Deck 11: Sustainability

Question 1

To illustrate the problem of the collective rate of consumption on sustainability, if everyone on Earth lived the lifestyle of a traditional Indian villager, it is arguable that even 12 billion would be a sustainable world population.If everyone lives like an upper-middle-class North American, the level of population above which it would be unsustainable is ______.

A)2 billion
B)4 billion
C)6 billion
D)8 billion

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The collective response to the United Nations various reports on the dangers of climate change has been ______.

A)to agree to global restrictions on carbon emissions
B)to agree to a global tax to fund combatting climate change
C)to levy heavy fines on global polluters
D)to not take any substantive action at all

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT one of the four main reasons businesses should care about sustainability?

A)climate change
B)natural capital
C)profit optimization
D)stakeholders

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Firms are beginning to anticipate the day when stakeholders will demand greater accountability for their environmental performance.General Motors, for example, has pledged to be ______.

A)carbon-free
B)solar-powered
C)free of combustion engine cars
D)landfill-free

Question 5

The 1987 Brundtland Report was named for ______.

A)the city in Norway in which a United Nations meeting was held
B)its main author, the Norwegian prime minister
C)an area of northern Europe most dramatically impacted by climate change
D)a geographic region above the Arctic Circle that showed the first signs of polar ice cap melt

Question 6

Electronic waste in the form of televisions, computers, and cell phones is a particularly vexing environmental problem because ______.

A)large amounts of carbon dioxide are generated during production
B)the products sit in landfills for thousands of years after they are thrown away
C)the products contain many types of heavy metals
D)a lot of oil is used in production

Question 7

Which country accounts for two-thirds of the world's increase in the carbon dioxide emitted since 2000?

A)the United States
B)India
C)China
D)Brazil

Question 8

America uses more electricity for ______ than Africa uses for all purposes.

A)cooling
B)lighting
C)heating
D)manufacturing

Question 9

Marks & Spencer, the UK retailer, describes its sustainability program as Plan A because ______.

A)any environmental action plan must be affordable
B)A stands for action
C)there is no Plan B
D)all of these reasons

Question 10

According to the textbook, the success of COP21 relies on which of the following?

A)Countries continually assessing their progress toward reducing carbon emissions and adjusting their targets accordingly.
B)A worldwide conversion to a combination of nuclear, solar, and wind power by 2050.
C)The United States taking the lead in the reduction of carbon emissions.
D)COP21 has no chance of success.

Question 11

Much of the West's e-waste is outsourced to ______, where it is often dismantled by hand by poorly paid women and children with little or no protective clothing or equipment.

A)Africa
B)China
C)India
D)Indonesia

Question 12

By number of cargo containers, what is the largest U.S.export to China?

A)automobiles
B)coal
C)grain
D)scrap

Question 13

The science on climate change is not disputed.What is disputed is(are) ______.

A)who or what is responsible for climate change
B)the consequences of climate change
C)the impact of oil-based fuel technologies
D)the relative impact of developed countries on climate change

Question 14

From a company's perspective, ______ is made up of clean air, reliable availability of freshwater, and productive topsoil.

A)natural capital
B)environmental accounting
C)environmental profit and loss
D)renewable capital

Question 15

Where ______ aims to put the world back into balance, ______ looks for ways to manage in an imbalanced world.

A)sustainability; resilience
B)sustainability; COP21
C)resilience; sustainability
D)COP21; the Kyoto Protocol

Question 16

Pepsi's efforts to measure the carbon footprint of Tropicana orange juice revealed that the majority of carbon emissions occur during ______ of the juice.

A)packaging
B)production
C)distribution
D)use and disposal

Question 17

Which company was one of the first firms to adopt the concept of environmental profit-and-loss accounting?

A)Adidas
B)Nike
C)PUMA
D)Reebok

Question 18

Which country has the lowest levels of carbon emissions per capita?

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

Question 19

The COP21 agreement ______.

A)set a target of reducing carbon emissions to essentially zero by the latter half of this century
B)has legally binding agreements among all countries
C)established a single, internationally agreed-upon global carbon price
D)the COP21 agreement did all of these things

Question 20

The ______ in 1987 popularized the term sustainability.

A)Kyoto Protocol
B)Brundtland Report
C)Paris COP21
D)Rio Climate Change Convention

Question 21

Mass consumption and quick turnover are essential in the global economy.What do these conditions lead to?

A)waste
B)profit optimization
C)recycling
D)sustainability

Question 22

The greatest concern about COP21 is that it is too little, too late.

Question 23

In our current economy, the more that is ______, the ______ the economy is.

A)wasted; stronger
B)recycled; stronger
C)wasted; weaker
D)recycled; weaker

Question 24

In the current global economic model, whether we ______ a product is more important than whether we ______ it.

A)need; want
B)want; need
C)waste; want
D)need; waste

Question 25

Firms need to care about sustainability because of the likelihood that ______.

A)stakeholder perceptions will change about the need to do something about the environment
B)governments will implement carbon taxes and other penalties
C)competitors are likely to address sustainability and will gain an advantage by doing so
D)cap-and-trade programs will be implemented by 2020

Question 26

______ represents the recognition that a changing climate will affect business operations and that managing risk and adapting to the new environment will increasingly be important to business success.

A)Natural capital
B)COP21
C)Global sustainability
D)Resilience

Question 27

In the United States alone, it is estimated that ______ tons of e-waste are discarded annually.

A)1.5 million
B)2.4 million
C)5 million
D)more than 10 million

Question 28

Global warming is a prediction.

Question 29

The United Nation's Basel Convention is an important government-level initiative.What does it regulate?

A)carbon emissions
B)e-waste
C)recycling efforts
D)water conservation

Question 30

Companies, such as Disney and Microsoft, which are attaching a "shadow price" to their carbon emissions, are beginning to account for the impact on ______ of their activities.

A)natural capital
B)stakeholder values
C)shareholder values
D)environmental growth

Question 31

The concept of natural capital fits in the rational argument for CSR.

Question 32

China accounts for ______ of the world's increase in the carbon dioxide emitted since 2000.

A)one-quarter
B)one-third
C)one-half
D)two-thirds

Question 33

A huge assumption of the current economic model is that the world's resources are ______.

A)readily available
B)finite
C)infinite
D)recyclable

Question 34

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average American produces ______ of trash per day.

A)less than 3 pounds
B)approximately 3.3 pounds
C)between 4.5 and 7 pounds
D)more than 8 pounds

Question 35

Which famous business leader is known for his belief that unless companies changed their approach to sustainability, business leaders like him would be judged by future generations as "thieves and plunderers of the planet?"

A)Ray Anderson, founder of Interface Carpets
B)Jack Welch, former chair and CEO of GE
C)Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft
D)Howard Schultz, chair and CEO of Starbucks

Question 36

A company that is demonstrating the power of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit with its pledge to eliminate the idea of waste is ______.

A)Patagonia
B)Whole Foods
C)Microsoft
D)TerraCycle

Question 37

Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 38

The metals, chemicals, and solder that make up the components inside electronic devices are ______.

A)easy to recycle
B)readily available in the natural environment
C)toxic
D)inexpensive to produce

Question 39

Climate change has reached a point where only substantial action will produce meaningful effects and avert the catastrophic outcome we are otherwise hurtling toward.

Question 40

When ______ announced it would start charging for plastic bags, within 6 months, the policy cut bag consumption in the United States by more than 50%.

A)Whole Foods
B)IKEA
C)Apple
D)Nike

Question 41

Must the global economic model of mass consumption change if there is to be realistic progress toward improving the environment?

Question 42

Describe each of the reasons that firms should care about sustainability.Which is the most important to you, and why is it most important?

Question 43

Who should bear the most responsibility for the pollution associated with e-waste? Support your answer with specific examples.

Question 44

Describe the problems associated with e-waste and provide an analysis of possible solutions.

Question 45

One hundred companies control 25% of the trade of all 15 of the most significant commodities on the planet.Why is that important? What process does that force companies to pay more attention to?

Question 46

What does it mean to say that the waste we generate is a central driver of the global economy?