- Industry: Broadcasting & receiving
- Number of terms: 5074
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The largest broadcasting organisation in the world.
There is no universally accepted definition of organic farming, and each country regulates what can and cannot be labelled "organic". In general, it describes a form of agriculture that avoids use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives, and relies instead, as far as possible, on "natural" products and techniques - such as crop rotation and animal manures.
Industry:Natural environment
CO2 is made up of the elements carbon and oxygen. It exists quite naturally in our atmosphere, as part of the carbon cycle. Everyday processes in the plant and animal world both add CO2 to the atmosphere and take it out. However, because it is a greenhouse gas - meaning it affects the temperature of the earth - the exact level of CO2 is important. Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 into the atmosphere, hence the anxiety that extensive use of these fuels is causing climate change.
Industry:Natural environment
Six greenhouse gases are limited by the Kyoto Protocol and each has a different global warming potential. The overall warming effect of this cocktail of gases is often expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent - the amount of CO2 that would cause the same amount of warming.
Industry:Natural environment
Climate change is the variation in the average global or regional climate as measured by yardsticks such as average temperature and rainfall. This variation is caused by both natural processes and human activity. Weather is what happens over days or even hours, whereas climate is the average weather measured over a longer period. Increasingly when people refer to climate change, however, they specifically mean the phenomenon of global warming.
Industry:Natural environment
A chemical combination of two or more elements, such as carbon and oxygen in carbon dioxide (CO2).
Industry:Natural environment
Dangerous climate change is a term introduced by the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - the treaty that led to the Kyoto protocol. In general terms, it refers to climate change of sufficient severity that it will have a major effect on societies, economies and the wider environment. The definition of what that level is varies, but Defra, for example, defines it as a rise in average global surface temperatures of 1-3 ºC (taking pre-industrial revolution average surface temperatures as the base).
Industry:Natural environment
The permanent removal of standing forests that can lead to significant levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
Industry:Natural environment
Deforestation is the conversion, long term, of areas of forested land to non-forested land through human activity. (Where cleared areas are quickly replanted, it is not regarded as deforestation.) Reforestation is the reversal of that process - i.e. planting trees on land that has historically been forested but has recently been used for other purposes. A less commonly seen term, afforestation, refers to the process of establishing forests on land that has never been forested, or not in recent history.
Industry:Natural environment
Ordinary diesel, like regular petrol, is refined from oil but it is a thicker, heavier liquid with a higher 'energy density' - meaning it offers better fuel economy. On the down side, unless you buy an air filter, diesel exhaust is a significant source of particulates and other sources of air pollution. A type of diesel not derived from petroleum is increasingly widely available, commonly referred to as biodiesel.
Industry:Natural environment
A dual-fuel vehicle is one designed to run on a combination of traditional fuels (petrol or diesel) and alternative fuels (such as liquid petroleum gas or biodiesel). The term is usually applied to cars with separate tanks for each fuel but is sometimes used to describe those diesel engines that accept a blend of traditional fuel and bio-diesel.
Industry:Natural environment
