Deck 15: Populations,Cities,and the Environment

Question 1

Which of the following helped lead to rapid population growth in Europe,around the time of Thomas Malthus,in the eighteenth century?

A) the potato
B) penicillin
C) the automobile
D) better methods of contraception

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Japan has one of the world's highest life expectancies.However,it has experienced a net loss of population for many years,which is the result of declining birth and immigration rates.The population did rise in both 2008 and 2009 largely due to Japanese citizens abroad returning home.This data was analyzed by a

A) demographer.
B) social ecologist.
C) environmental sociologist.
D) nongovernmental organization.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Before the United States invaded Iraq,about 5.5 people out of every thousand would die each year according to a controversial study published in the British medical journal The Lancet.After the invasion,that number rose to over 13.This study was attempting to measure

A) immigration.
B) suicide.
C) morbidity.
D) mortality.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How has Earth's population changed in the past fifty years?

A) It has shrunk slightly.
B) It peaked around twenty-five years ago and has been shrinking ever since.
C) It has increased by around 25 percent.
D) It has nearly tripled.

Question 5

Which of the following would you expect to see happen in the future if the pattern of demographic transition that followed the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States is repeated in Africa?

A) increasing infant mortality rates
B) increasing mortality rates
C) decreasing immigration rates
D) decreasing mortality rates

Question 6

The city of Mumbai,India,has 14,000,000 people,making it the second-largest city in the world,and it handles the majority of India's maritime commerce.These facts help to explain why Mumbai would be called a(n)

A) metropolitan statistical area.
B) global city.
C) agglomeration.
D) agrarian area.

Question 7

Garrett Hardin believes that "a 'just' sharing of the world's wealth among all the inhabitants,without coercive control of individual reproduction,would result in a continual,exponential growth of the human population" and much more suffering.This means Hardin is a

A) grassroots organizer.
B) believer in sustainable development.
C) neo-Malthusian.
D) mainstream environmentalist.

Question 8

Why is the population in the United States growing given that fertility rates have dropped below the level needed to maintain the population level?

A) There has been a decrease in life expectancy.
B) The mortality rate is increasing.
C) There have been considerable advances in modern medicine.
D) Immigration rates have risen.

Question 9

Milwaukee has over 500,000 inhabitants.What type of city is this according to demographers?

A) megacity
B) global city
C) metropolis
D) metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

Question 10

The study of the size,composition,distribution,and change in a human population is called

A) environmental sociology.
B) an ecological paradigm.
C) conservationism.
D) demography.

Question 11

How is urban density measured?

A) the number of square miles occupied by a city
B) the number of adults in a given metropolitan area
C) the number of people per square mile
D) the number of people in an economically and socially integrated area

Question 12

Which of the following is a basic demographic variable?

A) agglomeration
B) dystopia
C) pluralism
D) migration

Question 13

According to the lowest United Nations estimates,the globe will have two billion more people living on it by the year 2050.At that point,the population may actually shrink because,though life expectancy may continue to rise,the average number of children each person gives birth to is poised to drop below 2.1.What demographic variable might make the global population drop?

A) a return to agrarianism
B) fertility
C) race
D) immigration

Question 14

Which of the following would be an example of a "positive check" on population growth?

A) family planning
B) emigration
C) cloning
D) famine

Question 15

Which of the following would MOST worry Thomas Malthus?

A) the movement of upper- and middle-class white residents out of cities and into suburbs
B) new diseases for which antibiotics are ineffective
C) the U.S. government refusing to fund international agencies that provide family planning services
D) child labor laws that prohibit children from working

Question 16

During the Great Depression in the 1930s,huge numbers of dispossessed U.S.farmers left places like Oklahoma and moved to California.This is an example of

A) mortality.
B) internal colonization.
C) internal migration.
D) emigration.

Question 17

Which of the following is an example of a way to collect demographic data?

A) voluntary simplicity and recycling
B) organizing environmental activist groups to engage in direct actions
C) the U.S. Census Bureau sending out surveys
D) the Malthusian theorem

Question 18

Due to an oil boom,North Dakota has experienced the greatest population increase among all of the states in the United States in the recent past.Which demographic variable explains this?

A) fertility
B) migration
C) mortality
D) life span

Question 19

Will world population continue to grow or will it eventually stabilize?

A) It will continue to grow until a disaster strikes that reduces the population.
B) It will continue to grow indefinitely, but new solutions for overpopulation will be found.
C) It will eventually stabilize, but not for many years.
D) We may not know the answer for many years.

Question 20

The net migration rate is the

A) number of deaths that can be expected per one thousand people in a given year.
B) average number of births per one thousand people in the total population.
C) average age to which a person can expect to live.
D) number of emigrants subtracted from the number of immigrants.

Question 21

According to Georg Simmel,how do city dwellers relate to one another?

A) through restrictive constraints on personal behavior
B) through family connections
C) in terms of class-based loyalties
D) in objective and instrumental terms

Question 22

Which of the following is one of the categories of urbanites identified by Herbert Gans in his ethnography Urban Villagers?

A) bohemians
B) cosmopolites
C) Roma
D) the dispossessed

Question 23

To what are environmental sociologists referring when they use the term "environment"?

A) wilderness and other areas that have not yet been developed by humans
B) only renewable and nonrenewable resources
C) those elements of the world that were not constructed through human effort
D) both the natural and the human-made environment

Question 24

What would you be considered,according to Herbert Gans,if you move to New York City because you love theater?

A) a cosmopolite
B) an ethnic villager
C) single
D) a student

Question 25

What group was MOST likely to move away from the urban core to the suburbs?

A) single mothers
B) senior citizens
C) racial and ethnic minorities
D) whites

Question 26

Some urban planners are working hard to make sure their communities use the same land for multiple purposes.In particular,they advocate for using land "vertically" such as having apartments on top of retail space.This type of planning is called

A) smart growth.
B) urban sprawl.
C) suburbanization.
D) edge city development.

Question 27

A sociologist who examines how cities are organized or the migration of human populations is studying

A) renewable resources.
B) environmental attitudes.
C) the new ecological paradigm.
D) environmental justice.

Question 28

Chris McCandless lived on his own in the wilderness because he felt constrained and betrayed by a society that cared so little for its individual members.What term describes the attitude to which McCandless objected?

A) suburbanization
B) urbanites
C) edge cities
D) social atomization

Question 29

What is the name of the subdiscipline that studies the social causes and consequences of environmental problems?

A) transformative environmentalism
B) sociobiology
C) environmental sociology
D) biological ecology

Question 30

The study of human populations and their impact on the natural world is called

A) the new ecological paradigm.
B) biodiversity.
C) conservationism.
D) radical environmentalism.

Question 31

The process by which members of a group individually conclude that nothing is wrong because they observe that no one else seems to be worried is called

A) alienation.
B) community feeling.
C) pluralistic ignorance.
D) the bystander effect.

Question 32

What sorts of places are associated with an increase in social atomization?

A) rural areas
B) frontier counties
C) suburbs
D) cities

Question 33

The shift of large segments of the population away from the urban core and toward the edges of cities is called

A) social ecology.
B) urban deforestation.
C) civil inattention.
D) suburbanization.

Question 34

According to law enforcement,you should pick out an individual,even a stranger,point to him or her,and request assistance if you are in trouble or injured rather than yelling for help or appealing to a group.This strategy would help to defeat

A) the broken windows paradigm.
B) alienation.
C) the bystander effect.
D) street crime.

Question 35

If Georg Simmel is correct,in which type of community would you be LEAST likely to have a friendly relationship with your neighbors?

A) a rural area
B) a suburb
C) an exurb
D) a large city

Question 36

In the past,the vast majority of people lived in rural areas and small towns where it was truly shocking to encounter a genuine stranger.Today,most of us live in cities where we are constantly surrounded by total strangers.This leads directly to

A) suburbanization.
B) a demographic transition.
C) social atomization.
D) increased divorce rates.

Question 37

How is an edge city different from a suburb?

A) An edge city is primarily a bedroom community.
B) An edge city has its own centers of employment and commerce.
C) An edge city is smaller than a suburb.
D) An edge city tends to be located far from major highway intersections.

Question 38

What has happened if a blighted urban neighborhood were to suddenly develop an assortment of upscale restaurants,coffee shops,hip boutiques,and art galleries?

A) It has changing patterns of gender relations.
B) It is becoming gentrified.
C) It is experiencing smart growth.
D) It is growing into an edge city.

Question 39

The Industrial Revolution made cities necessary as a large number of people were needed to work in factories.Why have many people found city life to be attractive ever since?

A) Cities offer a profound sense of security.
B) Cities bring people together and help to develop community.
C) Cities offer a high degree of personal freedom.
D) Cities help people develop deep and intense relationships.

Question 40

Under what circumstances are bystanders LESS likely to attempt to help a stranger who appears to be in danger?

A) when the bystander could also be in danger
B) when there are lots of bystanders
C) when the danger comes from a natural rather than a human source
D) when the danger might lead to legal liability for a bystander who intervenes

Question 41

Modern economies require constant growth and with that growth comes an ever-increasing need for resources called

A) edge cities.
B) economic modernization.
C) the treadmill of production.
D) the new ecological paradigm.

Question 42

Nature writer Barry Lopez spent time with the Inuit of the Arctic and concluded that hunting societies had different attitudes about the land than industrial ones because "the focus of a hunter in a hunting society was not killing animals but attending to the myriad relationships he understood bound him into the world he occupied with them." What kind of attitude do hunting societies have?

A) Judeo-Christian
B) the new ecological paradigm
C) human exceptionalism
D) anthropocentric

Question 43

What problem will result from even slightly higher global temperatures?

A) rising sea levels
B) loss of sites to store garbage
C) larger islands
D) gentrification

Question 44

The Environmental Protection Agency claims that the United States has one of the safest supplies of drinking water in the world,but

A) 10 percent of U.S. water systems do not meet EPA standards.
B) the EPA has covered up systematic contamination of the water supply.
C) most Americans still complain of waterborne disease.
D) most of the U.S. water supply comes from desalinization plants.

Question 45

How are environmental sociologists understanding the environment when they study the problems of waste and consumption?

A) as a source of meaning
B) as a resource to be used for development
C) as a place of recreation and leisure
D) as a social problem

Question 46

Damage to tropical rain forests is causing the extinction of many rain forest species,but it is also detrimental to human life.Why?

A) Rain forests provide vast amounts of food for the Western world.
B) Rain forests absorb carbon dioxide and provide valuable plants.
C) Rain forests provide much-needed water for people.
D) Rain forests are home to much of the world's population.

Question 47

An environmentalist named Aldo Leopold believed that we need to develop a "land ethic" that "changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it." What sort of attitude is Leopold trying to move our society away from?

A) the new ecological paradigm
B) grassroots
C) conservation
D) anthropocentric

Question 48

Which of the following is a major area of concern within the four analytic frameworks of environmental sociology?

A) demography
B) attitudes about the environment
C) incarceration rates
D) biodiversity

Question 49

Today,many parents are worried about the bottles out of which their babies drink because many contain plastics made with Bisphenol A.This is a compound that helps to make hard,clear,shatter-proof plastics,but it might also be a neurotoxin,especially for children.Science has yet to fully explore this issue,but what era of the environmental movement does this concern MOST closely follow?

A) the conservation era
B) mainstream environmentalism
C) grassroots environmentalism
D) the modern environmental movement

Question 50

Ecologist Aldo Leopold wrote about his home state of Wisconsin in The Sand County Almanac.In one moving section,he described a triangular cemetery founded in the nineteenth century that,because of its unusual shape,contained a tiny patch of prairie that was unmowed and undisturbed.Every year,sometime in July,Leopold would watch a single silphium plant bloom there,the only one he found in that part of the state.He used this example to discuss the many plants native to the prairie that have been replaced by a few commercial plants grown by farmers.Leopold is observing a change in

A) pollution.
B) suburbanization.
C) social ecology.
D) biodiversity.

Question 51

How do people with an anthropocentric relationship with the environment perceive nature?

A) as something to be preserved
B) as a place to find spiritual truth
C) as something to be conquered
D) as something to be studied and examined before it is tainted by human activity

Question 52

What are resources,like coal and oil,called that CANNOT be replaced except through very slow geological processes?

A) nonrenewable resources
B) social problems
C) renewable resources
D) environmentally friendly

Question 53

Why is the "water grabbing" of developing countries possible?

A) Water is a transboundary resource.
B) Developing countries sell their water to wealthier countries.
C) Developing countries have more water.
D) No one owns the water.

Question 54

The belief that humans will find ways to overcome any problems posed by pollution and waste is consistent with what attitude?

A) conservation
B) the modern environmental movement
C) the Malthusian theorem
D) human exceptionalism

Question 55

According to the text,which of the following is one of the four major eras of environmental activism?

A) Earth Day
B) postmodern environmentalism
C) climate justice
D) the conservation era

Question 56

What sort of pollution is responsible for global warming?

A) water
B) light
C) groundwater
D) air

Question 57

On July 1,1908,Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation that created forty-five national forests.Roosevelt was a passionate hunter and believed that all the game in America would soon be gone unless something was done to preserve some wild areas.To which era of the environmental movement does this goal belong?

A) grassroots environmentalism
B) the conservation era
C) mainstream environmentalism
D) the modern environmental movement

Question 58

Few people today know that the Milky Way is a spiral arm of our galaxy,which contains such a dense cluster of stars that in the past it appeared not as individual points of light but as a splash of light across the night sky.Why is it no longer visible this way?

A) the greenhouse effect
B) light pollution
C) urban sprawl
D) air pollution

Question 59

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,MOST environmental activism was focused on

A) the protection and conservation of wilderness.
B) environmental justice.
C) grassroots activism to involve individual community members.
D) lowering the ecological footprints of both individuals and society as a whole.

Question 60

Which of the following facts might a sociologist be interested in if he or she is studying the problems associated with resource depletion when investigating the way our society uses paper?

A) It requires more than three pounds of tree pulp to make one pound of paper.
B) Making paper pumps acid into rivers and streams.
C) Paper products are useful for storage.
D) Paper products are used to spread information.

Question 61

The attempt to reconcile global economic development with protections for the environment is called

A) biodiversity.
B) environmental integrity.
C) social demographics.
D) sustainable development.

Question 62

Factories that produce noxious levels of pollution and toxic waste dumps are often located near areas where minorities and the poor reside.Which of the following terms could be used to describe this situation?

A) corporate welfare
B) resource environmentalism
C) climate justice
D) environmental racism

Question 63

Which political party made social justice,community-based economics,feminism,and diversity central to its platform?

A) the Green Party
B) the Republican Party
C) the Libertarian Party
D) the Natural Law Party

Question 64

Flint,Michigan,which is dealing with contaminated water,is a majority African American city.Flint,Michigan,has been pointed to as an example of

A) corporate welfare.
B) environmental justice.
C) climate justice.
D) environmental racism.

Question 65

Why are the poor and members of ethnic and racial minorities more likely to suffer health problems that result from exposure to pollution?

A) They are disproportionately exposed to pollution.
B) They are poorly educated about the risks of pollution.
C) Slumlords are not required to maintain their properties at the same level as they would be in other communities.
D) Members of these communities simply do not care about the dangers of pollution.

Question 66

The Environmental Defense Fund hires scientists,economists,and lawyers to lobby the government and to educate the public about the environmental consequences of modern life.They brag that they had a part in passing important elements of the Clean Air Act,California's emissions rules,and a treaty to phase out CFCs.With what era of the environmental movement is this sort of organization MOST commonly associated?

A) the modern environmental movement
B) conservation environmentalism
C) Earth Day
D) mainstream environmentalism

Question 67

Although Los Angeles is infamous for its air pollution and smog,there are many parts of Los Angeles where the air is quite nice,especially in the mountains and by the sea.However,the people who live in these places are disproportionately white; the people who live in the places with the worst air quality are disproportionately likely to be racial and ethnic minorities.This is an example of

A) conservation.
B) sustainable development.
C) environmental racism.
D) environmental justice.

Question 68

Earth First describes itself as a global organization,but its website contains links to local chapters in Montreal,the Netherlands,and Humboldt and Santa Cruz,California.What does this suggest about the organization?

A) It believes in grassroots environmentalism.
B) It came out of the modern environmental movement.
C) It primarily cares about sustainable development.
D) It works for conservation of wilderness areas.

Question 69

What is a person reducing if he or she starts taking public transportation and riding a bicycle?

A) anthropocentrism
B) white flight
C) gentrification
D) ecological footprint

Question 70

Environmental racism occurs when

A) environmental groups avoid hiring or recruiting members of racial minorities.
B) people use violent or criminal methods to achieve their goals of protecting the environment.
C) an environmental policy or practice negatively affects individuals, groups, or communities as a result of their race.
D) people believe that humans are exempt from natural ecological limits.

Question 71

What environmental activist is credited with organizing the first Earth Day?

A) Rachel Carson
B) Gaylord Nelson
C) Ralph Nader
D) Iona Frisbee

Question 72

Although the federal government plans to store nuclear waste under a mountain in Nevada,many people who live in Nevada are trying their best to have it housed elsewhere.This is a classic example of

A) conservation.
B) mainstream environmentalism.
C) human exceptionalism.
D) NIMBY.

Question 73

An estimate of the land and water area that is required to produce all of the goods that an individual consumes and to assimilate all of the waste that he or she produces is called

A) smart growth.
B) an ecological footprint.
C) demographics.
D) biodiversity.

Question 74

In this ethnography Evicted,Mathew Desmond found that a consequence of not being able to find affordable housing is that getting a job,going to school,and staying healthy become very difficult.

Question 75

Climate change causes more severe droughts; stronger and more prevalent hurricanes,tornadoes,and cyclones; and more rain and flooding.

Question 76

An industry dumps waste in an area adjacent to where members of racial and ethnic minorities reside.What is this practice called?

A) corporate welfare
B) resource depletion
C) NIMBY
D) environmental racism

Question 77

During what era did the environmental movement focus on citizen participation and change at the local level?

A) mainstream environmentalism
B) the conservation era
C) the modern environmental movement
D) grassroots environmentalism

Question 78

One of the major problems with slowing greenhouse gas emissions lies in the developing world where many countries are just now starting to burn fossil fuels at the same rate as the industrialized world.Aside from the pollution produced,this is also a problem because there is not enough oil left for the world to burn it at its current rate.To solve this problem,many believe that we need

A) environmental racism.
B) ecological footprints.
C) a return to feudalism.
D) sustainable development.

Question 79

The Environmental Protection Agency has a department with a mandate to work for the "fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race,color,national origin,or income with respect to the development,implementation,and enforcement of environmental laws,regulations,and policies." What is this department MOST likely to be called based on your reading in Chapter 15?

A) the Environmental Justice Department
B) the Cooperative Environmental Management Department
C) the Environmental Education Department
D) the Policy, Economics, and Innovation Department

Question 80

The Flint,Michigan,water crisis involved dangerously high levels of nitrogen.