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100 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
"The tragedy of the commons"
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Garret Hardin's theory that unregulated areas offered free to the public will be depleted
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Thomas Malthus
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From the 18th century, believed that rapid population growth would soon outgrow the available food supply
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Relavist
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An ethicist who believes that ethics vary with social context
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Universalist
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An ethicist who believes that ethics can be the same in different social contexts
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anthropocentrism
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A human-centered view of our relationship with the environment
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Biocentrism
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A view of our relationship with the environment that centers on the well-being of all living things (animals AND plants)
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Ecocentrism
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A view of our relationship with the environment that centers on the well-being of biotic AND abiotic elements of an ecosystem
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John Ruskin
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Critic who disliked 19th century industrialization in Europe
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Gifford Pinchot
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The first professionally trained American forester
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Preservation ethic
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Ethic that says we should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unadulterated state
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Conservation ethic
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Ethic that says humans should put resources to use, but also manage them wisely
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Deep ecology
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Philosophy that says humans are inseparable from the environment (biocentric)
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Externality
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A cost or benefit that affects people other than the buyer or seller
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Legislative Branch
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Congress
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Executive Branch
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President
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Judicial Branch
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Supreme Court
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Regulatory taking
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When the government deprives a property owner of some or all economic uses of the property
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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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U.S. law that created the Council on Environmental Quality
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Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
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Required for any major federal action (by NEPA)
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Command-and-control
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When environmental laws set strict limits and laws, and harsh punishments for breaking them
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"Revolving door"
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Movement between a private sector and government agencies
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Customary law
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A law that arises from a long-standing practice
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Policy process
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1. Identifying the problem 2. Identifying the causes 3. Envisioning solutions 4. Organizing 5. Getting power 6. Making the solution a law
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First wave of environmental policy
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Encouraged frontier expansion and resource extraction
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Second wave of environmental policy
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Mitigated impacts of the first wave
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Third wave of environmental policy
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Targeted pollution
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Isotopes
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A form of an element that has a different number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom than normal
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Radioisotopes
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Radioactive isotopes that emit radiation as they "decay" and become stable isotopes
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Covalent bond
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A chemical bond in which the uncharged atoms in a molecule share electrons
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Ionic bond
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A chemical bond in which oppositely charged ions are held together by electrical attraction
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Ion
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An electrically charged atom
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Organic compound
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A compound consisting of carbon atoms joined by covalent bonds and sometimes other elements
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Ionic compound/Salt
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An association of ionic bonds
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Polymer
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A chemical compound consisting of long chains of repeated molecules (building block of life)
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Lipids do not dissolve in...
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Water
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First law of thermodynamics
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Energy can change form but cannot be created or destroyed
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Second law of thermodynamics
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Energy tends to change from an ordered state to a less ordered state through the process of entropy
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Autotrophs/Primary producers
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Organisms that can use the energy from the sun to produce food
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Heterotrophs/Consumers
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Organisms that consume other organisms
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Transcription
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Process in which hereditary information in DNA is rewritten to RNA
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Translation
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Process in which RNA directs the order in which amino acids assemble to build proteins
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K-selected species
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Species with stabilizing population, slow reproduction, and few offspring (ex: elephants)
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R-selected species
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Species that reproduce quickly and have many offspring (ex: fish)
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Formula for growth rate
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(Crude birth rate + immigration rate) - (Crude death rate + emigration rate)
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Type 1 survivorship curve
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Classifies species with higher death rates at old ages
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Type 2 survivorship curve
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Classifies species with equal death rates at all ages
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Type 3 survivorship curve
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Classifies species with higher death rates at young ages
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Artificial selection
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Natural selection conducted under human direction
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Niche
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The functional role of a species in a community
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Endemic
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Native or restricted to a particular geographic region (nowhere else on Earth)
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Limiting factor
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A physical, chemical, or biological characteristic of the environment that restrains population growth
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Density-dependent factor
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A limiting factor whose effects on a population increase or decrease depending on the population density
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Density-independent factor
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A limiting factor whose effects on a population are constant regardless of population density
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Unregulated populations increase by...
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Exponential growth
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Can carrying capacities change?
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Yes
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What is the primary source of nitrogen gas?
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The atmosphere (N2 makes up 79%)
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Nitrogen fixation
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In which N2 goes into legumes and becomes NH3 (ammonia)
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Nitrification
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In which NH3 becomes NO2 (nitrite) and NO3 (nitrate)
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Assimilation/uptake
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In which nutrients move from the soil to an organism
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What do plants make once they uptake nitrogen?
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DNA, RNA, and proteins
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Ammonification
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In which organisms die and break down the nitrogen in their bodies into ammonia
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Denitrification
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In which NO2, NO3, and NH3 become N2 again
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Nitrogen fixation can also be caused by...
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Lightning
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How do humans cause nitrogen fixation?
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Mainly by producing fertilizers
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Bacteria is involved in every step of the nitrogen cycle except...
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Assimilation/uptake
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Does phosphorus go into the atmosphere?
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No; it is not a gas
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Phosphorus mainly comes from...
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Rocks
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Decomposition
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In which PO4 (phosphate) goes back into the soil after organisms uptake it and die
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Igneous rock
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Created from cooled magma
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Intrusive igneous rock
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Magma that cools slowly while it is well below Earth's surface
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Extrusive igneous rock
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Magma that cools quickly above ground
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Lithification
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The process of dissolved minerals seeping through sediment layers to stick them together, creating sedimentary rock
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Aquifiers
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Underground water reservoirs
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Water table
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The upper limit of groundwater held in an aquifier
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Divergent plate boundaries
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Formed when plates are pushed apart by magma, which creates new crust as it cools and spreads
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Transform plate boundaries
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Formed when two plates grind against each other, causing earthquakes
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Convergent plate boundaries
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Formed when plates collide
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Subduction
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When one plate of crust slides beneath another
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Haber-Bosch process
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Process in which ammonia is synthesized on an industrial scale; alters the nitrogen cycle
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Feedback loop
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When a system's output can serve as an input to that same system
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Closed system
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An isolated and self-contained system
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Open system
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A system that exchanges matter, energy, and information with other systems
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Eutrophication
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When nutrients are over-enriched
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Lithosphere
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The earth's uppermost layer (rock beneath our feet)
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IPAT model
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Model representing that human's total impact (I) results from population (P), affluence (A), and technology (T)
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Troposphere
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Layer of atmosphere closest to the earth; gives us air we breathe and causes most weather patterns
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Stratosphere
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Layer above troposphere; blocks UV rays emitted by the sun
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Ozone layer
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Within the stratosphere, also helps protect from UV rays
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Mesosphere
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Layer above stratosphere
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Thermosphere
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Layer above mesosphere, air pressure is very low
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Temperature/thermal inversion
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Cold air occurs near the ground, with warmer air above it; this traps pollutants near the ground and causes smog
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Coriolis effect
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When regions near the equator spin faster than region near the poles, and north-south air currents to a partly east-west direction
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Primary pollutant
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A hazardous substance that is emitted into the troposphere in a form that is directly harmful
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Secondary pollutant
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A hazardous substance produced through a reaction of substances; added to the atmosphere with chemicals normally found there
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What are the five greenhouse gases?
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Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide
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What does El Nino cause?
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Warm oceans and weak equatorial winds
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What does La Nina cause?
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Cold oceans, strong equatorial winds
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Proxy indicators
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Indirect evidence of the climate of the past
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Formula for exponential growth
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future value = present value X e^kt
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Formula for doubling time
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t = 70/k (k is written as a percent)
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