Deck 9: Business and Environmental Sustainability

Question 1

Which of the following is true of the conservation movement?

A)It advocated that the natural world should not be used as a capital resource.
B)It regarded natural resources as being able to provide an inexhaustible supply of material.
C)It recommended a more restrained and prudent approach to the natural world.
D)It argued against the natural world being used to provide indirect benefits.

Answer 1

C
Explanation: The conservation movement, the first phase of modern environmentalism, advocated a restrained and prudent approach to the natural world.

Question 2

Internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned goods are responses to market failures.

Answer 2

True
Explanation: Internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned goods such as wild species are two responses to market failures.

Question 3

A "first generation" approach is ill advised when public policy involves irreplaceable public goods.

Answer 3

True
Explanation: The "first generation approach" is said to occur when we learn about market failures and thereby prevent harms in the future only by sacrificing the first generation as a means of gaining information. When public policy involves irreplaceable public goods such as endangered species, rare wilderness areas, and public health and safety, such a reactionary strategy is ill advised.

Question 4

From a strict market economic perspective, resources are "finite," and have to be used efficiently to gain maximum economic benefits.

Question 5

Knowing what the future must be, creative businesses then look backwards to the present and determine what must be done to arrive at that future. This process is known as:

A)backward integration.
B)forecasting.
C)forward integration.
D)backcasting.

Question 6

Reminiscent of the _____ tradition, it is suggested that some animals have the cognitive capacity to possess a conscious life of their own and people have a duty not to treat these animals as mere objects and means to their own ends.

A)Kantian
B)virtue ethic
C)neoclassical
D)social web

Question 7

According to the conservation movement, the natural world was valued as a resource, providing humans with both direct and indirect benefits.

Question 8

Businesses that use animals for food, entertainment, or pets violate the ethical rights of these animals.

Question 9

The market-based approach to resolving environmental challenges denies that environmental problems are economic problems that deserve economic solutions.

Question 10

The goal of competitive sustainability is referred to as one of the three pillars of sustainability.

Question 11

The ultimate goal of biomimicry is to eliminate waste altogether rather than reducing it.

Question 12

The conservation movement:

A)regarded natural resources as being able to provide an inexhaustible supply of material.
B)advocated that the natural world should not be used as a capital resource.
C)argued that the natural world was valued as a resource, providing humans with both direct benefits and indirect benefits.
D)believed that business does not good reasons for conserving natural resources.

Question 13

The conservation movement advocated a more restrained and prudent approach to the natural world.

Question 14

The Triple Bottom Line approach involves measuring business success of sustainable businesses and sustainable economic development in terms of:

A)economic, legal, and environmental sustainability.
B)economic, ethical, and environmental sustainability.
C)economic, legal, and competitive sustainability.
D)legal, competitive, and environmental sustainability.

Question 15

The Economic Development Approach suggests that sustainable business and sustainable economic development seek to create new ways of doing business in which business success is measured in terms of economic, ethical, and environmental sustainability.

Question 16

According to William Baxter, the optimal level of pollution is best attained by leaving it to a competitive market.

Question 17

The "circular flow model" differentiates natural resources from the other factors of production.

Question 18

The regulatory model assumes that economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign.

Question 19

Standards like Corporate Automotive Fuel Efficiency that address pollution and pollution-related disease are considered essentially because of our reliance on market solutions to sustain the environment.

Question 20

Before the introduction of environmental legislation in the 1970's, the primary legal avenue open for addressing environmental concerns was contractual law.

Question 21

Which of the following is involved in environmental problems according to the market-based approach to resolving environmental challenges?

A)Lack of knowledge of producing renewable resources
B)Inability of businesses to produce and sell limited resources
C)Lack of use of appropriate substitutes for limited resources
D)Allocation and distribution of limited resources

Question 22

Which of the following is true about the concept of sustainable development and sustainable business practice?

A)It suggests a radically new vision for integrating financial and environmental goals, compared to the growth model that preceded it.
B)According to this concept, only individuals who can prove that they had been harmed by pollution can raise legal challenges.
C)According to this concept, an economic solution to compensation should be offered for the harm only after the harm has been done.
D)It focuses only on the costs that businesses incur in pursuing environmental goals.

Question 23

Which of the following was suggested by William Baxter?

A)An optimal level of pollution can be achieved through competitive markets.
B)Society can strive for pure air and water at a very low cost.
C)From a strict market economic perspective, resources are infinite.
D)All resources can be replaced by substitutes.

Question 24

Which of the following ways can lead market failure to serious environmental harm?

A)Creating abundant markets to create a price for important social goods
B)Making no distinction between individual decisions and group consequences
C)Inexistence of externalities in the economic exchange system
D)Assigning property rights to unowned goods

Question 25

Which of the following causes inadequacy in ad hoc attempts-internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned goods such as wild species-to repair market failures?

A)The backcasting problem
B)The fungibility problem
C)The biomimicry problem
D)The first-generation problem

Question 26

Which of the following is true of the circular flow model?

A)It differentiates natural resources from the other factors of production.
B)It suggests that to keep up with the economy, the population must grow.
C)It treats economic growth as both the solution to all social ills and also as boundless.
D)It argues that the economy cannot grow indefinitely.

Question 27

Which of the following is a problem associated with the regulatory approach to environmental challenges?

A)The regulatory model assumes that economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign.
B)If people rely on the law to protect the environment, environmental protection will extend beyond the law.
C)Business passively responds to consumer desires and consumers are unaffected by the messages that business conveys.
D)National regulations are the only means to effectively address international environmental challenges.

Question 28

Which of the following is true of a market-based approach to resolving environmental challenges?

A)It is critical of the narrow, philanthropic view of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
B)It asserts that limited resources should not be distributed in the market.
C)It suggests that environmental problems deserve economic solutions.
D)It conveys that resources are infinite and fungible.

Question 29

Which of the following models does not differentiate natural resources from the other factors of production and does not explain the origin of resources?

A)The circular flow model
B)The triple bottom line model
C)The bilinear model
D)The sustainability model

Question 30

In economic terms, all resources:

A)are infinite because they can be replaced by substitutes.
B)are distributed fairly by the government.
C)can be made available everywhere.
D)are distributed efficiently in the market.

Question 31

Which of the following explains the statement "All resources are fungible"?

A)It means that all resources can be regulated by the government.
B)It means that all resources can be replaced by substitutes.
C)It means that all resources cannot be duplicated.
D)It means that all resources cannot be recycled and reused.

Question 32

According to economist Herman Daly, neoclassical economics, with its emphasis on economic growth as the goal of economic policy will inevitably fail to meet these challenges:

A)if it suggests that the population of the world needs to be controlled.
B)unless it recognizes that the economy is but a subsystem within earth's biosphere.
C)unless it recognizes that resources are infinite.
D)if it focuses on recycling and reusing the by-products of the production process.

Question 33

Before environmental legislation was enacted, the primary legal avenue open for addressing environmental concerns was:

A)tort law.
B)international law.
C)public law.
D)criminal law.

Question 34

Markets can work to prevent harm only through information supplied by the existence of market failures. This is better known as the:

A)biomimicry effect.
B)backcasting problem.
C)first-generation problem.
D)primary market effect.

Question 35

The possibility that the economy cannot grow indefinitely is simply not part of the:

A)three pillars of sustainability approach.
B)circular flow model.
C)triple bottom line approach.
D)bilinear model.

Question 36

Which of the following was charged with developing recommendations for paths toward economic and social development that would not achieve short-term economic growth at the expense of long-term environmental and economic sustainability?

A)The Bluewash Commission
B)The Binding Commission
C)The Barentsburg Commission
D)The Brundtland Commission

Question 37

Which of the following is true of the Brundtland Commission?

A)It was named as the Brundtland Commission after the place in Norway, where the summit was conducted for the first time.
B)It was charged with developing recommendations for paths toward economic and social development at the expense of underdeveloped and developing countries.
C)It defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
D)It criticized the report from the United Nations' World Commission on Environment and Development published in 1987.

Question 38

Which of the following is true about the regulatory approach to environmental challenges?

A)It overestimates the influence that business can have on establishing the law.
B)The government established regulatory standards to offer compensation after the occurrence of pollution or any other environmental harm.
C)It shifted the burden from those threatened with harm to those who would cause the harm.
D)This approach ensures that business does not pursue any financial opportunities that cause harm to the environment.

Question 39

Which of the following is true about the market-based approach to environmental responsibility?

A)Market failure occurs when no markets exist to create a price for important social goods.
B)Free market exchanges can guarantee optimal results for addressing issues related to externalities.
C)The market-based approach always ensures that what is good and rational for a collection of individuals is also good and rational for a society.
D)Markets can be very successful if important ethical and policy questions and policy decisions are left solely to the outcome of individual decisions.

Question 40

The three goals of sustainable development that include economic, environmental, and ethical sustainability are referred to as the:

A)tripartite goals.
B)three pillars of sustainability.
C)three pronged charter.
D)shoulders of sustainability.

Question 41

The _____ movement made the case that business had good reasons for conserving natural resources, reasons that paralleled the rationale to conserve financial resources.

Question 42

Before environmental legislation was enacted, the primary legal avenue open for addressing environmental concerns was _____ law.

Question 43

Which of the following suggests that a business takes resources, makes products out of them, and discards whatever is left over?

A)The cradle-to-grave model
B)The take-make-waste approach
C)The Cradle-to-cradle model
D)The eco-efficiency principle

Question 44

Which of the following is true of the sustainability model in terms of environmental responsibilities?

A)Sustainability need not be a long-term strategy.
B)The huge unmet market potential among the world's developing economies can only be met in sustainable ways.
C)Sustainable practices lead to reduced cost savings.
D)Firms that follow sustainable practices lose competitive advantage.

Question 45

Which of the following holds that a business should be responsible for incorporating the end results of its products back into the productive cycle?

A)Backcasting
B)Cradle-to-cradle
C)Take-make-waste
D)Cradle-to-grave

Question 46

The concept of sustainable development can be traced to a 1987 report from the United Nations' World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), more commonly known as the _____ Commission.

Question 47

Which of the following recommends cycling the waste of one activity into the resource of another?

A)The biomimicry principle
B)The cradle-to-grave model
C)The cradle-to-cradle model
D)The eco- efficiency principle

Question 48

According to the _____ law of thermodynamics (the conservation of matter/energy), neither matter nor energy can truly be "created," it can only be transferred from one form to another.

A)first
B)second
C)third
D)fourth

Question 49

Cradle-to-grave and cradle-to-cradle responsibilities are part of the _____ sustainable business principle.

A)eco-efficiency
B)backcasting
C)biomimicry
D)take-make-waste

Question 50

Which of the following would hold a business liable for groundwater contamination caused by its products even years after they had been buried in a landfill?

A)"Backcast" model
B)"Eco-efficiency" model
C)"Take-make-waste" model
D)"Cradle-to-grave" model

Question 51

The model of economy, in consistency with the second law of thermodynamics, implies that:

A)the amount of re-usable products decreases with an increase in production.
B)the economy exists beyond a finite biosphere.
C)wastes are not produced at each stage of economic activity.
D)the amount of usable energy decreases over time.

Question 52

Estimates suggest that with present technologies, businesses can readily achieve at least a fourfold increase in efficiency, and perhaps as much as a tenfold increase. This can be achieved through the first principle of sustainability known as:

A)biomimicry.
B)eco-efficiency.
C)the cradle-to-cradle responsibility.
D)the take-make-waste model.

Question 53

A _____ approach to resolving environmental challenges suggests that environmental problems are economic problems that deserve economic solutions.

Question 54

Which of the following is true of the sustainability model in terms of environmental responsibilities?

A)Sustainability reduces competitive advantage.
B)Sustainability is not a prudent long-term strategy.
C)Sustainability is a good risk management strategy.
D)Sustainability leads to reduced cost-savings.

Question 55

In economic terms, all resources are "_____," that is, they can be replaced by substitutes, and in this sense resources are infinite.

Question 56

Which of the following responsibilities entail an incentive to redesign products so that they can be recycled efficiently and easily?

A)Cradle-to-grave
B)Backcasting
C)Cradle-to-cradle
D)Eco-efficiency

Question 57

Which of the following holds that a business is responsible for the entire life of its products, including the ultimate disposal even after the sale?

A)The cradle-to-grave model
B)The take-make-waste approach
C)The cradle-to-cradle model
D)The eco-efficiency principle

Question 58

"Closed-loop" production seeks to integrate what is presently waste, back into production. In an ideal situation, the waste of one firm becomes the resource of another, and such synergies can create eco-industrial parks. This principle is often referred to as:

A)biomimicry.
B)eco-efficiency.
C)biosynergy.
D)backcast.

Question 59

Over the long term, resources and energy cannot be used, nor waste produced, at rates at which the biosphere cannot replace or absorb them without jeopardizing its ability to sustain life. These are what Herman Daly calls the:

A)"economic limitations."
B)"backcasting effect."
C)"biophysical limits to growth."
D)"un-expandable boundaries."

Question 60

Which of the following is true of a service-based economy?

A)A service-based economy tends to the consumers' demand for clothes cleaning, floor covering, illumination, entertainment, and so forth.
B)A service-based economy interprets consumer demand as a demand for washing machines, carpets, lights, consumer electronics, and so forth.
C)A service-based economy weakens the production efficiencies.
D)A service-based economy increases material and energy costs significantly.

Question 61

Elaborate on the conservation movement.

Question 62

While the regulatory and compliance model tends to interpret environmental responsibilities as constraints upon business, the _____ model is more forward looking and may present business with greater opportunities than burdens.

Question 63

The _____ responsibility holds that a business should be responsible for incorporating the end results of its products back into the productive cycle.

Question 64

What is an optimal level of pollution?

Question 65

What are the general principles that will guide the movement of businesses toward sustainability?

Question 66

Discuss the challenges associated with the efficient market approach to environmental responsibilities.

Question 67

Why was the Brundtland Commission formed?

Question 68

A _____ economy interprets consumer demand as a demand for services-for clothes cleaning, floor covering, illumination, entertainment, cool air, transportation, word processing, and so forth.

Question 69

Explain the concept of eco-efficiency, biomimicry and cradle-to-cradle responsibility.

Question 70

Describe the challenges associated with the regulatory approach to environmental concerns.

Question 71

What do defenders of the market approach to environmental responsibilities state about the ability of economic markets to achieve a sound environmental policy? Discuss if their responses are environmentally adequate.

Question 72

Explain Herman Daly's economic system model also known as the sustainable model.

Question 73

The _____ model does not differentiate natural resources from the other factors of production.

Question 74

Discuss the market-based approach to resolving environmental challenges.

Question 75

List the various laws related to governmental regulation of the environment. Describe the method of addressing environmental concerns prior to the establishment of laws.

Question 76

Explain how business understands the opportunities available in the age of sustainability.

Question 77

The ultimate goal of _____ is to eliminate waste altogether rather than reducing it.

Question 78

Briefly describe the reasons supporting the practice of sustainability within businesses.

Question 79

Explain with an example, how eco-efficiency can be implemented on an individual and a business scale.

Question 80

Describe Herman Daly's concepts of sustainable development and the "circular flow model."