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B Corp is a certification process that verifies for-profit companies deemed to meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Instead of merely seeking profit, they use their profits and growth to positively impact their stakeholders— and the planet.
The variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from genes and bacteria to entire ecosystems such as forests or coral reefs. The biodiversity we see today results from 4.5 billion years of evolution and is increasingly influenced by humans.
Carbon dioxide, often called just carbon, is responsible for 80 percent of global warming. It is produced from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, and also occurs naturally as it flows in a cycle between oceans, soil, plants, and animals.
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by our actions, such as heating our homes or driving a car. The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 4 tons.
Carbon negative (also referred to as climate positive) refers to a state in which a company, entity or individual has a negative carbon footprint. For example, this can be through offsetting more greenhouse gas emissions than they produce, or as a result of activities they adopt which remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit.
Carbon neutrality is a state of net zero carbon dioxide emissions. Companies or individuals can achieve this by adopting processes in which activities result in no or negligible greenhouse gas emissions or where they offset the amount of carbon they emit through certified offsetting projects.
Anything that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores carbon. The ocean, trees, and soil are all carbon sinks.
Means promoting the quality of life in a community through political and non-political processes. Civic engagement includes paid and unpaid forms of political activism, environmentalism, and community and national service.
Climate is the average of weather patterns over a long period of time (usually 30 or more years).
Climate change refers to the long-term changes in the Earth's temperature and weather patterns in specific regions. For example, variations in the amount of snow, sea levels, and sea ice can all be consequences of climate change.
Deforestation is the purposeful clearing or thinning of trees and forests for agriculture and animal grazing or to obtain wood for fuel, manufacturing, and construction. When deforestation occurs, much of the carbon stored by trees is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.
The word democracy comes from the Greek words "demos," meaning people, and "kratos," meaning power; so, democracy can be thought of as "power of the people": a way of governing which depends on the will of the people.
Having a variety of racial, sexual, gender, class, religious, ethnic, abled, and other social identities represented in a space, community, institution, or society.
Emissions are greenhouse gasses released into the air that are produced by activities, including burning fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and melting permafrost, to name a few. These gasses cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, slowly increasing the Earth's temperature over time.
Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.
Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. It is a solution for addressing imbalanced social systems.
Inclusion means intentional actions that enable people of all different characteristics to participate actively and fully in a community. This means providing equal access – through policy and practice – to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.
A carbon offset broadly refers to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon – or an increase in carbon storage (e.g., through land restoration or the planting of trees) – that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere.
The collection and reprocessing of a resource so it can be used again. For example, collecting aluminum cans, melting them down, and using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products.
A continual source of energy, such as energy from the sun, wind, flowing water, heat from the Earth, or movement of the tides.
Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature is allowed to regenerate itself. While there is certainly a role for planting trees and, occasionally, intervening to restore ecosystems, if we step back, nature can do a lot to heal itself – and the planet.
The United Nations defines sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, it is also an umbrella term addressing different aspects of sustainable development. Embedded into this term are considerations for environmental, social, and economic issues.
