Question 1

What is one reason why religious believers may be less lightly than people who are not religious to be concerned about climate change?

Accepted Answer

A)   Historic attacks on religion from science have soured relationships between religion and science for some religious believers.
B)   Religious believers think that climate change is happening but believe that, because of their religion, they are immune from its consequences.
C)   Religious believers do not believe in science at all, which is why they also reject modern medicine and technology.
D)   Scientists refuse to communicate to religious believers because they feel that religious bodies have too often tried to undermine science. A

Question 2

A lobbyist for the coal industry might

Accepted Answer

A)   assist coalminers in being retrained for other jobs to prepare for the end of the coal industry
B)   write to rich investors and ask them to divest from coal and reinvest their money in socially responsible stocks and bonds
C)   meet with politicians to convince them of the safety of the coal industry
D)   lead a boycott of companies that rely on coal-generated electricity C

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a reason why poor nations may resist global policies to address environmental damage?

Accepted Answer

A)   They have fewer material resources to address infrastructure problems.
B)   They have less to fear from climate change and so less motivation to address it.
C)   They have less technical expertise to develop green technologies.
D)   They have more immediate priorities even than climate change, such as political disorder. B

Question 4

Who, according to Allan Schnaiberg, bears most responsibility for the mass consumption that occurs in wealthy nations?

Accepted Answer

A)   Corporations, which seek profit regardless of environmental damage
B)   Consumers, who refuse to limit their consumption habits
C)   Politicians, who do not care about the environmental impacts
D)   Landfill owners, who profit from waste

Question 5

The free-rider problem occurs when

Accepted Answer

A)   individuals do not act in a way that benefits the group unless it also advances their personal interests
B)   an individual or company seeks economic gain without giving back to society
C)   a company is forced to provide a plan for managing its waste without passing the cost of doing so along to the public
D)   affluent nations with long histories of mass consumption insist that poorer nations curtail their consumer habits out of concern for the environment

Question 6

A green roof like those mandated by law on new buildings with slopes of less than 30 degrees in Copenhagen, Denmark

Accepted Answer

A)   is made from recycled tires
B)   is covered in plants to absorb rainwater and reduce stormwater runoff and help lower the temperature of a city
C)   has solar panels on it to capture sunlight and transform them into energy
D)   is made of materials that will decompose easily in a landfill

Question 7

One reason why hurricanes have been increasingly dangerous is because more people live in areas where they hit. Another is that

Accepted Answer

A)   they are more powerful
B)   they are less powerful, so people take them less seriously and are less likely to evacuate in advance of them
C)   more people have lived through previous hurricanes and erroneously believe that they can live through future ones, regardless of intensity
D)   our weather forecasting techniques and technologies are less accurate than before

Question 8

The "Keep America Beautiful Campaign" is aimed at stopping

Accepted Answer

A)   littering
B)   air pollution
C)   poorly maintained, polluting automobiles
D)   gas-powered leaf blowers

Question 9

Which 2017 hurricane destroyed more than 100,000 homes in Houston, Texas?

Accepted Answer

A)   Hurricane Harvey
B)   Hurricane Maria
C)   Hurricane Agnes
D)   Superstorm Sandy

Question 10

Whether measuring climate change in crop yields, loss of land due to rising sea levels, economic damage from floods and hurricanes, or changes in healthcare expenditures, the worst impacts will be felt in

Accepted Answer

A)   Australasia, the Caribbean, and Mexico
B)   Africa, Latin America, and South Asia
C)   Canada, Siberia, and the U.S. West Coast
D)   North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia

Question 11

Which of the following statements about the distribution of environmental risk is accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   Poor and rich people face equal environmental risk.
B)   Rich people face greater environmental risk than poor people.
C)   Poor people face greater environmental risk than rich people.
D)   Poor people used to face greater environmental risk than rich people, but now they face the same environmental risk.

Question 12

After the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, global greenhouse gas emissions

Accepted Answer

A)   increased
B)   declined
C)   stayed the same
D)   increased rapidly, then declined rapidly

Question 13

The Paris Agreement

Accepted Answer

A)   allows each nation to set its own targets for reducing pollution
B)   sets different targets for pollution reduction for affluent and poor nations
C)   has the strictest enforcement policy of any global environmental regulation so far
D)   was drafted by the U.S., the first nation to agree to it

Question 14

Dominic and Patrick are building a house together. They tell their architect that they want to use clean energy to provide power to their house. Which of the following would the architect NOT suggest?

Accepted Answer

A)   Wind, which generates energy from the movement of a windmill
B)   Solar, which captures energy from the sun to provide electricity
C)   Geothermal, which draws heat from the ground to warm the house
D)   Oil, which is burned in a furnace to heat the house

Question 15

In general, what kind of environmental movement has been most successful?

Accepted Answer

A)   Those asking ordinary people to make changes to their everyday habits
B)   Those seeking international policy changes
C)   Those that address the behavior of corporations
D)   Those that that appeal to religion

Question 16

Societies today face ______________________ than previous generations.

Accepted Answer

A)   more risks but with fewer negative impacts
B)   fewer but more dangerous risks
C)   less frequent and less dangerous risks
D)   greater risks of great negative impact

Question 17

Corporations produce more than people need, and people consume more than they need, which leads to more production of things they don't need. This is Allan Schnaiberg's concept of

Accepted Answer

A)   the treadmill of production
B)   the cycle of spending
C)   the mountain of garbage
D)   consumer goods as pre-trash

Question 18

When politicians do not hold businesses accountable for their pollution, which of the following does NOT happen?

Accepted Answer

A)   The public loses confidence that the government can address social problems.
B)   The public loses confidence that government can solve complex problems.
C)   Businesses generate regulations within their own industries in order to make themselves accountable.
D)   Pollution increases.

Question 19

The modern environmental movement was first inspired by concerns about

Accepted Answer

A)   overfishing, whaling, and water pollutions
B)   acid rain and a hole in the ozone layer
C)   deforestation, especially of rainforests
D)   nuclear power and nuclear weapons

Question 20

The idea that the choices we make to live in a modern society-one with technological advances and the changes in social relationships that make them possible-create dangers for us is central to

Accepted Answer

A)   The Environment: From Surplus to Scarcity by Allan Schnaiberg
B)   Risk Society by Ulrich Beck
C)   An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary featuring Al Gore
D)   The Politics of Climate Change by Anthony Giddens

Exam 16: Living on the Planet: Environment, Disaster, and Risk