Environmental Injustice Definition Ap Human Geography

Question: acid rain

Answer: precipitation that has elevated levels of sulfuric or nitric acid

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Question: air pollution

Answer: the introduction of chemicals, biological matter, or particulates (small solids) into the atmosphere.
Examples: Carbon Monoxide(CO), Nitrogen Oxide(NO), Hydrocarbons

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Question: aquifer

Answer: an underground area of permeable rock that can contain water or allow water to pass through Natural Rate of Recharge

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Question: cancer cluster

Answer: a statistically unusual concentration of cancer in a particular area

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Question: coastal pollution

Answer: destruction or contamination of ecosystems along lakes, rivers, or oceans

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Question: cognitive factors

Answer: the ways in which a person's personality or attitudes (risk takers) toward nature, risk, or other factors might affect his or her reaction to a hazard

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Question: cultural ecology

Answer: the study of how human societies adapt to local habitats and how traditional societies engage in farming or other primary activities.

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Question: cyclone

Answer: a hurricane in the Indian Ocean

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Question: deforestation

Answer: the process of clearing a forest

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Question: earthquake

Answer: a violent shaking of the earth caused by tectonic or volcanic activity.

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Question: environment

Answer: most commonly, the physical or natural conditions of an area. Geographers will use the term physical or natural environment. Environmental Determinism

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Question: environmental justice

Answer: the concept that environmental laws and regulations should apply to all areas, regardless of the racial or ethnic composition of a location
Industrial Pollution- Minamata Disease (Japan)

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Question: environmental perception

Answer: how people perceive, feel about, and interact with the environment

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Question: environmental racism

Answer: The deliberate placement of polluting industries or activities in minority areas because those communities are less able or likely to fight the polluters.
Chester, PA - waste processing facilities

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Question: fossil fuels

Answer: fuels that are formed when organic matter deposited on the earth's surface is changed by pressure and time over thousands of years to form coal, oil, or natural gas
Major sources: Russia, Middle East, United States, Canada

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Question: Gilbert White

Answer: the geographer (1911-2006) who pioneered research on natural hazards and human response to flooding.

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Question: hazardous waste/ toxic waste

Answer: refuse that poses a risk either to the environment or to humans. Has the potential to kill or cause severe illness.
Example: Yucca Mountain (NV); US nuclear waste storage

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Question: hurricane

Answer: a strong cyclonic storm system with low pressure, strong thunderstorms, high winds, and rain; also known as a typhoon or cyclone. Storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Question: landfills

Answer: places where waste material is buried and covered with soil

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Question: Minamata disease

Answer: a type of mercury poisoning that came to prominence in the 1960s after decades of industrial pollution in the city of Minamata, Japan.

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Question: moment magnitude scale

Answer: a logarithmic scale used for measuring the strength of an earthquake. Richter Scale- outdated, older

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Question: natural hazards

Answer: environmental events such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunami, mudslides, volcanic eruptions, and droughts
Examples: California, Hawaii, and Japan, Mt. Saint Helens (1980)

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Question: NIMBY

Answer: an acronym for "Not in My Back Yard"; refers to things that communities need and want, such as power plants and landfills, but that nobody wants in close proximity to his or her home

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Question: nonstructural responses

Answer: actions taken by a society, a political body, or individuals to reduce the risk of a natural hazard

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Question: recharge

Answer: how quickly groundwater is replenished

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Question: Ring of Fire

Answer: Large areas of the Pacific Rim that are subject to volcanoes and earthquakes because of tectonic activity and their location along major crustal plate boundaries

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Question: situation factors

Answer: realities such as where people live, their age, their financial resources, and other truths that might affect a human's actual or perceived ability to deal with a possible hazard

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Question: smog

Answer: air pollution produced by sunlight reacting with ozone released from cars, factories, and power plants

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Question: solid waste

Answer: essentially, garbage or trash but it may include solid, semi-solid, or even liquid refuse.

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Question: storm surges

Answer: walls of wind-driven water caused by a hurricane or tropical storm. They can be meters or tens of meters higher than sea level.

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Question: structural responses

Answer: the building of physical structures, such as levees, walls or other engineering systems to reduce the impact of potential natural hazard

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Question: Superfund Program

Answer: a US government program that identifies and attempts to clean up the worst pollution sites in the country.
Example: Valley of Drums (KY); Cancer Clusters; 1300 sites

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Question: tornados

Answer: violent rotating columns of air that are in touch with the surface of the earth.

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Question: tsunami

Answer: large waves spawned by a massive displacement of water caused by volcanoes or earthquakes

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Question: typhoon

Answer: a hurricane in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

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Question: water diversion

Answer: the human alteration of natural water patterns, such as irrigation channels, aqueducts, reservoirs, and similar structures. Three Gorges Dam Disaster China 1975

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Question: water pollution

Answer: human contamination of water resources, such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. It often comes from pesticides, fertilizers, and animal/human waste.

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Question: environmental determinism

Answer: The controversial idea, popular in the early twentieth century and largely discredited today, that climate or other physical qualities of an area dictate the culture of the people who live there

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Question: Sauer's Morphology of Landscape

Answer: He believed that the physical landscape is modified by culture to create a cultural landscape.

Components:
--Natural landscape
--time
--culture:
--population density
--housing patterns
--economic activity
--cultural landscape

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Question: Structural failures and natural hazards

Answer: Structural steps taken by societies to protect themselves from natural hazards often fail.

Examples: Levees of New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina (2005); "Earthquake-Proof" structures in Kobe, Japan after the Great Hanshin Quake (1995)

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Question: nature

Answer: powerful force and often we are caught off guard by the sheer power of the environment

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Question: natural disaster

Answer: a major adverse event resulting from natural processes or occurrences of the Earth. ~Aftermath of a Hazard~

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Question: Tornado Alley

Answer: area of the US midsection that stretches from Texas in the South through Wisconsin in the North and Ohio in the East and Nebraska in the West where the greatest tornadic activity is witnessed

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Question: water

Answer: essential element for human survival. 40% of the world's population lives within 60 miles of a coast.

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Question: Automobile Engines, Powerplants, Industrial Factories

Answer: What generates most of the pollution that is in the air.

Write as such: _________ _______, __________, ___________ ________

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Question: Mexico City, LA, India, China

Answer: Places where major pollutants (CO, NO, hydrocarbons) can cause serious respiratory problems for people

Write as such: _________ _________, ___, _______, ______

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Question: particulates

Answer: small solids

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Question: flood insurance

Answer: The US government created a program in 1968 to help provide insurance to people living in flood zones.

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