Deck 16: Technology and the Environment

Question 1

Which term refers to the Earth's surface and atmosphere, including air, water, soil, and other resources necessary to sustain living organisms.

A)technology
B)ecology
C)natural environment
D)ethnology

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The earth naturally recycles water and refreshes the land in a process scientists call

A)the ecological transformation.
B)hydrosynthesis.
C)the swamp effect.
D)the hydrologic cycle.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to the limits-to-growth thesis, global supplies of oil and natural gas are already falling sharply and will continue to drop, a little faster or more slowly depending on

A)the logic of modernization.
B)zero-population growth efforts in western Europe.
C)the efficacy of EPA regulations in developing nations.
D)the speed at which developing nations industrialize.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

S. cultural pattern that contributes to a high level of solid waste is

A)that most people commute to work over long distances.
B)our widespread use of computer technology.
C)that we are a "disposable society" that values convenience.
D)our national fascination with recycling.

Question 5

Which thesis states that humanity must constrain the growth of population and our use of finite resources to avoid eventual environmental collapse?

A)logic of growth
B)limits to growth
C)material comfort
D)disposable society

Question 6

Which of the following terms refers to serious, long-term harm to the environment caused by humanity's focus on short-term material affluence?

A)the ecological gap
B)the environmental deficit
C)the Malthusian horror
D)the pollution revolution

Question 7

Environmentalists who advance the limits to growth thesis are sometimes called

A)Marxist anthropologists.
B)neo-Malthusians.
C)demographic transitionists.
D)pro-growth economists.

Question 8

Which of the following terms refers to the study of how living organisms interact with the natural environment?

A)sociobiology
B)ethnology
C)technology
D)ecology

Question 9

The classic riddle involving the growth of a water lily on a pond illustrates that

A)by the time people finally see a problem, it may be too late to do anything about it.
B)an environment's capacity is usually greater than it appears on the surface.
C)problems always double in intensity.
D)anything that is growing will become unmanageable.

Question 10

Knowledge that people apply to the task of living in a physical environment is

A)ecology.
B)technology.
C)ethnology.
D)anthropology.

Question 11

Which of the following is composed of interactions of all living organisms and their natural environment?

A)the ecosystem
B)the social environment
C)the sociobiological system
D)the ethnosystem

Question 12

The United States as a whole generates how many pounds of solid waste every day?

A)4,000
B)44,000
C)1.4 million
D)1.4 billion

Question 13

Environmentalists argue that we should address the problem of solid waste by turning it into a resource, which is the idea behind

A)alternate landfill usage.
B)burying waste products.
C)recycling.
D)burning waste products.

Question 14

Each year, how many people are added to the planet's population?

A)87,000
B)870,000
C)8.7 million
D)87 million

Question 15

By 2014, the planet's population had passed

A)2.1 billion people.
B)4.1 billion people.
C)7.1 billion people.
D)10.1 billion people.

Question 16

George is an optimist and a conservative. He agrees with the concept of the logic of growth approach, which

A)recognizes that natural resources such as oil, clean air, fresh water, and topsoil are limited.
B)claims that human ingenuity will probably solve any problems of scarcity.
C)recognizes that economic growth must have limits.
D)asserts that we cannot expect Earth to support more and more people with higher living standards without harming the environment and ourselves.

Question 17

Which of the following had the largest impact on humanity's ability to modify the natural environment?

A)the Agricultural Revolution
B)the Information Revolution
C)the invention of hand tools
D)the Industrial Revolution

Question 18

The title of Rachel Carson's book about growing environmental problems due to the widespread use of chemicals was

A)On Walden Pond.
B)Silent Spring.
C)Unsafe at Any Speed.
D)The Power Elite.

Question 19

Sociology's most important contribution to our understanding of environmental issues is

A)showing that we need to modify the natural environment so it can always support many kinds of societies.
B)declaring that the world will inevitably perish due to environmental problems.
C)demonstrating that social issues affect the natural environment.
D)knowing that human technology makes us the superior species in our world.

Question 20

The outlook environmentalists call the "logic of growth" follows from the fact that our way of life in the United States is based on

A)the value of leisure and a belief in fate.
B)a quest for material comfort and a belief in progress.
C)preservation of the natural environment and a quest for harmony.
D)living simply and planning for the future.

Question 21

Which of the following statements is a true effect of declining biodiversity?

A)The Earth's biodiversity plays a major role in feeding the world's people.
B)Medical and pharmaceutical researchers will be able to bank DNA from extinct species.
C)Fewer species mean fewer animals exhaling CO₂, thus preventing global warming.
D)We must improve conditions for endangered animals so that they can breed in captivity, otherwise we will lose part of the beauty and complexity of our natural environment.

Question 22

Rain forests help slow global warming because

A)plants remove oxygen from the air and expel carbon dioxide.
B)they provide protection from acid rain for humans and animals.
C)plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and expel oxygen.
D)they provide a greenhouse effect that encourages other plants to grow..

Question 23

Which term refers to regions of dense forestation, most of which circle the globe near to the equator?

A)tropical swamps
B)bayous
C)rain forests
D)bogs

Question 24

As carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere, it allows heat from the sun to pass in to the earth, while preventing much of it from radiating back into outer space. This process is referred to as

A)acid rain.
B)pea soup.
C)the greenhouse effect.
D)the atmospheric deficit.

Question 25

A social-conflict theorist who takes a Marxist class-conflict position is likely to agree with which of the following statements?

A)The hierarchical organization of the United States gives control over our society to the greatest number of people.
B)Most of the harm done to the natural environment is directed at people living in overdeveloped nations.
C)Most of the planet's people live in poor societies and will never raise their living standards under the current capitalist world economy.
D)Corporate executives who order the release of pollutants or toxic waste are usually held personally accountable for their actions.

Question 26

The world's wealthier societies have entered a postindustrial era with industrial technologies giving way to computer technologies. Which of the following is a benefit of this change?

A)Cleaner technology means cleaner air.
B)Less can be spent on education, especially at the college level.
C)Higher cancer levels means a reduction in overall population.
D)More people in developing nations can play video games.

Question 27

According to current predictions, by 2050 what percentage of the world's people will be living in water-stressed areas?

A)4 percent
B)14 percent
C)24 percent
D)40 percent

Question 28

The world's rain forests are

A)increasing because of active replanting.
B)shrinking by about 1 percent or 21,000 square miles annually.
C)no longer in danger, due to strict environmental protection policies.
D)likely to face total extinction by 2030.

Question 29

Precipitation, made toxic by air pollution, that destroys plant and animal life, is referred to as

A)acid rain.
B)killer cloudbursts.
C)infected water.
D)pea soup.

Question 30

How many motor vehicles are there in the United States, a nation with an adult population of about 200 million people?

A)150,000
B)1.5 million
C)25 million
D)253 million

Question 31

Herman, a social-conflict theorist, blames capitalism for the world's environmental problems. His colleague Max points out that when Europe was divided between the capitalist west and the socialist east, the strongest complaints about environmental quality were directed at

A)social democracies like Sweden and Denmark.
B)capitalist countries in North America, not Europe.
C)Eastern bloc countries such as Poland and the Soviet Union.
D)countries in the southern hemisphere, like Brazil and South Africa.

Question 32

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released by factories and automobiles has soared, while the quantity of plant life on earth has been diminished. The net result is a rising concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere, which in turn has led to

A)acid rain.
B)air pollution.
C)global warming.
D)increasing biodiversity.

Question 33

If the planet's average temperature rises several more degrees during the twenty-first century,

A)a large portion of the polar icecaps will melt, flooding much of the coastal United States.
B)evaporation would drop sea levels about one foot.
C)the rains forests would quickly expand to cover the planet.
D)about half of current living species would be unable to survive.

Question 34

What term refers to the pattern by which environmental hazards are greatest for poor people, especially minorities?

A)environmental racism
B)ecological class bias
C)the double whammy
D)global inequality

Question 35

The designers at a manufacturing company are coming out with a new product but they want to sell more units, so they deliberately engineer the products to have a limited useful life. This illustrates the concept of

A)cultural diffusion.
B)deliberate dumping.
C)conspicuous consumption.
D)planned obsolescence.

Question 36

Scientists report that, over the past century, the earth's average temperature

A)rose by .67 degrees Fahrenheit.
B)rose by 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit.
C)has stayed steady.
D)fell by 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Question 37

In all, the world's rain forests cover what percentage of Earth's total land surface?

A)10 percent
B)25 percent
C)50 percent
D)75 percent

Question 38

Experts estimate that the current atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is how much higher than it was 250 years ago?

A)7 percent
B)12 percent
C)35 percent
D)42 percent

Question 39

Several dozen species of plants and animals cease to exist every day. This trend is referred to as

A)the demise of the ecosystem.
B)declining biodiversity.
C)ecological Armageddon.
D)ethnographic doomsday.

Question 40

Research shows that improvement in U.S. air quality over the last several decades has resulted in

A)no change in the amount of acid rain.
B)adding about half a year to the typical lifespan.
C)more and more children exercising outdoors.
D)no change in patterns of human health.

Question 41

Describe Thomas Robert Malthus's predictions. What are today's anti-Malthusian and neo-Malthusian approaches?

Question 42

Which political point of view takes an optimistic view that society is able to recognize environmental problems and take action to solve them?

A)conservative
B)liberal
C)radical right
D)radical left

Question 43

What insights do we gain about our relationship with the natural environment from the structural-functional and social-conflict theoretical approaches? How might this knowledge lead to a more environmentally sustainable way of life?

Question 44

A sustainable environment demands an outlook that highlights the environmental consequences of human actions. Such an outlook is described as

A)anti-Malthusian.
B)ecocentric.
C)egocentric.
D)ethnocentric.

Question 45

The conservative point of view recognizes that humans have been able to devise new, more productive technologies that Malthus himself could not have imagined. For this reason, the conservative point of view may be characterized as

A)environmentally neutral.
B)pessimistic.
C)anti-Malthusian.
D)neo-Malthusian.

Question 46

According to which political point of view must government reforms include enacting and enforcing laws to limit further environmental damage, and for global organizations to work to protect the remaining rain forests?

A)conservative
B)radical right
C)radical left
D)liberal

Question 47

Helen is an environmentalist. When she says that the goal of this movement is establishing an ecologically sustainable culture, she means

A)a healthy environment requires an economic system that delivers both equality and environmental awareness.
B)human ingenuity and an economic system that encourages innovation will extend the human record of living longer, healthier, and richer lives.
C) a way of life that meets the needs of both the present and future generations.
D)that a society's impact on the environment is a function of its level of population, its level of affluence, and its level of technology.

Question 48

How do the conservative, liberal, and radical left points of view define environmental problems? Which view is most optimistic? Which is the most pessimistic? How does each point of view define solutions to many of the environmental problems discussed in the chapter?

Question 49

According to which political point of view should we look to the market system to develop new technology leading to people living longer and healthier lives?

A)radical right
B)conservative
C)liberal
D)radical left

Question 50

Define environmental racism. Give examples of this pattern. Do you think this issue involves race or class or both?

Question 51

State the "logic of growth" and "limits to growth" theses. Explain how each has a different view of social problems involving the environment, as well as their solutions. Is one more politically liberal and one more politically conservative?

Question 52

According to conservative analyst Julian Simon, the fact that the planet supports six times as many people as it did when Malthus was alive is cause for

A)gloom.
B)laws to limit population.
C)celebration.
D)a major increase in spending to study environmental issues.

Question 53

According to which political point of view is the natural environment in serious danger due to capitalism's appetite for ever-increasing growth and profits?

A)radical left
B)radical right
C)conservative
D)liberal

Question 54

Many analysts suggest that the planet already has more people than it can support in the long term; this means we have exceeded our planet's

A)demographic potential.
B)carrying capacity.
C)ecological balance.
D)environmental balance.

Question 55

Many environmentalists, especially those on the political left, claim that if humanity does not change its ways, problems of population increase, resource consumption, and pollution will cause

A) catastrophe.
B) moderate change in people's lifestyles.
C) little long-term change in our way of life.
D) the government to step back from regulating the economy.