5 vocab

Question 1

Overgrazing

Answer 1

excessive grazing which causes damage to grassland

Question 2

Overfishing

Answer 2

deplete the stock of fish in a body of water by too much fishing

Question 3

Externalities

Answer 3

negative costs associated with human actions, that aren’t accounted for in the price (unintended side-effects)

Question 4

Clean Air Act

Answer 4

Federal law that regulates all sources of air emissions

Question 5

Clean water act

Answer 5

regulates discharges of pollutants into US waters

Question 6

Safe Drinking Water Act

Answer 6

establishes the minimum standards to protect the quality of drinking water

Question 7

Clearcutting

Answer 7

extreme logging method in which resilient natural forests are harvested and replaced with man-made tree plantations that do not replicate the ecosystem services of a healthy forest

Question 8

Tree plantations

Answer 8

areas where the same tree species are repeatedly planted, grown, and harvested

Question 9

Deforestation

Answer 9

clearing Earth’s forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to air quality

Question 10

Slash & burn

Answer 10

method of clearing land for agriculture by cutting trees and burning them releases CO2, N2O, and water vapor into the atmosphere (all GHGs)

Question 11

Green Revolution

Answer 11

shift in agricultural away from small, family operated farms to large, industrial-scale agribusiness

Question 12

Industrial-scale agribusiness

Answer 12

increased use of mechanization, GMOs, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides

Question 13

High yield variety (HYV) crops

Answer 13

crops that have been bred or fertilized and can be produced by genetic modifications to increase the rate of production

Question 14

GMOs

Answer 14

genetically modified crops have genes for drought tolerance, pest resistance, faster growth, and larger fruit/grains

Question 15

Synthetic fertilizer

Answer 15

man made fertilizers that made from ammonium, nitrate, phosphate

Question 16

Monocropping

Answer 16

growing one single species of crop

Question 17

Tilling

Answer 17

mixing and breaking up soil to make planting easier

Question 18

Eutrophication

Answer 18

algae blooms (harmful), dead zones

Question 19

Leaching

Answer 19

water carries excess nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) into groundwater or into surface water (as runoff)

Question 20

Furrow irrigation

Answer 20

Trench dug along crops & filled with water

Question 21

Flood irrigation

Answer 21

Flood entire field; easier but more disruptive to plants

Question 22

Drip irrigation

Answer 22

Holes in hose allow water to slowly drip out

Question 23

Spray irrigation

Answer 23

Ground or surface water pumped into spray nozzles

Question 24

Soil salivation

Answer 24

the process of salt building up in a soil over time

Question 24

Soil salivation

Answer 24

the process of salt building up in a soil over time

Question 25

Aquifer

Answer 25

useable groundwater deposits for humans

Question 26

Saltwater intrusion

Answer 26

excessive pumping near coast lowers water table pressure, allowing saltwater to seep into groundwater

Question 27

Cone of depression

Answer 27

forms when water table is lowered by excessive pumping, depleting water & drying nearby wells

Question 28

Pesticides

Answer 28

chemicals sprayed on crops that kill weeds, insects, rodents and other pests that eat or damage crops

Question 29

CAFOs: (also called feed alot):

Answer 29

also called feed alot: densely crowded method where animals are fed grain (corn) to raise them to as quickly as possible

Question 30

Manure lagoons

Answer 30

Large, open storage pits for animal waste

Question 31

Free range grazing

Answer 31

Animals (usually cows) graze on grass & grow at a natural rate without growth hormones