Glossary
Chapter 2
anthropocentric	Human-centered. Compare biocentric.
biocentric	Life-centered. Compare anthropocentric.
capitalism	See capitalist market economic system. Compare pure command economic system, pure free-market economic system.
capitalist market economic system	Economic system built around controlling market prices of goods and services, global free trade, and maximizing profits for the owners or stockholders whose financial capital the company is using to do business. Compare pure command economic system, pure free-market economic system.
centrally planned economy	See pure command economic system.
democracy	Government by the people through their elected officials and appointed representatives. In a constitutional democracy, a constitution provides the basis of government authority and puts restraints on government power through free elections and freely expressed public opinion.
discount rate	The economic value a resource will have in the future compared with its present value.
economic decision	Deciding what goods and services to produce, how to produce them, how much to produce, and how to distribute them to people.
economic resources	Natural resources, capital goods, and labor used in an economy to produce material goods and services. See natural resources.
economic system	Method that a group of people uses to choose what goods and services to produce, how to produce them, how much to produce, and how to distribute them to people. See capitalist market economic system, pure command economic system, pure free-market economic system.
economy	System of production, distribution, and consumption of economic goods.
environmental ethics	Human beliefs about what is right or wrong environmental behavior.
environmental justice	Fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
environmental movement	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.
environmental revolution	Cultural change involving halting population growth and altering lifestyles, political and economic systems, and the way we treat the environment so that we can help sustain the earth for ourselves and other species. This involves working with the rest of nature by learning more about how nature sustains itself. See environmental wisdom worldview. Compare agricultural revolution, hunter-gatherers, industrial revolution, information and globalization revolution.
environmental wisdom worldview	Beliefs that (1) nature exists for all the earth's species, not just for us, and we are not in charge of the rest of nature; (2) there is not always more, and it's not all for us; (3) some forms of economic growth are beneficial and some are harmful, and our goals should be to design economic and political systems that encourage earth-sustaining forms of growth and discourage or prohibit earth-degrading forms; and (4) our success depends on learning to cooperate with one another and with the rest of nature instead of trying to dominate and manage earth's life-support systems primarily for our own use. Compare frontier environmental worldview, planetary management worldview, spaceship-earth worldview.
environmental worldview	How people think the world works, what they think their role in the world should be, and what they believe is right and wrong environmental behavior (environmental ethics).
external benefit	Beneficial social effect of producing and using an economic good that is not included in the market price of the good. Compare external cost, full cost.
external cost	Harmful social effect of producing and using an economic good that is not included in the market price of the good. Compare external benefit, full cost, internal cost.
externalities	Social benefits ("goods") and social costs ("bads") not included in the market price of an economic good. See external benefit, external cost. Compare full cost, internal cost.
financial resources	Cash, investments, and monetary institutions used to support the use of natural resources and human resources to provide economic goods and services. Compare human resources, manufactured resources, natural resources.
gross national income (GNI)	Total market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced within and outside a country during a year plus net income earned abroad by a country's citizens. Formerly called gross national product (GNP). Compare gross domestic product, gross world product.
human capital	See human resources.
human resources	Physical and mental talents of people used to produce, distribute, and sell an economic good. Compare financial resources, manufactured resources, natural resources.
inherent value	See intrinsic value.
intermediate goods	See manufactured resources.
internal cost	Direct cost paid by the producer and the buyer of an economic good. Compare external benefit, external cost, full cost.
manufactured capital	See manufactured resources.
manufactured resources	Manufactured items made from natural resources and used to produce and distribute economic goods and services bought by consumers. These include tools, machinery, equipment, factory buildings, and transportation and distribution facilities. Compare financial resources, human resources, natural resources.
planetary management worldview	Beliefs that (1) we are the planet's most important species; (2) there is always more, and it's all for us; (3) all economic growth is good, more economic growth is better, and the potential for economic growth is limitless; and (4) our success depends on how well we can understand, control, and manage the earth's life-support systems for our own benefit. See spaceship-earth worldview. Compare environmental wisdom worldview.
politics	Process through which individuals and groups try to influence or control government policies and actions that affect the local, state, national, and international communities.
proton (p)	Positively charged particle in the nuclei of all atoms. Each proton has a relative mass of 1 and a single positive charge. Compare electron, neutron.
pure capitalism	See pure free-market economic system.
pure command economic system	System in which all economic decisions are made by the government or some other central authority. Compare capitalist market economic system, pure free-market economic system.
solar cell	See photovoltaic cell.
species equilibrium model	See theory of island biogeography.
throwaway society	See high-throughput economy.
wildlife resources	Wildlife species that have actual or potential economic value to people.
environmentally sustainable economic development	Development that (1) encourages environmentally sustainable forms of economic growth that meet the basic needs of the current generations of humans and other species without preventing future generations of humans and other species from meeting their basic needs and (2) discourages environmentally harmful and unsustainable forms of economic growth. It is the economic component of an environmentally sustainable society. Compare economic development, economic growth.
gross domestic product (GDP)	Total market value in current dollars of all goods and services produced within a country during a year. Compare gross national income, gross world product.
gross national income in purchasing power parity (GNI PPP)	Market value of a country's GNI in terms of the goods and services it would buy in the United States. This is a better way to compare the standards of living among countries.
natural capital	See natural resources.
natural resources	The earth's natural materials and processes that sustain other species and us. Compare financial resources, human resources, manufactured resources.
per capita GNI	Annual gross national income (GNI) of a country divided by its total population at mid-year. It gives the average slice of the economic pie per person. Used to be called per capita GNP. See gross national income. per capita GNI in purchasing power parity (per capita GNI PPP: The GNI PPP divided by the total population at mid-year. This is a better way to make comparisons of people's economic welfare among countries. See per capita GNI.
poverty	Inability to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
sustainability	Ability of a system to survive for some specified (finite) time.
full cost	Cost of a good when its internal costs and its estimated short- and long-term external costs are included in its market price. Compare external cost, internal cost.
tree farm	See tree plantation.
instrumental value	Value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth's biodiversity based on its usefulness to us. Compare intrinsic value.
intrinsic value	Value of an organism, species, ecosystem, or the earth's biodiversity based on its existence, regardless of whether it has any usefulness to us. Compare instrumental value.
urban growth	Rate of growth of an urban population. Compare degree of urbanization.
precautionary principle	When there is scientific uncertainty about potentially serious harm from chemicals or technologies, decision makers should act to prevent harm to humans and the environment. See pollution prevention.