key terminology

• Microplastics


  Tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic, often broken down from larger plastic items.
• Photodegradation


  A process by which the Sun breaks apart the polymer chains holding plastics together.
• Great Pacific garbage patch


  A huge area of plastic and other waste floating in the Pacific Ocean and trapped by the circulation of ocean current (gyres).
• Gyre


  A circular pattern of ocean currents.
• Climate change


  Changes in climate (temperature, rainfall) because of natural causes or human activity.
• Global warming


  The recent increase in global temperature.
• Greenhouse effect


  Warming of the lower atmosphere by heat released from Earth.
• Greenhouse gases


  Gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, which absorb heat from Earth.
• Delta


  An area of low, fertile, flat land shaped like a triangle where a river splits into several branches before entering the sea.
• Deforestation


  The chopping down and removal of trees to clear an area of forest.
• Subsistence farming


  A type of agriculture producing food and materials for the benefit only of the farmer and their family.
• Logging


  The business of cutting down trees and transporting the logs to sawmills.
• Selective logging


  The setting out of trees which are mature or inferior, to encourage the growth of the remaining trees in a forest or wood.
• Commercial farming


  Farming to sell produce for a profit to retailers or food-processing companies.
• Soil erosion


  Removal of topsoil faster than it can be replaced, due to natural (water and wind action), animal, and human activity.
• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)


  Organisations that are generally formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them carry out humanitarian aid. Many are also clarified as charities.
• Conservation


  Managing the environment to preserve, protect, or restore it.
• Debt reduction


  Countries are relieved of some of their debt in return for protecting their rainforests and reducing rates of deforestation.