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The mass of air surrounding the Earth.
The atmosphere consists of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), and traces of other gases such as argon, helium, carbon dioxide, and ozone.
The atmosphere plays an important role in the protection of life on Earth; it absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation and reduces temperature extremes between day and night. (Source: GreenFacts)
Biodiversity is a contraction of biological diversity. Biodiversity reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms.
It includes diversity within species (genetic diversity), between species (species diversity), and between ecosystems (ecosystem diversity). (Source: GreenFacts)
"The Environment DG is one of 36 Directorates-General (DGs) and specialised services which make up the European Commission. Its main role is to initiate and define new environmental legislation and to ensure that measures, which have been agreed, are actually put into practice in the Member States."
The mission statement of the Environment DG is: "to promote Sustainable Development, preserving the rights of future generations to a viable environment; to work towards a high level of environmental and health protection and improvement of the quality of life; to promote environmental efficiency; to encourage the equitable use, as well as the sound and effective management, of common environmental resources"
(Source: EC DG ENVI website
A general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials,
formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil,
coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's
crust over hundreds of millions of years.
(Source:
US EPA
Glossary of Climate Change terms
Water beneath the Earth's surface in the spaces between soil particles and
between rock surfaces.
(Source:
ATSDR
Glossary of
Terms
Methane is a colorless, flammable, nontoxic gas with the chemical formula CH4.
This gas is formed naturally by the decomposition of organic matter. Wetlands, livestock and energy are the main sources of methane emissions to the atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas.
Methane is also a major component of natural gas. It is mainly extracted from geological deposits for fuel and industrial uses (Source: GreenFacts )
Sewage refers to waste-water from homes and industry which is collected and carried away in sewers (pipes or tunnels). When raw waste-water is cleaned in treatment plants the waste product is sewage sludge, which can be used as a fertiliser under certain conditions or deposited in landfills. (Source: GreenFacts )
A type of soft sedimentary rock, formed by the deposition of successive layers of fine particles (such as clay, silt or mud) carried mainly by water. (Source: GreenFacts )
A characteristic or state whereby the needs of the present and local population can be met without compromising the ability of future generations or populations in other locations to meet their needs.
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