Deck 9: Sustainability in Transition: Bottlenecks and Seedbeds

Question 1

Bottlenecks to transitions are always very obvious to an observer

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Which of the following is not one of the four forms of power that ensure regime stability?

A) Institutional
B) Discursive
C) Material
D) Technological
E) Instrumental

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The biggest bottleneck in sustainability transitions in the United States is:

A) lack of financial capital
B) The inability to reduce carbon emissions
C) Politics
D) A failure of firms to commit to sustainability pledges

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The acronym ALEC stands for:

A) American Liabilities and Environmental Commission
B) American Legislative Exchange Council
C) Association of Labor and Energy Creation
D) Association of Legal Energy Consumption

Question 5

What is a main goal of ALEC?

A) Remove actual or perceived barriers to further fossil fuel development
B) Block the installation of solar and wind energy utilities
C) Illegally bribe policymakers to support the needs of the fossil fuel industry
D) Eliminate the import of Chinese produced solar panels and wind turbines

Question 6

Clean coal is a common source of energy used throughout North America

Question 7

Besides being associated with earthquakes, what is another less commonly mentioned implication of fracking that was described in this chapter?

A) Underground aquifer contamination
B) Rise in energy costs for the consumer
C) Extinction of keystone species
D) Increase in air pollution

Question 8

Fossil fuel industries hope to protect the regime by drilling in the Arctic, which would result in the release of methyl hydrates. What is the main concern for the release of methyl hydrates into the atmosphere?

A) They are known carcinogens that are linked to lung cancer
B) They are incredibly foul smelling and leave a lasting taste in one's mouth
C) They have a high global warming potential and could further warm the planet
D) They could reflect incoming solar radiation and make the majority of the Northern Hemisphere inhospitable

Question 9

If the earth is to stay below a 2 degree Celsius rise in global temperature, what is the maximum carbon dioxide ppm value that cannot be exceeded?

A) 200
B) 300
C) 350
D) 400
E) 450

Question 10

Jordan et al. (2013) suggests one strategy to meet the 2 degree Celsius mark is to adopt new metrics and targets. How are they characterized?

A) More specific and near-term
B) More long-term in order to achieve radical goals for the future
C) More detailed as they include additional climatic models and calculations
D) Broad and fairly vague in order to be easily understood by the general public

Question 11

Laboratories of democracy and innovation occur on what spatial scale?

A) States
B) Cities
C) Clusters
D) Nations
E) A and B

Question 12

The "natural resource curse" can be described as:

A) The state with which foreign powers take advantage of lesser developed, resource rich countries and extract their natural capital
B) A paradox in which countries with a wealth of natural resources have lower than expected economic growth and development
C) the argument that countries with a lot of resources use them all in a short period of time and collapse shortly thereafter
D) None of the above

Question 13

The NIMBY hypothesis suggests that people are unlikely to support a large-scale change in their place but are more likely to accept it if it occurs elsewhere

Question 14

Cultural values do not act as a bottleneck to sustainability transitions

Question 15

Which of the following are offered by seedbeds to actors wishing to make changes to socio-technical systems?

A) Energy
B) Ideas
C) Support
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 16

What dimension of sustainability is commonly ignored?

A) Teaching students about alternative energy sources
B) Political engagement
C) Development of contingency plans
D) Managerial and organizational processes

Question 17

Which of the following levels of the MLP is matched with its correct political role?

A) Regime; influences the general economic climate, the orientation of innovation, and the ways technologies are deployed
B) Niche; legal structures and regulatory initiatives support (or undercut) dominant industries
C) Landscape; specific government programs can protect or expose this level and encourage or discourage innovation
D) Landscape; influences the general economic climate, the orientation of innovation, and the ways technologies are deployed
E) Regime; specific government programs can protect or expose this level and encourage or discourage innovation

Question 18

The environmental state is characterized by a government that:

A) Actively addresses negative environmental externalities of economic activities
B) Focuses solely on environmental issues and has a much more limited scope that a regular government
C) Develops a strategic plan for the permanent transition away from fossil fuels
D) None of the above

Question 19

What was the major challenge for both Germany and Norway to meet their climate change goals?

A) They are both heavily invested in domestic fossil fuel production
B) They both have had difficulties meeting the climate goals they set for themselves
C) They have little consensus on their energy plans for the future
D) The public is in strong disagreement with the idea of transitioning towards renewable energy sources

Question 20

In 2014, Texas was the first major jurisdiction in North America to completely eliminate coal from its supply mix

Question 21

Radical innovations were described as:

A) New technologies that are unlikely to survive in the marketplace
B) New technologies that make it to the market place but are rarely adopted
C) Only necessary when incremental innovations are not enough for a true sustainability transition
D) Involving the creation of new technologies or systems of networked technology and infrastructure changes
E) None of the above

Question 22

By 2025, Cabo Verde, a small island nation off the west coast of Africa, is attempting to be the first country in the world to do what?

A) Build a functioning clean coal power plant
B) Rely solely on micro-solar panels to charge batteries
C) Use 100% renewable energy
D) Get electricity from a single hydro-electric power plant

Question 23

The media is an external environment used to identify seedbeds of sustainability

Question 24

Which of the following has the highest CO₂ emissions per capita per year?

A) United States
B) Australia
C) Canada
D) China
E) Qatar

Question 25

When analyzing HDI results, as income, health, and education improve, the impact on the natural environment ___?

A) Decreases
B) Increases
C) Remains level

Question 26

Which country is home to the largest solar PV manufacturer in Latin America?

A) Belize
B) Panama
C) Mexico
D) Costa Rica