Deck 17: Environmental Ethics Pollution and Resource Use

Question 1

Baxter views the problem of optimizing pollution as primarily

A) moral.
B) a problem for individuals to deal with.
C) economic.
D) Kantian, not utilitarian.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Examples of commons include:

A) a copyrighted song posted on the Internet.
B) a house.
C) the air that surrounds the earth.
D) your coat and scarf.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The view that nonhumans also have intrinsic value is that of:

A) anthropocentrism.
B) optimal pollution.
C) ecocentrism.
D) care ethics.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Baxter would address the tragedy of the commons by

A) adding powerful moral motivations for their care.
B) imposing market incentives to better care for the commons.
C) reducing the number of commons so there are fewer to deal with.
D) splitting and selling the commons among different countries or individuals.

Question 5

Externalities are

A) unimportant matters that can be ignored as we use a commons.
B) other commons beside the commons we are using at the time.
C) effects that a user of the commons is not forced to pay at the time.
D) effects that are gradually absorbed by the commons until they entirely disappear.

Question 6

In discussing climate change, adaptation refers to the

A) evolution of plants and animals as they adapt to climate change.
B) efforts to change human behaviors to reduce our greenhouse emissions.
C) international efforts to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
D) mainly local and regional efforts to better adapt people to climate trends.

Question 7

The view that only humans have intrinsic moral value is called

A) anthropocentrism.
B) optimal pollution.
C) ecocentrism.
D) optimal resource use.

Question 8

Zoonotic diseases are

A) unusual diseases now appearing among animals in zoos and wildlife preserves.
B) human diseases spread to animals.
C) animal diseases spread to humans.
D) tropical diseases spread northward as climate zones warm.

Question 9

Mitigation refers to

A) lessening the overall quantity of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere regardless of their sources.
B) cutting back the net emission of greenhouse gases especially from one's own country.
C) reducing the harmful effects of climate change upon humans.
D) animals moving to warmer temperatures during colder seasons.

Question 10

Conflicts may arise between

A) different resource uses.
B) serving human interests and efforts to limit pollution and resource use.
C) fulfilling the interests of different groups of people.
D) All of the above

Question 11

The tragedy of the commons is essentially that people have incentives to use the commons as much as they can, but little incentive to care for it.

Question 12

As climate changes continue to take place, anthropocentrism and mild ecocentrism can be expected to yield increasingly different results, especially for cases in which larger expanses of nature are at stake.

Question 13

Baxter thinks that appropriately managing the natural environment is part of the overall task of fully addressing human needs and interests.

Question 14

A mild ecocentric account can yield several results similar to anthropocentrism, though the views will not agree on everything.

Question 15

"Climate change" is simply another way of naming its equivalent: global warming.