Earth Speak

Deforestation
Deforestation is exactly what it sounds like -- ridding the world of trees and forests. Reports put the major causes of deforestation as overpopulation, logging, cattle grazing and the race to produce cash crops. If deforestation continues, critics say, Earth could be looking at some major side effects. These include loss of biodiversity, killing off of forest-based societies (both plants and animals), and a devastating disruption of the global climate. To see where deforestation is most prevalent around the world, check out the world deforestation map at HowStuffWorks.com.

Desertification
Desertification is taking a productive desert area and turning it into a region that no longer produces anything. Why would anyone turn something productive into nothing? Unfortunately, it occurs as the side effect of another action: grazing animals. Plants found in these semi-arid regions are being consumed by large animals that find food where they can due to sporadic rainfall. Low rainfall is also the reason behind another geographic phenomenon -- disappearing lakes. To find out how a lake could vanish, and to learn about some of the lakes that no longer exist, head on over to HowStuffWorks to read this article.

Drought
In 2007, areas of the United States, particularly the Southeast, experienced extremely dry weather with little to no rain -- a drought. Droughts, if they go on long enough, can cause devastating damage to crops and seriously deplete the water supply in the areas they're affecting. The state of Texas had been in a drought for about three years. In the spring of 2007, it finally got some rain. And it didn't stop for 45 days, causing major flooding and even deaths. In this HowStuffWorks article, find out how the weather can go from one extreme to another, and learn about some of the other weather disasters of 2007.

Earthquakes
Earthquakes -- aside from being terrifying and devastating to the areas they hit -- are essentially vibrations of the Earth’s crust. This shaking energy may be a result of underground movement along a fault plane or from volcanic activity. They can also be man-made: a result of underground explosions, collapsing structures or meteor impacts, for example. No matter what the stimulus, earthquakes are more frequent than we may think. The U.S. Geological Survey says that more than 3 million occur annually, although many of them are quite weak. In this HowStuffWorks article, find out how the study of seismology and the invention of the Richter scale have played a role in scientists' ultimate goal: predicting earthquakes and warning people ahead of time.

Ecosystem
Your backyard is an ecosystem. Each ocean is an ecosystem. The grouping of plants outside your school or office is an ecosystem, too. So is the Earth itself. How can so many different things be ecosystems? An ecosystem, by definition, is a system where abiotic (air, water, rocks, energy) and biotic (plants, animals, organisms) elements work together to form a whole. They can vary in size, and all small ecosystems will eventually work together to form the larger one of Earth. No matter the size, ecosystems are very delicate and are damaged easily. Global warming could have devastating effects on the world's ecosystems. Global warming could have devastating effects on the world's ecosystems. Read more about what global warming could do to the ecosystems of Earth in this article from HowStuffWorks.

El Nino
Most people think of El Nino as a rather recent phenomenon. But in fact, it's been around for a little more than 100 years. Every three to seven years, a warm current hits the coast of Ecuador and Peru. This warmer water is missing most of its nutrients, causing fewer plants and animals to be able to live. To see the oceans and coastlines El Nino affects, take a look at this HowStuffWorks map of the South Pacific region.

Environment
The dictionary defines an environment as the circumstances, objects and conditions which surround someone. So everyone has their work or school environment and their home environment. But there's also another environment that's bigger than any other -- the natural environment. The natural environment is made up of the ground, plants, animals, oceans, sky, lakes and rivers, even you! To learn more about everything in the environment, check out HowStuffWorks.com for in-depth information.

EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency is the governmental body that creates and enforces regulations that enact environmental legislation. It is deemed a “regulatory agency,” with the ability to write regulations that seek to explain the legal, technical and operational details that will be necessary to implement into law. The EPA also helps to devise new standards for businesses and citizens and stand behind laws passed by Congress that further the environmental and public heath goals of the United States. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act are just a few of the laws the EPA has put forward in recent years. In addition, the agency abides by laws and executive orders that guide federal departments developing regulations. Recent examples of these include the Freedom of Information Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act. For more about how the EPA works, its history and the controversies surrounding it, go to Howstuffworks.com.

Equator
The equator is an imaginary line that circles the globe from east to west directly in the middle of the Earth. It distinguishes between the Northern and Southern hemispheres and runs through Ecuador, northern Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Africa. Almost 25,000 miles in length, the equator is home to most of the Earth's rainforests. The equator also runs through several mountain ranges. To explore the different ranges it hits, look over this map on HowStuffWorks.com. OR To explore a map of the different ranges it hits, head on over to HowStuffWorks.com.

Equinox
An equinox is the time when the sun is positioned directly above the Earth's equator. This occurs twice a year, once in the spring (around March 20) and once in the fall (around Sept. 23). When it happens, the day and night will last around the same amount of time. The sun also works a special way once during the summer and once during the winter, known as the solstice. Learn more about the sun and all the things it does every day throughout the year in this article from HowStuffWorks.

Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels are found in deposits from beneath the Earth's surface and are pulled from -- you guessed it -- fossils that could be as old as 300 million years. Fossil fuels -- coal, oil and natural gas -- provide 85 percent of all the energy produced in the United States, 66 percent of electricity and almost 100 percent of transpiration fuels. But they're not the only fuels out there. To read about other types of fuel, what they're used for, and how they help or harm the environment, see HowStuffWorks' alternative fuel roundup.

Global Warming
With the growth of population, there comes more and more pollution throughout the world. And with that increased pollution come more and more negative effects on our planet. Scientists have been monitoring this concept for years, but it's only creeped onto our radar relatively recently -- global warming. Carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation, which causes a warming trend. Humans are releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, and this is thought to be the culprit behind global warming. This HowStuffWorks article takes an in-depth look at what global warming is, what causes it, what the long-term effects are and if there's any way to recover from it.

Greenhouse Effect
The Earth's atmosphere contains several gases that trap heat from the sun and warm the Earth. One of the misconceptions about the greenhouse effect is that it's a bad thing. It's not. The greenhouse effect keeps our planet warm enough in order for life to survive. The problems arise from a buildup of too much heat, which is one of the major factors of global warming. HowStuffWorks.com helps take the mystery out of the phrase. Read on for more about the pros and cons of the greenhouse effect and what Earth would be like without it.

Greenhouse Gas
Greenhouse gases are gases in the Earth's atmosphere that absorb the infrared radiation emitted from the sun to heat the surface of the Earth. Without these gases warming the Earth, we wouldn't be able to survive. The Earth would be too cold for living things. However, the greenhouse gases have begun to trap too much heat, which in turn contributes to global warming and harms our environment. Read this HowStuffWorks article to learn more about greenhouse gases and their effects on Earth.

Hurricane
Every year between June 1 and Nov. 30 (commonly called hurricane season), hurricanes threaten the eastern and gulf coasts of the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Hurricanes wreak havoc when they make landfall, and they can kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars of property damage when they hit heavily populated areas. In this HowStuffWorks article, read how hurricanes form and move and view pictures of the damage and destruction they can cause.

Glacier
Glaciers are the largest moving objects on Earth. These massive rivers of ice form in areas where more snow falls each winter than melts each summer. Their scale is truly gargantuan -- the glaciers that form the ice cap covering Greenland hold enough ice to encase the entire Earth to a depth of 17 feet. The glaciers of Antarctica are so heavy they actually change the shape of the planet. And, perhaps most importantly, three-quarters of the world's total supply of freshwater is frozen in glaciers. Check out other cool facts about glaciers at HowStuffWorks.com, including how they're made, where you can find one yourself and how they can actually shape land.

Iceberg
Icebergs are much more than just floating blocks of ice. It turns out they carry their own ecosystems and shape other ecosystems they come in contact with. In fact, every time someone studies an iceberg, the world learns something new about the massive islands of ice. We know icebergs are dangerous -- after all, an iceberg is what sank the unsinkable Titanic. But did you know they could explode, too? Dive into the cold world of icebergs in this article from HowStuffWorks.com.