Part 1
1. If the rate of increase of the world population is 2%, what is the doubling time of the population?
2. What variable is used to gauge the strength of anation's economy, and what is the approximate range of this variable?
3. What are three problems associated with the heavy use of biomass as an energy source?
4. What are three environmental consequences related to increased reliance on coal as an energy source?
5. The following conversions hold: one petajoule of energy =1 * 10^15 joules of energy =163000 "United Nations" standard barrels of oil or 34,140 standard metric tons of coal. One metric ton of oil = 7.33 bar-rels of oil. In 2000, approximately 2.7 billion metric tons of oil equivalent of coal (Figure 9.18) were burned worldwide. How many metric tons of coal does this represent?
6. How has the use of various types of energy in the United States changed during the last 150 years?
7. What percentages of the world's total oil and gas resources are located in the Middle East?
8. Three events in the history of the world are associated with rapid population growth. What are they?
Part 2
1. From an environmental standpoint, what are two important reasons to know the areas of forest land?
2. How do forest practices in the developed and developing world differ, and why the worldwide concern with forest practices in the developing countries?
3. How does deforestation affect the water cycle of tropical rain forests?
4. What are five major effects of deforestation of the tropical rain forest?
Part -3:
1. What are the four major types of soil degradation?
2. What are five causes of soil degradation?
3. What are three major types of water pollutants?
4. What are some changes in coastal environments during the past three centuries?
5. Based on your reading of this chapter, what is your opinion of the future of aquatic systems?