Please note; As of Sunday noon, Dec. 6,
this draft review sheet has been put up for those who want it sooner, but a
final study guide with a few more questions will be posted, as promised, on
Monday, so we can go over it in class this week.
GEOG 2412: Third (Final) Exam
Study Guide and Sample Questions
This exam will cover material starting with the Nov. 5 lecture concluding the natural hazards theme and introducing global warming as a case problem of managing human transformation of the earth. Here’s a quick run down of the material subject to Exam 3
All lectures starting with—Nov. 5 Natural Hazards and Global Warming lecture.
Global warming: basic causes, ecological and social vulnerability and impacts, human response (mitigation and adaptation).
Sustainable Development
These
Kates et al. “Reconstruction of
reconstruction
of
“Vulnerability to Climate Change, and Reasons for Concern: A Synthesis.” Smith et al.: sections: 19.1, skim 19.3; read 19.4; 19.5; 19.6 and 19.8:
Unique and threatened systems, distribution of impacts; aggregate impacts; extreme events; large scale singularities, and adaptive capacity.
“Perspectives on Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference.” Yamin et al.
Ways of defining “dangerous climate change”
“What is Sustainable Development?” Kates et al.
Evolution and definitions of sustainable development as a goal; the grand compromise; institutions, science and practice for sustainable development.
Exercise 6.
Sample questions: Please note that these are offered here mostly in the order of material in class, but they may be mixed up on the exam. Similar questions may appear on the exam with just a few word changes.
(1) In natural hazards theory, and as mention in the
reading about the recovery of
(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.
(2) T/F: In the reading about the recovery of
(3) Global losses from natural disasters, even in constant dollars (above), are increasing. This is most likely due to:
(a) increased development in hazard zones
(b) global warming
(c) Increased earthquakes and volcanoes
(c) inaccurate forecast and warning systems
(4) Greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere 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.
(5) Humans activity appears to be responsible for raising carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere by roughly what percent above the pre-industrial concentration?
(a) 10
(b) 30
(c) 50
(d) 75
(6) The wide range of temperature projections illustrated in the above graph from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reflect uncertainties about:
(a) the warming response associated with a given GHG concentration
(b) the rate of GHG increases
(c) the potential negative feedbacks in the system (like more clouds)
(d) all of these
(7) Which of these is NOT expected as an effect of anthropogenic global warming?
(a) overall warmer temperatures
(b) overall drier climate
(c) rising sea levels
(d) especially large warming in high latitudes (arctic and polar regions).
(8) In the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the signatory nations agreed to avoid:
(a) dangerous anthropogenic interference with climate system
(b) all human-induced global warming
(c) impacts to the most vulnerable societies and ecosystems
(9) In the
(a) all nations must reduce GHG emissions the same absolute amount
(b) all nations must reduce GHG emissions the same amount proportional to their populations
(C) because they will become larger GHG emitters in the future, the developing countries are bound to a larger percentage reduction than the developed (also known as Annex 1) nations
(d) developing countries are not required to reduce their GHG emissions
(10) According to the Yamin et al. reading, “Perspectives on Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference,” 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, even for the most vulnerable societies.
(d) All of these
(11) T/F: In their article on “Reasons for Concern” about global warming, Smith et al. concluded that a small increase in the earth’s temperature might have positive aggregate effects.
(12) T/F: In their article on “Reasons for Concern” about
global warming, Smith et al. concluded that faster change is more difficult to which to adapt (so slowing global
warming even by a small amount via an agreement at Copenhagen this week can be a
benefit).
(13) In their article entitled “What is Sustainable Development,” Kates et al. refer to the “grand compromise” as:
(a) the necessary collaboration between developed and developing countries on problems like global warming
(b) the compromise between advocates for environmental protection and those for human development
(c) the agreement by the current generation to bequeath non-degraded natural resources to future generations
(d) the agreement in global warming mitigation negotiations whereby developing countries need not adopt firm GHG reduction policies.
(14) T/F: Environmentalists might logically take exception to the Bruntland Commission’s definition of “sustainable development” because the definition did not recognize any limits on human development.
Answers: 1:D; 2:F; 3:A; 4:C; 5:B; 6:D; 7:B; 8:A; 9:D; 10:D; 11: T; 12:T; 13:B; 14:F.