GEOG 2412
Sample First Exam Questions
(1) Which of these best exemplifies Marsh’s view as offered by Lowenthal:
(a) Marsh believed that humans inevitably destroy nature and ought to give up technology and growth and return to more primitive, “natural” ways.
(b) Marsh emphasized that victory over nature required care for the global fabric, efforts to reverse the ill-effects of human impact.
(c) Marsh
believed that North American pioneers should follow the examples he saw in the
(2) Which of these models of nature and society relationships were supported by early geographers Ellen Semple and Friedrich Ratzel:
(a)
Anthropological
exceptionalism
(b)
Environmental
Determinism
(c)
Nature
and society interaction (human and cultural ecology)
(d)
Precautionary
models/sustainable development
(3) T or F: “Peak
Oil” and “An Inconvenient Truth” are examples of arguments about society and
nature evincing a Dominion Model.
(4) Give three
distinct cognitive problems in our ability to perceive and interpret natural
states and processes.
(5) Lowenthal argues that, from the Enlightenment on thru the
Industrial revolution, humans have, on the whole:
(a)
seen
their effect on nature as generally negative, often causing degradation and
pollution
(b)
interpreted
negative impacts as caused by other powers, perhaps deities displeased with
human behavior.
(c)
Seen
much of human effects on nature as positive, beneficial, as “improving” in raw
nature.
(d)
Not
really even noticed that nature was changing as human societies developed.
(6) Give two of the
fundamental belief areas that the NEP survey attempts to measure.
(7) Leiserowitz et al. find from their review of global
surveys, that:
(a)
A
majority of people feel that humans have right to and should master and
dominate nature
(b)
A
majority of people feel that we should “co-exist” with nature
(c)
A
majority of people feel that environmental problems are lessening and the
environment is improving.
(d)
A
majority of people buy products with their environmental impacts in mind (Green
Consumerism).
Match these human
transformations of earth to their impacts:
(8) urbanization
(9) re-foresting a clear-cut
(10) air pollution (particulates and aerosols)
(a)
increased
runoff
(b)
increased
transpiration
(c)
reduced
solar radiation transmitted thru atmosphere to earth
(11) T/F: Cloud
seeding, by increasing cloud cover, is a purposeful intervention in the energy
balance.
(12) T/F Most dams
are built to purposefully increase evaporation.
Over their history,
humans have purposefully;
(13) T/F Decreased
the forest cover of the earth.
(14) T/F Increased
the amount of freshwater runoff stored on land.
(15) T/F Increased
the flux of ground water to the surface.
(16) Which two human
activities have caused an increase in the flux of carbon into the atmosphere.
Answers:
(1) B
(2) B
(3) F
(4)
See patterns in randomness; Attribute
cause/effect with little justification; Base perceptions on short windows of
observation; Fixate or “anchor” perceptions on notable events and take them
as exemplars of whole genres (one hurricane or wildfire used on what to expect
from future cases).
(5) C
(6) The reality of growth limits; anthropocentrism and anti-anthropocentrism; Robustness or fragility of nature’s balance; Human exemptionalism; Potential for eco-crisis.
(7) B
(8) A
(9) B
(10) C
(11) F
(12) F
(13) T
(14) T
(15) T
(16) Extraction and burning of fossil, fuels, and de-vegetation of the land.