Deck 30: The Embattled Biosphere: The Twentieth-Century Environment

Question 1

The region that lost the most of its tropical forests during the last century was

A) Africa.
B) Australia.
C) Latin America.
D) Southeast Asia.

Answer 1

Africa.

Question 2

While the world population nearly quadrupled during the twentieth century,the global output of goods rose about

A) 7 times.
B) 13 times.
C) 16 times.
D) 19 times.

Answer 2

19 times.

Question 3

At the end of the twentieth century,the majority of the world's population was living in settlements of

A) 20,000 or more.
B) 35,000 or more.
C) 50,000 or more.
D) 100,000 or more.

Answer 3

20,000 or more.

Question 4

What country released more sulfur dioxide into the air than any other country during the 1990s?

A) Britain
B) China
C) India
D) United States

Question 5

One of the key health benefits fish provide for people is

A) providing more carbohydrates.
B) that they are cheaper than livestock.
C) in lowering cholesterol.
D) that certain species like salmon are low in fat.

Question 6

It is estimated that in the future,cities will normally range in population from

A) 250,000 to 750,000.
B) 100,000 to 1 million.
C) 1 million to 5 million.
D) 5 million to 10 million.

Question 7

One of the most serious problems that can occur from poorly managed irrigation from dams and reservoirs is that

A) too much of the water is lost to evaporation, and there is too little water for farming.
B) it creates high concentrations of salt.
C) it leads to over-cropping by farmers.
D) high concentrations of carbon dioxide results.

Question 8

At the end of the twentieth century,the world faced the loss of more species than at any time since the end of the last Ice Age.Of the recorded species of birds and animals,approximately

A) 1 percent are at risk of extinction.
B) 3 percent are at risk of extinction.
C) 5 percent are at risk of extinction.
D) 7 percent are at risk of extinction.

Question 9

One area that has suffered ecological damage as a result of the Aswan Dam is the

A) Mediterranean Sea.
B) Persian Gulf.
C) Red Sea.
D) Sahara Desert.

Question 10

By the end of the twentieth century,there were signs that urbanization was

A) increasing.
B) easing.
C) starting to level off.
D) disappearing.

Question 11

The chief problem with a switch to hydrogen as an energy source for automobiles is

A) lack of power.
B) profitability.
C) unreliability.
D) technology.

Question 12

In urban areas,the poor face all of the following critical health problems EXCEPT:

A) air pollution.
B) cheap food.
C) water pollution and shortages.
D) housing shortages.

Question 13

One reason for the rise in obesity is related to people eating food that

A) has a high carbohydrate content.
B) is heavy on fish.
C) has a high protein content.
D) is heavy on root vegetables.

Question 14

In order for it to work,hydroelectricity requires

A) large, open spaces with high winds.
B) significant amounts of sunlight.
C) uranium.
D) a big river that can be dammed.

Question 15

The "green revolution" was a movement that led to

A) the creation of new hybrid crops that were heavily dependent on fertilizers and pesticides.
B) a movement away from fertilizers and pesticides.
C) the development of genetically modified crops.
D) a new focus on the growing of more nutritious and efficient foods and away from livestock production.

Question 16

The area of the earth that is least explored and understood is

A) the rainforest.
B) the oceans.
C) the polar regions.
D) in Siberia.

Question 17

The most short-term cost-efficient alternative form of power generation ever devised is

A) hydroelectric power.
B) nuclear power.
C) tidal power.
D) wind power.

Question 18

The amount of the world's energy supplied by oil at the end of the twentieth century amounted to about

A) 40 percent.
B) 50 percent.
C) 65 percent.
D) 70 percent.

Question 19

One of the social consequences of rapid urbanization and the creation of enormous cities has been

A) a drop in literacy rates.
B) a fall in the number of manufacturing jobs.
C) a rise in living standards for the poor.
D) the growth of gangs and criminal organizations.

Question 20

During the 1980s,the infant mortality rate in Cubatão,Brazil,was

A) 5 percent.
B) 20 percent.
C) 35 percent.
D) 50 percent.

Question 21

How successfully have governments dealt with social and economic problems associated with rapid and unplanned urbanization? Have they addressed the problem at its source?

Question 22

As a general rule,as incomes rise in a country,

A) the birth rates also rise.
B) birth rates remain about the same.
C) there is too little evidence to say anything certain about birth rates.
D) the birth rates fall.

Question 23

How much of the loss of plant and animal life over the course of the twentieth century is directly attributable to human activity? What factors make answering this question difficult?

Question 24

How did changes in climate present challenges,and how did people meet those challenges during the last century?

Question 25

From the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries C.E.,the climate changed by

A) entering a cooling period.
B) becoming much wetter.
C) first becoming warmer, then becoming dramatically colder.
D) entering a warming period.

Question 26

How has uncontrolled and unplanned urbanization created social and economic problems?

Question 27

Even greater than its use for human food,fish are a vital source for

A) industrial lubricants.
B) fertilizer.
C) lamp oil.
D) lotions and creams.

Question 28

What factors led to the overproduction of food? Who has benefited from this regime of overproduction?

Question 29

In order to cope with its population growth rates,the government of mainland China

A) imposed compulsory abortions, sterilization, and fines on offenders of families that had more than one child.
B) implemented birth control programs that only encouraged people to have fewer children, but with no penalties.
C) has done nothing to deal with spiraling population growth rates.
D) has encouraged large families in order to ensure an ever larger cheap labor force.

Question 30

What conservation efforts have been employed to restore flora and fauna on the land and the sea?

Question 31

How has conservation protected the stocks of cod and haddock in the Atlantic?

A) by banning their fishing altogether
B) by successfully boycotting the sale of the fish
C) by having fishermen concentrate on each species in turn
D) by convincing fishermen to concentrate on lobster fishing instead

Question 32

How do powerful interests vested in the causes of climate change hinder efforts to deal with the problem effectively?

Question 33

How did changes in the microbial world present challenges,and how did people meet those challenges during the last century?

Question 34

The influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 is estimated to have killed more people than

A) the First World War.
B) all of those currently infected with AIDS.
C) the Second World War.
D) all of those who died in the atrocities carried out by Hitler, Mao, and Stalin.

Question 35

A disease that was virtually eradicated through immunization programs is

A) measles.
B) plague.
C) smallpox.
D) tuberculosis.

Question 36

Approximately 245 million years ago,most of the earth's species became extinct as a result of

A) an asteroid strike that cut off sunlight.
B) a warming trend that flooded the earth.
C) a little understood series of epidemics.
D) climate change that made the world colder.

Question 37

What effect has the overproduction of food had on the level of urbanization in the world?

Question 38

How have changes in food production led to cheaper food,as well as poorer nutrition,increased obesity,and dramatically higher rates of certain diseases?

Question 39

How has overproduction led to increased poverty worldwide and created new ecological challenges?

Question 40

By the late 1940s,there were approximately 40 international environmental organizations,but by 1990 there were about

A) 35.
B) 185.
C) 340.
D) 530.

Question 41

Write an essay that addresses whether the European Union is best described as an institution designed to respond to established twentieth-century concerns about cultural and commercial competition with America or as an institution designed to position Europe as an essential hub linking culture and trade from Africa,Asia,and the Americas.

Question 42

What problems have urbanization and rising population created for human health and well being?

Question 43

What alternative sources of energy exist,and what are the challenges that they pose?

Question 44

How effective have conservation efforts been? Why is this question also difficult to answer?

Question 45

What have been the environmental consequences of fossil fuel consumption?
In Perspective

Question 46

What ecological challenges have been created by rising human populations around the world?

Question 47

What threats do disease and climate pose to humans in the early twenty-first century?

Question 48

Write an essay that compares the attitudes and responses of industrialized nations and emerging nations to new evidence that relates commercial,agricultural,and industrial activities to global warming.

Question 49

How and why has the consumption of fossil fuels risen during the twentieth century?