Deck 17: Environmental Economics, Politics and Worldviews

Question 1

One approach to working toward more environmentally beneficial economies is to sell certain products that replace the need for services.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In a truly free-market economic system, all economic decisions are governed solely by principles of fairness, democracy, and individual choice.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Within the last few years, developers have proposed the elimination of the National Park Services.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A way that individuals can provide environmental leadership is to purchase and eat food that has been sustainably produced.

Question 5

The majority of neoclassical economists would be expected to adopt a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity because of our limited resources.

Question 6

Stewardship is based on the idea that nature exists for all species alike and our success depends on how well we manage the earth.

Question 7

The genuine progress indicator, or GPI, takes into account the harmful environmental and social costs of all transactions.

Question 8

Most democratic governments rely on incentive-based environmental regulations.

Question 9

Ecological economists are likely to favor finding ways to protect natural capital rather than consuming it.

Question 10

Technological advances can always be relied upon to provide solutions to our environmental problems.

Question 11

Many analysts think that the tax systems in most countries are somewhat backward because they discourage jobs, income, and profit-driven innovation.

Question 12

The cap-and-trade approach to pollution reduction means that permit holders not using their entire allocation can save credits for future expansion.

Question 13

History shows that significant change usually comes from the bottom up when individuals join together to bring about change.

Question 14

The holistic principle states that we should recognize that the environmental and other problems we face are connected.

Question 15

Some research has suggested that many toxic waste sites in white communities have been cleaned up faster and more completely than similar sites in African American and Latino communities have.

Question 16

Ecological economists argue that it would be easy to find substitutes for many important ecosystem services and resources.

Question 17

Natural, human, and manufactured capital are the three types of capital used in most economic systems.

Question 18

Ecological economists consider natural capital to be important but not indispensable because they believe we can find substitutes for essentially any resource that we might deplete or degrade.

Question 19

The Biosphere 2 experiment showed that science is very capable of engineering sustainable ecological systems.

Question 20

The precautionary principle states that we should make decisions that help to prevent a problem from occurring or becoming worse even if we lack conclusive evidence that these outcomes will occur.

Question 21

In a market-based economic system, economic decisions about prices are controlled by ____.

A) supply and demand
B) the government
C) past customs and experience
D) the banks
E) full-cost pricing

Question 22

The amount of a good or service available for sale at a particular price is called the ____.

A) supply
B) demand
C) indirect cost
D) expense
E) market price

Question 23

To estimate the future value of a resource, the World Bank and most businesses use _____.

A) a 20% annual gain in value
B) a 10% annual discount rate
C) a 10% annual increase
D) a 20% annual decrease
E) complicated calculations based upon the specific resource

Question 24

Since 1980, a well-organized and well-funded movement has mounted a strong campaign to weaken or repeal existing U.S. environmental laws and regulations and to change the ways in which public lands are used.

Question 25

Less than 10% of the U.S. public considers the environment to be one of the nation's most pressing problems.

Question 26

A necessary result of implementing ____ is that some producers of harmful products and services would go out of business.

A) full-cost pricing
B) environmental regulations
C) pollution taxes
D) government subsidies
E) ecological policies

Question 27

What is an internal cost of driving a domestic car?

A) Air pollution and litter
B) Cost of materials used in manufacture
C) Highway accidents
D) Health costs
E) Hazardous wastes produced by car exhaust

Question 28

The central view of neoclassical economists is that economic growth is ____.

A) the only path to a truly free-market system
B) the natural solution to many problems
C) paramount to all other concerns
D) limited by resource availability
E) unlimited, regardless of resource limitations

Question 29

How do proponents suggest we implement a tax shift to green taxes, which transfers taxes from income and wealth to pollution and environmental degradation?

A) It should be enacted immediately in order to do any good.
B) It should only apply to developed countries.
C) It should include tax breaks.
D) In some cases, both pollution and income/wealth should be taxed.
E) It should be phased in over 10 to 20 years.

Question 30

Some experts cite the failure to include the harmful environmental costs in the ____ of the goods and services as one of the major causes of the environmental problems we face.

A) stock prices
B) indirect prices
C) partial-cost prices
D) market prices
E) full-cost prices

Question 31

A potential problem to finding solutions to our environmental problems is that many current problems are not obvious to people on a day-to-day basis, making them seem less pressing than they really are.

Question 32

The economically and politically powerful interests that receive perverse subsidies spend a lot of time and money on ____, thus shifting to non-perverse subsidies would be difficult.

A) lobbying
B) lawyers
C) bribes
D) policies
E) politicians

Question 33

Hunting, trapping, and fishing are allowed in National Wildlife Refuges.

Question 34

A tax on the amount of CO₂in exhaust from burning gasoline would be an example of a ____.

A) subsidy shift
B) full-cost pricing
C) tax shift
D) perverse tax
E) green tax

Question 35

The ecological economist believes that conventional economic growth will eventually ____.

A) pull us out of our dependence on Middle Eastern oil
B) lead us into a socialist economy
C) become unsustainable because it will deplete natural capital
D) lead us into a sustainable economy
E) collapse when oil runs out

Question 36

The view that natural resources are important but not indispensable is held by ____.

A) environmental economists
B) ecological economists
C) Eastern European economists
D) neoclassical economists
E) classical economists

Question 37

Which type of economist views economic systems as subsystems of the biosphere that depend heavily on irreplaceable natural resources?

A) Neoclassical
B) Ecological
C) Environmental
D) Classical
E) Full-cost

Question 38

The ____ was deliberately designed to measure outputs, without taking into account their beneficial or harmful environmental impacts.

A) free market
B) market pricing structure
C) gross domestic product
D) genuine progress indicator
E) government subsidy system

Question 39

Perverse ____ can distort the economic playing field and create a huge economic incentive for resource depletion and environmental degradation.

A) subsidies
B) tax incentives
C) full-cost pricing
D) regulations
E) lobbying

Question 40

The energy used to assemble the parts of a new electronic device is an example of a(n) ____.

A) market price
B) subsidized price
C) internal cost
D) direct cost
E) indirect cost

Question 41

What has been identified as one of the five major causes of the environmental problems we face?

A) Perverse subsidies
B) Hazardous waste
C) Ignorance
D) Corruption
E) Poverty

Question 42

Which federal agency manages U.S. public lands and is responsible for land that is used primarily for grazing, mining, and oil and gas extraction, mostly in the western states?

A) U.S. Forest Service
B) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
C) National Wildlife Refuge System
D) National Park System
E) Bureau of Land Management

Question 43

Polluting industrial sites and hazardous waste dumps tend to be located disproportionately in communities populated by ____.

A) wealthy upper class
B) wild animals
C) middle class
D) minorities
E) politicians

Question 44

Which approach to business is least ecologically minded?

A) mimic nature
B) reduce poverty
C) sell more things instead of services
D) use full-cost pricing
E) use eco-labels on products

Question 45

According to the ____, when we use the earth's natural capital, we are borrowing from the earth and from future generations.

A) planetary management worldview
B) economic worldview
C) environmental worldview
D) stewardship worldview
E) environmental ethics worldview

Question 46

In considering the best way to build a new development, someone with a life-centered worldview would think it most important that____.

A) the developers prioritize business and economic growth
B) the developers prioritize human welfare
C) the developers make the development as successful as possible
D) the developers build as quickly as possible
E) the developers try to protect all affected species

Question 47

The ____ states that no group of people should bear an unfair share of the burden created by pollution, environmental degradation, or the execution of environmental laws.

A) environmental justice principle
B) polluter-pays principle
C) prevention principle
D) precautionary principle
E) reversibility principle

Question 48

What is a financial tool to help people climb out of poverty?

A) Student loans
B) Microlending
C) Microtaxes
D) Education grants
E) No ATM fees

Question 49

Decisions about how to best use and preserve national resources in a democracy are often complicated by the many ____.

A) corporations
B) voters
C) special interest groups
D) political parties
E) competing policies

Question 50

According to the planetary management environmental worldview, ____.

A) we have an ethical responsibility to be good stewards of the earth
B) our resources are limited and should not be wasted
C) we should manage nature to meet our needs
D) our primary focus should be on preserving the environment
E) our success depends on learning how nature sustains itself

Question 51

Which of the following is true about security?

A) While environmental security has been given considerable attention, there is a need to devote more attention to economic security instead.
B) Environmental security, military security, and economic security are completely separate and not related.
C) While environmental security has been given less attention, it should be considered along with economic security, military security, and their interactions.
D) Ecologists and economists do not think that environmental security should be considered in diplomatic activities even though it is important within a country.
E) Environmental security can be addressed separately from other forms of security and can be handled entirely by volunteers and nongovernmental organizations.

Question 52

What kind of environmental regulation sets heavy penalties for not reaching goals?

A) command-and-control
B) incentive-based
C) free market
D) full-cost based
E) neoclassical

Question 53

The cap-and-trade program for regulating air pollutants by the U.S. government is an example of a(n) ____.

A) full-cost pricing
B) incentive-based regulation
C) command and control regulation
D) service-flow regulation
E) subsidy shift

Question 54

Analyses of budgets and appropriations reveal that the government has given an average of $2.7 million a day in ____ for privately owned interests that use U.S. public lands for activities such as mining, fossil fuel extraction, logging, and livestock grazing.

A) environmental exemptions
B) loans and grants
C) resources and equipment
D) permits and licenses
E) subsidies and tax breaks

Question 55

To which international plan to curb poverty has the United States failed to contribute its stated pledge?

A) Microlending and microfinance
B) The Ecology of Commerce
C) The Kyoto Protocol
D) The Basel Convention
E) Millennium Development Goals

Question 56

Some people contend that any ____ worldview will eventually fail because it wrongly assumes we now have or can gain enough knowledge to become effective managers or stewards of the earth.

A) planetary-centered
B) human-centered
C) economic-centered
D) life-centered
E) earth-centered

Question 57

Which of the following is an example of a special interest group?

A) Nongovernmental organizations
B) Scientific research groups
C) Politicians
D) Government agencies
E) Economists

Question 58

The federal government manages roughly 35% of the country's land, which is jointly owned by ____.

A) native Americans
B) the Bureau of Land Management
C) various corporations
D) all U.S. citizens
E) the National Park System

Question 59

The avoidance of making decisions that cannot be reversed later if they turn out to be harmful is called the ____.

A) precautionary principle
B) net energy principle
C) reversibility principle
D) prevention principle
E) polluter-pays principle

Question 60

What do critics say about the command-and-control approach to U.S. environmental regulation?

A) It is too focused on cleanup.
B) It is too focused on prevention.
C) It encourages dishonesty.
D) It is too harsh.
E) Its regulations are too complex.

Question 61

An ethical guideline to sustainable living is to ____ the way that nature sustains itself.

A) understand
B) know
C) feel
D) support
E) mimic

Question 62

According to the textbook, which of the following ideas is one of the three that form the foundation of environmental literacy?

A) Natural capital is expendable.
B) Ecological footprints of the more-developed world are balanced by those of the less-developed world.
C) Ecological tipping points are long-lasting and should not be crossed.
D) Ecological tipping points can be balanced by reforestation and restoration efforts.
E) Gloom-and-doom pessimism in the critical evaluation of experts and leaders.

Question 63

One of Brown's Plan B goals toward shifting to a more environmentally and economically sustainable future is to stabilize ____ growth.

A) poverty
B) economic
C) hazardous waste
D) population
E) pollution

Question 64

Some people believe that living without direct contact of the natural world can lead to ____.

A) malnutrition
B) a negative worldview
C) psychological disorders
D) poverty
E) economic disadvantages

Question 65

In ____________________, land is protected from hunting and mining but camping and sport fishing is allowed.

Question 66

Celebrating and protecting ____ through a variety of approaches is an ethical guideline for developing more sustainable societies.

A) resources
B) environmental worldviews
C) full-cost pricing
D) earth
E) biodiversity

Question 67

The ____ worldview emphasizes the value of all life and of the biosphere.

A) earth-centered
B) biocentric
C) stewardship
D) planetary management
E) biosphere

Question 68

Taxes that discourage pollution are called ____________________.

Question 69

Which worldview sees humans as the planet's most important species?

A) Environmental wisdom
B) Stewardship
C) Economic succession
D) Planetary management
E) Planetary intrinsic value

Question 70

Since 1992, the Xerox company has been ____________________ most of its copying machines as part of its mission to provide document services rather than to sell new photocopiers that would consume more resources than necessary.

Question 71

An environmentally literate person will understand that our ____ are immense and are expanding rapidly.

A) natural resources
B) hazardous waste materials
C) ecological footprints
D) food supplies
E) sustainable resources

Question 72

As with market pricing, the GDP of a country often does not include the ____________________ of goods and services.

Question 73

In a truly ____________________ economic system, the market prices of goods and services would include all of their direct and indirect costs associated with environmental degradation.

Question 74

The ____________________ worldview assumes that humans are dominant over all other species and should therefore make environmental decisions based on that dominance.

Question 75

A fundamental idea behind ____ is understanding that natural capital supports our economies.

A) environmental economics
B) environmentalism
C) sustainability
D) planetary management
E) environmental literacy

Question 76

Machines, materials, and factories are examples of ____________________ made from natural resources.

Question 77

The measure of the annual market value of all goods and services produced by all firms and organizations, foreign and domestic, operating within a country is known as the ____________________.

Question 78

The goods and services produced by the Earth's natural processes that support all life are called ____________________.

Question 79

The United States has successfully used the ____________________ approach to reduce the emissions of sulfur dioxide and several other air pollutants.

Question 80

The practice of including the estimated harmful environmental and health costs of resource use in the market price of goods and services is called ____________________.