Environmental Science Test
Sustainability - The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level and meeting our
own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Stewardship - An Ethic- Stewardship represents the actions and programs that manage
natural resources and human well being
Sound Science - A basis for good decision making - The basis for understanding how
the world works and how human systems interact with it.
Globalization - The accelerating interconnectedness of human activities, ideas and
cultures, especially evident in economic and information exchange.
Natural Capital - The sums of goods and services provided by natural and managed
ecosystems, both free of charge and essential to human life. An approach to monetarily
quantify the goods and services provided by nature.
Politics - The activities associated with the governance of a country, especially the
debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power
Policy - a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party,
business, or individual.
1) Problem Finding - It is the process of identifying problems that are worth solving
Problem Shaping - Revising a question so that the solution process can begin or
continue
Problem Solving - The process of finding solutions to difficult issues.
System thinking - It is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking
at it in terms of wholes rather than parts. Examples (human body)
Feedback loops - Is the part of a system in which some portion or all of the system's
output is used as an input in future operations. Negative feedback loops are self-
regulating and useful for maintaining an optimal state. (thermostat) A positive feedback
loop repeat actions that were successful in the past. (melting of sea ice speeds up the
melting of sea ice)
Unintended Consequence - Outcomes of a purposeful action that is not intended or
foreseen. Ex seat belt law.
Appropriate Scale - Controls time and length - is bigger always better. Ex China dam
