1. Widespread adoption of sustainable consumption at the global level will not be easy because:
A.sustainable consumption requires the eradication of poverty which requires that poor people increase their consumption of certain essential resources to improve the quality of their lives and these resources are no longer available.
B.sustainable consumption requires that the consumption patterns of people in highly developed countries must change to allow for the eradication of poverty and such changes in the lifestyles of people in highly developed countries is a challenge.
C.sustainable consumption requires that everyone embrace voluntary simplicity on a compulsory basis and while this is supported by politicians, economists are not in support.
D.sustainable consumption requires the excessive reliance on global resources that will result in a tragedy of the commons
2. What is a potential shortcoming in achieving environmental justice?
A.It is more expensive to clean-up hazardous waste in low-income communities because of the lack of technical skill in these communities.
B.Residents of low-income and minority communities have less involvement in the political process and may not even be aware of their exposure to increased levels of pollutants.
C.Minority communities tend to get more cooperation from government agencies that can help them.
D.Too many programs exist to serve the environmental justice needs of low-income and minority communities and these are often in competition with each other making it hard to accomplish the goals.
3. A type of sustainable consumption which recognizes that individual happiness and quality of life are not necessarily linked to the accumulation of material goods but rather that a person's values and character define that individual more than how many things he or she own is known as:
A. environmental ethics
B. sustainable development
C. environmental justice
D. A deep ecology worldview.
E. Child labor.
F. voluntary simplicity
G. Sustainable consumption.
4. Why is a risk analysis usually performed in solving environmental problems?
A.To solicit public opinion about how evidence should be interpreted when selection a course of action.
B.To analyze the potential effect of an intervention versus doing nothing.
C.To monitor the initial assessment and modeling of the problem.
D.To provide public awareness and endorsement.
5. Which of the following statements associated with poverty is CORRECT?
1) Poverty is defined as having a per person income of less than $2 per day, expressed in U.S. dollars adjusted for purchasing power.
2) The number of people living in poverty has been steadily declining and today less than one billion people live in poverty worldwide.
3) Poverty is a condition in which people are unable to meet their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, education, or health.
A.1 only
B.2 only
C.3 only
D.Both 1 and 3 apply as descriptions of poverty.
6. Which of the following is NOT TRUE about the nature of natural resources and their use by people?
A.Slowing down the rate of population growth as well as reducing resource consumption levels will allow for more time to develop technological advances to find alternatives to non-renewable
B.Even renewable resources must be used in a manner that allows for them to replenish or replace themselves and thus these resources should more accurately be considered potentially renewable and not be overexploited.
C.Developing countries are often faced with the difficult choice between exploiting natural resources to provide for their expanding populations in the short term (to pay for food or to cover debts) or conserving those resources for future generations.
D.Poverty does not impose any pressures on natural resources as the poor use barely any resources at all and what they do use is used very carefully and wisely for long term survival.
7. Which of the following is the BEST example of sustainable consumption?
A.Constructing a small house on farmland on the edge of town and carpooling to work.
B.Flying to the Bahamas for a weekend getaway.
C.Preparing a meal at home with food bought at the local farmers market.
D.Purchasing five pairs of shoes at a local minority owned business.
8. How does science obtain knowledge about the world?
A.By an interactive process of experimentation, which refines hypotheses until they are finally proven to be the absolute truth.
B.By relying on scientific authorities and the massive amount of knowledge already obtained to explain new data.
C.By systematically gathering evidence and discarding potential explanations that do not fit the evidence, and refining those that do fit the evidence.
D.By conducting experiments designed to support hypotheses as being correct beyond reasonable doubt.
9. All of the following statements describe environmental science EXCEPT:
A.The goal of environmental science is to try to establish general principles about how the natural world functions.
B.Environmental scientists seek to develop viable solutions to environmental problems that are based as much as possible on scientific knowledge.
C.Since environmental problems are generally complex and scientific understanding of them is often less complete, environmental scientists are often called on to reach scientific consensus before the data are complete.
D.No exceptions, all of the above statements describe environmental science.
10. Which of the following interact to promote sustainable development?
1 Economically viable decisions
2 Socially equitable decisions
3 Environmentally sound decisions
4 High rate of resources use
5 Rapid population growth
A.1 and 3
B.2 and 4
C.1, 2, and 3
D.3,4, and 5
11. What does the phrase "environmental sustainability" imply?
A.The actions of humans directly impact the wellbeing of the natural environment.
B.Future generations will have the resources necessary for quality of life.
C.A shared global responsibility is necessary for conservation practices.
D.All of the above are implied by environmental sustainability.
12. If economic decisions are to be sustainable they will have to consider which of the following?
A.political costs
B.environmental costs
C.societal costs
D.environmental and societal costs both must be considered
13. What is meant by food insecurity?
A.The potential decline in agricultural productivity due to reduced soil fertility as a result of multi-cropping.
B.The condition in which people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition likely due to poverty.
C.The increased pressures on food production as a result of increases in global population.
D.The potential decline in agricultural productivity due to conservation tillage.
14. The use of goods and services that satisfy basic human needs, improve the quality of life but minimize resource use is referred to as:
A.sustainable consumption
B.master planned communities
C.environmental justice
D.organic agriculture
15. The deep ecology world view most closely resembles the:
A.Western worldview
B.utilitarian conservationist attitude
C.frontier attitude
D.biocentric preservationist attitude
16. In order to estimate human impact on the environment we can
A.multiply the number of people times affluence per person times resources used and wastes produced (I=P x A x T)
B.multiply resource depletion times number of years divided by number of people (I = R x Y ÷ P)
C.multiply birth rate times consumption patterns divided by available resources (I= B x C ÷ R)
D.Divide number of people by resources needed and wastes produced (I = P ÷ T)
17. Global sustainable development depends on eradication of poverty in the developing world. What is the consequence of this?
A.Developing countries will consume at the same levels as developed countries today.
B.Poor people will need to move to cities increasing urban air pollution.
C.Developing countries will be forced into deforestation in order to meet their economic needs.
D.Poor people in developing countries need to increase their consumption of certain essential resources.
18. A journalist reports on what Garrett Hardin (in 1968) referred to as a "Tragedy of the Commons"? The media story concerns:
A.the technology divide that exists between the social classes of poverty and elite
B.the environmental costs that everyone must pay in the long run due to individual exploitation of resources for short-term gains.
C.a disaster that happened in the park
D.the environmental costs that a widespread natural disaster brings to all walks of life
19. In order for a country to progress from a less developed country (LDC) to a moderately developed country (MDC), the country would have to:
A.increase rate of population growth.
B.move from industry to agricultural economy base.
C.raise the per-capita income.
D.increase their unskilled labor force.
20. A state agency has contacted you to do a scientific assessment of kudzu in a nature preserve in southern Georgia. They are concerned about the effects of the non-native invasive vine on a small rare plant that grows on the forest floor in the preserve, but which is found nowhere else in the state. Kudzu is only growing in the east side of the preserve because it hasn't yet had time to invade further. In order to assess the effects of kudzu on the rare plant, you set up the following experiment:
Site 1. On the east side of the park with the kudzu, you set up ten 1m x 1m plots on the forest floor. In each plot you count the number of individuals of the rare plant.
Site 2. On the west side of the park without the kudzu, you set up ten 1m x 1m plots of the forest floor. In each plot you count the number of individuals of the rare plant.
Which of the following represents the hypothesis that you are testing with this experiment?
A.Kudzu will eventually grow on the west side of the park.
B.Kudzu will kill off the trees in the preserve by strangling them.
C.Kudzu should be removed from the preserve because it is killing the rare plant.
D.Kudzu is negatively affecting populations of the rare plant in the preserve.
21. A personal perspective based on a collection of basic values and beliefs about how the environment works, that helps us make sense of our place and purpose in it, and determine right and wrong behaviors describes:
A.Environmental ethics
B.Environmental worldview
C.Voluntary simplicity
D.Deep ecology
22. All of the following statements regarding the need for environmental justice and the challenges in accomplishing its goals are true EXCEPT:
A.Research evidence suggests that minority communities tend to follow NIMBY ideals and thus get less cooperation from government agencies that could help them.
B.Residents of low-income and minority communities have less involvement in the political process and may not even be aware of their exposure to increased levels of pollutants.
C.Many studies indicate that hazardous waste facilities, sanitary landfills, and incinerators are more likely to be located in low-income and minority communities.
D.Currently, we have little scientific evidence showing to what extent a polluted environment is responsible for the disproportionate health problems of poor and minority communities.