Deck 16: Energy and the Environment: Navigating Climate Change and Global Disaster

Question 1

Use some of the discussion questions at the end of the chapter, especially numbers 4, 5, and 6.

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Other possible questions might pertain to: OPEC; resource curses; shifting economic supply and demand conditions for energy; the impact of these issues on different societal groups; and how nations, the EU, or the UN handle these issues.

Answer 2

No Answer.

Question 3

Students could also pick a single energy source such as coal or solar and focus on changes in market and political conditions surrounding its impact on the environment over time.

Answer 3

No Answer.

Question 4

OPEC is an example of a cartel. A cartel is

A) an organization like a Japanese keiretsu made up of companies.
B) an international organization made up of less developed countries (LDCs).
C) an organization of producers and states that control supply and pricing of a commodity.
D) an organization of made up of transnational corporations (TNC)s.

Question 5

The headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is in which city?

A) Nairobi, Kenya
B) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
C) Las Vegas, Nevada
D) Mexico City, Mexico

Question 6

Which of the following is an international body established in 1988 under the auspices of the UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization and made up chiefly of climate scientists from all over the world who assess the scientific, technical, and socio-economic information about climate change and its future risks?

A) FAO
B) WMO
C) IPCC
D) COP

Question 7

Iraq accused this country of cheating on its OPEC production quotas and siphoning off oil from the neutral zone between it and this country, which led to the Persian Gulf War in 1990.

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Iran
C) Kuwait
D) Qatar

Question 8

Who said that dealing with the shortage of oil was "the moral equivalent of war"?

A) Ronald Reagan
B) Gro Brundtland
C) E.F. Schumacher
D) Jimmy Carter

Question 9

Which statement about the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio is incorrect?

A) It was nicknamed the "global earth conference."
B) It officially focused on "sustainable development."
C) It produced a treaty-the UNFCCC.
D) It produced another treaty-the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Question 10

Which of the following is not one of the "mechanisms" recommended by the Kyoto Protocol to help countries reduce their levels of greenhouse gas emissions?

A) cap-and-trade emissions trading
B) increasing the number of carbon sinks
C) encouraging developing nations to adopt market-driven trade strategies
D) giving credits to developing countries that invest in "green" projects.

Question 11

Between 2004 and 2007, global investments in renewable energy more than quadrupled, with solar, wind, and biofuels receiving 82 percent of this money in countries such as China, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. In which did form of energy did the United States make the preponderance of its new investments during this period?

A) wind power
B) solar power
C) biofuels
D) fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas)

Question 12

Which of the following statements about the Obama administration's energy policies is not true?

A) Obama focused primarily on market-driven supply and demand conditions for an energy policy.
B) Obama balanced support for continued fossil fuel production with promotion of renewables.
C) Obama approved more oil and gas exploration on public lands while using public investment funds to spur more renewables.
D) Obama believed that economic recovery after the financial crisis limited how aggressively renewables could be funded.

Question 13

Which of the following is not an accurate statement about deniers of climate change?

A) Some of them question whether rising carbon levels are due to human causes and whether the rise in temperatures is a permanent long-term trend or just a normal, relatively short-term fluctuation when seen in historical perspective.
B) Some of them claim that oil and natural gas are more efficient to produce and distribute than renewable resources.
C) Some of them allege that an international cabal of scientists has tricked the world into believing that climate change is real.
D) Some of them claim that a cabal of scientists conspires to keep critics from being published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Question 14

Which of the following is not one of the reasons the Trump administration gave for withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change?

A) The United States needs to act tough and "win" negotiations both at home and on the global stage.
B) India and China are unfairly taking advantage of other states because they have never been required to actually reduce the level of their carbon emissions.
C) The coal industry needs to be revived, in part to create more jobs.
D) Compliance with the Paris Agreement would hurt the United States' effort to be the biggest oil and coal producer in the world.

Question 15

Which of the following statements about energy in China is incorrect?

A) China is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world.
B) Most of China's imported oil comes from the Middle East.
C) China has been rapidly increasing the number of nuclear power plants in its country.
D) China is decreasing its reliance upon coal.

Question 16

Which of the following is not a feature of China and Africa's new energy relationship?

A) China has invested billions of dollars in Africa's energy sector since 2010.
B) Most of the new power plants that Chinese companies will have built in Africa between 2010 and 2020 will run on wind and solar energy.
C) From 2010 to 2015, Chinese contractors built more than half of sub-Saharan Africa's new hydroelectric power plants.
D) China is an important supplier of wind turbines and solar panels to Africa.

Question 17

Between 2014 and 2016, which of the following countries or regions made the most new investments in clean energy?

A) Europe
B) The United States
C) China
D) The Asia-Pacific region (excluding China)