Page 725 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Great Pacific Garbage Patch A portion of the portion of this production to power their own hazardous waste Liquid or solid waste that is
North Pacific gyre where currents concentrate metabolism, which entails oxidizing organic toxic, chemically reactive, flammable, or cor-
plastics and other floating debris that pose dan- compounds by cellular respiration. Compare rosive. Compare industrial solid waste; mu-
ger to marine organisms. net primary production. nicipal solid waste.
greenbelt A long and wide corridor of park- ground-level ozone See tropospheric ozone. heat capacity A measure of the heat energy
land, often encircling an entire urban area. required to increase the temperature of a given
ground-source heat pump A pump that har-
green building (1) A structure that minimizes nesses geothermal energy from near-surface substance by a given amount.
the ecological footprint of its construction and sources of earth and water, in order to heat and herbicide A type of chemical pesticide that
operation by using sustainable materials, using cool buildings. Operates on the principle that kills plants.
minimal energy and water, reducing health im- temperatures below ground are more stable herbivore An organism that consumes plants.
pacts, limiting pollution, and recycling waste. than temperatures above ground. Compare carnivore; omnivore.
(2) The pursuit of constructing or renovating
such buildings. groundwater Water held in aquifers under- herbivory The consumption of plants by ani-
ground. Compare surface water. mals.
green-collar jobs Jobs resulting from new em-
ployment opportunities in a more sustainably gyre An area of the ocean where currents con- heterotroph (consumer) An organism that
verge and floating debris accumulates.
oriented economy, such as jobs in renewable consumes other organisms. Includes most
energy. animals, as well as fungi and microbes that de-
compose organic matter.
greenhouse effect The warming of Earth’s Haber-Bosch process A process to synthesize
surface and atmosphere (especially the tropo- ammonia on an industrial scale. Developed by high-pressure system An air mass with el-
sphere) caused by the energy emitted by green- German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, evated atmospheric pressure, containing air
house gases. the process has enabled humans to double the that descends, typically bringing fair weather.
greenhouse gas A gas that absorbs infrared natural rate of nitrogen fixation on Earth and Compare low-pressure system.
radiation released by Earth’s surface and then thereby increase agricultural productivity, but homeostasis The tendency of a system to main-
warms the surface and troposphere by emitting it has also dramatically altered the nitrogen tain constant or stable internal conditions.
energy, thus giving rise to the greenhouse ef- cycle. horizon A distinct layer of soil.
fect. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide habitat The specific environment in which an hormone A chemical messenger that travels
(CO ), water vapor, ozone (O ), nitrous oxide
2 3 organism lives, including both biotic and abi- though the bloodstream to stimulate growth,
(N O), halocarbon gases, and methane (CH ). otic factors. development, and sexual maturity and to reg-
4
2
green manure Organic fertilizer composed of habitat conservation plan An arrangement ulate brain function, appetite, sexual drive,
freshly dead plant material. under the Endangered Species Act that allows and many other aspects of physiology and
Green Revolution An intensification of the a landholder or agency to harm an endangered behavior.
industrialization of agriculture in the develop- species if it also mitigates the harm by improv- host The organism in a parasitic relationship
ing world in the latter half of the 20th century ing habitat for the species. that suffers harm while providing the parasite
that has dramatically increased crop yields habitat fragmentation The process by which nourishment or some other benefit.
produced per unit area of farmland. Practices an expanse of natural habitat becomes broken Hubbert’s peak The peak in production of
include devoting large areas to monocultures of up into discontinuous fragments, often as a crude oil in the United States, which occurred
crops specially bred for high yields and rapid result of farming, logging, road building, and in 1970 just as Shell Oil geologist M. King
growth; heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other types of human development and land Hubbert had predicted in 1956.
irrigation water; and sowing and harvesting on use.
the same piece of land more than once per year humus A dark, spongy, crumbly mass of mate-
or per season. habitat selection The process by which organ- rial made up of complex organic compounds,
isms select habitats from among the range of resulting from the partial decomposition of
green tax A levy on environmentally harmful options they encounter. organic matter.
activities and products aimed at providing a
market-based incentive to correct for market habitat use The process by which organisms hurricane A cyclonic storm that forms over the
failure. Compare subsidy. use habitats from among the range of options ocean but can do damage upon its arrival on
they encounter. land. A type of cyclone or typhoon that usually
greenwashing A public-relations effort by a forms over the Atlantic Ocean.
corporation or institution to mislead custom- Hadley cell One of a pair of cells of convective
ers or the public into thinking it is acting more circulation between the equator and 30° north hydraulic fracturing A process to extract
sustainably than it actually is. and south latitude that influence global climate shale gas, in which a drill is sent deep under-
patterns. Compare Ferrel cell; polar cell. ground and angled horizontally into a shale for-
greenway A strip of park land that connects mation; water, sand, and chemicals are pumped
parks or neighborhoods; often located along half-life The amount of time it takes for one- in under great pressure, fracturing the rock;
rivers, streams, or canals. half the atoms of a radioisotope to emit radia- and gas migrates up through the drilling pipe
tion and decay. Different radioisotopes have
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) The total as sand holds the fractures open. Also called
monetary value of final goods and services different half-lives, ranging from fractions of hydrofracking or simply fracking.
a second to billions of years.
produced in a country each year. GDP sums all hydrocarbon An organic compound consisting
economic activity, whether good or bad, and halocarbon A class of human-made chemical solely of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
does not account for benefits such as volunteer- compounds derived from simple hydrocarbons
ism or for external costs such as environmen- in which hydrogen atoms are replaced by halo- hydroelectric power (hydropower) The gen-
tal degradation and social upheaval. Compare gen atoms such as bromine, fluorine, or chlo- eration of electricity using the kinetic energy
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). rine. Many halocarbons are ozone-depleting of moving water.
substances and/or greenhouse gases. hydrofracking See hydraulic fracturing.
gross primary production The energy that
results when autotrophs convert solar energy harmful algal bloom A population explosion hydrogen The chemical element with one pro-
(sunlight) to energy of chemical bonds in sug- of toxic algae caused by excessive nutrient ton. The most abundant element in the universe.
G-10 ars through photosynthesis. Autotrophs use a concentrations. Also a possible fuel for our future economy.

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