Biological diversity for short. All of the hereditary variation in organism, from differences in ecosystems to the species composing each ecosystem, thence to the genetic variation in each of the species. As a term biodiversity may be used to refer to the variety of life in all of Earth or to part of it- hence the biodiversity of Peru or biodiversity of a Peruvian rain forest. From Edward O. Wilson – The future of life.
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Tag Archives: Lexicon
Democracy
Literally, people’s power. Government by the people, exercised directly or through elected representatives. A social condition of equality and respect for the individual within the community. First emerged in Greek city states of Athena around 600 BC, then disappears from western civilization for more than thousand years. In 1100, five First Nations in northeastern America form a confederacy that historians call the longest participatory democracy in the world.
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Well-being
A state of being well, healthy, contented. Synonym of welfare, health, happiness, prosperity, comfort, contentment, success. It is a value and the result of a judgement and as such it is relative. How important is health to the suicidal person, wealth to the monk, comfort to the adventurer? Are we inclined to well-being or simply defining well-being what we are inclined to?
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Phantom Load
Phantom load or “standby power” or “leaking electricity” refers to electricity consumed by devices while they are switched off. Many electrical devices – from air conditioners to VCRs – cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged. These products draw power 24 hours a day, often without the knowledge of the consumer. In particularly inefficient designs, the standby power use can be as high as 15 or 20 watts. For a single appliance, this may not seem like much, but adding up the power use of the billions of appliances in the U.S., the power consumption of appliances that are supposedly “off” is significant. For example, it is estimated that all TV and VCR that are turned off cost Americans nearly a billion dollars a year in electricity.
weblink: US government page on standby power • from: Jeffrey Langholz • in detail XlnkS5A0 XlnkC18A9
Social Marketing
Sustainable social marketing is the application of commercial marketing techniques to programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal well-being and that of the ecosystem.
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Supplementary Cementing Material (SCM)
Supplementary cementing materials (SCM) are reclaimed industrial by-products such as fly ash, silica fume or ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) which can partially replace Portland cement in Concrete. The manufacturing of one tonne of Portland Cement produces about one tonne of CO2, a Greenhouse Gas linked to global warming. Using SCM instead of Portland Cement in concrete reduces its “CO2 signature”. SCM in concrete not only reduces GHG emissions but improves long-term strength and durability characteristics, and typically is more economical than normal Portland cement concrete.
weblink: EcoSmart Web page • from: EcoSmart • in detail • see also: Ecosmart Concrete XlnkS594 XlnkC1812
Dictionary
No language thinks. But nobody can think without a language. That’s why we need words. A word has no absolute sense. The meaning may depend from the context, from other words, from individuals. In our society, actions, thoughts and words are interrelated. Who controls the words, controls the rest. A dictionary can be a liberating force or one of limitation. The objective of the “lexicon” series is to redefine common words and review their common sense in the context of sustainability. As the concept of sustainability aims at a new value system, the language needs to evolve. The objective is not to provide unbiased neutrality, as the quest for sustainability requires overcoming pre-conceit ideas.
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