reuse
Using a product over and over again in the same form. An example is collecting, washing, and refilling glass beverage bottles. Compare recycling.
Subject:
Chapter 1 - Environmental Issues, Their Causes, & Sustainability
resource
Anything obtained from the living and nonliving environment to meet human needs and wants. The term can also be applied to other species.
Subject:
renewable resource
Resource that can be replenished rapidly (hours to several decades) through natural processes. Examples are trees in forests, grasses in grasslands, wild animals, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, most groundwater, fresh air, and fertile soil. If such a resource is used faster than it is replenished, it can be depleted and converted into a nonrenewable resource. See also environmental degradation. Compare nonrenewable resource and perpetual resource.
Subject:
recycling
Collecting and reprocessing a resource so it can be made into new products. An example is collecting aluminum cans, melting them down, and using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products. Compare reuse.
Subject:
preservationist
Person concerned primarily with setting aside or protecting undisturbed natural areas from harmful human activities. Compare conservation biologist, conservationist, ecologist, environmentalist, environmental scientist, restorationist.
Subject:
pollution cleanup
Device or process that removes or reduces the level of a pollutant after it has been produced or has entered the environment. Examples are automobile emission control devices and sewage treatment plants. Compare pollution prevention.
Subject:
pollution
Undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, water, soil, or food that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms.
Subject:
pollutant
Particular chemical or form of energy that can adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans or other living organisms. See pollution.
Subject:
point source
Single identifiable source that discharges pollutants into the environment. Examples are the (1) smokestack of a power plant or an industrial plant, (2) drainpipe of a meatpacking plant, (3) chimney of a house, or (4) exhaust pipe of an automobile. Compare nonpoint source.
Subject:
planetary management worldview
Beliefs that (1) we are the planet's most important species; (2) there are always more resources, and they are all for us; (3) all economic growth is good, more economic growth is better, and the potential for economic growth is limitless; and (4) our success depends on how well we can understand, control, and manage the earth's life-support systems for our own benefit. See spaceship-earth worldview. Compare environmental wisdom worldview
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