Deck 9: Population, environment, Climate Change

Question 1

What tree did a 1992 report say was probably unmatched in its yield of "strange and varied products?"

A) Oak
B) Olive
C) Neem
D) Pomegranate

Answer 1

C
The 1992 report was called "Neem: a Tree for Solving Global Problems."

Question 2

How high do demographers expect the population to be when it peaks and in what year?

A) 2020 at 8 billion
B) 2050 at 9 billion
C) 2100 at 10 billion
D) 2233 at 20 billion

Answer 2

B
It is anticipated that the global population will peak at 9 billion with the bulk of that population having been born by 2050.

Question 3

What rare-earth element is essential in the production of permanent magnets for hybrid-vehicle motors?

A) Tantalum
B) Neodymium
C) Niobium
D) Chromium

Answer 3

B
Neodymium is essential for this process,with most of the current stock produced in China.

Question 4

What refers to the interconnected natural responses of the Earth to restabilize living and physical systems when perturbed beyond normal bounds?

A) The Gaian system
B) The Ecosystem
C) The Gaia Initiative
D) The Genesis Project

Question 5

"Alternative energy" generally is considered to provide substitutes for what current modes of energy?

A) Petroleum liquids and electricity generators
B) Dilithium and trilithium crystals
C) Liquid hydrogen and liquid nitrogen
D) Solar energy and wind energy

Question 6

Carbon dioxide,nitrogen oxide and methane are examples of what?

A) Solar energy
B) Breathable gases
C) Gaian stabilization
D) Greenhouse gases

Question 7

How many nuclear power plants are active around the world today?

A) 405
B) 355
C) 435
D) 315

Question 8

What region of the world has the highest percentage of chronically hungry people at 34 percent?

A) Central Asia
B) Eastern China
C) Eastern Europe
D) Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 9

Thanks to the relatively mild and stable temperatures over the last how many years does Robert Correll refer to the period as a "sweet spot?"

A) 2,000 years
B) 100,000 years
C) 150 years
D) 10,000 years

Question 10

Who asked for a "one-armed scientist" to offer testimony concerning clean-air legislation?

A) Edmund Muskie
B) Peter Singer
C) Bill Grieder
D) Tom Friedman

Question 11

What is the main source of the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

A) Methane
B) Deforestation
C) Landfills
D) Burning fossil fuels

Question 12

How high are current estimates for people alive who are chronically hungry?

A) 800-900 million people
B) 1-1.2 billion people
C) 50-75 million people
D) 250-350 million people

Question 13

What is now central to the goals of many international organizations,national institutions,and transnational corporations?

A) Globalization
B) Privatization
C) Sustainable development
D) Transparency

Question 14

The Board of Sustainable Development at what US institution began a focus on a 50-year transition to sustainable technology in 1995?

A) Cook College
B) US Department of Agriculture
C) Smithsonian Institute
D) National Academy of Sciences

Question 15

Which tree does Robert W.Kates focus on in his article in this volume?

A) Olive
B) Oak
C) Neem
D) Maple

Question 16

The sudden surge in global population is expected to end by:

A) 2100
B) 2020
C) 2075
D) 2233

Question 17

Who wrote The Lexus and the Olive Tree?

A) Robert W. Kates
B) Milton Friedman
C) Tom W. Burl
D) Tom Friedman

Question 18

Where is most carbon dioxide located on Mars?

A) Polar ice caps
B) The upper atmosphere
C) Soil and rocks
D) Olympus Mons

Question 19

What is the ambient average temperature on Earth?

A) 420°C
B) 14.6°C
C) 50°C
D) -50°C

Question 20

What organization helped spearhead the sustainable development movement in the 1980s?

A) International Union of Students (IUS)
B) International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
C) The World Academy of Science (WAS)
D) Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC)