GEOG 2412: Third (Final) Exam

Study Guide and Sample Questions

This exam will cover in detail material starting with the Nov. 9 lecture continuing the natural hazards theme.  Although not cumulative in the normal sense, a few cross-cutting and foundational concepts may also show up on the exam, including concepts like:

Purposeful vs. inadvertent transformations of nature

The basic models of nature-society interaction from the first few lectures

Pessimistic vs. optimistic assessments of nature-society interactions

Human behavioral tendencies in interpreting nature and our role in it, and in defining and managing natural resources and hazards.

Here’s a quick run down of the detailed material subject to Exam 3 (besides general, cross-cutting concepts from earlier material as reviewed during the last class):

All lectures starting with—Nov. 9 Natural Hazards lecture

Global warming: basic causes, ecological and social impacts, human response (mitigation and adaptation).

Sustainability Science

These Readings:

“Hazard, Response and Choice"  Burton et al., pp. 34-52.

"Vulnerability to Climate Change." Smith et al.---- Executive Summary, Introduction (19.1), and Conclusions (19.8).

“Perspectives on Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference.” Yamin et al.

“What is Sustainable development?” Kates et al.

1. Why do climatologists expect a warmer earth to be a wetter earth?

(a) warmer temperatures melt ice caps and the water flows everywhere

(b) warmer average temperatures increase overall evaporation, which drives a stronger hydrological cycle

(c)  warmer temperatures mean that sea level falls

2) T/F: Frequency of natural events tends to be inversely related to magnitude.

3) T/F: In a normal distribution of the magnitudes of a natural event recorded over time, the mean is also the most frequent magnitude of that event.

4) T/F: In the U.S., land use regulation has emerged as a widespread, successful human adjustment that has reduced losses to natural hazards.

5) The “levee effect” is:

(a) the measure of a levee’s ability to hold back floods of a certain height

(b) a measure of the inevitable leakage thru a levee of minor flood waters

(c) the protection provided by a levee

(d) the perceived safety behind a levee that then encourages further development.

6) Greenhouse gases are:

(a) relatively transparent to incoming solar radiation and to outgoing terrestrial radiation.

(b) relatively opaque to incoming solar radiation and to outgoing terrestrial radiation.

(c) relatively transparent to incoming solar radiation and relatively opaque to outgoing terrestrial radiation.

(d) relatively opaque to incoming solar radiation and to outgoing terrestrial radiation.

7) T/F: Although theory suggests that the earth should be warming, actual instrumental records show that average surface temperature has remained stable.

8) Humans activity appears to be responsible for raising carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere by what percent since the industrial age began?

(a) 10

(b) 30

(c) 50

(d) 75

9) One challenge in setting greenhouse gas limits to mitigate climate change is that human adaptation to warming over time might:

(a) reduce the impacts and thus reduce the costs side of any cost/benefit calculation

(b) increase human emissions of greenhouse gases

(c) increase carbon sequestration in the soils and forests

(d)

10) Setting greenhouse gas limits to prevent “dangerous” climate warming is difficult for a variety of reasons, including:

(a) any level of warming may be “dangerous” to the most sensitive natural and ecological systems

(b)  The level of change that could causes catastrophic effects is uncertain

(c) Human development over the course of time could decrease the threat to even the most vulnerable societies.

(d) All of these

(e) A and C only

Answers:  1:B;  2:T;  3:T;  4:F;  5:D;  6:C;  7:F;  8:B;  9:A;  10:D.

Additional Questions (posted last day of class)

(11) T/F: “Peak Oil” and “An Inconvenient Truth” are examples of arguments about society and nature evincing a “Limits Model.”

(12) T/F: Federal disaster aid, and private insurance, have been mechanisms for reducing the trend of increasing property loses to natural hazards.

(13) This class is organized around three overarching themes in the relationships between nature and human culture, they are:

a) Environmental Determinism, Neo-determinism, and Environmental Domination.

b) Human Perceptions of the environmental, Human transformation of earth, and Human Interaction with environment as resource and hazard.

c) Exceptionalism, Exemptionalism, and Bio-centricism.

Answers: 11:T; 12:F; 13:B