APES Key Concepts Exam Questions and Answers
Sustainability - -living on Earth in a way that allows us to use its resources w/o depriving
future generations of those resources
-Environmental Science - -the field that looks at interactions among human systems and
those found in nature
-Environmental Indicators - -something that describes the current state of an
environmental system
-Biodiversity - -the diversity of life forms in an environment
-Biophilia - -an appreciation for life
-Ecological Footprint - -a measure of how much that a person consumes, expressed in area
of land
-Tragedy of the Commons - -the tendency of a shared, limited resource to become
depleted because people act from self- interest for short- term gain
-Theory - -a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups
of researchers and has reached wide acceptance
-Law - -a theory to which there are no known exceptions and which has withstood
rigorous testing
-Environmental Justice - -a social movement and field of study that works toward equal
enforcement of environmental laws and the elimination of disparities in how pollutants
and other environmental harms are distributed among the various ethnic and
socioeconomic groups within a society
-Genuine Progress Indicator - -measures personal consumption, income distribution,
levels of higher education, resource depletion, pollution, and health of the population
-Ecological Economics - -a method of understanding and managing the economy as a
subsystem of both natural and human systems
-Environmental Worldviews - -a worldview that encompasses how people think the world
works, how they view their role in it, and what they believe to be proper behavior
regarding the environment
-Precautionary Principle - -a principal based on the philosophy that action should be taken
against a plausible environmental hazard
, -Environmental Protection Agency - -a US government agency that creates federal policy
and oversees enforcement of regulations related to the environment, including science,
research, assessment, and education
-World Health Organization - -a group within the United Nations responsible for human
health, including combating the spread of infectious diseases and health issues related to
natural disasters
-United Nations - -an institution dedicated to promoting dialogue among countries with
the goal of maintaining world peace
-Human Development Index - -a measure of economic well-being that combines life
expectancy, knowledge, education, and standard of living as shown in GDP per capita and
purchasing power
-Human Poverty Index - -a measure developed by the UN to investigate the proportion of a
population suffering from deprivation in a country with a high HDI
-Green Tax - -A tax placed on environmentally harmful activities or emissions
-Carrying Capacity - -the limit of how many individuals in a population the food supply can
sustain
-Demography - -the study of human population and population trends
-Doubling Time - -the number of years it takes for a population to double
-Total Fertility Rate - -an estimate of the number of children that each woman in a
population will bear throughout her childbearing years
-Population Pyramid - -an age structured diagram that is widest at the bottom and
smallest at the top, typical of developing countries
-Net Migration Rate - -the difference between immigration and emigration in a given year
per 1,000 people
-Demographic Transition - -as a country moves from a subsistence economy to
industrialization and increased affluence, it undergoes a predictable shift in population
-Impact Equation - -estimate the impact of human lifestyles on Earth
-Urban Growth - -percentage of people living in urban areas
-Sustainable Development - -development that balances current human well-being and
economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations
Sustainability - -living on Earth in a way that allows us to use its resources w/o depriving
future generations of those resources
-Environmental Science - -the field that looks at interactions among human systems and
those found in nature
-Environmental Indicators - -something that describes the current state of an
environmental system
-Biodiversity - -the diversity of life forms in an environment
-Biophilia - -an appreciation for life
-Ecological Footprint - -a measure of how much that a person consumes, expressed in area
of land
-Tragedy of the Commons - -the tendency of a shared, limited resource to become
depleted because people act from self- interest for short- term gain
-Theory - -a hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups
of researchers and has reached wide acceptance
-Law - -a theory to which there are no known exceptions and which has withstood
rigorous testing
-Environmental Justice - -a social movement and field of study that works toward equal
enforcement of environmental laws and the elimination of disparities in how pollutants
and other environmental harms are distributed among the various ethnic and
socioeconomic groups within a society
-Genuine Progress Indicator - -measures personal consumption, income distribution,
levels of higher education, resource depletion, pollution, and health of the population
-Ecological Economics - -a method of understanding and managing the economy as a
subsystem of both natural and human systems
-Environmental Worldviews - -a worldview that encompasses how people think the world
works, how they view their role in it, and what they believe to be proper behavior
regarding the environment
-Precautionary Principle - -a principal based on the philosophy that action should be taken
against a plausible environmental hazard
, -Environmental Protection Agency - -a US government agency that creates federal policy
and oversees enforcement of regulations related to the environment, including science,
research, assessment, and education
-World Health Organization - -a group within the United Nations responsible for human
health, including combating the spread of infectious diseases and health issues related to
natural disasters
-United Nations - -an institution dedicated to promoting dialogue among countries with
the goal of maintaining world peace
-Human Development Index - -a measure of economic well-being that combines life
expectancy, knowledge, education, and standard of living as shown in GDP per capita and
purchasing power
-Human Poverty Index - -a measure developed by the UN to investigate the proportion of a
population suffering from deprivation in a country with a high HDI
-Green Tax - -A tax placed on environmentally harmful activities or emissions
-Carrying Capacity - -the limit of how many individuals in a population the food supply can
sustain
-Demography - -the study of human population and population trends
-Doubling Time - -the number of years it takes for a population to double
-Total Fertility Rate - -an estimate of the number of children that each woman in a
population will bear throughout her childbearing years
-Population Pyramid - -an age structured diagram that is widest at the bottom and
smallest at the top, typical of developing countries
-Net Migration Rate - -the difference between immigration and emigration in a given year
per 1,000 people
-Demographic Transition - -as a country moves from a subsistence economy to
industrialization and increased affluence, it undergoes a predictable shift in population
-Impact Equation - -estimate the impact of human lifestyles on Earth
-Urban Growth - -percentage of people living in urban areas
-Sustainable Development - -development that balances current human well-being and
economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations
