(Noun); The amount of carbon dioxide (and other carbon compounds) released into the atmosphere due to the use of fossil fuels by a particular person, group or thing. (The drive downtown contributes to your personal carbon footprint, because nonelectric vehicles use fossil fuels to operate).

“Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term..” The term is often interchanged with global warming, but climate change “refers to both human- and naturally produced warming and the effects it has on our planet.” Source.

(Noun); Compost is decayed organic material often used as plant fertilizer. However, Composting, is the process of turning organic waste (think of the apple core you throw away after you eat the apple) into a nutrient rich soil conditioner (aka, stuff your garden loves).

(Noun); The act of preserving, protecting or restoring the natural environment, it’s natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife. (For example - our national parks, and the endangered species list).

(Noun); 1. A spherical planetary ecosystem that is 4.5 billion years old, is a collection of habitats to over 8.5 million species (including humans), consisting of four systems: atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), geosphere (rocks, minerals) and biosphere (living organisms, aka: us), which rotates on an axis around the sun, in our solar system, within the milky way galaxy, in the ever expanding cosmos we call the Universe ... (sorry, we had a tab bit fun with this one.) 2. Home... (hey, it’s the only one we’ve got).

“Fossil fuels are fuels that come from old life forms that decomposed over a long period of time. The three most important fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Oil and gas are hydrocarbons (molecules that have only hydrogen and carbon in them). Coal is mostly carbon.” Source.

A U.S. congressional resolution (that means it’s not a bill, legislation, policy or even a comprehensive roadmap), that frames a vision or set of goals to address the climate crisis -- And how to protect people who might be affected by a transition to a fossil fuel free economy. It’s 14 pages. Read the Green New Deal Here.

(Noun); 1. “Any of the gases whose absorption of solar radiation is responsible for the greenhouse effect, including carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and the fluorocarbons.” 2016 greenhouse gas emissions into the earth’s atmosphere included 81% carbon dioxide and 10% methane gas. (source)

Here is the long and the short of it (sorry - long wave and short wave radiation humor): Greenhouse gases trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere by allowing short wave radiation from the sun to enter our atmosphere while simultaneously capturing escaping heat from the planet (long wave radiation) in the atmosphere, and bouncing back that heat towards the earth. This increased warming due to green house gases is called the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming. Global warming is the cause of climate change. (source)

(Noun); Microplastics (Plural Noun);

“Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic that pollute the environment. Microplastics are not a specific kind of plastic, but rather any type of plastic fragments that is less than five millimeters in length according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” (source)

Read about the plastic and microplastics washing ashore at the Cocos Keeling Islands here.

(Noun);

1. The ozone layers exists in the earth’s stratosphere (air). Zone is made of molecules containing three Oxygen atoms, so the ozone itself is a trace gas in the atmosphere. Yet, it absorbs about 98% of the Sun’s ultraviolet light, so it is often compared to sunscreen. 

2. Ozone depletion occurs when CFC’s (human-produced chlorofluorocarbons - think aerosol hair spray!) are released into the air. The pollutants breakdown the ozone by thinning it, particularly around the polar caps. This has been documented only since the mid 1980’s. 

3. Ozone depletion and global warming are not the same thing! 

(Noun); Plastics (plural noun); A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be molded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form once it hardens (think Tupperware — and almost everything else we use daily, like plastic bags, to-go containers, etc.).

(Verb); Converting reusable waste (certain types of plastic, paper, metal, etc. ) into a material or an object that would be used again, thus creating a cycle. Wiki has everything to say about it here.

(Verb); To reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.

(Adjective);

1.  Any material, substance or byproduct that is discarded and thrown away after use or completion and is disposed of in municipal landfills (AKA the dump).

2. Trash. 

3. Garbage that gets dumped into landfills where it is stored and buried. Landfills are not designed to break down trash and not all material in trash can break down.  When trash is buried without oxygen, over time, trash emits gases such as ammonia, sulfide, methane and carbon dioxide, which escape into the atmosphere. “In terms of global warming potential, methane is over 25 times more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the United States” (source).