Here's information from a packet we got on arrival. Hope it can help you as it has helped many youth at the conference!
Biomimicry: The practice of developing sustainable technologies inspired by ideas from Nature. Energy efficient buildings inspired by passive cooling in termite mounds and non-toxic fabric finishes inspired by water repellent lotus plants are examples of biomimicry changing out world today. While humans have a long way to go towards living sustainably on this planet, millions of species- each with nearly 4 billion years of field testing – contain technological ideas to help us succeed in our all-important quest to become a sustainable species on a biodiverse planet.
Biotechnology: A form of technology that involves mixing and matching plant and animal DNA at the cellular level. It is often found in agriculture, food science, and medicine. The methods used in and products that result from biotechnology are potentially dangerous and are beyond the “natural” technologies such as hybridization or plant grafting.
Boreal: The term refers to a specific forest ecosystem, found in the northern hemisphere below the Arctic, or in the southern hemisphere above the Antarctic. Another word for a boreal forest is the taiga.
Ecology: The study of our local habitats, which includes the living and non-living pieces of the world, for example: a study of the ecology of coastal Marin might include: the geologic formations that created the soils in which the native plants like coastal sage, lupine grow, and the animals that consume some of these plants, or each other.
Environmental health: Various factors in the environment- physical, chemical, biological, social- can influence and impact human health. Environmental health explores the ways in which these factors can affect the health of present and future generations, and looks for ways to fix, control, or prevent these factors from having negative impacts.
Environmental Justice: According to the EPA, environmental justive is defined as fair treatment, meaning that “no groups of people, including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies.” Another way of stating that would be that all people are able to enjoy and have equal access to clean natural resources, such as air, water, soil, and food.
Environmentalism: The belief that the environment, which encompasses the places where we live, work, and play, is an important factor in the development of an individual or a community. It is also a movement that places the natural world at the center of human concerns as the foundation of all life and fights to defend its health and vitality.
Indigenous peoples: The original inhabitants of the land. Another term that is used is “First peoples.”
Mycology: The study of mushrooms and fungus. A mycologist is a scientist who researches mushrooms and fungus.
Permaculture: As defined by its founder, Bill Mollison, permaulture is a design sustem for creating sustaibale human environments, It is a hybrid of the phrase “permanent agriculture”, and utilizes pairts of ecology, landscape design, organic gardening, architecture, and community buildings to create relationships which are greater that the sum of its parts.
Philanthropy: Financial support of charitable causes in the community. A philanthropist is one who provides financial support to the community.
Restoration: A term that is often used in reference to reestablishing the health of natural ecosystems/habitats. This could involve removing invasive species, planting native plants.
Social Entrepreneur: A person who sees a problem in society and uses pioneering ways to provide innovative solutions to the problem. As described by the Ashoka Scholars program: social entrepreneurs are not content just to vie a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.
Self-Governance: A term that describes an individual or community’s right to represent themselves. Self-governance could be used to describe an ethnic group that is advocating for autonomy (self-rule) because they don’t feel that they are being represented in their national government.
Sustainability: A process that enable people to meet their current resource needs (e.g. transportation, food, water, social interaction, etc) but also preserves the biodiversity of the environment. Sustainability is also about planning for the future, so that the resources and way of life that we currently have will be around for many generations to come.
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