Agroforestry is “the intentional integration of forestry with agriculture” (regeneration.org). This means that trees and shrubs are integrated into croplands and farmlands. This strategy is a low-cost way to make agriculture more sustainable, promote biodiversity, and combat climate change. Agroforestry promotes soil health and can be a method of soil conservation and regeneration. 

The Anthropocene is the most popular name proposed for the current geological epoch in which human activity has fundamentally and irreversibly altered Earth’s environmental and geological systems, pushing them from the range of natural variability into “a no-analogue state” (134). Coined in 2000 by Nobel-prize winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen, the Anthropocene (or, the era of humans) was proposed as a new epoch after the Holocene, a period of stable climate conditions since the end of the last ice age.

Biodiversity is an umbrella term, originated in conservation science of the 1980s, that refers to “the totality of all inherited variation in the life forms of Earth” (E.O. Wilson), from genes and microbial life, to species, biomes, and ecosystems. The notion of biodiversity was introduced into mainstream conservation discourse in the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Since then, the CBD has sponsored periodic reports on biological diversity, which summarize the status of Earth’s biodiversity and actions taken to safeguard it. 

Biodiversity loss describes the decreasing variety of species and ecosystems that survive on Earth. Biodiversity loss specifically due to human activity has been at an all-time high since 1955. The United Nations climate action research has shared that biodiversity loss is the result of the destruction of habitats and ecocide, with an emphasis on the loss due to creation of food for humans.

The boardbook is a specific format of children’s literature typically made of thick, laminated cardboard that can withstand the chewing, tossing, and general abuse wrought by its very young readers (ages 0 to 3 or “Sprouts” ). Like similar formats—including pop-up, pull-tab, feelie, sound, panorama and other toy books, as well as the more archaic linen, cloth, and rag books that were among some of the first “indestructible” books for children— boardbooks are intended to be infants’ first introduction to book culture.

The carbon budget is the remaining quantity of carbon that can be emitted before the earth’s temperature becomes dangerous and in need of carbon removal approaches. It is a way to conceptualize the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted and the degree to which they impact global warming. The carbon budget focuses on carbon specifically because carbon emissions are almost entirely generated by humans and can therefore be reduced by humans.

Carbon offsets or carbon credits are a neoliberal economic construct meant to utilize the marketplace to incentivize companies to reduce their carbon emissions. A single offset represents one ton of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and these credits are government certified, to be bought and sold between government and industry. These credits encourage companies to seek out lower emissions in the production or distribution of goods.

Climate change is a plural notion that refers to the consequences of complex feedback loops linking 1) anthropogenic global warming, 2) other human-driven processes—including biodiversity loss, pollution, desertification, deforestation, species extinction, soil erosion, ocean acidification, the expansion of human populations, resource depletion, etc.—and 3) all living systems of the planet: consequences that manifest in and as a long-term change in Earth’s weather patterns.

Climate grief, a term often used interchangeably with environmental grief, is the emotional pain people experience when they notice or anticipate the loss of species, ecosystems, and meaningful landscapes due to climate change. Climate grief has roots in ecological grief, a term first used by conservationist and philosopher Aldo Leopold in 1940 to describe feelings of pain due to ecological loss.

Climate literacy—sometimes called “climate change literacy”—does not have a widely accepted definition yet. The notion of climate literacy was first used by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in 2006 as a synonym for “climate science literacy,” i.e. “an understanding of your influence on climate and climate’s influence on you and society.” The concept of climate science literacy received more extensive treatment in NOAA’s 2009 brochure “Climate Literacy: the Essential Principles of Climate Science.” 

Coal is a sedimentary rock made from dead plants and animals that have built up over thousands of years under pressure and heat. Known primarily for its status as a fossil fuel, coal is mainly used as a source of heat and electricity. In contrast to renewable energy sources like sun, wind, and water, coal is a nonrenewable resource that could eventually be depleted. Coal seams have been found on every continent, but the largest coal reserves are in the U.S., Russia, China, Australia, and India. 

Coastal erosion generally describes the loss of geological material from ocean shorelines, which results from a range of physical systems. Wave action, ocean currents, sea-level rise, and human-induced soil erosion result in the loss of sand, stone, rock, and other kinds of ground material from coastlines. Coastal erosion specifically describes the loss of coastal geological material, distinct from temporary changes in the shape of coasts.

Collective action refers to action taken by a group of people to achieve a shared goal. In the case of collective climate action, the goal can be mitigation of the effects of climate change, adaptation of systems or infrastructure in anticipation of climate risk, or a deeper transformation of the conditions driving the climate crisis. Oftentimes, collective climate action is conceptualized as a grassroots social movement, composed of citizens working for change at the community scale. 

Deep time is the measurement of Earth’s chronology on the scale of geologic events and epochs. Based on Earth’s 4.54-billion-year history, deep time is almost unimaginably vast – far more so than conceptualizations of time based on the human lifetime. This means that, much like “deep space,” deep time can be a difficult idea to fully grasp.

As described in Michael Mann’s The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back the Planet (2021), deflection refers to a set of strategies adopted since the early 2000s by Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Banks, and other petronormative institutions whose operations constitute the systemic drivers of climate change (see ecocide) to project the blame for the destruction on individual consumers (see producerism). At a time when it becomes increasingly harder to deny the reality and severity of climate change, deflection is becoming the new climate denial. 

Drawdown describes the goal of reversing global warming and “the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. This is the point when we begin the process of stopping further climate change and averting potentially catastrophic warming. It is a critical turning point for life on Earth” (Drawdown framework). Defined as a future goal, Drawdown began in 2001 when American environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author Paul Hawken began asking experts the same question: what do we need to do to arrest and reverse global warming? 

As defined by the American Psychological Association, eco-anxiety is the “chronic fear of environmental doom.” In 2011, Glenn Albrecht was the first one to report mental health issues driven by pollution, biodiversity loss, and other ecological disasters. Eco-anxiety was one of the psychoterratic syndromes mentioned by the author. According to a recent review, this fear for the future triggers a series of health implications such as depression, hopelessness, stress, insomnia, functional impairment, and reluctance to have children.

An ecological civilization is an umbrella term for the vision of a transformed civilization based on the core principles that sustain living systems in natural ecologies. An ecological civilization would be built on life-affirming values rather than wealth accumulation (see ecocidal civilization, petronormativity, ecocide) and structured to create the conditions for all humans to flourish as part of a thriving, living Earth (see sustainability, Just Transition). 

According to Earth.org, ecosystem services are defined as ecosystems’ direct and indirect contributions to human well-being and impact on our survival and quality of life. The term “ecosystem services” is relatively new and was first used to empower the value of nature to bring attention to environmental degradation. Society’s growing understanding of nature’s innate and increasing worth directly contrasts with the current degradation that ecosystems face. The National Wildlife Federation states that the value of nature to people has long been recognized. However, the term ecosystem services helps put a value on how the natural world enriches our lives.

Gaia, also known as the Gaia Hypothesis, was named after the Greek Goddess of Earth. The Gaia Hypothesis states that Earth is a self-regulating entity which keeps the planet functioning to serve all life that resides on it. Some examples of the Earth as self-regulating are changes in temperature, shifting plates, or even aquatic organisms creating elements that land needs.

According to the United Nations, greenwashing is defined as the practice of “misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is,” and it can therefore delay or hinder real solutions to the climate crisis. The term was first coined in 1986 by the environmentalist Jay Westerveld, who pointed out the irony when a large resort in the South Pacific encouraged its residents to reuse towels in order to reduce ecological damage, even though the resort was expanding at the expense of its surrounding natural environment.

Interconnectedness is a worldview that emphasizes the deep interdependence of everything on Earth. From animals to water to rocks to bacteria, our fates are inextricably intertwined. Interconnectedness understands the world as a set of systems in delicate balance with one another. It is the opposite of the belief that humans are separate from or above nature (see ecocentrism, anthropocentrism). The concept of interconnectedness is seen by many climate justice and sustainability activists as the cornerstone of an ecological civilization.

The local food movement is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide diversity of initiatives, all aimed at encouraging the production and consumption of food on a local level, therefore reducing the distance food travels before reaching consumers. These initiatives could take the form of large-scale market-oriented solutions, where consumers buy food products from local producers and processors. They also include grassroot operations such as farmers’ market, urban farming and community gardening. It is a global movement that has developed independently across different countries around the world.

Marine conservation is the concern for and protection of species and ecosystems of the oceans and seas. Oceans and seas, as habitats rich in resources that have significant economic value, are vulnerable to human overexploitation, especially in the name of fishing. Marine conservation calls for the protection of these resource rich areas to protect vital resources from irreversible damage, impacting climate on a global scale.

Place-based pedagogy is an approach to education that emphasizes authentic connection to local contexts, environments, cultures, and histories. It engages students in real-world experiences that form the foundation for lessons across academic subjects, using approaches including field trips, service projects, and visits from community members. It can be used in formal or informal education, including distance learning, and is related to educational approaches like experiential learning, democratic education, multicultural education, and inquiry- or project-based learning. It is often used in biology, environmental, and climate science education by bringing students into nearby nature.

Planetarianism is an epistemological orientation proposed by Marek Oziewicz as an alternative to the dominant neoliberal discourse that renders Earth as expendable and unsavable. A two-level phenomenon, planetarianism refers to a biocentric commitment to stand up for the planet and our common biospheric legacy in everything we do: how we work, eat, travel, and live. In the realm of language, planetarianism operates as applied hope articulated through stories—a form of hope-as-resistance and a conceptual tool for ushering in the future we want (instead of the future we fear).

Producerism is a notion proposed by ecological philosopher Rupert Read to describe the core operational principle of capitalism: its fixation of producing more and more stuff for monetary profit (i.e. growth), its need to sell this stuff to consumers (see consumerism), and its foundational lie that consumers—not producers (marketers and distributors)—are the driving force and beneficiaries of the entire process. 

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in a section of physics called quantum mechanics. In this process of entanglement, two or more particles become correlated in such a way that the state of one particle instantaneously influences the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them, and faster than the speed of light. Ongoing research in quantum technology and its applications could lead to significant advancements in environmental science, monitoring, and conservation efforts.

Recycling is the process of collecting, sorting, and processing waste materials and turning them into new products. Recycling is a key component of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM), an approach that aims to promote the sustainable and efficient use of materials throughout their entire lifecycle while minimizing their environmental impact. 

Slow violence is a term coined by Rob Nixon in Slow Violence and the Environmentalism and of the Poor (Harvard University Press, 2011) to describe the attritional wake of environmental devastation or pollution: its “invisible” and/or “side-effect” forms. In Nixon’s definition, slow violence is “a violence that occurs gradually and out of sight, a violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is typically not viewed as violence at all” (2). Slow violence refers to domino-effect consequences of environmental devastation, when one element in the ecosystem is damaged or disrupted, leading to long-lasting disruption in other elements or ecosystems. 

Greta Thunberg became known to the world in August 2018 when she started the “school strike for climate” [skolstrejk för klimatet]. At first, her strike was directed towards the Swedish government and the upcoming election, but it soon became a form of activism among young people all around the world, most clearly expressed through the youth-led movement #FridaysForFuture. Thunberg has become an icon for young people’s environmental awareness and activism and has encouraged, supported, and participated in collective initiatives, demonstrations, and protests.

The Treaty People Gathering was as a coalition-led direct nonviolent action event on June 5-8, 2021 at White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota to protest the construction of Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Attended by over 2000 water protectors from across the country and supported by dozens of organizations, the event was the biggest action yet against Enbridge LN3.

Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials, components, and products into new products of equal or better quality, environmental value, or aesthetic value (Sung, 2017). Unlike recycling, which breaks down existing products to raw materials that are then used to create new products, upcycling involves using waste materials in their current state to make new products.

Urban environments refer to ecosystems in the cities and surrounding areas characterized by high population density, developed infrastructure, and intense residential, commercial, and industrial activities that shape its biotic and abiotic factors. In urban environments, most inhabitants have non-agricultural jobs. The term emerged to distinguish urban environments from rural (agricultural) and wild environments.

Zero Waste is a movement that strives for the conservation of resources through conscientious production, consumption, and reuse of materials. The ultimate goal is to eliminate all waste sent to landfills, incinerators, and the oceans, as each of these methods of waste management pose various threats to human health. While there is overlap between the concepts of zero waste and recycling and upcycling, the latter two concepts focus largely on repurposing a product’s end-of-life waste, whereas zero waste considers how to eliminate waste at all points of a product’s life cycle.