Humans and the Environment Flashcards

Grade 4 · Social Studies · Flashcards

Key vocabulary for understanding how humans interact with and change the environment.

Flashcards

Adapt: To adjust behavior or lifestyle to better suit the natural environment
Modify: To physically change the natural environment to meet human needs
Environment: Everything — living and nonliving — that surrounds and affects organisms in a place
Irrigation: Bringing water to dry land for farming through canals, pipes, or ditches
Deforestation: Clearing forests of trees; destroys habitat and can cause flooding and soil loss
Dam: A barrier built across a river; controls flooding and can generate electricity
Reservoir: An artificial lake created by a dam storing water
Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, and natural gas formed from ancient organisms; burning them releases pollution
Climate change: Long-term shift in global temperatures and weather patterns, accelerated by human activity
Habitat: The natural home environment of an animal or plant
Erosion: The wearing away of soil or rock by water, wind, or other forces
Reclaim: To make land usable that was previously water, swamp, or waste — like the Netherlands reclaiming sea
Sustainability: Using resources in ways that can continue indefinitely without harming the environment