affluenza
Terms
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- affluenza
- Unsustainable addiction to overconsumption and materialism exhibited in the lifestyles of affluent consumers in the United States and other developed countries.
- biodiversity
- Variety of different species (species diversity), genetic variability among individuals within each species (genetic diversity), variety of ecosystems (ecological diversity), and functions such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species and biological communities (functional diversity).
- biological diversity
- See biodiversity
- common-property resource
- Resource that people normally are free to use; each user can deplete or degrade the available supply. Most are renewable and owned by no one. Examples are clean air, fish in parts of the ocean not under the control of a coastal country, migratory birds, gases of the lower atmosphere, and the ozone content of the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). See tragedy of the commons.
- developed country
- Country that is highly industrialized and has a high per capita GNP. Compare developing country.
- developing country
- Country that has low to moderate industrialization and low to moderate per capita GNP. Most are located in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Compare developed country.
- ecological footprint
- Amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply each person or population with the renewable resources they use and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use. It measures the average environmental impact of individuals or populations in different countries and areas.
- ecology
- Study of the interactions of living organisms with one another and with their nonliving environment of matter and energy; study of the structure and functions of nature.
- economic depletion
- Exhaustion of 80% of the estimated supply of a nonrenewable resource. Finding, extracting, and processing the remaining 20% usually costs more than it is worth. May also apply to the depletion of a renewable resource, such as a fish or tree species.
- economic development
- Improvement of living standards by economic growth. Compare economic growth, environmentally sustainable economic development.