Deck 8: The Natural Environment: Global Warming, Pollution, Resource Depletion, and Sustainable Development

Question 1

The Earth Charter is a legally binding global agreement establishing minimum environmental standards.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

ISO 14001 is a means by which the International Standardization Organization certifies companies which breach specified environmental standards.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The 'Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare' (ISEW) per head has historically grown at a faster rate than the index of standard of living based on GDP per head.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A move towards environmental taxes is in line with the 'polluter pays' principle.

Question 5

The Brundtland Report in 1987 provided the most widely cited definition of sustainable development, namely development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 6

The 'greenhouse effect' refers to the trapping of heat between the Earth's surface and gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide.

Question 7

The Kyoto Protocol imposed legally binding reduction targets for greenhouse gases in developed and transition economies in 1997.

Question 8

Oil, natural gas, and coal are fossil fuels and non-renewable sources of energy.

Question 9

Genetic diversity refers to the variety of species within a habitat (e.g. rainforests) or a region.

Question 10

Road charging can be regarded as a market-based policy instrument directed towards reducing traffic congestion and its attendant environmental costs.

Question 11

Which of the following gases are greenhouse gases? Please select all that apply.

A) Neon
B) Methane
C) Argon
D) Nitrous oxide

Question 12

Possible consequences of global warming are: (Please select all that apply.)

A) Disruption of weather and climatic patterns
B) Industrial decline
C) Falling life expectancies
D) Rising sea levels

Question 13

Conventional economics looked on environmental problems as:
(Please select all that apply.)

A) Very serious issues which required specialized analysis
B) 'External costs' which could most desirably be dealt with by adjustments to market prices in the form of taxes or subsidies
C) An inevitable feature of a market economy
D) 'Side effects' of the production/consumption process

Question 14

Key features of current environmental problems are:
(Please select all that apply.)

A) Fairly similar to what they have always been
B) Their increasing derivation from global rather than local processes
C) Localized problems which are fairly widespread around the globe
D) Their interrelated nature between different regions of the world

Question 15

Given the nature of current global environmental problems, possible scenarios of what might happen in the next 5-10 years are:
(Please select all that apply.)

A) A gradual attenuation of global trends in favourable directions for sustainable development
B) A continuation of current trends with increasingly disastrous climatic patterns, resource exhaustion, and global instability
C) Changes in the international context leading to a favourable involvement of key countries who are major GHG generators, but not currently signatories to the Kyoto Agreement, in signing up to this and other sustainable development initiatives
D) Relatively little change from what we are experiencing now, as current trends are not outside the range of observed experience, and the phenomenon of global warming is an unproven possibility

Question 16

When we talk about 'green marketing' we are emphasizing:

A) Unethical ways of representing a firm's products, otherwise known as 'greenwash'
B) The marketing of a firm's products in a way which highlights the nature of the best environmental practices which have been employed in producing them and bringing them onto the market
C) The marketing of a firm's products in a way which disguises the more undesirable environmental practices which have been employed in bringing them onto the market
D) Producing marketing material in a green colour

Question 17

When we talk about 'sustainable business' we mean that:

A) A business should focus on sustainable development rather than making profits
B) A business should earn just enough profits to stay solvent
C) A business should maintain its capacity to produce benefits for society, including the profitability it needs to survive, while simultaneously optimizing the environmental balance of its operations
D) The business is committed to sustainable development

Question 18

The main problem with the use of environmental taxes is that:

A) People and companies object to paying them
B) They are easily avoided
C) It may be hard to set them at the right level to be an appropriate incentive to change behaviour
D) Very few environmental variables can be measured sufficiently accurately to make a tax feasible

Question 19

Under which of the following circumstances is a negotiated solution to an environmental problem least likely?

A) When there are many polluters, many sufferers, and property rights are poorly defined
B) When there are few polluters, few sufferers, and well-defined property rights
C) When there are many polluters, many sufferers, and well-defined property rights
D) When there are few polluters, few sufferers, and property rights are poorly defined

Question 20

The least relevant reason for business to be interested in sustainable development in the following list is:

A) Business is a significant contributor to global environmental problems and hence it should ethically have an interest and role in sustainable development measures
B) Business is suffering, and will suffer more, from global environmental problems if things go on as they are, and hence business has an interest in sustainable development measures to protect itself from further damage
C) The implementation of many measures to promote sustainable development represents both sensible measures to reduce costs anyway in a company, and may also represent good business opportunities for enterprising companies to develop new markets
D) Taking an interest in sustainable development is a good marketing tool for a company