Definitions - v

Gas or liquid fuel made from plant material (biomass). Includes wood, wood waste, wood liquors, peat, railroad ties, wood sludge, spent sulfite liquors, agricultural waste, straw, tires, fish oils, tall oil, sludge waste, waste alcohol, municipal solid waste, landfill gases, other waste, and ethanol blended into motor gasoline.

The process where worms feed slowly on decomposing materials (e.g. vegetable scraps) in a controlled environment to produce nutrient-rich soil.

A wind generator design where the rotating shaft is perpendicular to the ground, and the cups or blades rotate parallel to the ground.

A wind turbine with the axis or main shaft mounted vertically, or perpendicular to the earth's surface. This type of turbine does not need to be turned to face the wind - the wind always blows across it. Types include Savonius and Darrius.

The evolution of a new species from a group separated from the original species by a geographic barrier.

Rain which fall in the sky but evaporates before it reaches the ground.

Resources extracted from nature in their raw form, such as timber or metal ore.

Virgin paper is paper that contains no recycled content and is made directly from the pulp of trees or, alternatively, cotton.

Global warming is the name given to the theory that there is increase in the average temperature of the Earth surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.

The exact mechanism of warming is not precisely understood, although it is strongly suspected that Greenhouse gases are to blame, as increasing concentrations of such gases help trap heat in the atmosphere and so raise mean temperatures.

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The biophysical environment is the symbiosis between the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables that comprise the Earth's biosphere.

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