agricultural revolution

Definition

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&endash;12,000 years ago. Compare
environmental revolution,
hunter&endash;gatherers,
industrial&endash;medical revolution,
information and globalization revolution.
Term

conservation
Definition

Sensible and careful use of natural resources by

humans. People with this view are called
conservationists.
Term

conservation biologist
Definition

Biologist who investigates human impacts on the

diversity of life found on the earth (biodiversity)
and develops practical plans for preserving such
biodiversity. Compare conservationist, ecologist,
environmentalist, environmental scientist,
preservationist, restorationist.
Term

conservationist
Definition

Person concerned with using natural areas and

wildlife in ways that sustain them for current and
future generations of humans and other forms of
life. Compare conservation biologist, ecologist,
environmentalist, environmental scientist,
preservationist, restorationist.
Term

ecologist
Definition

Biological scientist who studies relationships

between living organisms and their environment.
Compare conservation biologist, conservationist,
environmentalist, environmental scientist,
preservationist, restorationist.
Term

environmental movement
Definition

Efforts by citizens at the grassroots level to

demand that political leaders enact laws and
develop policies to curtail pollution, clean up
polluted environments, and protect pristine areas
and species from environmental degradation.
Term

environmental scientist
Definition

Scientist who uses information from the physical

sciences and social sciences to understand how the
earth works, learn how humans interact with the
earth, and develop solutions to environmental
problems. Compare conservation biologist,
conservationist, ecologist, preservationist,
restorationist.
Term

environmentalist
Definition

Person who is concerned about the impact of

people on environmental quality and believe that
some human actions are degrading parts of the
earth's life-support systems for humans and many
other forms of life. Compare conservation
biologist, conservationist, ecologist,
environmental scientist, preservationist,
restorationist.
Term

EPA
Definition

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-solid waste disposal.
Term

frontier environmental worldview

Definition

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.

Term

hunter-gatherers
Definition

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, industrialmedical revolution, information and globalization
revolution.
Term

industrial-medical revolution
Definition

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.
Term

information and globalization revolution

Definition

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, hunter-gatherers,
industrial-medical revolution.
Term

preservationist
Definition

Person concerned primarily with setting aside or

protecting undisturbed natural areas from
harmful human activities. Compare conservation
biologist, conservationist, ecologist,
environmentalist, environmental scientist,
restorationist.
Term

restorationist
Definition

Scientist or other person devoted to the partial or

complete restoration of natural areas that have
been degraded by human activities. Compare
conservation biologist, conservationist, ecologist,

environmental scientist, preservationist.

Term

shifting cultivation
Definition

Clearing a plot of ground in a forest, especially in

tropical areas, and planting crops 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.
Term

slash-and-burn cultivation
Definition

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&endash;5 years) because of loss of soil fertility
or invasion of vegetation from the surrounding
forest. See also shifting cultivation.