NOTE: These sample questions are meant ONLY to give
you an idea of the TYPE of question
that may appear on the exam. It is NOT comprehensive in terms of coverage of the
material.
For that, you should
refer to the study guide and your notes.
Your priority should be to review
the lecture outlines, followed by the pages
noted in the study guide.
Sample Exam Questions
1. According to the film, The Shaman’s Apprentice
a. Shamanism is like an apprentice to science, because scientific knowledge is laboratory tested and indigenous knowledge is not.
b. Science is like an apprentice to shamanism..
c. Science and shamanism are parallel modes of explanation.
d. Shamans make discoveries through their dreams while scientists do not; therefore, science is objective, while shamanism is subjective.
e. Scientists should learn from shamans by having apprentices.
2. Which of the following did not increase trash
production in
a. The advent of municipal trash collection
b. The invention of new paper-making technology that did not rely on rags
c. The development of assembly line technology
d. The US involvement in World War II, which led to an ideology of quick production and consumption.
e. The general population’s loss of specialized skills like carpentry and sewing techniques
3. According to the guest lecture, which of the following is
not an example of environmental injustice in
a. chemical spill in which Volcan (a company) refused to give information to the local community.
b. the siting and building of I-70 in 1964
c. the lack of pedestrian areas in Vaquez boulevard
d. the Cherry Creek struggle against underground power lines
e. the siting of 6 Superfund sites in a four square-mile area.
4. ______ is the fuel that accounts for the largest percentage of the world’s commercial energy consumption,
while ______ accounts for the largest percentage of household fuel use in _______ countries.
a. Oil; biomass; developing
b. Natural gas; hydropower; developed
c. Coal; natural gas; developing
d. Biomass; oil; developing
e. Oil; biomass; developed
5. Which of the following is not true about nuclear power plants and their waste products?
a. The high-level radioactive wastes to be stored at the proposed Yucca Mountain Storages site are expected
to be radioactive for a total of about 5,000 years.
b. The Yucca Mountain
site in
c. The process of decommissioning nuclear power plants is almost as expensive as building them in the first place.
d. b and c
e. a and c
6. Which of the following is not an accurate characterization of fuel cells?
a. They have a positive and a negative electrode, separated by electrolyte.
b. Because hydrogen is not a fossil fuel, the use of fuel cells will not contribute to global warming.
c. They combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce water, heat, and electricity.
d. They are being developed for electric vehicles.
e. Major problems with fuel cells include hydrogen storage and distribution.
7. How much water
does the average person in
a. 1 gallon
b. 8 liters
c. 8 gallons
d. 33 gallons
e. 80 gallons
8. According to the textbook, the
a. The Army desperately needed meat.
b. The
c. the Army needed leather for shoes.
d. Native peoples depended on the bison for food and shelter.
e. none of the above; the
fact that there are bison living in
9. Transpiration is the way plants ________, while evaporation refers to ________
a. return large amounts of water to the atmosphere; liquid water turning to vapor well below boiling temperature
b. absorb water from the atmosphere; the water seeps into the ground
c. absorb water from the ground; liquid water turning to vapor well below boiling temperature
d. return large amounts of water to the atmosphere; the process of water becoming a liquid at a lower temperature
e. respire using water; liquid water turning to vapor well below boiling temperature
10. E.O. Wilson's acronym HIPPO stands for ___________ and lists different
_____________
a. Health and medical benefits, Intrinsic value, Purification of air and
water, Potential food sources, Oxygen resupply;
benefits of endangered species
b. Habitat conservation, Invasive species control, Productivity, Potential
scientific benefit, Organic diversity;
benefits of endangered species
c. Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, Population, and
Over-harvesting;
human threats to biodiversity
d. Hazardous waste, Industrial development, Pesticides, Pollutants, Oil
drilling and combustion;
human threats to biodiversity
e. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), Isotopic nitrogen oxides (NoX),
Particulate matter, PCBs, Ozone;
criteria pollutants identified by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
11. According to the textbook, which of the following was
not a consequence of the Aswan High Dam in
a. increase in downstream farmers’ need to buy fertilizer
b. increase in the occurrence of schistosomiasis
c. decline in Mediterranean fisheries
d. increased levels of evaporation
e. all of the above were consequences of the dam.
12.
a. lies on a flat space by the ocean
b. has a dry and sunny climate and is partly ringed by mountains
c. occupies such a large geographical area
d. generally has cloudy skies at night
e. all of the above
13. On a pH scale, pH 4 is ______ as pH 8; one of the principal ways lakes suffer from low pH rainfall is that ____________.
a. half as acidic; plants grow excessively and choke other life
b. twice as acidic; aquatic vegetation turns yellow
c. 10,000 times as acidic; fish eggs die and fish populations fall
d. twice as acidic; plants grow excessively and eutrophication sets in
e. 1/10,000 as acidic; water visibility is reduced
14. As officially defined by Congress in the 1964 Wilderness Act, “wilderness” is_____; the wilderness
ethic embodied in this act may be problematic in that ________.
a. any area with important scenic, historic, or recreational value;
80% of the
b. undeveloped land where humans have little impact and temporary presence, and visitors can find solitude;
it gives us little guidance in deciding what to do with those areas that don’t meet “wilderness” classification
c .a place where people live in harmony with nature;
it is impossible for people to live in harmony with nature
d. an area of at least 10,000 acres with no human intrusion;
the area is too small to be effective
e. an area of at least 100,000 acres with only low-impact development by humans;
it impinges on private property rights
15. Which of the following statements about the protection of endangered species is not correct?
a. The northwest spotted owl was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1990, leading to a bitter controversy over its protection..
b. Under habitat conservation plans, landowners are not allowed to “take” or harm endangered species under any circumstances.
c. Some opponents of the Endangered Species Act believe that the Endangered Species Act is sometimes too little, too late.
d. The Endangered Species Committee has been nicknamed the “God Squad” because it has the right to
decide if an endangered species should be given priority over other rights, even if it means that the species could become extinct.
e. b and d
16. Which of the following statements about air pollution is true?
a. Tropospheric ozone is produced by chlorofluorocarbons.
b. Small diameter particulate matter is less dangerous than larger suspended particulates.
c.
d. Ozone is produced by the combination of nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight.
e. All major urban areas in the
17. Which of the following is not a characteristic of neoclassical economics?
a. It considers ecosystems to be a subset of the macro-economy.
b. It considers infinite economic growth to be impossible and undesirable.
c. It models the relationship between households and consumers as a closed cycle.
d. It suggests that all factors of production are interchangeable and that any factor can substitute for any other factor.
e. It is the dominant form of economic theory used today.
18. Which of the following is true about energy efficiency?
a. Hidden subsidies in energy efficient technologies make them seem cheaper compared to other technologies than their true costs.
b. Thanks to the gains we have made in energy efficient technologies, our total amount of energy consumption has decreased.
c. The amount of energy efficient technology sold on the market is a perfect reflection of consumer desires for energy efficiency.
d. Refrigerators have gotten more efficient since the mid-1970s, but they have gotten larger as well.
e. none of the above
19. If the land around your home was designated as a priority site under CERCLA
a. You might expect to see people protesting outside your home because of the loss of endangered and threatened
species caused by construction in your neighborhood
b. You should prepare to move because you live on a leaking, abandoned hazardous waste site.
c. You will have to pay to improve your sewage treatment system because of problems with eutrophication downstream.
d. You will have to pay for expensive emissions testing for your car because of the region’s violation of federal air quality standards.
e. Your neighborhood’s construction codes for energy efficiency will soon be updated.
20. The main reason that there are relatively few invertebrates categorized as endangered species is that
a. we consider other groups, such as mammals, to be more interesting and desirable
b. worldwide there are relatively few invertebrates compared to plants
c. it is extremely difficult to identify and count invertebrates
d. actually, there are relatively few vertebrates categorized as endangered, compared to invertebrates
e. invertebrates are less important in terms of ecosystem services
True/false
21. Since we live in a democracy, everyone has an equal ability to shape the dominant meanings in our culture,
such as the meanings that we attribute to automobiles.
22. According to the guest speaker, “enterprise zones” in
businesses to move into neighborhoods like
financial resources to fight against environmental injustices.
23. Solid wastes and hazardous wastes in
24. The background extinction rate refers to extinctions that result from natural selection and evolution,
and is estimated to be about 1/1000 of the current rate of species extinction.