Deck 8: Development Climate, or the Nature of Development

Question 1

The Gaia hypothesis treats the Earth as a ______.

A) biological system
B) psychological system
C) physiological system
D) morphological system

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The environmentalist's paradox occurs when ______.

A) richer nations neglect to advocate for climate change
B) richer nations engage in anti-climatic events
C) rising well-being is accompanied by deteriorating environmental conditions
D) rising well-being is accompanied by healthy environmental conditions

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The fact that those in Beijing, China use the "Wumai" (meaning fog) rather than "Wuran" (meaning pollution) to describe the poor air quality in their city is an illustration of ______.

A) denial of the role of human activities in climate change
B) acceptance of destiny as cause of climate change
C) acceptance of global warming as cause of climate change
D) denial of global warming as cause of climate change

Answer 3

A

Question 4

All of the following are indicators of climate change, except ______.

A) global warming
B) glacial retreat
C) declining Arctic sea ice
D) ocean acidification

Question 5

Which of the following activities related to transportation of goods across national borders contributes to climate change was identified in the text?

A) container shipping (of goods for world factories/farms) contributes the most to shipping emissions
B) use of agro-chemicals to reserve imported food
C) use of fuel for vehicular transportation
D) import of foreign goods into the global north

Question 6

An example of recycling the (market) problem as a solution, identified in the text, is the practice of ______.

A) emission related subjugation
B) establishing protective legal frameworks
C) dumping emission waste in India
D) marketing emissions

Question 7

Sustainability entails two broad approaches. One is ______, where the practice is high-input agriculture on less land to preserve wilderness biodiversity, and the other is ______, where the focus is on mimicking and restoring biodiversity through practices such as agroforestry and mixed farming.

A) preservation; plant-ecology
B) conservation; agroecology
C) transversion; agroecology
D) crop-rotation; plant-ecology

Question 8

The practice of sustainable rice intensification (SRI) is a good exemplification of ______.

A) agroecology
B) high-input agroecology
C) high-input conversation
D) sustainable conversation

Question 9

Biofuels are controversial. While their burn is cleaner, their production ______.

A) is expensive
B) pollutes more than carbon
C) is carbon intensive
D) entails excessive energy burn

Question 10

Social movements have renamed biofuels as agrofuels because their production ______.

A) fails to pay attention to role in biodiversity
B) ignores the fact that they are essentially crops for food
C) does not differentiate between their uses - as agricultural crops and agricultural fuels
D) does not differentiate between their uses - as crops for food or crops for fuels

Question 11

Though biofuels are viewed as renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, they can contribute to global warming because ______.

A) they release more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels
B) their production depends on destruction of protective ecology
C) they are mixed with fossil fuels, increasing their impact
D) they generate extreme heat in their production

Question 12

Small producers use many strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change. This includes all of the following except ______.

A) integrated farming
B) mixed cropping
C) fertilizer rotation
D) water conservation methods

Question 13

Critiques of agroecological organics argue that they are too expensive compared with conventional farming. Their argument however ignores the fact that ______.

A) conventional farming inputs are more expensive than those of organic farming
B) organic farming is the cheapest since it relies on local inputs
C) conventional farming benefits from huge subsidies to industrial agriculture for energy and conservation purposes
D) conventional farming benefits from government lobby.

Question 14

The core principles of agroecology include all of the following except ______.

A) recycling nutrients and energy on the farm
B) recycling external inputs
C) enhancing soil organic matter
D) biological diversity

Question 15

European colonialism was premised on expropriating native peoples from their habitats. What effects has this claim to sovereign territory, as landed property - a cornerstone of European development - created in modern times?

A) the reduction of the commercialized land in the global North
B) increased interest in Indigenous activism and environmental practices
C) the commercial exploitation of the natural world
D) decreasing dependency from the global South

Question 16

How is the oil industry already positioned to benefit and protect itself regarding fossil fuel exit or phaseout?

A) Immunity from climate change lawsuits
B) The industry has the technology and experience to take the lead in carbon capture and sequestration
C) Some citizen support for contributions to local economic development
D) The industry provides indigenous communities with financial support for tax write-offs

Question 17

The lesson from the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) report is that ______.

A) poverty reduction strategies still shape development at the expense of environmental protection
B) public policy decisions affecting the ecosystem are often made by transnational corporations
C) conventional development model has not understood the social and environmental significance of its ecological base
D) the interdependence of common pool resources is understood and managed by those populations deemed poor by development agencies

Question 18

How did the WTO trade regime defy the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) unilateral efforts to combat climate change?

A) Increased oil drilling
B) They were unrestricted by climate protections
C) Multiplied "world factories" and "world farms"
D) Expanded container shipping

Question 19

According to Gaia hypothesis, the earth is a physiological system that behaves as if it were alive.

Question 20

The Chinese use word "Wumai" (meaning fog) to describe the role of high-mass consumption and industrialization at the expense of environment.

Question 21

A "business-as-usual" approach to climate change views it as an opportunity, claiming "the world must adapt to what it has become."

Question 22

Sustainable rice intensification (SRI) approach is a good example of high-input conservation agriculture, has been scientifically validated, and adopted by millions of farmers across 61 countries.

Question 23

Mixed farming and cover crop are methods of sustainable high-input conservation.

Question 24

There is a key distinction between opposing models of sustainability, sustainable intensification via commercial inputs vs. biodiverse, ecological farming methods. The former has institutional and market power, the latter has staying power.

Question 25

The combination of extinctions, global species migrations and the widespread replacement of natural vegetation with agricultural monocultures is producing a distinctive contemporary biostratigraphic signal. Thus, we are narrowing our ecological foundations and therefore the ability of humans and other species to survive climatic change.

Question 26

What is the Gaia Hypothesis and why is it important for sustainable development?

Question 27

Why is climate change a security concern?

Question 28

Why do climate change effects, such as the Arctic melt, represent an opportunity for industry?

Question 29

What is the difference between the Emissions Trading Scheme and Clean Development Mechanism?

Question 30

Biofuels are a crime against humanity. Discuss.

Question 31

In what ways does the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) incorporate the goals of the globalization project? Is the shift from "old" to "new" green revolution similar to the World Bank's shift toward 'development with a human face'? Explain.

Question 32

Discuss the rationale and goals of the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA). In what ways does its action contribute to "carbon imperialism"? Is this an example of the "solution as problem" syndrome? Explain.

Question 33

Discuss whether the promises of conservation have stood up to the realities of such projects. Using sustainable rice intensification as an example, explain the myth of sustainability and how it illustrates the idea of development as rule.

Question 34

Critically but briefly evaluate World Bank's "agriculture for development" program.