1) As the human population grows, the effects of this increase in humans:
a) affects the environment at the same rate as in previous years
b) affects the environment at a faster rate than in previous years
c) affects the environment at a slower rate than in previous years
d) are completely unrelated to the actual numbers of people
e) cannot be determined
Answer: B
2) The uncontrolled increase in human population numbers seen today has been referred to as:
a) the "ecological bomb"
b) the "population disaster"
c) the "population bomb"
d) the "Greenhouse effect"
e) the "urban bomb"
Answer: C
3) When a population ecologist classifies an area as a "developed region," what percentage of the population would you expect to live in urban settings?
a) less than 10%
b) between 12% and 25%
c) between 25% and 50%
d) between 50% and 70%,
e) at least 75%
Answer: e
4) The maximum number of individuals that can be supported by an ecosystem is referred to as the:
a) carrying capacity
b) greenhouse capacity
c) the sustainability quotient
d) the ecological maximum
e) the resource capacity
Answer: a
5) According to the Environmental Science text, if recent human population growth rates continue, our number will reach approximately 9.4 billion by:
a) 2020
b) 2030
c) 2040
d) 2050
e) 2060
Answer: d
6) The proposal that life has profoundly changed the global environment, and that these changes have tended to improve the chances for the continuation of life is referred to as:
a) the greenhouse hypothesis
b) the Gaia hypothesis
c) the carrying capacity hypothesis
d) the biological hypothesis
e) the ecological hypothesis
Answer: b
7) According to the Environmental Science text, nearly 6 million children die each year due to the effects of:
a) cancer
b) parasitic diseases
c) dirty water
d) predatory animals
e) malnutrition
Answer: e
8) Justification that argues to preserve some aspect of the environment because of our appreciation of the beauty of nature and our desire to get out and enjoy it:
a) utilitarian
b) ecological
c) moral
d) aesthetic
e) economical
Answer: d
9) Justification that has to do with the belief that various aspects of the environment have a right to exist:
a) utilitarian
b) ecological
c) moral
d) aesthetic
e) economical
Answer: c
10) Justification that is based on the value of some factor that is essential to larger life support functions, even though it might not benefit an individual directly:
a) utilitarian
b) ecological
c) moral
d) aesthetic
e) economical
Answer: b
11) According to the Environmental Science text, the environmental statement of the 1990's was "saving our planet." Is Earth's very survival really in danger?
a) no, because in the long view, the changes humans have made to earth will be erased by natural processes
b) no, because sustainability refers only to the next 2 generations of humans
c) yes, because resources are becoming really sparse
d) yes, because energy will run out
e) none of the above
Answer: a
12) According to the Environmental Science text, the underlying issue underlying all environmental problems is:
a) the rapid growth in human population
b) the refusal of developing nations to stop using CFCs
c) the Greenhouse Effect
d) contaminated soil and drinking water
e) that our generation does not have a global perspective on environmental problems and how to solve them
Answer: a
13) Throughout history, the human population:
a) has always grown as rapidly as today
b) grew continuously as a result of the Industrial Revolution and improved health care
c) mostly increased, but included some decreases most notably during the Black Death (bubonic plague)
d) was constant in its growth
e) has been in steady-state
Answer: c
14) When did the most dramatic increase in the history of the human population occur?
a) in the early history of the human population
b) in the last part of the twentieth century
c) during the industrial revolution
d) during the middle ages
e) human population has increased on a steady rate
Answer: b
15) The Gaia Hypothesis states that the dominant force that has shaped the global environment through time is:
a) the oceans
b) the atmosphere
c) life
d) the Gaia species from Alpha Centauri
e) humans
Answer: c
16) Which of the following is not a major theme of environmental science?
a) human population growth
b) an urbanizing world
c) sustainability
d) science and values
e) all of the above are major themes of environmental science
Answer: e
17) Beyond a threshold world population of about ________, the quality of life declines.
a) 500 million
b) 1 billion
c) 2 billion
d) 3 billion
e) 6 billion
Answer: e
18) The Precautionary Principle:
a) was introduced at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit on Sustainable Development
b) requires critical thinking about a variety of environmental concerns
c) requires precautionary steps to be taken before scientific proof is established
d) should be implemented in response to serious environmental threats
e) all of the above apply to the Precautionary Principle
Answer: e
19) The use of renewable environmental resources faster than they can be replenished would be considered:
a) sustainable use of resources
b) sustainable use of an ecosystem
c) unsustainable
d) at maximum carrying capacity
e) sustainable growth
Answer: c
20) Aspects and limitation(s) of the early approach to environmental issues included:
a) a lack of scientific knowledge
b) a general recognition that real solutions to environmental problems include and depend on human beings
c) recognition that we must seek sustainability
d) a lack of understanding that environmentalism and economic progress are not contradictory
e) all of the above
Answer: e
21) What is the carrying capacity of the Earth for humans?
a) zero
b) under 1 billion
c) just over 5 billion
d) between 10 and 20 billion
e) any estimate depends on who you ask and what assumptions they make
Answer: e
22) The question "Which is more important, the survival of people alive today or conservation of the environment?" is difficult to answer. Answering this question demands:
a) value judgments
b) sustainability
c) science and technology
d) practical application
e) a legal basis
Answer: a
23) Two arguments that justify human interaction with nature, by placing human survival above all other considerations are:
a) utilitarian & aesthetic
b) ecological & moral
c) moral & aesthetic
d) utilitarian & economic
e) ecological & aesthetic
Answer: d
24) "Famines in Africa illustrate that population crises feed on themselves." Which of the following arguments supports this quotation?
a) poor farming practices have led to increase erosion
b) African desert land appears to be spreading as a result of increased human activities
c) humans affect the environment, and the environment affects humans
d) the control and destruction of food in Africa has been used as a weapon
e) all of the above
Answer: e
25) Ecological justification is related to:
a) the direct economic benefit for one or more individual
b) the human instinct for individual survival
c) the beauty and wonder in nature
d) moral obligations to and about the environment
e) the belief that aspects of the environment are necessary for the survival of species that provide benefit to humans
Answer: e
26) According to Frederick Law Olmsted, planting vegetation in cities provides:
a) medical benefits
b) psychological benefits
c) social benefits
d) aesthetic benefits
e) all of the above
Answer: e
27) A large decrease in the human population occurred around 1350 A.D. What was the cause of that decrease in population?
a) the Hundred Years War
b) the Punic Wars
c) emigration to North America
d) depredations by Nazgul
e) the Black Death
Answer: e
28) If we can continue to harvest the same number of tuna from the Pacific Ocean for the foreseeable future, we would have achieved ____________ of that resource.
a) maximum use
b) sustainability
c) economic parity
d) carrying capacity
e) ecological justification
Answer: b
29) The maximum number of owls that can live in a certain forested region is defined as the _____________ for that species in that environment.
a) utilitarian maximum
b) ecological maximum
c) functional maximum
d) carrying capacity
e) ecological capacity
Answer: d
30) James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis are noted for:
a) originating the Gaia hypothesis
b) defining the concept of carrying capacity
c) their studies of famine in Africa
d) defining the concept of utilitarian maximum
e) defining the concept of ecological maximum
Answer: a
31) Which of the following criteria will not help in the development of a sustainable global environment?
a) it must be evolutionary
b) it must be attractive to people
c) it must exclude people who will not participate
d) it must be proactive
e) it must assist the disadvantaged
Answer: c