Deck 1: Environmental Problems - Their Causes - and Sustainability

Question 1

​One social science principle of sustainability is that we should leave the planet's life-support systems in at least as good a condition as that which we now enjoy,if not better,for future generations.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

​Natural capital degradation is a consequence of living unsustainably.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

​Inexhaustible resources exist in a fixed quantity,or stock,in the earth's crust.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In the 1980s,there was a backlash against environmental laws and regulations,led by some who argued that environmental laws were hindering economic growth.

Question 5

Exponential growth occurs when a quantity such as the human population increases at a fixed percentage per unit of time,such as 0.5% or 2% per year.​

Question 6

An important goal of environmental science is to learn how life on the earth has thrived and survived.​

Question 7

Indirect forms of solar energy,such as wind and flowing water,provide us with inexhaustible power that we can use to produce electricity.​

Question 8

Natural resources are considered natural capital,whereas natural services are not.​

Question 9

Biodiversity is defined as the variety of genes,organisms,species,and ecosystems in which organisms exist and interact,and plays an important role in the long-term sustainability of life on Earth.

Question 10

Sustainability is the capacity of the earth's natural system and human cultural systems to survive,flourish,and adapt to changing environmental conditions in the very long-term future.​

Question 11

​The tragedy of the commons is a phenomenon that occurs only when the number of users of a resource is small.

Question 12

The per capita ecological footprint is the total ecological footprint for a given country or area.​

Question 13

​In order for the social changes to occur that will produce sustainable economies,fully 50% of the population of a country must support the change.

Question 14

According to the human-centered environmental worldview,all species have value as participating members of the biosphere,regardless of their potential or actual use to humans.​

Question 15

The "tragedy of the commons" refers to a situation in which the cumulative effect of large numbers of people trying to exploit a widely available or shared resource can degrade it and eventually exhaust or ruin it.​

Question 16

Pollution cleanup efforts focus on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants.​

Question 17

​Affluence always has negative environmental effects.

Question 18

Polluting substances enter the environment through human activities alone.​

Question 19

​Resource use per person is higher in the United States than it is in middle-income countries like China.

Question 20

Government subsidies can actually encourage companies to conduct business in ways that result in environmental degradation.​

Question 21

Why is there such little waste in nature?​

A) ​The sun is an inexhaustible resource.
B) ​Organisms naturally avoid activities that create unnecessary waste.
C) ​The wastes and decayed bodies of any organism become nutrients or raw materials for other organisms.
D) The earth is so vast that natural waste is not easily identified.​
E) ​Waste is chemically unstable.

Question 22

What is one of the three goals of environmental science,as proposed by your text?​

A) Reduce affluence.​
B) ​Understand how we interact with the environment.
C) ​Acquire a life-centered environmental worldview.
D) ​Enhance environmental degradation.
E) ​Reduce the use of technology.

Question 23

Your text refers to the dependence on solar energy,biodiversity,and chemical cycling as three major natural factors of ____.​

A) ​resource guidelines
B) ​ecological footprints
C) ​environmental tenets
D) ​scientific principles of sustainability
E) preservationist goals​

Question 24

Environmental science can be described as interdisciplinary because it ____.​

A) ​allows for a rigorous study of the environment
B) ​includes topics that are not explored in other disciplines
C) ​often assigns responsibility to causes of environmental degradation
D) ​is rapidly evolving over time into a different form of science
E) includes biology,chemistry,geology,social sciences,and the humanities​

Question 25

Many economists propose finding ways to include the harmful environmental and health costs of producing and using goods and services in their market prices.What is this practice called?​

A) ​biodiversifying
B) ​hidden appraisals
C) ​subsidizing
D) ​full-cost pricing
E) external valuations​

Question 26

​One reason biodiversity is such an important aspect of sustainability is that it ____.

A) ​maintains a ready supply of new materials for water,soil,and food
B) ​is the ultimate source of energy for plants
C) ​provides vital ecosystem services through the interactions among species and keeps any population from growing too large
D) makes life less susceptible to constant adaptation and changing environmental conditions​
E) increases ecotourism in less developed countries​

Question 27

According to the ____,all species have value as participating members of the biosphere,regardless of their potential or actual use to humans.​

A) ​human-centered environmental worldview
B) ​earth-centered environmental worldview
C) ​life-centered environmental worldview
D) ​sun-centered environmental worldview
E) geo-centered environmental worldview​

Question 28

A group of organisms with a unique set of characteristics that distinguish it from other groups of organisms is called a(n)____.​

A) ​species
B) ​ecosystem
C) ​sustainable society
D) ​natural resource
E) population​

Question 29

Which process best illustrates an ecosystem service?​

A) natural gas fracking
B) ​pollution cleanup
C) ​water purification
D) ​oil mining
E) soil erosion​

Question 30

About 80% of the world's human population live in ____.​

A) ​nations with high average income per person
B) the United States,Japan,Australia,and Germany
C) ​more-developed countries
D) ​less-developed countries
E) environmentally-sustainable societies

Question 31

Which term encompasses all of the others?​

A) ​natural capital
B) natural resources
C) ​ecosystem services
D) ​renewable resources
E) nonrenewable resources​

Question 32

Which resource is nonrenewable?​

A) ​geothermal energy
B) ​solar energy
C) ​freshwater
D) ​copper
E) trees​

Question 33

You are installing solar collectors on the roof of your home to cut your use of the propane gas that heats both your hot water tank and the living spaces in your home.In doing so,you are using a(n)____ resource rather than a(n)____ resource.​

A) renewable; nonrenewable​
B) ​inexhaustible; renewable
C) ​renewable; inexhaustible
D) ​nonrenewable; renewable
E) inexhaustible; nonrenewable​

Question 34

What term best describes the living and nonliving things with which we interact in a complex web of relationships?​

A) ​natural capital
B) ​biodiversity
C) ​the environment
D) ​the chemical cycle
E) ​the preservationist school

Question 35

Which term best describes the processes provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us?​

A) ​nonpoint sources
B) ​point sources
C) ​sustainable principles
D) ​natural resources
E) ​ecosystem services

Question 36

​Which resource would best be categorized as inexhaustible?

A) ​oil reserves
B) ​fisheries
C) ​solar energy
D) ​forests
E) ​coal reserves

Question 37

What is a social movement that is dedicated to trying to sustain the earth's life-support system for all forms of life?​

A) ​ecology
B) ​environmental science
C) ​environmentalism
D) ​preservationism
E) ​sustainability

Question 38

Nonrenewable,nonmetallic mineral resources include ____.​

A) ​copper
B) ​solar energy
C) ​sand
D) ​trees
E) clean air​

Question 39

Oil is a(n)____.​

A) ​nonrenewable resource because it cannot be formed on human time scales
B) ​renewable resource because it can be renewed through geologic processes
C) ​inexhaustible resource because it is a form of stored solar energy
D) ​ecosystem service because oil is a valuable commodity
E) ​renewable resource because it can be used to make fertilizers that restore soil fertility

Question 40

Middle-income countries such as India and China may have low ____,but they have a high ____.​

A) ​population size; population growth rate
B) ​overall environmental impact; population growth rate
C) ​population size; resource use per person
D) ​overall environmental impact; resource use per person
E) resource use per person; overall environmental impact​

Question 41

What is one environmental benefit of affluence?​

A) ​Increasing wealth allows for an increased capacity for resource consumption.
B) ​Increased wealth provides resources to apply toward the creation of environmentally beneficial technologies.
C) Increasing affluence often leads to a desire to travel widely and frequently in order to see the world.​
D) ​Increasing affluence in developed nations leads to increased affluence in less-developed countries.
E) Increasing affluence results in less consumption in all countries.​

Question 42

What is an example of a pollution control or prevention technology?​

A) ​coal-burning power plants
B) ​fuel-efficient cars
C) ​wastewater release into rivers
D) ​agricultural fertilizer runoff
E) smart phones​

Question 43

The IPAT model calculates the environmental impact of human activities based on ____.​

A) ​policy,adaptation,and cultural traditions
B) ​pollution,adaptation,and trade practices
C) ​pollution,agriculture,and technology
D) ​population size,agriculture,and trade practices
E) ​population size,affluence,and technology

Question 44

What is a major cause of environmental problems?​

A) ​our dependence on solar energy
B) ​upcycling
C) ​full-cost pricing
D) ​declining population growth in high-income countries
E) ​our increasing isolation from nature

Question 45

The term "ecological footprint" can best be described as the ____.​

A) ​average size of the lot on which a family home is built
B) ​number of acres necessary to grow enough food to support a family
C) ​geographic area in which a person travels during the course of their average daily activities
D) ​amount of land and water needed to supply a population or an area with renewable resources and to absorb and recycle the wastes and pollution produced by such resource use
E) ​amount of tillable agricultural land necessary to supply the food requirements of a nation

Question 46

In many parts of the world,renewable forests are shrinking and topsoil is eroding.This fact is evidence that ____.​

A) ​all forms of technology increase environmental impacts
B) ​affluence has no impact on the health of the environment
C) ​point sources of pollution are easy to identify
D) ​the market prices of goods include the harmful environmental costs of producing them
E) ​we are living unsustainably

Question 47

Which resource is nonrenewable?​

A) ​groundwater
B) ​trees in a forest
C) ​solar energy
D) ​oil
E) ​fish populations

Question 48

____ efforts focus on greatly reducing or eliminating the production of pollutants.​

A) ​Agricultural engineering
B) ​Nonpoint pollution
C) ​Chemical cycling
D) ​Pollution prevention
E) Economic sanction​

Question 49

Which activity is an example of environmental degradation?​

A) ​Using solar power at a rapid rate
B) ​Growing crops for food
C) ​Cutting trees for wood products faster than the trees can regrow
D) ​Harvesting fish at a sustainable rate
E) Using groundwater at the same rate it is replenished​

Question 50

​Sustainable yield is the highest rate at which we can use a(n)____ indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

A) ​renewable resource
B) ​fossil fuel
C) solar ​energy
D) mineral resource​
E) ​nonrenewable resource

Question 51

​What term refers to the average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area?

A) ​ecosystem service
B) ​natural capital
C) ​unsustainable yield
D) ​mean of the commons
E) ​per capita ecological footprint

Question 52

On human time scales,nonrenewable resources ____.​

A) ​may be considered inexhaustible
B) ​can never be recycled
C) ​are replenished by natural processes within hours
D) are used without ever becoming depleted​
E) ​can be depleted much faster than nature can form them

Question 53

Which factor is a major contributor to the degradation of natural capital associated with the pricing of consumable goods?​

A) Consumable goods are priced in such a way that they do not reflect the environmental damage caused by their production.​
B) ​Consumable goods are priced in such a way as to allow even those in poverty in developing nations to acquire them.
C) ​Consumable goods are priced in such a way as to offset harmful environmental and health costs.
D) ​Consumers are typically aware of the kinds of environmental damage resulting from the production of the item.
E) ​Consumers in some local cultures purchase items that are expensive because of the social status it brings.

Question 54

A country's ecological footprint is larger than its biological capacity to replenish its renewable resources and absorb the resulting waste and pollution.What can be said about this country?​

A) ​It has an ecological deficit.
B) ​It must not have any natural capital.
C) ​It is a sustainable society.
D) ​It is most likely a developing country.
E) It can be described as preservationist.​

Question 55

About 900 million people live in extreme poverty,struggling to live on the equivalent of less than ____ a day.​

A) ​$1.25
B) ​$5.00
C) ​$7.50
D) ​$10.00
E) $25.00

Question 56

Which of the following contributes most to sustainability?​

A) ​abundant use of resources
B) ​distribution of poverty
C) ​rapid population growth
D) ​inclusion of environmental and health costs in market prices
E) ​natural capital degradation

Question 57

The tragedy of the commons refers to the ____.​

A) ​overuse of privately held resources
B) ​degradation of shared common resources
C) ​human deaths resulting polluted shared resources such as air or water
D) ​government over-regulation of fresh water use
E) ​use of nonrenewable resources

Question 58

Nonpoint sources of pollution ____.​

A) ​enter ecosystems from single,identifiable sources
B) ​are more difficult and costly to control than point sources
C) ​include smokestacks and automobile exhaust pipes
D) ​are cheaper and easier to identify than point sources
E) ​are always found in rural areas

Question 59

​Point sources of pollution ____.

A) enter ecosystems from dispersed and often hard-to-identify sources​
B) ​include runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from farmlands and suburban lawns
C) ​are easier to identify than nonpoint sources
D) ​are more difficult to control than nonpoint sources
E) are always found in rural areas​

Question 60

​Which worldview proposes that we can and should manage the earth for our own benefit,but that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers of the earth?

A) ​planetary management worldview
B) ​stewardship worldview
C) ​environmental wisdom worldview
D) ​earth-centered worldview
E) ​life-centered worldview

Question 61

Which school of thought argued that public lands should be managed wisely and scientifically,primarily to provide resources for people?​

A) ​preservationist school
B) ​earth-centered school
C) ​traditional school
D) ​conservationist school
E) ​commons school

Question 62

Research by social scientists suggests that it takes only ____ of the population of a community,a country,or the world to bring about major social and environmental change.​

A) ​1%
B) ​5-10%
C) ​about one-third
D) ​about half
E) ​85%

Question 63

​____________________ is the natural resources and ecosystem services that keep us and other species alive and support human economies.

Question 64

​Major causes of the environmental problems we face are ____________________,wasteful and unsustainable resource use,poverty,failure to include the harmful environmental and health costs of goods and services in their market prices,and increasing isolation from nature.

Question 65

____________________ is the contamination of the environment by a chemical or other agent such as noise or heat to a level that is harmful to the health,survival,or activities of humans or other organisms..​

Question 66

​____________________ resources exist in a fixed quantity,or stock,in the earth's crust.

Question 67

​____________________ is the biological science that studies how living things interact with one another and with their environment.

Question 68

____________________ are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans.

Question 69

The average ecological footprint of an individual in a given country or area is the ____________________ ecological footprint.​

Question 70

A single,identifiable source of pollution is called a(n)____________________.​

Question 71

​A resource such as solar energy that cannot be diminished by overuse is called a(n)____________________.

Question 72

____________________ are chemicals necessary for the life processes of plants and animals.
​

Question 73

The three scientific principles of sustainability are chemical cycling,dependence on solar energy,and ____________________.​

Question 74

​The circulation of chemicals necessary for the life from the environment (mostly from soil and water)through organisms and back to the environment is called ____________________.

Question 75

​Win-____ solutions are based on compromise in light of our interdependence,and they benefit both people and the environment.

Question 76

​Living sustainably means living on ____- the renewable resources such as plants,animals,soil,clean air,and clean water,provided by the earth's natural capital.

A) ​exponential growth
B) ​natural income
C) ​biotechnology
D) ​upcycling
E) biodiversity​

Question 77

____________________ are processes provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us.​

Question 78

As of 2014,the world population is about ____.​

A) ​3.0 billion people
B) ​5.0 billion people
C) ​7.0 billion people
D) ​9.0 million people
E) ​10.0 billion people

Question 79

A(n )____________________ is a set of organisms within a defined area of land or volume of water that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.​

Question 80

Between 1930 and 2011,the global human population has increased from ____ to ____.​

A) ​100 million; 250 million
B) ​500 million; 1 billion
C) ​1.5 billion; 3 billion
D) ​2 billion; 7 billion
E) ​7 billion; 16 billion