Exam 24: Urbanization- the Ghetto Goes Green: in the Bronx, Building a Better Backyard

In a famous essay, Garrett Hardin described "the tragedy of the common," where individual self-interests lead to depletion of shared, limited resources. For example, in a public pasture, where no rules are in place to restrict the number of grazing animals, individuals will maximize their usage of the resource and the end result may be loss or destruction of the resource. What examples on Earth would qualify as "common" areas that no one person, state, or government owns or controls? How could these areas be managed to avoid environmental degradation?

Which of the following was established by Congress to implement and enforce federal environmental laws?

Which of the following is CORRECT regarding U.S. environmental policy prior to the 1960s?

In the 1960s and 1970s:

The era of modern environmental policy had begun by:

What is a disadvantage of the current political lobbying system?

Describe several characteristics of an effective policy at the international level.

What is political lobbying? In the United States, how does lobbying affect policy decisions?

Prior to the 1987 Montréal Protocol, there existed some uncertainty in the scientific community as to the magnitude of ozone depletion caused by CFCs in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, the Protocol did recommend phasing out CFCs from refrigerants and other uses because the potential consequences of not doing so were so severe. This is an example of applying the _______________ principle.

Many coastal areas and low-lying island nations are currently at risk from rising sea levels attributed to global climate change. How does this illustrate the need for policy at the international level?

Excess nitrogen fertilizer runs off Midwestern farmland into waterways that lead to the Gulf of Mexico, where the result is a "dead zone" of low oxygen levels. This impacts the ecosystem there and presents a significant economic hardship to the shrimping industry. What level of policy might be needed to address this problem? What existing federal law could be applied?

The _______________ is an international group of scientists and government representatives that reviews and evaluates all published research on climate and summarizes it into comprehensive periodic reports.

In the United States, government officials selected to regulate an industry are often chosen from a pool of industry executives because they possess detailed knowledge of that industry that other candidates lack and therefore can best regulate it. What unintended consequences might this arrangement result in?

In which international agreement is climate change formally recognized as a problem?

The 1987 Montréal Protocol involved the regulation of:

An advantage of an economic policy tool approach to protecting the environment is the:

Which country listed below rejected the Kyoto Protocol and did not ratify it?

Describe how command and control regulation could be used to decrease gasoline usage in automobiles. How could incentive-based regulation be used to accomplish the same task?

As president of a country that relies significantly on income from whaling, you are concerned about declining whale populations. Several other countries are considered whaling countries. What can be done to help ensure sustainable whaling into the future?

Industries must act to meet ___________ standards, targets set that specify acceptable levels of pollution that can be released or exist in outdoor air.