control. It is generally either 3 or 12 nautical miles (5.6 or 22
km) wide.
* Tertiary treatment: Any of a wide range of advanced sewage treatment
processes aimed at removing substances not eliminated by primary or secondary
treatment.
* Thermal pollution: Heat added by humans to a water body or to the air.
* Thermocline: A zone in a water body in which temperature declines rapidly
with increasing depth. Vertical water circulation is limited by the presence of a
thermocline.
* Threatened species: A species that is not endangered but has a rapidly
declining population.
* Throughput tax, or disposal charge: A fee paid by a producer on materials that
go into the production of polluting products. The fee reflects the social cost of
the pollution.
* Tidal power: Energy generated by using tidal water-level differences to drive a
turbine
* Timber Culture Act: An act passed in 1873 providing free access to timber on
federal lands.
* Toxic substance: A substance that causes disease or death when organisms are
exposed to it in very low quantities.
* Total dissolved solids: The total amount of dissolved solid matter found in a
sample of water.
* Transboundary pollution: Transport of pollutants (particularly air pollutants)
across national or state boundaries.
* Trophic level: One of the steps in a food chain.
* Tropical rainforest: A biome composed primarily of evergreen broad-leaved
trees growing in tropical areas of high rainfall throughout most of the year.
* Troposphere: The lowest layer of the atmosphere, below about 9 mi (15 km) in
altitude, characterized by decreasing temperature with increasing altitude.
ˇ Tundra: A biome found in arctic and subarctic regions consisting of a dense
growth of lichens, mosses, and herbs.
* Underground mining: A mineral extraction technique consisting of subsurface
excavation with minimal disturbance of the ground surface.
* Unidentified resource: A mineral resource assumed to be present within known
geologic districts, but not yet specifically located or characterized in detail.
* Universal Soil Loss Equation: A statistical technique developed by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for predicting the average erosion rate by rainfall
under a variety of climatic, soil, topographic, and management conditions.
* Upwelling: An upward movement of seawater that usually occurs near the
margins of oceans.
* Uranium: An element, two isotopes of which (235U and 238U) are important in
atomic energy production.
* Urban runoff: Runoff derived from urban areas, usually containing relatively
high concentrations of pollutants; also called urban stormwater.
* Variable costs: Costs of production that vary with the rate of output.
* Visual blight: Modification of a landscape that is visually undesirable.
* Wastewater reclamation: Any process in which wastewater is put to use, such
as for cooling or irrigation, with or without treatment.
* Water harvesting: Any of several techniques for increasing the amount of
runoff derived from a land area.
* Water-holding capacity: The ability of the soil to retain or store water.
* Water table: The upper limit of groundwater or of the saturated zone.
* Weathering: The breakdown of rocks into smaller particles or new chemical
substances as a result of exposure to water and air at the earth's surface.
* Willingness to pay: A method of determining the proxy value of a resource by
asking how much users of that resource would be willing to pay to use or not
use it.
* Windbreak: A line of trees or shrubs planted perpendicular to the prevailing
winds, designed to reduce wind velocities and thus reduce wind erosion.
* Withdrawal: The removal of water from surface water or groundwater.
* Zero population growth: A term applied to the fertility rate needed to attain a
stable population over a long period of time.
* Zoning: A system of land-use management in which land is classified according
to permitted uses.