Green Glossary – S - 1-800-Recycling

Green Glossary – S

Savannah: Grassland region of the tropics and subtropics, located between areas of tropical rainforest and desert.
Scrap: Recyclable materials left over from manufacturing or building processes and consumption. Often scrap is considered waste, but actually has monetary value and can be sold to recyclers who then sell the re-processed scrap to industries.
Sea Level Rise: A phenomena that affects coastal areas, the increasing levels of sea water observed in the past few years causes edges of these coastal areas to lose land as it is encroached by rising water levels.
Seasonal Erosion: The loss of sand or other beach material resulting from winter and summer variations in coastal conditions. Most coastal environments experience seasonal changes in the rate of erosion as storm seasons come and go.
Second Growth Forest: A forest that has been regenerated after the original trees in the area had been destroyed by clearcutting or forests fires.
Sedimentation: The deposition of rock fragments suspended in water on to the floor of an ocean, sea, lake or river flood plain caused by natural processes or exacerbated by human practices.
Sediments: Soil, sand, and minerals washed from land into water, usually after rain. They pile up in reservoirs, rivers and harbors, destroying fish and wildlife habitat, and clouding the water so that sunlight cannot reach aquatic plants.
Seeding: Adding microorganisms to the environment to speed up biodegradation in the case of soil or water contamination.
Sensitivity Map: Sensitivity maps identify biological and human resources at risk from an oil spill. They can also outline spill response countermeasures and priorities for protective measures.
Sewage Treatment: The process of removing pollutants and contaminants from wastewater generated by households and industries.
Sheen: A very thin layer of oil, about less than 0.0003mm in thickness, floating on the water surface. Sheen is the commonly observed form of oil during the later stages of an oil spill.
Sick Building Syndrome: A cluster of human health ailments that seem to be linked to time spent in a building with the possible or known presence of environmental toxins.
Silviculture: The maintenance, care and cultivation of forest trees.
Single-Stream Recycling: Single-stream refers to a recycling system in which all reusable materials are deposited into one uniform container.
Sinkholes: Sinkholes are most apparent as physical holes or depression on land surfaces.
Skimmer: A device used for recovering spilled oil from the water’s surface.
Slash and Burn Farming: Slash and burn farming is the practice of burning and cutting trees in forests and woodlands to make way for fields to be used for agriculture or for livestock pasture.
Slick: The common term used to describe a film of oil on a water surface. The term is used in the context of oil spills and other instances of oil contaminating water environments.
Sludge: A semi-solid residue from any of a number of air or water treatment processes; can be a hazardous waste.
Sludge Digester: A tank in which complex organic substances like sewage sludges are biologically dredged. Dredging produces reactions that release energy from the sewage.
Slurry: A watery mixture of insoluble matter resulting from some pollution control techniques. The mixture usually contains insoluble matter that could not be broken down.
Smart Growth: A concept in land use planning that promotes revitalizing existing communities, multi-zone neighborhoods, preserving open space and using compact building design.
Smelter: A facility that melts or fuses ore, often with an accompanying chemical change, to separate its metal content. Smelter emissions cause pollution.
Smog: A type of air pollution that occurs when various types of particle elements contaminating the air have a chemical reaction with sunlight.
Smoke: Small, aerosol size particles released into the air as a result of the incomplete combustion of fuels.
Soil Compaction: Soil compaction refers to the formation of dense layers of well packed soil, often at the bottom of the cultivated layer.
Soil Conditioning: The process of adding material to soil to improve its ability to grow and sustain plant life. Soil conditioners can correct soil deficiencies whose structure or nutrients have been affected by environmental degradation.
Soil Contamination: The presence of chemicals, contaminants and pollutants in natural ground. The Earth's soil is becoming contaminated by pollutants through underground storage tanks, the application of pesticides and the leaching of waste from landfills into the ground.
Soil Testing: Soil testing determines the chemical, physical and biological properties of soil, a vital component of any plant or farming environment.
Solar Air Conditioning: Refers to any type of air cooling system that is powered by solar energy. Solar air conditioning is made possible through passive solar design, solar thermal energy conversion and solar panels or photovoltaic systems.
Solar Cooking: Making use of sunlight for cooking, drying or pasteurizing food. There are three types of solar cookers used: box cookers, panel cookers and reflector cookers.
Solar Energy: A renewable resource of energy derived from sunlight. Power from the sun has actually been harnessed since ancient times, but modern technology now allows better power generation from solar heat.
Solar Panels: Solar panels are made up of arrays of photovoltaic cells that harness renewable energy from sunlight.
Solidifier: Chemicals that react with oil to form rubber-like solids so that they may be removed from contaminated water.
Source Reduction Credit System: An incentive system set up by certain US counties to encourage manufacturers and industries to practice prudent waste planning involving source reduction.
Source Separation: Segregating various wastes at the point of generation (e.g., separation of paper, metal and glass from other wastes to make recycling simpler and more efficient).
Species: A particular type of plant or animal. Plants and animals can breed only with members of their own species.
Spores: Asexual reproductive cells produced by bacteria, fungi and green plants that are present in the air. Spores can be an environmental health problem.
Sprawl: The area taken up by a large or expanding development or city, including the outskirts of the city and its suburbs that are linked by auto-depedent development.
Spray Drift: Improper pesticide application can result in spray drift or the spread of chemicals to other unintended areas causing soil and water contamination and other forms of environmental pollution.
Storm Sewer: A sewer that collects and transports surface runoff to a discharge point such as an infiltration basin, receiving stream or treatment plant.
Stormwater Runoff: Water originating form heavy rainfall or melted snow that enters the stormwater system. Because of the deluge of water, water that is not absorbed into the ground becomes surface runoff oftentimes carrying pollution and contaminants.
Stratification: In earth sciences, stratification refers to the formation of separate layers of temperature, plant, or animal life in a lake or reservoir.
Stratosphere: The portion of the atmosphere 10-to-25 miles above the earth's surface. This upper atmosphere of the earth is where the ozone layer is found.
Stream Morphology: The study that examines the movement and shape of streams as determined by rain, other weather conditions, floods and sediment transport, etc.
Strip Cropping: A crop production system that involves planting alternating strips of row crops and close-growing forage crops; the forage strips intercept and slow runoff from the less protected row crop strips.
Strip Mining: A mining technique in which the land and vegetation covering the mineral intended for mining are stripped away by huge machines, usually damaging the land severely and limiting subsequent uses.
Styrofoam: The commercial name for polystyrene, a widely used plastic product made from petroleum. It is famous as a material for commercial food containers and coffee cups, but it is also used extensively for insulation and other forms of packaging.
Substrate: In soil studies, the substrate is any combination of materials that provide support, water retention, aeration or nutrient retention for plant growth.
Subtropical: In subtropical areas, winters are relatively warm, but not as hot as the summer season. These areas rarely see frost or snow.
Sulfur Dioxide or SO2: An air pollutant generated from the sulfur present in diesel fuel. The concentration of SO2 in the exhaust gas depends on the sulfur content of the fuel. Sulfur dioxide is a colorless toxic gas with a characteristic, irritating odor.
Superfund: The program operated under the legislative authority of CERCLA and SARA that funds and carries out EPA solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities.
Superfund Sites: According to the US federal government's Superfund program, superfund sites are the nation's worst toxic waste areas that are scheduled for or are currently undergoing environmental clean-up.
Surface Impoundment: The treatment, storage, or disposal of liquid hazardous wastes in excavations, diked areas or ponds.
Surface Runoff: A term used to describe the occurrence when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, melted snow and other sources flow over the land.
Surface Water: Water found in the earth's bodies of water such as lakes, rivers and oceans.
Surfactant: A substance used in oil spill remediation. A surfactant breaks oil into small droplets which helps to increase the surface area of the oil spill, increasing the rate at which the oil can be degraded or weathered into less toxic substances.
Sustainability: In ecology, sustainability is the concept of maintaining the health of the earth and the prudent use of natural resources so that future generations may still benefit from them.
Sustainable Agriculture: An approach to growing food crops with the following goals: maintaining environmental health, economic profitability and social and economic equity.
Sustainable Design: A design philosophy that considers how a product complies with the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability.
Sustainable Development: Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report.
Sustainable Fisheries Act: The 1996 amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that imposed new requirements for US federal fishery managers to prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, reduce bycatch, and protect essential fish habitats.
Symbiosis: A close ecological relationship between organisms of different species. Sometimes a symbiotic relationship benefits both species, sometimes one species benefits at the other's expense, and in other cases neither species benefits.
Syngas: Syngas refers to synthesis gas--a mixture made up of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
The Stern Review: The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is the most comprehensive and well-known report that explains how global warming, if not addressed, can strike a serious blow to the world economy.