Exam 22: Technology and the Global Environment

What type of waste is produced by nuclear power facilities?

What would the textbook suggest is the cause of the back-and-forth public opinion about the existence and dangers of global warming?

"Normal accidents" refer to the idea that technology will not fail if human subjectivity can be removed from its implementation and operation.

Which of the following terms expresses the idea that technology is bound to fail due to its sheer complexity?

Who was the sociologist who developed the risk society thesis?

What effect did the invention of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine have during the Industrial Revolution?

According to the textbook, which of the following do some claim may pose the biggest technological threat so far to human well-being and survival?

The first major nuclear reactor accident in the world occurred in December 1952 at the Chalk River nuclear facility in Canada.

In the late 1960s, the river running through the Ojibwa village of Grassy Narrows in Ontario was poisoned for 50 years by mercury pollution from a local pulp mill.What does this example illustrate?

There is a disturbing association in Canada between high levels of contamination and pollution and which of the following?

The use of windmills and solar panels to create clean, efficient, renewable energy demonstrates the successful use of which of the following to deal with environmental problems?

When natural disasters strike, marginalized people tend to experience more hardship.What do sociologists call this phenomenon?

In the United States, heavy industrial polluters are often located near African-American communities.What does this example illustrate?

Provincial governments give cheques to consumers who trade in their old refrigerators for new ones and see to the safe disposal of their old refrigerators.What are these governments trying to protect with such initiatives?

What element blocks excessive ultraviolet radiation from reaching the earth?

Carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise in Canada and most other countries.

According to Sheldon Ungar, people are prepared to make significant personal sacrifices on behalf of the environment when they come face to face with which of the following?

How did "high tech" become "big tech"? What does this say about the creation and diffusion of technology?

Acid rain is a form of oxygen that blocks ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun.

When looking at the graph showing surface air temperatures and CO₂ levels, which of the following best describes the pattern?