Page 720 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

control rods Rods made of a metallic alloy that corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) customary law International law that arises
absorbs neutrons, which are placed in a nuclear standards Miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency from long-standing practices, or customs, held
reactor among the water-bathed fuel rods of standards set by the U.S. Congress for auto in common by most cultures. Compare conven-
uranium. Engineers move these control rods manufacturers to meet, by a sales-weighted av- tional law.
into and out of the water to maintain the fission erage of all models of the manufacturer’s fleet. cyclone A cyclonic storm that forms over the
reaction at the desired rate.
correlation A statistical association among ocean but can do damage upon its arrival on
convective circulation A circular current (of variables. land.
air, water, magma, etc.) driven by temperature corridor A passageway of protected land es-
differences. In the atmosphere, warm air rises tablished to allow animals to travel between
into regions of lower atmospheric pressure, islands of protected habitat. Daly, Herman Contemporary American eco-
where it expands and cools and then descends logical economist and well-known proponent
and becomes denser, replacing warm air that cost-benefit analysis A method commonly of a steady-state economy.
is rising. The air picks up heat and moisture used by neoclassical economists, in which es- dam Any obstruction placed in a river or stream
near ground level and prepares to rise again, timated costs for a proposed action are totaled to block the flow of water so that water can be
continuing the process. and then compared to the sum of benefits esti- stored in a reservoir. Dams are built to prevent
mated to result from the action.
convention A treaty or binding agreement floods, provide drinking water, facilitate irriga-
among national governments. covalent bond A type of chemical bond- tion, and generate electricity.
ing where atoms share electrons in chemical
conventional law International law that arises Darwin, Charles (1809–1882) English natu-
from conventions, or treaties, that nations agree bonds. An example is a water molecule, which ralist who proposed the concept of natural
to enter into. Compare customary law. forms when an oxygen atom shares electons selection as a mechanism for evolution and
with two hydrogen atoms.
Convention on Biological Diversity An inter- as a way to explain the great variety of living
national treaty that aims to conserve biodiver- cover crop A crop that covers and anchors the things. Compare Wallace, Alfred Russel.
sity, use biodiversity in a sustainable manner, soil during times between main crops, intended data Information, generally quantitative infor-
and ensure the fair distribution of biodiversity’s to reduce erosion. mation.
benefits. criteria pollutants Six air pollutants—carbon debt-for-nature swap A transaction in which
Convention on International Trade in En- monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, a conservation organization pays off a portion
dangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora tropospheric ozone, particulate matter, and of a developing nation’s international debt in
(CITES) A 1973 treaty facilitated by the lead—for which the Environmental Protection exchange for the nation’s promise to set aside
United Nations that protects endangered spe- Agency has established maximum allowable reserves, fund environmental education, and
cies by banning the international transport of concentrations in ambient outdoor air because better manage protected areas.
their body parts. of the threats they pose to human health.
deciduous Describes a plant that loses its leaves
convergent evolution The evolutionary pro- cropland Land that people use to raise plants each fall and goes dormant during the winter.
cess by which very unrelated species acquire for food and fiber. decomposer An organism, such as a fungus
similar traits as they adapt to selective pres- crop rotation The practice of alternating the or bacterium, that breaks down leaf litter and
sures from similar environments. kind of crop grown in a particular field from other nonliving matter into simple constituents
convergent plate boundary The area where one season or year to the next. that can be taken up and used by plants. Com-
tectonic plates converge or come together. Can crude birth rate The number of births per pare detritivore.
result in subduction or continental collision. 1,000 individuals for a given time period. Deepwater Horizon The British Petroleum off-
Compare divergent plate boundary and trans- shore drilling platform that sank in 2010, caus-
form plate boundary. crude death rate The number of deaths per
1,000 individuals for a given time period. ing the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
coral Tiny marine animals that build coral reefs. deep-well injection A hazardous waste dis-
Corals attach to rock or existing reef and cap- crude oil (petroleum) A fossil fuel produced posal method in which a well is drilled deep
ture passing food with stinging tentacles. They by the conversion of organic compounds by beneath an area’s water table into porous rock
also derive nourishment from photosynthetic heat and pressure. Crude oil is a mixture of below an impervious soil layer. Wastes are then
symbiotic algae known as zooxanthellae. hundreds of different types of hydrocarbon
molecules characterized by carbon chains of injected into the well, so that they will be ab-
coral reef A mass of calcium carbonate com- different lengths. sorbed into the porous rock and remain deep
posed of the skeletons of tiny colonial marine underground, isolated from groundwater and
organisms called corals. crust The lightweight outer layer of the Earth, human contact. Compare surface impoundment.
consisting of rock that floats atop the malle-
core The innermost part of Earth, made up able mantle, which in turn surrounds a mostly deforestation The clearing and loss of forests.
mostly of iron, that lies beneath the crust and iron core. demand The amount of a product people will
mantle.
cultural hazard Human health hazards that buy at a given price if free to do so. Compare
Coriolis effect The apparent deflection of result from the place we live, our socioeco- supply.
north–south air currents to a partly east–west nomic status, our occupation, or our behavioral
direction, caused by the faster spin of regions choices. These include choosing to smoke ciga- demographer A social scientist who studies
the population size, density, distribution, age
near the equator than of regions near the poles rettes, or living or working with people who
as a result of Earth’s rotation. structure, sex ratio, and rates of birth, death,
do. Also known as lifestyle hazard. Compare immigration, and emigration of human popula-
Cornucopian A worldview (or a person holding biological hazard; chemical hazard; physical tions. See demography.
the worldview) that we will find ways to make hazard.
Earth’s natural resources meet all of our needs demographic fatigue An inability on the part GLOSS ARY
indefinitely and that human ingenuity will see us culture The overall ensemble of knowledge, of governments to address overwhelming chal-
through any difficulty. In Greek mythology, cor- beliefs, values, and learned ways of life shared lenges related to population growth.
nucopia—literally “horn of plenty”—is the name by a group of people. demographic transition A theoretical model
for a magical goat’s horn that overflowed with current The flow of a liquid or gas in a certain of economic and cultural change that explains
grain, fruit, and flowers. Compare Cassandra. direction. the declining death rates and birth rates that G-5

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