Deck 4: Resources and Environment

Question 1

Main ideas of a theory of resource use suited to the needs of a basic goods economy includes

A) the adoption of organic agriculture.
B) use of renewable sources of energy.
C) increased globalization.
D) use of local raw materials.
E) decentralization of production to minimize transport of materials.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What is the core argument in the concept "tragedy of the commons"?

A) Monetary systems are often manipulated by elites.
B) Governments will intervene when it is in their direct interest to do so.
C) Resources that are shared among several groups are ruined by individual actions.
D) Overpopulation is the result of lack of family planning methods.
E) Famine is likely to result after an isolated area experiences crop failure.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which statement is NOT TRUE?

A) People in most countries are better off than their parents were.
B) The First World is liquidating the resources on which their way of life is built.
C) Resource constraints prevent the large-scale production of consumer goods for developing countries.
D) The world has reached its carrying capacity.
E) The world may be achieving improvements in material well-being at the expense of future generations.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What do the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the U.S.invasion of Iraq in 2003 have in common?

A) Both were unilateral actions.
B) Amphibian forces were primarily used in each attack.
C) Concerns over control of oil supplies in the Middle East were a major motive in both cases.
D) Widespread famine occurred after each of these conflicts.
E) Iraq won both conflicts.

Question 5

What are resources?

A) quantities that are known and available for exploitation with current technologies at current prices
B) substances that are known to exist, but are held back to save them for the future
C) estimates of the quantities likely to be discovered with greater exploration
D) all substances that may someday be used
E) resources that have been mined, but are currently in storage and will be utilized when prices rise

Question 6

Most people in the developed world practice

A) a lifestyle that recognizes limits to growth.
B) a growth-oriented lifestyle.
C) a balance-oriented lifestyle.
D) sustainable development.
E) Malthusian norms.

Question 7

What is the best definition of "maximum sustainable yield"?

A) planned obsolescence
B) production consistent with maintaining future productivity of a renewable resource
C) generation of maximum profits possible while sustaining the current amount of population
D) looking for alternative methods of production (redirecting investment into new technologies)
E) using separate production techniques and matching them to the appropriate local skill levels

Question 8

Biologist Garrett Hardin coined what term in 1968 to describe misuse of resources?

A) unsustainable development
B) inequitable distribution of goods
C) non-point source pollution
D) spatial mismatch
E) tragedy of the commons

Question 9

What is the best definition for nonrenewable resources?

A) finite masses of material which cannot be used without depletion
B) ores that are consumed primarily in the developing world
C) commodities that command high prices during periods of scarcity
D) resources that are below ground
E) resources that occur only in nature (like wood)

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT an example of a nonrenewable resource?

A) fossil fuels
B) metal deposits
C) iron ore
D) petroleum
E) timber

Question 11

Which region has the most severe lack of caloric intake in the world?

A) The center of the six inhabited continents all have hunger crises.
B) eastern South America, particularly the cities of Brazil
C) the northern coast of Africa, which borders the Mediterranean Sea
D) the Sahel, or center belt of Africa
E) southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia

Question 12

Why did Japan invade Korea and Taiwan in the 1890s?

A) The U.S. was about to invade them, so Japan had to act immediately.
B) to obtain arable land and coal
C) to gain access to the busiest seaports in the world
D) to drive up the price of domestic resources
E) to acquire the largest petroleum reserves in Asia

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT TRUE regarding food resources?

A) World food production has been increasing faster than population.
B) There is sufficient food to feed everyone in the world.
C) People who consume high amounts of calories never suffer from malnutrition.
D) The populations of the industrialized world are generally well fed.
E) Hundreds of millions of people worldwide go hungry daily.

Question 14

How does the "tragedy of the commons" relate to producers of toxic waste?

A) One company typically bears the burden of research and development of waste disposal technology.
B) Average people (the commoners) are responsible for more waste generation than large companies.
C) Less profitable companies often treat waste more responsibly than profitable companies.
D) Unless mandated by law, firms that produce toxic waste might dump it into the air or public waters.
E) Governments often assume the burden of toxic waste disposal.

Question 15

Which of the following is an example of a nonrenewable resource?

A) carbon dioxide
B) human capital
C) soil
D) timber
E) water

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT TRUE regarding food resources?

A) Subsidized agriculture in the developed world negatively impacts farmers in the developing world.
B) The gulf between the well fed and the hungry is vast.
C) Many people in the world suffer from chronic malnutrition.
D) The sharpest nutritional differences in the world are from country to country.
E) Hunger among the world's poor is often attributed to deforestation, soil erosion, and other environmental impacts.

Question 17

What are reserves?

A) quantities that are known and available for exploitation with current technologies at current prices
B) substances that are known to exist, but are held back to save them for the future
C) estimates of the quantities likely to be discovered with greater exploration
D) all substances that may someday be used
E) resources that have been mined, but are currently in storage and will be utilized when prices rise

Question 18

Some observers of the Middle East believe political tension over this resource could escalate to war in the next few years.

A) brine
B) cobalt
C) high-grade coal deposits
D) rare earth metals
E) water

Question 19

Which statement is NOT TRUE?

A) Technological advances have raised the world's carrying capacity.
B) Neo-Malthusians believe modern technology will increase the carrying capacity of the planet.
C) Carrying capacity is a simplistic concept that ignores the context in which production and consumption of goods occurs.
D) To give everyone in the world a middle-class American lifestyle would strain resources.
E) All of the above are false.

Question 20

Which is NOT TRUE regarding open-pit mining operations?

A) They are capital-intensive enterprises.
B) They do enormous damage to the local environment they are huge enterprises.
C) They are huge enterprises.
D) They are incredibly deadly for miners.
E) They are efficient enterprises.

Question 21

What two regions have had massive success in reducing their famines in recent decades?

A) Asia and Latin America
B) Australia and North America
C) Europe and the Middle East
D) north Africa and sub-Saharan Africa
E) Russia and the Near Abroad (former Soviet Union)

Question 22

What is NOT one of the three components of the problem of world food distribution?

A) problem of transporting food from one place to another
B) genetic defects of crops that are spread unintentionally by major food companies
C) serious disruptions in food supply in developing countries are traceable to problems of marketing and storage
D) the inequitable allocation of food
E) None of the above are components of the problem of world food distribution.

Question 23

What is NOT TRUE regarding desertification?

A) Removal of trees allows a desert to advance.
B) Cutting of trees lowers the capacity of the land to absorb moisture.
C) Desertification is a symptom and cause of the food problem in developing countries.
D) Areas subject to desertification have greater chances of drought.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 24

How does the pace of urbanization in developing countries contribute to the food problem?

A) People moving to cities cause disruptions in the transportation network.
B) Hundreds of millions of people who lived in rural areas and produced food now live in cities.
C) Expanding urban heat islands cause changes to the local climates.
D) The most productive land is paved over to develop middle-class suburbs.
E) People who live in cities adopt western-style diets that are heavy on meat consumption.

Question 25

People who are pessimistic about future world food production offer several arguments about constraints on the future.What is NOT one of their arguments?

A) There are biological limits to the productivity of fisheries.
B) There are biological limits to the productivity of rangelands.
C) Technology will fail to increase productivity.
D) Tropical environments are fragile.
E) Fresh water is increasingly scarce.

Question 26

In recent decades,what agricultural sector has expanded the most in the developing world?

A) domestic foodstuffs sector
B) export sector
C) jute
D) manioc
E) import sector

Question 27

What region has had the least success in expanding per capita food production?

A) Africa
B) Asia
C) Europe
D) Latin America
E) North America

Question 28

What region's agricultural land is almost totally developed?

A) Africa
B) Australia
C) South America
D) South Asia
E) All of the above have no land left to expand agriculture.

Question 29

What region is the least threatened by desertification?

A) Africa
B) Asia
C) Australia
D) Europe
E) North America

Question 30

What was an impact of NAFTA on Mexican farmers?

A) Hog production increased in Mexico, as U.S. swine producers went out of business.
B) Corn prices fell in Mexico, since U.S. corn was heavily subsidized.
C) Farm machinery in Mexico became impossible to maintain.
D) The only profitable farms were those that had electricity.
E) None of the above occurred.

Question 31

The world's potentially farmable land is estimated to be about ________ the present cultivated area.

A) twice
B) four times
C) eight times
D) sixteen times
E) thirty-two times

Question 32

Most of the countries experiencing food-security problems are in what region? (23 of the 28 countries are found here.)

A) Asia
B) Middle East
C) north Africa
D) southeastern Europe
E) sub-Saharan Africa

Question 33

Which region is not threatened by desertification?

A) Africa
B) Asia
C) Australia
D) North America
E) All of the above are threatened by desertification.

Question 34

Which of the following is TRUE regarding food resources in the past five decades?

A) While total grain output has risen steadily, the amount of grain per person has remained relatively constant.
B) Agricultural corporations based in the United States purchased more than half of the world's arable land.
C) People in the developed world have heavily adopted tropical crops (manioc, cassava) to supplement their diets.
D) Canada is a net food importer; they are unable to feed their own population without assistance from the United States.
E) World agricultural output has shrunk, causing widespread famines.

Question 35

Since World War II,how much of the world's rain forests have disappeared?

A) none, in fact there is more acreage in rain forest than ever before
B) none
C) half
D) almost all, except for those in nature preserves
E) all

Question 36

What is the single greatest cause of the hunger problem in the world?

A) desertification
B) planning deficiencies
C) poor crop management
D) poverty
E) storm surges

Question 37

Developing world countries might provide food at artificially low prices in order to make food affordable in cities.What is a consequence of this?

A) It robs farmers of the incentive to farm.
B) more activity at seaports
C) a positive balance of trade for the developing world country
D) riots when markets are open
E) urban to rural migration

Question 38

What is NOT a reason Asia and Latin America outpace Africa in terms of agricultural output?

A) government policies toward farmers
B) ability of countries to build infrastructure
C) ability of countries to extend credit to small farmers
D) Universities in Africa fail to teach courses in agriculture.
E) Patterns of land ownership are more equitable in Asia and Latin America.

Question 39

What impact do price controls on food crops have in the developing world?

A) They eliminate elite ownership of the land.
B) They cause degradation of land, especially in the tropics.
C) They cause developed world countries to stop sending food to hungry countries.
D) They free up credit (loans) from the developed world.
E) They create disincentives to produce for farmers.

Question 40

What is NOT an issue with agriculture in the developing world?

A) Rice is a staple crop for much of the world's population.
B) Subsidized agriculture from the developed world can undercut developing world farmers.
C) Slave labor is often employed to grow tropical crops.
D) Land is frequently concentrated in the hands of a small elite.
E) Growing populations put pressure on systems of food production.

Question 41

What is NOT a valid option to help solve the mineral supply problem in the world?

A) using chemical processes to fabricate minerals from common substances
B) extracting minerals from the ocean (this would require cheap electricity)
C) reducing waste in the extraction and processing of minerals
D) encouraging lower per capita levels of resource use
E) reusing minerals (recycling)

Question 42

Which is TRUE regarding the global fishing industry?

A) Fish provide a major portion of the world's food supply.
B) Virtually no fish are caught anymore.
C) The amount of fish caught has leveled off and declined.
D) The most productive fisheries are in the Arctic Ocean.
E) Cuba is one of the biggest violators of international fishing treaties.

Question 43

What is NOT one of the three major ways of increasing the global food supply?

A) cultivating the oceans
B) creating human-made soils in infertile areas
C) developing high-protein cereal crops
D) increasing the acceptability and palatability of inefficiently used present foods
E) none of the above are reasonable ways of increasing the global food supply

Question 44

What is the main factor responsible for desertification?

A) cotton raising
B) government inactions
C) overgrazing
D) pollution
E) temperature inversions

Question 45

What group of countries actively practices mariculture (fish farming)?

A) Egypt, Iraq, Iran
B) Greece, Albania, Italy, Croatia (southeastern Europe)
C) Russia, Latvia, Estonia
D) Uganda, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania (southeastern Africa)
E) United States, Norway, Japan

Question 46

What is an underused food resource,which is rich in both protein and amino acids?

A) cassava
B) manioc
C) rice
D) soybeans
E) wheat

Question 47

Which of the following is TRUE regarding the Green Revolution?

A) It has fulfilled all of its objectives wherever it has been adopted.
B) It has virtually eliminated water borne diseases in countries that effectively practice it.
C) It has solved hunger issues in all the countries that have adopted the Green Revolution.
D) It has generated substantial increases in agricultural output worldwide.
E) It has opened up Antarctica to cultivation and grazing.

Question 48

Who reaps the most economic benefits associated with the Green Revolution?

A) dictatorships
B) farmers in mid-latitude countries (Australia, France, Germany, for example)
C) international shipping companies
D) large-scale wealthy farmers in the developing world
E) small-scale farmers (of any wealth) in the developed world

Question 49

Which is TRUE regarding strategic minerals?

A) China is the world's largest producer of strategic minerals.
B) China is the world's largest consumer of strategic minerals.
C) The world has about 1000 years worth of these minerals at current rates of consumption.
D) The United States has increasingly depended on imports of these in the past fifty years.
E) The Middle East is the world's most significant repository of strategic minerals.

Question 50

About what percentage of the world's food supply comes from the oceans?

A) 1%
B) 10%
C) 21%
D) 40%
E) 51%

Question 51

Where has the Green Revolution had enormous impacts?

A) Asia and Mexico
B) Australia and Japan
C) Europe and Iraq
D) North America and Egypt
E) South America and Mexico

Question 52

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) A mineral refers to a human-made substance that has a monetary value.
B) Although we can increase world food output, we cannot increase the global supply of minerals.
C) Petroleum is a mineral.
D) Almost every country in the world has an adequate supply of metallic minerals.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 53

What is a region (or country)that processes and consumes strategic minerals,but is NOT a producer of them?

A) Australia
B) Canada and the United States
C) Russia
D) South Africa
E) Western Europe

Question 54

The Green Revolution depends on several factors for success.What is NOT one of those?

A) machinery
B) new seeds
C) chemical fertilizers
D) small-scale farming
E) all of the above are factors needed to succeed

Question 55

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) Present world grain production can more than adequately feed every person on earth.
B) Fish meal is the biggest threat to the world's fisheries.
C) Per acre, large-scale farms are far more productive than small-scale farms.
D) Government production programs in many developing countries ignore small farmers.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 56

Where has overfishing been particularly acute? In other words,where is the problem the worst?

A) Indian and Arctic oceans
B) North Atlantic and Arctic oceans
C) North Atlantic and Pacific oceans
D) South Atlantic and Indian oceans
E) South Atlantic and Arctic oceans

Question 57

What country is NOT a significant producer of strategic minerals?

A) Australia
B) Canada
C) Japan
D) Russia
E) United States

Question 58

Why are high-protein cereals a successful approach to expansion of food production?

A) They represent an extremely cheap way to produce more food.
B) They require little to no water as compared to standard crops.
C) They can be grown anywhere.
D) Individual food habits do not necessarily have to be altered.
E) They often replace cash crops.

Question 59

What is the Green Revolution?

A) the increase in yields of beans and peppers in world diets
B) farmer rebellions against dictatorships
C) an environmental movement in the 3rd World
D) an approach to increase agricultural yields
E) a series of legal advances in the developing world to protect their farmers from foreign competition

Question 60

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) Developing countries rely on unprocessed, unfortified foods for almost all their intake.
B) Flooding destroys more than half of all crops in the developing world every year.
C) The developing world is a net food exporter, especially of protein (in the form of animals).
D) Land is distributed equitably in the developing world.
E) Almost all the soil in the developing world is polluted.

Question 61

What is the least important energy resource used in the United States today?

A) coal
B) natural gas
C) nuclear power
D) petroleum (oil)
E) wood

Question 62

What is OPEC?

A) a block of automobile manufacturers in Europe, Japan, and North America
B) a trade group dedicated to more efficiently producing crops in the developing world
C) a body that regulates international trade agreements
D) an international organization that is made up of countries that export oil
E) a system of banks in developed world countries that regulates currencies to avoid economic crashes

Question 63

Only a handful of countries in the world produce much more commercial energy than they consume.What region has the largest concentration of these countries?

A) East Asia (China, South Korea, Japan, etc.)
B) Europe (Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, etc.)
C) Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, etc.)
D) South America (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, etc.)
E) South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.)

Question 64

In what decade did the first energy shocks occur,in the form of drastically higher oil prices?

A) 1890s
B) 1910s
C) 1930s
D) 1950s
E) 1970s

Question 65

Which of the following is NOT TRUE?

A) All countries that produce oil belong to OPEC.
B) The price of oil fluctuates over time.
C) Rises in the price of oil can cause economic problems in the developed world.
D) The United States is a net consumer of fossil fuels.
E) All of the above are false.

Question 66

What is the leading oil-producing state in the United States?

A) California
B) Florida
C) Oregon
D) Texas
E) Utah

Question 67

What is the leading oil-producing country in the world?

A) Indonesia
B) Mexico
C) Nigeria
D) Saudi Arabia
E) Iran

Question 68

The United States generates its energy from several sources.What is the most important energy resource,which accounts for over 40% of the energy generated in the U.S.?

A) coal
B) natural gas
C) nuclear power
D) petroleum (oil)
E) wood

Question 69

Of the major fossil fuels used in the world today,which is going to last the longest? (There are at least 300 years left for this energy resource.)

A) coal
B) natural gas
C) oil
D) All of the above are going to last at least 300 years.
E) All of the above are likely to be exhausted in the next 20 years.

Question 70

If world energy consumption remains constant,proved reserves of oil would last for how many years?

A) 40 years
B) 80 years
C) 160 years
D) 320 years
E) 640 years

Question 71

Which of the following is TRUE?

A) American cars are much more fuel-efficient than European cars (U.S. cars get better mileage).
B) Only a small portion of the oil imported into the United States comes from the Middle East.
C) No presidential administration of the United States has called for oil self-sufficiency.
D) Only a small portion of the energy in the United States is generated from oil (less than 10%).
E) Japan, Italy, and France are self-sufficient in oil production (they need no imports).

Question 72

With 5% of the world's population,the United States consumes what proportion of the world's energy?

A) one-twentieth (5%)
B) one-quarter (25%)
C) one-half (50%)
D) three quarters (75%)
E) almost all (95%)

Question 73

What regions and/or countries below account for three-quarters (74%)of the natural gas reserves in the world?

A) Australia and United States
B) Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa
C) India and East Asia (China, Koreas, Japan)
D) Russia, central Asia, Middle East
E) South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe

Question 74

In which years did Arab oil embargoes take place?

A) 1945 and 1951
B) 1956 and 1967
C) 1973 and 1979
D) 1986 and 1988
E) 2003 and 2007

Question 75

From 1850 to 1880,what was the most used energy resource in the United States?

A) coal
B) natural gas
C) nuclear power
D) petroleum (oil)
E) wood

Question 76

In what year did world oil prices peak at $140 per barrel?

A) 1968
B) 1978
C) 1988
D) 1998
E) 2008

Question 77

What is the single biggest item in international trade?

A) automobiles
B) energy
C) food
D) software
E) strategic minerals

Question 78

In the United States,what are the primary uses of petroleum?

A) chemical fabrication and construction equipment
B) fertilizer manufacturing and agricultural purposes
C) power generation (electricity) and construction equipment
D) transportation and industrial purposes
E) running mining equipment and heating buildings

Question 79

In the United States,what is the primary use of coal?

A) chemical fabrication
B) fertilizer manufacturing
C) power generation (electricity)
D) transportation
E) heating buildings

Question 80

The Middle East has approximately two-thirds of the world's oil reserves.What group of countries below also accounts for significant reserves of oil?

A) Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nigeria
B) India, Pakistan, Somalia, Kenya
C) Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Philippines
D) Argentina, Jamaica, Portugal, Morocco
E) South Africa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, New Zealand