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1.
Degradation of water (chemical contaminant concentrations, river flows, rainfall, runoff)
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2.
Soil depletion (erosion rates, desertification rates, salt accumulation in soils)
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3.
Chemical contamination (pollutant and toxic emissions, pollutant and toxic concentrations in air, water, soil, and living organisms)
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4.
Altered biogeochemical cycles (river flows and lake levels; amount of nutrients going into water bodies, or nutrient loading; nutrient concentrations in water bodies; chlorophyll concentrations, reflecting nutrient-triggered algal blooms; oxygen depletion in water bodies; trophic status of lakes; changes in air and soil chemistry; atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations)
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5.
Global climate change (atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, change in atmospheric temperatures, distribution and intensity of severe storms or droughts)
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| Direct depletion of nonhuman life |
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1.
Overharvest of renewable resources such as fish and timber (tons of fish harvested; for a given anadromous fish population, number of adult fish returning to rivers to spawn; hatchery fish released and recovered; board-feet of timber harvested; forest regrowth rates; quantity of standing timber; ecological footprints)
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2.
Habitat fragmentation and destruction (area of remaining grassland, wetland, and other habitats; landscape connectivity; rates of habitat destruction)
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3.
Biotic homogenization (number of extinct, threatened, and endangered taxonomic groups; spread of nonindigenous species; local or regional diversity; damage and reparation costs due to invasions or extinctions; major relocations in species distributions)
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4.
Genetic engineering (diversity among cultivated crop strains, genetic diversity within strains, escape of genetically engineered organisms or traits to wild populations)
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| Direct degradation of human life |
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1.
Emerging and reemerging diseases (death or infection rates caused by diseases, geographic spread of diseases, recovery rates, frequency and spread of resistance to antibiotics and other drugs)
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2.
Loss of cultural diversity (extinction of cultures, death of languages)
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3.
Reduced quality of life (population size and growth; starvation, malnutrition, and obesity rates; infant mortality rates; teen pregnancy rates; literacy rates; rates of stress and other diseases of affluence; length of work week; child or other forced labor; changes in death rates or average life spans)
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4.
Environmental injustice (siting of toxic waste dumps or waste emissions relative to resident communities, economic exploitation of certain groups, worker strikes, wage and income gaps, unemployment rates for different economic sectors)
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5.
Political instability (frequency of domestic and international strife, environmental terrorism rates, number of environmental refugees, genocide)
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6.
Cumulative effects (frequency of catastrophic natural disasters; costs of weather-related property damage; human death tolls; government subsidies of environmentally destructive activities such as fishery overcapitalization, below-cost timber sales, water projects, and agricultural supports; replacement costs for ecological services; pricing that reflects environmental costs; “green” taxes; rise in polycultural agricultural practices; number of organic farms)
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