agricultural revolution Gradual shift from small, mobile hunting and gathering bands to settled agricultural communities in which people survived by learning how to breed and raise wild animals and to cultivate wild plants near where they lived. It began 10,000-12,000 years ago. Compare environmental revolution, hunter-gatherers, industrial revolution, information and globalization revolution.

environmental movement Efforts by citizens (mostly at the grassroots level) to demand that political leaders enact laws and develop policies to (1) curtail pollution, (2) clean up polluted environments, and (3) protect pristine areas and species from environmental degradation.

environmental wisdom worldview Beliefs that (1) nature exists for all the earth's species, not just for us, and we are not in charge of the rest of nature; (2) there is not always more, and it is not all for us; (3) some forms of economic growth are beneficial and some are harmful, and our goals should be to design economic and political systems that encourage earth-sustaining forms of growth and discourage or prohibit earth degrading forms; and (4) our success depends on learning to cooperate with one another and with the rest of nature instead of trying to dominate and manage earth's life-support systems primarily for our own use. Compare frontier environmental worldview, planetary management worldview, spaceship-earth worldview.

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; responsible for managing federal efforts to control air and water pollution, radiation and pesticide hazards, environmental research, hazardous waste, and solid waste disposal.

Frontier environmental worldview Viewing undeveloped land as a hostile wilderness to be conquered (cleared, planted) and exploited for its resources as quickly as possible. Compare environmental wisdom worldview, planetary management worldview, spaceship-earth worldview.

hunter-gatherers People who get their food by gathering edible wild plants and other materials and by hunting wild animals and fish. Compare agricultural revolution environmental revolution, industrial revolution, information and globalization revolution.

Industrial revolution Use of new sources of energy from fossil fuels and later from nuclear fuels, and use of new technologies, to grow food and manufacture products. Compare agricultural revolution, environmental revolution, hunter-gatherers, information and globalization revolution.

information and globalization revolution Use of new technologies such as the telephone, radio, television, computers, the Internet, automated databases, and remote sensing satellites to enable people to have increasingly rapid access to much more information on a global scale. Compare agricultural revolution, environmental revolution, huntergatherers, industrial revolution.
multiple use Use of an ecosystem such as a forest for a variety of purposes such as timber harvesting, wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and recreation. Compare sustainable yield.

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.

shifting cultivation Clearing a plot of ground in a forest, especially in tropical areas, and planting on it for a few years (typically 2-5 years) until the soil is depleted of nutrients or the plot has been invaded by a dense growth of vegetation from the surrounding forest. Then a new plot is cleared and the process is repeated. The abandoned plot cannot successfully grow crops for 10-30 years. See also slash-and-burn cultivation.

slash-and-burn cultivation Cutting down trees and other vegetation in a patch of forest, leaving the cut vegetation on the ground to dry, and then burning it. The ashes that are left add nutrients to the nutrient-poor soils found in most tropical forest areas. Crops are planted between tree stumps. Plots must be abandoned after a few years (typically 2-5 years) because of loss of soil fertility or invasion of vegetation from the surrounding forest. See also shifting cultivation.

spaceship-earth worldview View of the earth as a spaceship: a machine we can understand, control, and change at will by using advanced technology. See planetary management worldview. Compare environmental wisdom worldview.

sustainable yield (sustained yield) Highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used without reducing its available supply throughout the world or in a particular area. See lso environmental degradation.