ACRONYMS

AGW = anthropogenic global warming
ALUS = the Alternative Land Use Services, a land program that offers a direct payment to farmers for the ecosystem services they foster on their property
BGH = bovine growth hormone
CCS = carbon capture and storage (carbon sequestration)
CO = carbon monoxide
CO2 = carbon dioxide
CFC = chlorofluorocarbon
CFL = compact fluorescent lights
CWF = Canadian Wildlife Foundation
FSC = Forest Stewardship Council
GMO = genetically modified organisms
GHG = greenhouse gases
LED = light efficiency diode, high efficiency, intensity and quality lights
PAHs= Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, include a large number of toxic chemicals, some of which are carcinogenic. They are created from the combustion of organic material, including fossil fuels
PCBs = Polychlorinated biphenyls, manufactured for transformer cooling oil and numerous other applications. They are no more manufactured and their use is restricted because of carcinogenic properties and persistence in the environment.
PBDEs = polybrominated diphenyl ethers are widely used in consumer products as flame retardants.
PMRA = Pest Management Regulatory Agency; agency within Health Canada responsible for registering pesticides for use in Canada.
POP = persistant organic pollutants (include halogenated carcinogens such as PCBs, vinyl chloride, DDT etc.)
VOCs = volatile organic compounds; organic gases and vapours in the air.Examples of sources include the burning of fuels, dry cleaning operations and evaporation of organic compounds from solvents, paints or other coatings.

BIO-GLOSSARY

BIODIVERSITY, n.: the variety of life on earth and it is short for biological diversity


CRYOSPHERE, n.: snow and ice

ECOSYSTEM, n.: all the living and non-living things in a certain area, including air, soil, water, animals and humans. A lake is an example of an aquatic ecosystem.

ENDANGERED, adj.: when a population of plants or animals is so small, it's at risk of becoming extinct.

EXTINCT, adj.: if this happens, the species is gone forever.

EXTIRPATED, adj.: a species that no longer exists in the wild in Canada, but is found elsewhere (in another country, or a zoo, for example).

HABITAT, n.: the natural home of a plant or animal.

MIGRATE, v.: when animals travel to a different area because of temperature changes or to find food. For example, geese and Monach butterflies migrate every fall and spring.

PESTICIDE, n.: substances used for destroying pests such as insects.

RECYCLOPATH,N.: someone who derides others' non-green habits, but enjoys binning cans at home and drives an SUV.

SPECIES, n.: animals, plants or micro-organisms that are so similar that they are able to have offspring.

SUSTAINABLE USE, n.: use a natural resource in a responsible way, so it will be available in the future. For example, ensuring that new trees grow in areas where older ones have been cut down.

THREATENED, adj.: a species likely to become endangered, if we do not take steps to protect it soon.

SPECIAL CONCERN (VULNERABLE), ADJ.: a species is of special concern when it is especially sensitive to human activity or natural events.

WETLANDS, n.: places where land and water meet or where the ground is wet for most or all of the year. Some examples include marshes, swamps and bogs.

WILDLIFE, n.: animals or plants not domesticated or cultivated by humans.

Redefining Nature

"Comment Editorials" from Toronto Star of 11 December 2008

Canadians learn from a young age that the industrious beaver is a survivor, building dams in harsh conditions against all odds. But our national rodent is being replaced in the revised edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary by a wave of new words like blog and broadband.
Targeted at 7-year olds, the dictionary has room for mere 6,000 words. The editors believe children's lives have shifted from the world of nature to the World Wide Web.
So they pruned the vocabulary of flora and fauna to clear space for cutting-edge infotech lingo. In the cutthroat world of dictionary editors, our beloved web-footed beaver is roadkill for trendy web terminology.
In Britain, the press is having a field day with Oxford's shortchanging of Mother Nature and with the seemingly heretical deletion of religious terms like parish, pew, psalm and pulpit. Clearly, the devil is in the details - except that the world devil itself has been exorcised from the dictionary by the diabolical editors.
Just don't call the editors weasels. Your children wouldn't be able to look that one up, either.

ENVIRONMENTAL GLOSSARY

The following list has been found on the Off-Grid website. They list the following sources:

New Oxford American Dictionary, Encarta, Treehugger.com, timeforchange.org, greenwashing.net, thegreenguide.org, Stanford University School of Earth Sciences and Organic Trade Association.



CARBON FOOTPRINT, n.: the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly to support human activities. In other words, when you drive a car, heat your house or fly in an airplane, you create a certain amount of carbon dioxide. Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of carbon dioxide, which were created by your activities, i.e. it is the measure of the impact human activities have on the environment

CARBON NEUTRAL, adj.: being carbon neutral involves calculating your total climate-changing carbon emissions, reducing them where possible, and then balancing your remaining emissions, often by purchasing a carbon offset.



CARBON OFFSETS, n.: funding projects that reduce our emissions of carbon, such as paying to plant new trees or investing in "green" technologies, such as solar and wind power, in order to balance or offset the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere as a result of intensive use of fossil fuels, like oir or coal.


GLOBAL WARMING, n.: an increase in the planet's temperatures, believed to be caused in part by the greenhouse effect.

GREEN LIVING, n.: a lifestyle intended to ensure that one's impact on the environment is as minimal (or as positive) as possible.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT, n.: the warming of earth's atmosphere as a result of atmospheric pollution by gases. It is now feared that the warming effects are being undesirably increased by humans, causing climate changes and melting polar icecaps.


GREENWASHING, n.: what corporations do when they try to make themselves look more environmentally friendly than they really are, like when they cover up their polluting practices with an eco-friendly marketing campaign. Sometimes companies greenwash by making misleading claims about the environmental benefits of their products and industries.


OFF THE GRID, OFF-GRID, n, adj.: living in a self-sufficient way without relying on one or more public utilities.


ORGANIC, adj.: food that is grown without the use of persistent pesticides and fertilizers. Organic foods are minimally processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives or irradiation to maintain the integrity of the food.


SUSTAINABLE, adj.: meeting the needs of the present without damaging the ability of future generations to meet their needs. When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs.





From "This Week's Best Invented Words", a column in Toronto Star:

CARBON HOOFPRINT, n.: the environmental impact of agriculture, including energy costs to grow feed, and greenhouse gases emitted by cattle (wsj.com)



The latest additions to Chambers Dictionary

ELECTROSMOG, n.: electromagnetic fields emitted by computers and mobile phones



ECO-VILLAGE, n.: small, ecologically sustainable communities



BIOACCUMULATION,N. (also BIOCONCENTRATION): the capacity of a substance to accumulate in the tissues of an organism, possibly reachching toxic levels over time.

BIOMARKER, n.: biological materials, enzymes, hormones and so on, that change when exposed to contaminants.

BIOMAGNIFICATION, n: pollutants biomagnify when their concentration increases as animals eat contaminated plants or other animals.

BIOMONITORING, N.: monitoring and analyzing chemicals, hormone levels or other substances in biological matters to estimate exposure or detect biological changes in the exposed subject

BODY BURDEN,N: total amount of chemicals in the body

CARCINOGEN, n.: a substance or an agent that causes cancer