Deck 15: Saving the Environment

Question 1

Sociologists consider environmental problems to be first and foremost ______ problem(s).

A) historical
B) political
C) economic
D) social

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which term refers to the practice of meeting current development needs, while taking into consideration future generations and not compromising their future?

A) sustainability
B) environmental degradation
C) sustainable development
D) environmental development

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A recent college graduate is interested in working in a profession that focuses on social and environmental interaction. Which field would she likely consider?

A) geology
B) environmental sociology
C) climatology
D) environmental history

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Researchers have developed a program that measures how many planet Earths are needed to provide the resources humanity is using. This ecological yardstick is called the ecological ______.

A) planet
B) footprint
C) graph
D) scale

Question 5

Based on food consumption, energy use, transportation, and so on., in order to sustain our current consumption level the world would need how many planet Earths?

A) 1.5
B) 2
C) 3.5
D) 5

Question 6

The concept developed by footprint analysis scholars, "overshoot," is best described as ______.

A) an exaggeration of climate change's impact on Earth
B) the United States' use of more resources than any other nation
C) the amount of resources we consume having little impact on the environment
D) using resources at a pace more than the Earth can regenerate

Question 7

A researcher finds population growth exceeds the Earth's resources. How would an environmental sociologist explain the impact of sustainable development on this issue?

A) With sustainable development, it would be possible to find enough resources for the problems today, but that will deplete the resources for tomorrow.
B) Sustainable development would promote the use of sterilization to significantly reduce the population.
C) Methods of sustainable development would work toward reducing the gap between needs and resources for today and tomorrow.
D) Use of sustainable development would get rid of all problems with population and available resources.

Question 8

How would a conference on world hunger react to our current ecological footprint?

A) It would increase the urgency of members to find alternative solutions.
B) It would ease the stress many members feel as they work to reduce world hunger.
C) It would indicate that the people working to ease world hunger are succeeding.
D) It would set the stage for a large debate about what to do with projected food oversupply.

Question 9

A conference focusing on the production of food argues that resources are depleting at a rate that is greater than the rate of resource regeneration. This is called ______.

A) footprint
B) overshoot
C) sustainability
D) wilderness

Question 10

Which action demonstrates sustainable development?

A) using necessary resources for comfortable living
B) clearing forestland for farmland
C) cultivating food sources that are easily renewed
D) hunting for new caches of fossil fuel

Question 11

Which statement explains why it is important to think and act sociologically in response to environmental problems?

A) No one can solve the problems alone.
B) Changing individual behavior will be enough to address environmental problems.
C) Fluctuations are occurring at the collective level of society, but not at the individual level.
D) Most of our economic activity occurs at the individual level so it should be analyzed before the collective level.

Question 12

A person working on an advertisement for a major oil company creates false information about fossil fuels' impact on the climate. Scholars would call this person ______.

A) an inventor of fake news
B) an inconvenient truther
C) a Merchant of Doubt
D) a concerned scientist

Question 13

When a sociologist focuses on the role of ideology and knowledge when understanding environmental conditions, the research is using which type of analysis?

A) social construct
B) discovery
C) constructivist
D) cognitive

Question 14

According to environmental historian Bill Cronon, people tend to view nature as pristine, pure, and untouched by humans. Cronon noted this is a product of America's ______.

A) wild environment
B) social construct
C) frontier utopia
D) frontier mentality

Question 15

What is an example of the social construction of nature?

A) natural disasters
B) national parks
C) expulsion of indigenous peoples
D) the Rocky Mountains

Question 16

In the 1950s, Chinese ruler Mao Zedong viewed humans and nature as two separate entities and encouraged "man" to conquer nature, leading to large-scale environmental damage. This period was known as the ______.

A) Cultural Revolution
B) Communist Manifesto
C) Great Leap Forward
D) Red Wave

Question 17

In order to make sense of environmental concern, sociologists Riley Dunlap, William Catton, and colleagues came up with the paradigm shift theory, in which two sets of worldviews exist. What is one of these worldviews?

A) old environmental paradigm
B) anthro exceptionalist paradigm
C) world exceptionalist paradigm
D) new environmental paradigm

Question 18

The idea that nature is to be mastered by humans and humanity should dominate the earth without concern for it is known as the ______.

A) human exceptionalist paradigm
B) hegemonic degradation
C) the new environment paradigm
D) the old environmental paradigm

Question 19

Someone who evaluates the danger of a situation, such as environmental problems, based on their own individual lens is engaging with ______.

A) individual awareness
B) risk perception
C) individual perception
D) collective response

Question 20

Research shows that the disagreement about climate change's existence and threat is largely driven by ______.

A) costs and benefits
B) scientific facts
C) politicization
D) globalization

Question 21

Which activity represents the new environmental paradigm?

A) Hunting for pleasure
B) Human domination over the land
C) Fishing for sport
D) Concern for the environment

Question 22

What occurs when someone speaks out in support of environmental awareness, yet drives a large SUV?

A) culture theory of risk
B) paradigm shift
C) attitude-behavior split
D) risk perception

Question 23

A family is well aware of global climate change and the negative impact it has on the environment. However, it is difficult for them to recycle. Also, they cannot afford to buy an electric car or solar panels. Their inability to engage in more environmentally friendly practices is an example of ______.

A) a lack of awareness
B) an attitude-behavior split
C) environmental hypocrisy
D) conspicuous consumption

Question 24

Over 80 percent of ______ believe global warming is happening and are worried about it.

A) conservative Republicans
B) liberal Democrats
C) both political parties

Question 25

Thomas Robert Malthus's prediction was ______, causing resource ______.

A) new technologies would enable people to grow food more efficiently; oversupply
B) populations would grow much more rapidly than the food supply; scarcity
C) wars and climate change would eventually cause countries to reach zero population growth; sufficiency
D) productivity in agriculture would decline, but so would the population; stability

Question 26

One flaw in the Malthusian catastrophe was ______.

A) it assumed technology would make the problem even worse
B) linking famine to food supply was too complicated
C) the problem lies in the availability of food, not the access to it
D) people in poverty tend to have more children, not fewer

Question 27

Which statement demonstrates that empowerment of women is not only a gender issue, but also an environmental issue?

A) Powerful women are less likely to engage in a consumer economy.
B) Women in power tend to be less concerned about environmental issues.
C) When women hold power in communities, there is less poverty.
D) The more power women have in society, the fewer children they have.

Question 28

Things that people fail to incorporate into their decision making are ______.

A) externalities
B) constructivism
C) an attitude-behavior split
D) overshoot

Question 29

According to conflict theory, in a capitalist society, companies must use and degrade natural resources in order to make a profit. This is known as ______.

A) surplus production
B) externality
C) the treadmill of production
D) modernization theory

Question 30

Conflict theory posits that ______ is the ultimate cause of the climate and environmental crises we are experiencing.

A) nonsustainability
B) capitalism
C) politics
D) human indifference

Question 31

Which concept is characterized by a practice of making policies that keep ecological concerns in mind?

A) demographic transition
B) ecological rationality
C) positive externality
D) conspicuous consumption

Question 32

Proponents of ______ theory would argue that rational consumers will increasingly purchase electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions.

A) conspicuous consumption
B) ecological modernization
C) environmental integration
D) rational consumption

Question 33

Sociologists note that consumer consumption is ______.

A) based on one's personality
B) an individual process
C) a social process
D) focused on needs over wants

Question 34

A young man has to buy all the newest and most expensive items so his friends will be impressed. When he gets tired of his car or phone, he buys a new one. He is engaging in ______.

A) conspicuous consumption
B) sustainability
C) social constraint
D) visual consumerism

Question 35

What occurs when a woman makes sure the tag on her designer bag shows for all to see?

A) demographic transition
B) treadmill of production
C) upward mobility
D) conspicuous consumption

Question 36

Which of these would be considered a better environmental practice for a consumer?

A) greenwashing
B) green consumption
C) buying all natural
D) buying in bulk

Question 37

Patricia is very concerned about the environment, so she makes sure she only buys green products. This illustrates the concept of ______.

A) environmental justice
B) conspicuous consumption
C) green consumption
D) greenwashing

Question 38

A manufacturing company releases a public relations campaign highlighting how it uses recycled water in its factories and runs them on solar power to demonstrate its environmentally friendly practices, yet it has been fined for dumping hazardous waste in the local streams. This is an example of ______.

A) ecolabeling
B) green consumption
C) environmental stewardship
D) greenwashing

Question 39

Which of these is an example of inverted quarantines?

A) a family purchasing water in bottles instead of acting to help clean up the local water supply
B) an individual drinking water from the tap rather than purchasing bottles
C) a person who is not concerned about hormones and chemicals in food
D) a group of activists protesting the lack of clean drinking water

Question 40

What environmental problem was discovered in 2014 in Flint, Michigan?

A) hydro-fracking
B) sewage contamination in the soil
C) forest fires
D) lead contamination in drinking water

Question 41

An oil company proposes an underground pipeline that would run through Native American land that is located near a river that is the reservation's main source of water. It will bring in big profits for the company, even though there is a risk that the pipeline could break. How would this signify environmental racism?

A) The pipeline runs through land that will profit a minority group.
B) The pipeline provides benefits to the minority group that must take the risks.
C) The pipeline poses a risk to a minority community while the oil company profits.
D) The pipeline would only hire people of non-minority status to build it.

Question 42

A poor neighborhood in the city faces air quality problems from a nearby manufacturing plant. Little is done to help this neighborhood, but the plant is fined when a wealthy neighborhood across the river complains. This is an example of ______.

A) environmental racism
B) environmental justice
C) a pollution zone
D) climate justice

Question 43

How would a sociologist determine that actions by a municipality are based on environmental racism?

A) If the actions clean up an environmental hazard in a poor neighborhood, but do not pay damages.
B) If the municipality makes a law that limits where minorities can live in a city.
C) If the issues the minority city members face are taken care of slowly.
D) If the minority citizens face a problem that is not taken care of while wealthier citizens see a resolution to the same problem.

Question 44

Sociologist Robert Bullard found that governments and private companies generally ______ when making decisions about how to distribute pollutants.

A) act ethically
B) seek the path of least resistance
C) consider the impact on communities
D) choose social consciousness over profits

Question 45

How would environmental racism impact a decision about where to put a new waste facility?

A) The decision would opt for an area where cheap minority labor is easily accessed.
B) The decision would favor minority neighborhoods over wealthy neighborhoods.
C) The decision would focus on the impact the facility would have on the health of minority children.
D) The decision would be based on how much resistance a minority group would give to the project.

Question 46

An environmental activist is working diligently to preserve the nesting habitat of a particular bird species without assessing how it might affect the human population in the surrounding environment. How would the environmental justice movement clash with this activist?

A) The activist needs to donate money as well as his time.
B) The activist is too vocal and is losing the sympathy of others.
C) The activist does not understand what the specie needs and is pushing for something that could be harmful.
D) The activist has not recognized that residents of the area rely on the land where the birds nest for subsistence.

Question 47

Which action would be characteristic of the environmental justice movement?

A) fighting for the rights of local wildlife against hunting
B) petitioning against a new plant that will harm local fish
C) picketing for water purification filters for residents of a poor neighborhood
D) protesting for the development of a new park

Question 48

Which state has passed an initiative to promote environmental justice by allocating funds generated from its cap and trade system for use in disadvantaged communities?

A) Vermont
B) Texas
C) California
D) Oregon

Question 49

Why do Americans allow companies to dump their electronic waste products in developing countries?

A) The high costs of end-of-life treatment of electronic products are invisible to consumers in the developed nations.
B) U.S. companies do not have a choice; there is no place to dump them in the United States.
C) People know about the risks but they don't care about developing nations.
D) The developing countries pay U.S. companies a lot of money to recycle these products with little risk to them.

Question 50

A major corporation has developed a new factory in a developing country to process toxic waste. How would a member of an environmental justice movement interpret this action?

A) The corporation is endangering residents of an area by creating a sacrifice zone.
B) The corporation is moving jobs away from the United States and increasing unemployment sacrifice zones.
C) The corporation is working hard to clean up U.S. environmental concerns in sacrifice zones.
D) The corporation is avoiding publicity for the work they do removing a sacrifice zone.

Question 51

How are sacrifice zones in Nigeria connected to the United States?

A) Sacrifice zones provide a source of cheap labor for U.S. corporations.
B) Sacrifice zones provide a habitat for endangered animal species hunted by wealthy U.S. hunters.
C) Sacrifice zones provide a dumping ground for environmentally hazardous waste from U.S. factories.
D) Sacrifice zones provide a means of new sources of raw materials for U.S. factories.

Question 52

What is the relationship between climate change and developing countries?

A) Developing countries are not concerned with climate change.
B) Developed countries are protecting developing countries from the effects of climate change.
C) Developing countries contribute the most to climate change and are the least impacted by it.
D) Developing countries contribute the least to climate change and are the most impacted by it.

Question 53

How would the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Accord impact climate justice?

A) The United States will enact climate justice on the other nations because they are not following environmentally friendly policies.
B) The United States has worked hard to reduce global emissions and has created a system of climate justice.
C) The United States has a high per capita carbon emission ratio yet other countries pay the price, which highlights the inequality in climate justice.
D) The United States determined that the other countries were not following climate justice policies.

Question 54

A city installed safe bike lanes so people could drive less, lowering the city's carbon footprint. This is an example of a(n) ______ approach to solving a social problem.

A) individual
B) renewable
C) nonconservation
D) sociological

Question 55

Which action demonstrates a sociological approach to solving a social problem?

A) drinking bottled water to avoid contaminants in public water
B) drinking bottled water because it is convenient
C) advocating for clean drinking water
D) drinking water from the tap

Question 56

Sustainable development meets the needs of the present but does not look to the future.

Question 57

An ecological footprint can be used to measure the sustainability of a practice.

Question 58

Constructivists are concerned with the implications of seeing national parks as wilderness.

Question 59

The new environmental paradigm shows how humans show little concern for the environment.

Question 60

Daichi buys products based on their price rather than their environmental footprint because he can't afford to be picky, even though he is concerned about the environmental issues we are facing. Daichi is demonstrating the attitude-behavior split.

Question 61

Toxic waste is an example of a negative externality.

Question 62

According to conflict theory, capitalist profits are sustained through the exploitation of natural resources.

Question 63

Green consumption occurs as consumers choose to purchase ecologically friendly products.

Question 64

A health-conscious grocer stocks only products that have been certified as environmentally friendly. This is called greenwashing.

Question 65

Ecolabels list the materials used in a product.

Question 66

Environmental racism occurs when an individual favors one type of environmental practice over another.

Question 67

The environmental justice movement has made very little impact on government policies in spite of a growing membership.

Question 68

Land grabbing, mega-mining, and biodiversity and conservation conflicts are all examples of environmental injustice incidents that are currently happening around the world.

Question 69

Researchers use the term "climate debt" to quantify the amount developed countries owe to developing countries for using them as toxic dumping grounds.

Question 70

Social problems require collective solutions.

Question 71

Discuss overshoot as it relates to footprint analysis.

Question 72

Discuss externalities and their impact on the sustainability of an economic system.

Question 73

Using the environmental modernization theory, discuss the thought process that leads to ecological rationality.

Question 74

What are the ecological implications of conspicuous consumption? Use a cell phone as an example.

Question 75

How does the concept of climate justice highlight the issue of inequality?

Question 76

Discuss the paradigm shift in environmental attitudes from human exemptionalist paradigm to the new environmental paradigm.

Question 77

Explain the treadmill of production theory and how it impacts the environment.

Question 78

What are the dangers of inverted quarantine?

Question 79

Explain the main reason for environmental racism.

Question 80

Explain this phrase: Environmental problems are intertwined with social inequality.