Terms and definitions
Terms and definitions used in the Climate Equity Action Plan.
A
Adaptation strategies: Preparing for and adjusting to the current and projected impacts from climate change.
Air Quality: A measure of how clean or polluted the air is.
Alternative energy: A source of energy that uses renewable resources to produce energy, such as wind, solar, or tidal energy. These require materials to build, but not to produce energy. This term usually excludes nuclear energy, and always excludes fossil fuels.
C
Carbon dioxide (CO2): A naturally-occurring gas. CO2 is a byproduct of burning fossil fuels (such as oil, gas, and coal). Land use changes, and industrial processes (like cement production) also create carbon dioxide. It is the main greenhouse gas produced by humans.
Carbon footprint: The amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) emitted by something (such as a person’s activities or manufacturing, transporting and using some products) during a specific time period.
Carbon-neutral: Balancing carbon dioxide emissions with the same amount of carbon dioxide removal.
Clean economy: An economy that is low-carbon and produces goods and services with an environmental benefit.
Clean energy: Energy generated from renewable or carbon-free sources, as well as energy saved through efficiency measures.
Clean transportation: Technologies aimed at energy efficiency in transportation systems. This includes switching from fossil fuels to clean, renewable technologies, improvements in public transit and non-motorized transportation systems and infrastructure, and travel demand management. Examples include light rail, bus rapid transit vehicles and systems, multimodal transit hubs, and traffic signal prioritization and coordination systems.
Climate navigators: Professionals who educate community members about the science of climate change. They also share ways to prevent and respond to climate change.
Climate-smart: Designed to: Contribute as little as possible to climate change, and/or withstand a climate that has changed in the future.
County-funded: Buildings or projects that may not be owned by the county but received funding from county programs.
Culturally-responsive: Providing information or services in alignment with specific community needs
E
Emissions: See greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental justice areas of concern: Areas where the number of people of color and/or Indigenous people is greater than 50% and/or more than 40% of the households have a household income of less than 185% of the federal poverty level. Also includes communities within Tribal boundaries.
Environmental justice: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin, income, and educational levels in implementation and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Equity: Proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce fairness in power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all.
F
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
Food insecurity: Lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.
G
Climate-driven career pathways: Jobs that contribute to climate change monitoring, planning, mitigation and/or adaptation.
Greenhouse gas emissions: The release of greenhouse gasses and the gasses themselves. Common examples include carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane gas (CH4).
H
Health disparities: Differences in health among population groups.
Herbivore mimicry: An invasive plant management strategy that capitalizes on or imitates the low-impact of grazing animals.
M
Mitigation (of climate change): Human action to reduce emissions or help remove a greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.
MnDOT: Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Multimodal transportation options: Transportation and land use that considers diverse transportation options. These include: Walking, bicycling, public transit, and automobiles. Multimodal transportation accounts for land use factors (such as land use density and mix) that affect access to destinations.
N
Net-zero: Reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activity to nothing and/or balancing produced greenhouse gas emissions with methods that absorb harmful gases from the atmosphere. See carbon-neutral.
R
Resilience (to climate change): The capacity of individuals, communities, businesses, buildings, infrastructure, or the natural environment to prevent, withstand, respond to and recover from disruptive events and continue to perform despite persistent stresses imposed by climate change. Both mitigation and adaptation are necessary for long-term resilience.
S
STEM: Acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields.
Sustainability: Creating and maintaining the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.
T
Telecommuting: Working from home, usually by using the phone or the internet.
Transportation demand management policies: These policies prioritize increasing travelers’ choices. Options to use different routes, using different modes of transportation, at different times of day are all encouraged by this design approach.
Trauma-informed training: An approach that aims to understand and respond to the impact of traumatic experiences on an individuals life
Trusted messengers: A Ramsey County initiative started in 2020 to share COVID-19 information. The initiative uses a variety of community partnerships to deliver culturally relevant and language-appropriate information on Ramsey County programs and information.
U
Underrecognized groups may include:
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Black/African American, American Indian, Latino/a/x, Asian and other racially and ethnically diverse people.
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Immunocompromised individuals, people with chronic illness or health complications, and pregnant people.
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People who work outside or are unhoused.
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People with limited mobility, such as elderly people and people with disabilities.
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People without cars.
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People who are incarcerated.
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Low-income families.
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Recent immigrants.
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People who don't speak English.
These people tend to experience greater social, economic, physical or health stress including: from:
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The effects of racism and oppression.
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Limited physical ability to endure environmental stress.
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Increased exposure to climate conditions.
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Difficulty reaching help during climate emergencies.
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Barriers to accessing resources, including other that would address sources of stress. life stressors.
Urban heat island: Locations where the building materials and industrial activity make urban areas unusually hot compared to the surrounding region.
V
Vector-borne diseases: Sickness that is spread to humans and other animals by blood-feeding bugs such as ticks or fleas.
Vulnerability: The degree to which a system or community is susceptible to or unable to cope with adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes.