Deck 2: Changing Global Environment

Question 1

At Kyoto in 1997,what did the 30 Western industrialized countries agree to do?

A) reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels
B) voluntarily limit greenhouse gas emissions
C) finance further studies to determine the cause of climate change
D) censure China for exceeding its carbon limits
E) reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by half

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Computer models predict that average global temperatures will increase by

A) 1°F.
B) 4°F.
C) 10°F.
D) -2°F.
E) 3°F.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A maritime climate is characterized by

A) hot summers.
B) mild summers.
C) cold winters.
D) mild winters and mild summers.
E) cold winters and hot summers.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

If the greenhouse effect did not exist,what would happen to earth?

A) Earth would be too cold to support life as we know it.
B) Earth would be much too hot to support life as we know it.
C) Earth would be too wet to support life as we know it.
D) Our environment would be greatly improved.
E) It would make no difference.

Question 5

Pangaea was

A) a deep ocean trench created by colliding plates.
B) an area of active earthquakes and volcanoes.
C) a supercontinent centered on present-day Africa.
D) an area of colliding plates that formed the Himalaya Mountains.
E) the divergent plate that created the Rocky Mountains in North America.

Question 6

What is the theory of plate tectonics?

A) Earth was created 6,000 years ago.
B) Earth is made up of a large number of geological plates that move slowly across its surface.
C) Human activities are changing Earth's surface.
D) The number of tectonic plates equals the number of continents on Earth.
E) Earth's continents are moving closer together.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT one of Earth's climate controls?

A) incoming solar energy
B) anthropogenic systems
C) latitude
D) interaction between land and water
E) global pressure systems and wind patterns

Question 8

Beneath Earth's surface,where does the heat exchange occur that moves tectonic plates?

A) continental crust
B) ocean trenches
C) convection cells
D) subducting plate
E) mid-ocean ridge

Question 9

The trapping of solar radiation in Earth's lower atmosphere

A) is entirely anthropogenic.
B) is called the greenhouse effect.
C) has no benefits.
D) began with humans' use of fossil fuels.
E) began with humans' use of fossil fuels and has no benefits.

Question 10

Where are earthquakes and volcanoes most commonly found?

A) in the higher latitudes
B) at the edges of oceans
C) along tectonic plate boundaries
D) around the equator
E) The location is random.

Question 11

Haiti's 2008 earthquake resulted in over 230,000 deaths whereas Japan's 2011 earthquake resulted in 20,000 deaths.What explains the differences in loss of life?

A) effectiveness of search & rescue operations
B) strength of the earthquake
C) in Haiti there was also a tsunami that followed the earthquake
D) local building standards
E) effectiveness of search and rescue operations and local building standards

Question 12

Anthropogenic pollution is caused by

A) people.
B) animals.
C) climate.
D) rocks.
E) sun spots.

Question 13

Which of the following are created along divergent plate boundaries?

A) deep trenches
B) the world's most powerful earthquakes
C) mountain ranges and active volcanoes
D) rift valleys
E) rift valleys, mountain ranges and active volcanoes

Question 14

The long-term average from daily measurements of precipitation and temperature is

A) weather.
B) climate.
C) climograph.
D) insolation.
E) global warming.

Question 15

What are some potential benefits of volcanoes?

A) using geothermal activity to generate energy
B) ash enriches soil fertility
C) tourism
D) tourism, increased soil fertility and geothermal energy

Question 16

The world's pressure systems are responsible for

A) a greater intensity of solar energy at the equator.
B) mild summer and winter temperatures along coast lines.
C) severe winters in interior regions.
D) moving the world's wind and storm systems.
E) mild summers/winters along coasts and severe winters in interior regions.

Question 17

What geologic structure is created when one tectonic plate is pushed below another?

A) continental crust
B) ocean trenches
C) convergent plate boundary
D) subduction zone
E) divergent plate boundary

Question 18

What substance accounts for more than half of the human-generated greenhouse gases?

A) chlorofluorocarbons
B) carbon dioxide
C) methane
D) nitrous oxide
E) ozone

Question 19

If all climatic controls except latitude were held constant,which of these cities would be warmest?

A) Singapore at about 2° north latitude
B) Wasilla, Alaska at about 61° north latitude
C) Paris, France at about 49° north latitude
D) Cape Town, South Africa at about 34° south latitude
E) Punta Arenas, Chile at about 53° south latitude

Question 20

The San Andreas Fault,traversing coastal California,forms what type of plate boundary?

A) subduction zone
B) colliding plate boundary
C) divergent plate boundary
D) transform fault
E) divergent plate boundary and subduction zone

Question 21

What percent of the world's power is generated from renewable sources?

A) 10%
B) 5%
C) 7%
D) 3%
E) 20%

Question 22

What is a problem with power generated by wind or sun?

A) It is an intermittent source requiring other types of production for backup.
B) It requires constant sun or wind.
C) Energy cannot be transferred from sunny or windy areas to other areas.
D) It results extensive disruption of local power sources.

Question 23

What percentage of Earth's water is freshwater?

A) 3%
B) 20%
C) 40%
D) 75%
E) 97%

Question 24

The UN reports that how many children die each day from drinking unsafe water?

A) 400
B) 4000
C) 100
D) 40000
E) 10000

Question 25

Where are most tropical rainforests located?

A) near the north pole
B) near the south pole
C) near the equator
D) in the middle latitudes
E) Their location is random.

Question 26

Tropical forests are not well-suited for intensive agriculture because

A) the excessive amount of rainfall in the region tends to prohibit effective plant growth.
B) available nutrients are stored in tropical forest vegetation, so when the ground cover and trees are removed, the nutrients are removed, too.
C) the ground layer of vegetation in tropical forests is so thick that the land is extremely difficult to clear.
D) the temperatures in tropical forests are too high to allow feasible crop production.
E) they tend to be located too far inland.

Question 27

What water policy,advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund,has made it more difficult for some people to gain access to water?

A) government regulation
B) the Kyoto Protocol
C) irrigation
D) privatization
E) U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea

Question 28

Proven reserves of oil are determined by

A) deposits that are possible to mine.
B) areas identified as having possible fossil fuels.
C) an estimate of oil deposits not yet discovered.
D) the total of all oil deposits that have been mined.

Question 29

Most of the world's power is generated by

A) coal.
B) oil.
C) natural gas.
D) nuclear.
E) hydropower.

Question 30

About what percentage of Earth's people live in areas where water shortages are common?

A) 5%
B) 15%
C) 30%
D) 50%
E) 65%

Question 31

Why were China,Brazil and India exempt from meeting emissions reductions in the Kyoto Treaty?

A) because they are not major polluters
B) because they argued that most pollution was created by industrialized countries
C) because the United States would not sign the treaty
D) because they were given an extra five years to meet reductions

Question 32

Which of the following is a fossil fuel?

A) petroleum
B) wood
C) hydrogen/fuel cell
D) ethanol
E) nuclear energy

Question 33

An assemblage of local plants,animals,and insects covering a large area such as a tropical rainforest or a grassland is called a

A) bioregion.
B) bionicle.
C) biosphere.
D) biogeography.
E) biore.

Question 34

Hydraulic fracturing is

A) a new technique of producing power using water.
B) the use of cold fusion to produce nuclear power.
C) a technique which forces oil and gas out of shale rock.
D) an experimental technique for extracting oil from the ocean floor.

Question 35

What type of bioregion is most often found along the equator?

A) broadleaf or mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest
B) coniferous forest
C) tundra
D) tropical forests
E) Mediterranean woodland

Question 36

Tropical rainforest canopies are generally

A) a two-layer canopy that is thickest in its upper layer and thinnest in its lower layer.
B) a two-layer canopy that is thickest in its lower layer and thinnest in its upper layer.
C) a three-layer canopy that is thickest at the ground level.
D) a three-layer canopy that is thickest in its middle layer.
E) a one-layer canopy.

Question 37

The Durban Agreement of 2011 establishes which of the following?

A) holding signers of the Kyoto Protocol to the 2012 deadline
B) continued exemption for developing countries such as China
C) keeping the same emissions goals as Kyoto
D) creating a fund to help less developed countries reach emission reduction goals
E) encourage developing countries to use their forests for fuel

Question 38

What percentage of the world's freshwater is used for agriculture?

A) 10
B) 50
C) 70
D) 40
E) 80

Question 39

What is the primary reason that global energy demand is forecast to increase 40% by 2030?

A) the United States consumption of energy is predicted to increase dramatically
B) due to immigration, Europe's consumption of energy will rise
C) the further industrialization of developing countries
D) Japan's increased energy usage

Question 40

What country generates almost all of its electrical power from renewable sources?

A) Great Britain
B) Germany
C) Denmark
D) Iceland
E) Sweden

Question 41

In the 1930s,which country experienced desertification known as the "Dust Bowl"?

A) China
B) Argentina
C) Turkey
D) United States
E) Spain

Question 42

A "steppe" bioregion is most closely associated with grasslands.

Question 43

Volcanic eruptions occur most commonly along tectonic plate boundaries.

Question 44

With what bioregion is the term "steppe" associated?

A) grasslands
B) tropical forests
C) deciduous forests
D) coniferous forests
E) tundra

Question 45

Some estimates suggest that logging occurs ________ times faster in Southeast Asia than in the Amazon.

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) 10

Question 46

The theory of plate tectonics states that the surface of the Earth is made up of one large geological plate that moves slowly across the surface of the Earth.

Question 47

Tropical savanna bioregions are found in which climate type?

A) BW
B) Cs
C) Af
D) Aw
E) Am

Question 48

In which bioregion does a prolonged summer-season drought bring a unique array of vegetation?

A) Mediterranean
B) Tropical Rainforest
C) Tropical Savanna
D) Steppe
E) Deciduous Forests

Question 49

Which bioregion has been expanded through human use of fire?

A) Tropical Rainforest
B) Tropical Seasonal Forests
C) Tropical Savannas
D) Steppes
E) Temperate Deciduous Forests

Question 50

Tropical forests are not well-suited for intensive agriculture because they tend to be located too far inland.

Question 51

The fastest rate of deforestation is occurring in what region?

A) Amazon Basin of South America
B) Southeast Asia
C) tropical Africa
D) the Caribbean
E) Oceania

Question 52

A region where one tectonic plate dives below another is called a divergent plate boundary.

Question 53

In what type of bioregion is desertification most likely to occur?

A) tropical forests
B) temperate forests
C) coniferous forests
D) tundra
E) grasslands

Question 54

Why is there special concern about timber firms in Japan and China purchasing logs from North American conifer forests?

A) Japan gets a discount on the logs.
B) Japan does not hire U.S. workers to cut the trees.
C) These trees are often cut from public forests in the U.S.
D) At this time, the U.S. and Japan are involved in a larger trade dispute.
E) All of the other answers are correct.

Question 55

Temperate forests are likely to have which of the following species of trees?

A) pine and spruce
B) maple
C) beech
D) maple and beech
E) maple, beech, pine and spruce

Question 56

Volcanic activity often occurs near divergent plate boundaries.

Question 57

Scientists are more accurate at predicting earthquakes than they are at predicting volcanic eruptions.

Question 58

What is the major cause of widespread cutting of tropical rainforests?

A) the recent globalization of commerce in international wood products
B) an expansion of farmlands in tropical regions
C) intensified efforts to protect the forests from wildfires by harvesting
D) rising worldwide demand for paper
E) urban sprawl

Question 59

Tropical rainforests typically have two major layers (or canopies)of vegetation.

Question 60

The amount of tropical forest that is lost each year is approximately equivalent to the size of what U.S.state?

A) Rhode Island
B) Texas
C) Alaska
D) Delaware
E) Wisconsin

Question 61

Global warming would be a greater immediate problem in the Netherlands than in Denver,Colorado.

Question 62

Only a very small proportion (3 percent)of the earth's water is freshwater.

Question 63

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty with a goal of reducing major greenhouse gases.

Question 64

Global energy demand is predicted to remain constant for the next 15 years.

Question 65

Weather is the long-term condition of the Earth's atmosphere at a given location.

Question 66

Greenhouse gases were fairly stable through most of human history,but have decreased dramatically in the past 130 years.

Question 67

Since 2008 the price per barrel of oil has not fluctuated much.

Question 68

The United States is a global leader in the use of renewable energy sources.

Question 69

Petroleum is a fossil fuel.

Question 70

Anthropogenic emissions are those caused by animals.

Question 71

Nitrous oxide accounts for more than half of the human-generated greenhouse gases.

Question 72

Iceland generates 95% of its electrical power from renewable resources.

Question 73

China is the largest importer of crude oil in the world.

Question 74

The United States did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol because no other industrialized country in the world supported it.

Question 75

The spread of tropical plant diseases is a major cause of tropical deforestation.

Question 76

Global pressure systems cause storms.

Question 77

Desertification is most likely to occur in a grassland region.

Question 78

Temperate Deciduous forests are likely to have maple,beech,spruce,and pine trees

Question 79

Renewable energy sources can be more costly than fossil fuels because of lack of government subsidies.

Question 80

Wind travels from areas of low pressure to areas of high pressure.