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Glossary of key terms

From Appendix I of the King County 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan

  • Apparel - All clothing, footwear, and related textile products used for personal wear or adornment. This includes items made from natural, synthetic, or blended fibers, as well as accessories such as hats, gloves, and scarves. The category encompasses both new and secondhand items, considering their full lifecycle impacts, including production, transportation, use, and end-of-life management.
  • Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - A naturally occurring gas in the earth's atmosphere. It is also a byproduct of human activities such as burning fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas produced by human activity.
  • Climate – Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system.
  • Climate change – A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forces, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use, human activity. Global warming is one aspect of climate change.
  • EcoLabel - An EcoLabel is a visual cue that a product, service, or company has received an environmental certification. This certification confirms that the product meets a set of environmental standards or desired attributes. King County adopts EcoLabels recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other third-party certifiers to ensure sustainable purchasing practices
  • Small, Local Business - A small local business in the context of King County's Re+ Zero Waste Action Guide refers to a business that operates primarily within the local community and meets the criteria of a "small entity" as defined by the Small Business Act. This includes businesses that are independently owned and operated, not dominant in their field, and meet specific size standards based on their industry classification (SIC/NAICS code) and annual receipts or number of employees. These businesses play a crucial role in the local economy and are essential partners in reducing consumption-based emissions through sustainable practices and environmentally preferred purchasing.
  • Compost - Compost is a nutrient-rich product resulting from the decomposition of organic materials like food scraps, yard debris, and food-soiled paper. Composting transforms these materials into a valuable soil amendment that supports healthy soil and plants. By composting, we can reduce waste sent to landfills, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to a more sustainable environment
  • Consumption-based Emissions – Greenhouse gas emissions associated with goods and services. These include embodied emissions associated with the production, transportation, use and disposal of goods, food, and services.
  • Embodied Carbon Emissions – Carbon emissions that occur when extracting materials and making building products.
  • Fossil Fuels -Natural resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, containing hydrocarbons. These fuels are formed in the Earth over millions of years and produce carbon dioxide when burned.
  • Frontline communities - King County defines frontline communities as those that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and have historically faced systemic inequities. These communities include: Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, Immigrants and refugees, People living with low incomes, Communities experiencing disproportionate pollution exposure, Women, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQ individuals, People with existing health issues like asthma and heart disease, People with limited English skills, and People experiencing pregnancy. King County emphasizes the importance of centering these communities in developing climate solutions and ensuring they have the knowledge, skills, resources, capacity, and social-political capital to equitably adapt, lead, and thrive in a changing climate.
  • Recycled Content: Recycled content refers to materials that have been recovered or diverted from the waste stream and used as inputs to create new products. This can include both pre-consumer waste (scraps from manufacturing processes) and post-consumer waste (materials used and discarded by consumers).
  • Makerspace: A makerspace is a collaborative, hands-on workspace where people come together to create, craft, and build. It's typically equipped with tools, materials, and resources for a variety of creative activities.
  • Life Cycle Emissions: Life cycle emissions refer to the total greenhouse gas emissions generated throughout the entire life cycle of a product or service. This includes emissions from raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, usage, and disposal or recycling.

     

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