Chapter 1-Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1-Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
Chapter 1-Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability
MULTIPLE CHOICE
3. Meeting current and future basic resource needs without compromising future generation's basic needs
is considered a(n)
a. natural income.
b. trade-offs.
c. scientific solutions.
d. environmentally sustainable society.
e. natural capital degradation.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-1 What are three principles of sustainability?
6. On the outskirts of a municipality lies a forest on public property. A person applying sustainable
resource-use principles might suggest
a. clear-cutting the forest to provide taxes for the town.
b. converting the natural woods to tree farms.
c. harvesting trees at their estimated sustainable yield.
d. harvesting trees below their estimated sustainable yield.
e. none of these answers
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Difficult
TOP: 1-1 What are three principles of sustainability?
9. Which is the least effective way to extend the use of nonrenewable resources?
a. reducing direct consumption of the resource
b. reusing the same form of a particular resource many times
c. recycling a resource into new products
d. reducing the efficiency of resource use
e. finding substitutes for a resource
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Difficult
TOP: 1-1 What are three principles of sustainability?
18. Which of the following is not associated with the pollution cleanup approach?
a. It may be overwhelmed by continuing population growth.
b. It often transfers pollutants between different parts of the ecosystem.
c. It may be very costly once pollutants are dispersed in the environment.
d. It is the most economical in the long run.
e. all of these answers
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Difficult
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
19. Which of the following statements best illustrates the "tragedy of the commons?"
a. A factory pollutes a river as much as the law allows.
b. Some levels of pollution are life threatening.
c. Some activities harm the environment, but others do not.
d. Irrigated cropland can be ruined by salinization.
e. Cropland can decrease biodiversity.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Difficult
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
23. The country with the largest per capita ecological footprint is
a. USA.
b. India.
c. Mexico.
d. Australia.
e. United Arab Emirates.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
24. The country with the second largest per capita ecological footprint is
a. USA.
b. India.
c. Mexico.
d. Australia.
e. United Arab Emirates.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
26. Time delays in the harmful effects of living unsustainably often cause environmental degradation to
build slowly until it reaches a(n)
a. sustainable yield.
b. ecological tipping point.
c. exponential growth.
d. ecological footprint.
e. environmental worldview.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
27. Ecological tipping point(s), which could result in an irreversible shift in natural systems include(s)
a. collapse of fish populations due to overfishing.
b. accelerated species extinction due to overhunting.
c. pre-mature species extinction due to habitat loss.
d. climate disruption due to burning of fossil fuels.
e. all of the above.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate
TOP: 1-2 How Are Our Ecological Footprints Affecting the Earth?
32. According to a number of environmental and social scientists, four basic causes of environmental
degradation are
a. non-existent.
b. poverty, population decline, unsustainable resource use, failure to include environmental
costs in market prices.
c. poverty, population growth, unsustainable resource use, failure to include environmental
costs in market prices.
d. poverty, population growth, unsustainable resource use, including environmental costs in
market prices.
e. poverty, population decline, unsustainable resource use, including environmental costs in
market prices.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Difficult
TOP: 1-3 Why do we have environmental problems?
33. Underlying root causes of unsustainable resource use include all of the following except
a. poverty.
b. overpopulation.
c. over reliance on renewable energy resources.
d. prices that do not include environmental and social costs of products.
e. wastefulness.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate
TOP: 1-3 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
37. According to World Bank estimates, how many people live on less than US $1.25 per day?
a. 6.9 billion
b. 1.4 billion
c. 9.3 billion
d. 0.25 billion
e. 2.0 million
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-3 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
39. An environmental worldview that holds that we can and should manage the Earth for our benefit, but
that we have an ethical responsibility to be caring and responsible managers of the Earth, is
a. planetary management.
b. stewardship.
c. environmental wisdom.
d. national origin.
e. technological.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-3 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
41. Which worldview is most consistent with the status quo in the United States?
a. Planetary Management
b. Biocentric
c. Stewardship
d. Humility
e. Environmental Wisdom
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-3 Why Do We Have Environmental Problems?
42. Of the following behaviors, the one that runs counter to the three principles of sustainability is
a. recycling of materials.
b. reusing materials.
c. producing and consuming anything people are willing to buy.
d. initiating a tree planting drive in your community.
e. relying more on renewable sources of energy.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-4 What is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?
43. Of the following actions, the one that does the least to sustain the Earth is
a. protecting Earth's biodiversity.
b. controlling human population growth.
c. utilizing renewable resources wherever possible.
d. increasing our dependence on nonrenewable resources.
e. decreasing our dependence on nonrenewable resources.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Easy
TOP: 1-4 What is an Environmentally Sustainable Society?
TRUE/FALSE
1. Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study that integrates the humanities and natural sciences.
7. Reusing involves collecting waste materials and processing them into new materials.
9. Forests, aluminum deposits and natural gas are all examples of renewable resources.
10. Pollution cleanup is considered a short-term solution if population and consumption levels grow
without corresponding improvement in pollution control technology.
11. The per capita ecological footprint is the availability of productive land and usable water to support the
population with no consideration for environmental impact.
12. The world’s more developed countries contain relatively small populations, use large proportions of
resources and produce the largest proportions of waste.
13. Rapid population growth and poverty are reflective of developing countries and have little impact on
pollution.
16. 83 million people were added to the earth in the year 2010. This is an average of 1.6 million new
people on earth each month.
17. An environmentally sustainable society must be based on policies which provide for economic growth
and development.
18. Developing countries have a significant negative effect on the environment because of the
consumption per person and technological impact per unit of consumption.
19. Developed countries have a significant negative effect on the environment because of the consumption
per person and technological impact per unit of consumption.
20. Economic growth provides more goods and services whereas economic development uses economic
growth to improve living standards.
21. The "tragedy of the commons" refers to lack of agricultural sustenance available for the common
(poor) people in a country.
22. An environmentally sustainable society will require most middle income American workers to
decrease their consumption of products.
23. In the United States the air quality is poorer and drinking water more polluted today than in the 1970s.
24. When a country's GDP decreases, the per capita GDP must also decrease.
25. There are a number of strategies and tools available to conserve rather than degrade or destroy the
planet’s capital
ANS: relying on solar energy, biodiversity, nutrient cycling (in any order)
2. Dealing with conflicts between scientific solutions and political solutions usually involves
___________________.
3. A social movement dedicated to protecting Earth's life support system for all living things is called
____________________.
ANS: environmentalism
4. The highest rate at which we can use a renewable resource indefinitely without reducing its available
supply is called its ____________________.
6. Non-renewable resources include ____________________ sources such as oil and natural gas that
cannot be recycled.
ANS: energy
ANS:
air pollution; global warming
global warming; air pollution
ANS: output
11. The action of processing plastic or aluminum cans into another usable product is called
____________________.
ANS: recycling
12. Old soda bottles that are collected, washed, and refilled are an example of ____________________.
ANS: reuse
13. ____________________ are not owned by a single person or organization, but are degraded by many
people.
ANS:
Common-property resources
Free-access resources
16. Some analysts refer to an eventually unsustainable addiction to buying more and more stuff as
____________________ .
ANS: affluenza
17. The United States, Canada, and Japan are examples of ____________________ with a high average
per capita GDP.
18. Developing countries have a low ____________________, which poses a threat to their ability to
become environmentally sustainable.
ANS: GDP
19. Your ____________________ refers to the set of assumptions and values a person holds with regard
to his or her role in the world.
Critical Thinking
1. What does this graph say about the world's percentage of resource-use in developed countries?
ANS:
Developed countries' populations use about 88% of the world's resources.
2. Do you think that the numbers overlap in the graph of the percentage of the world’s population who
lack access to basic amenities? Why?
ANS:
Often times the effects of poverty are not isolated. Also, the total percentage of the world’s population
without access to these amenities is greater than 100%.
3. How many Earths are we currently using compared to Earth's ecological capacity?
ANS:
1.25
4. What will happen if humanity's ecological footprint continues to be greater than Earth's ecological
capacity?
ANS:
Humans will destroy their environment, more and more animal and plant species will be lost, poverty
and disease will increase, etc.
ANS:
yes
6. What does the difference in ecological footprint between China and India mean?
ANS:
China's overall effect on the environment is more severe than that of India's.
ANS:
population growth, wasteful and unsustainable resource use, poverty, and failure to include the
environmental costs of goods and services in their market prices
ANS:
"we are part of and totally dependent upon nature and that nature exists for all species, not just us. It
also calls for encouraging environmentally friendly forms of economic growth and development and
discouraging Earth-degrading forms. Our success depends on learning how life on Earth sustains itself
and on integrating environmental wisdom into the ways we think and act." Examples will vary.
3. List the three scientific principles of sustainability and give an example of each.
ANS:
Reliance on solar energy, biodiversity and nutrient cycling. Examples will vary.
ANS:
Environmentalism is a social movement toward protecting earth’s life systems that is practiced more in
the political and ethical arenas whereas environmental science practiced in the science arena.
5. Why does the search for scientific solutions to sustainability problems often involve conflicts?
ANS:
Scientific solutions most times do not involve political solutions. Trade-offs or compromises become
necessary in order to implement scientific solutions through political processes.
6. Make an argument supporting the statement that individuals matter in making the shift toward
environmental sustainability?
ANS:
Sustainability begins with our daily choices. It only takes 5-10% of the population in a community to
bring about major change in a relatively short time frame.
ANS:
The large number of poor that are preoccupied with daily sustenance do not focus on long term
environmental issues, which leads to environmental degradation.
8. Poverty can increase environmental degradation; however, environmental degradation can increase
poverty. Why is this so?
ANS:
Poor people may be less concerned about environmental issues since they are preoccupied with daily
existence. However, the poor are severely impacted by environmental degradation since they have less
access to adequate sanitation and health care facilities.