Introduction to Sustainability Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Introduction to Sustainability explores the foundational concepts, principles, and practices related to sustainable development and environmental stewardship. This course examines the interconnectedness of social, economic, and environmental systems, emphasizing how human activities impact the planet's resources and ecological balance. Students will analyze global challenges such as climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and social inequality, while evaluating potential strategies and solutions for creating more sustainable communities. Through case studies and hands-on activities, learners will gain critical thinking skills necessary to assess sustainability initiatives and make informed decisions for a more sustainable future.
Recommended Textbook
Principles of Environmental Science 8th Edition by William P Cunningham Prof
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Chapter 1: Understanding Our Environment
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Q1) Parsimony is one of the basic principles of science.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The best definition of a hypothesis is a(n)
A) proof of a proposed theory.
B) proposed theory that has been tested numerous times.
C) theory based on experiments.
D) argument based on acute intuition.
E) proposed explanation based on observation.
Answer: E
Q3) Environmental science is a
A) narrowly defined set of physical, life, and social sciences.
B) theoretical approach in interpreting the environment.
C) way to see the world in scientific terms.
D) systematic approach learning about the environment.
E) special set of problem-solving skills.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Environmental Systems: Matter and Energy of Life
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Q1) Which of the following statements would change this into a Truestatement: "Most, but not all, living organisms are made up of organic compounds"?
A) All living organisms are made up of organic compounds.
B) All living organisms are made up of inorganic compounds.
C) Most, but not all, living organisms are made up of inorganic compounds.
D) Most, but not all, living organisms are made up of organic elements.
E) Most, but not all, living organisms are made up of inorganic elements.
Answer: A
Q2) A biological community consists of all
A) populations living and interacting in an area.
B) members of a species living in the same area.
C) living things on Earth.
D) populations of a given species.
E) members of a species living in the same biome.
Answer: A
Q3) Photosynthesis is a step in the global nitrogen cycle.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Evolution, Species Interactions, and Biological Communities
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Q1) In a biological community where diversity is great, such as a tropical rainforest, the abundance of any one species is likely to be
A) great.
B) small.
C) widely variable from year to year.
D) the same from year to year.
E) unrelated to diversity.
Answer: B
Q2) Natural selection will ultimately make a species
A) more intelligent.
B) physically bigger.
C) better adapted to its environment.
D) more aggressive.
E) less vulnerable to its predators.
Answer: C
Q3) In general species diversity is higher near the poles than near the equator.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Human Populations
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Q1) The demographic transition refers to a country's change from
A) high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.
B) high to low birth rates and low to high death rates.
C) low to high birth rates and high to low death rates.
D) a majority of young people to a majority of elderly people.
E) a majority of elderly people to a majority of young people.
Q2) The study of human population characteristics, such as age structure, demographic transition, total fertility, human population and environmental relationships, death-rate factors, and standard of living is know as
A) Human Demography
B) Crude Death Rate
C) Carry Capacity
D) Life Expectancy
E) Demography
Q3) Which of the following demographic categories best identifies Country "A"?
A) developed
B) moderately developed
C) less developed
D) developing
E) third world
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Chapter 5: Biomes and Biodiversity
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Q1) Which of the following is True?
A) Humans may have been causing extinctions thousands of years ago, but our impact has recently increased.
B) Humans are responsible for many of the mass extinctions in the geologic record.
C) Humans only began causing extinctions in the past 150 years.
D) Humans have never had significant impact on species extinctions until the past four decades.
E) Humans have been causing extinctions for thousands of years and we are still causing extinctions at about the same rate.
Q2) Desert biomes would fall in the area marked by the letter
A)A
B)B
C)C
D)D
E)E
Q3) Estuaries contain a mix of fresh and salt water.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Environmental Conservation: Forests,
Grasslands, Parks, and Nature
Preserves
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Q1) One possible solution to the problem of insufficient land area for preserves is to use _______________ to link smaller habitat areas.
A) highways
B) eco-bridges
C) edge effects
D) corridors
E) GIS
Q2) Knowing that there are many endangered species found in the old growth forests of the United States, what might you expect remains today of all the old growth forests that stood in the United States before European settlement?
A) about 90 percent
B) about 35 percent
C) about 50 percent
D) about 25 percent
E) less than 10 percent
Q3) Marine reserves are more common and easier to manage than terrestrial reserves.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Food and Agriculture
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Q1) Famines are most often serious when there is
A) a very serious drought.
B) no room to expand agriculture.
C) steady population growth.
D) drought and war together.
E) an attempt by indigenous people to return to old traditions and lands.
Q2) Which is a disadvantage of conservation tillage methods?
A) increased irrigation requirements
B) less efficient use of fertilizer
C) increased pests and weeds
D) decreased crop yields
E) none of these are correct.
Q3) Methods of managing topography include all but which of the following?
A) terracing
B) contour plowing
C) deep tilling
D) strip-farming
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Chapter 8: Environmental Health and Toxicology
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Q1) The accumulation of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in various tissues of a living organism is defined as
A) Bioaccumulation
B) Body Burden
C) Mutagen
D) Biomagnification
E) Carrying Capacity
Q2) Infectious diseases such as diarrhea are closely linked to
A) emotional stress.
B) malnutrition.
C) toxicity effects.
D) emotional stress
Q3) A chemical that causes abnormalities in a growing fetus is called a(n)
A) teratogen.
B) mutagen.
C) carcinogen.
D) endocrine disruptor.
Q4) In 1918 a flu pandemic killed more than 50 million people.
A)True
B)False
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Climate
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Q1) As far as we are currently aware, who were the first people to notice the El NiƱo Southern Oscillation cycle?
A) scientists studying atmospheric changes
B) meteorologists
C) indigenous people in South America
D) Peruvian fishermen
E) colonial governors in South America from Spain
Q2) Which of these is Trueabout ways that we might slow climate change, according to climate policy analysts?
A) There is no way to slow climate change.
B) There is no way to slow climate change without dramatically reducing our quality of life.
C) Slowing change is impossible without new technologies.
D) We can use a variety of climate "wedges," but these will cause considerable social disruption.
E) Developing a variety of existing strategies, such as conservation, reforestation, and alternative energy, could dramatically slow climate change.
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Chapter 10: Air Pollution
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Q1) ___________ ozone is harmful, damaging plants and human health while ozone at the _________ level screens out mutagenic ultraviolet radiation.
A) Stratospheric; troposphere
B) Thermospheric; mesosphere
C) Tropospheric; stratosphere
D) Mesospheric; thermosphere
E) Stratospheric; mesosphere
Q2) Worldwide, air pollution control efforts are least advanced or least successful in major cities of developing countries.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Wind currents
A) send air pollution from one continent to the next.
B) keep CFCs from reaching the ozone hole.
C) eliminate the movement of dust particles from watershed to watershed.
D) circulate global carbon dioxide to regions with more vegetation for photosynthesis.
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Chapter 11: Water: Resources and Pollution
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Q1) The amount of groundwater that can fill the spaces found in soil and rock is determined by the
A) porosity
B) zone of saturation
C) recharge rate
D) gravity
E) permeability
Q2) What would you not find in water that has been through tertiary treatment?
A) Antibiotics.
B) Hormones.
C) Dissolved Metals.
D) Insecticides.
E) Antidepressants.
Q3) Application of fertilizer to farm fields is an example of cultural eutrophication.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A TMDC measures the toxicity of a metal found in a water body.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Environmental Geology and Earth Resources
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Q1) A giant sea swell known as a tsunami is caused by A) typhoons.
B) earthquakes.
C) lunar gravity.
D) unusual tides combined with seasonal storms.
E) a strong wave during an exceptionally high tide.
Q2) ________ in the mantle and core make tectonic plates move.
A) Conduction movements
B) Earthquakes
C) Radioactive decay
D) Convection currents
E) Conduction currents
Q3) Rock formed from magma extruded to the surface through volcanic vents is classified as
A) sedimentary.
B) igneous.
C) metamorphic.
D) weathered rock.
E) lava.
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Chapter 13: Energy
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Q1) Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland have higher standards of living by most measures than Americans or Canadians
A) because their energy consumption is much greater.
B) because they are closer to energy supplies.
C) even though their energy use is about equal to ours.
D) even though their energy use is much less than ours.
E) Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland do not have higher standards of living compared to Americans or Canadians.
Q2) Nuclear power provides about _____ percent of the US energy supply.
A) 3
B) 9
C) 12
D) 23
E) 37
Q3) Tidal power stations operate by using the energy from waves as they crash on the shore.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Solid and Hazardous Waste
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Q1) Composting is a waste disposal method that
A) is useful only for single households.
B) is technologically complex.
C) vastly reduces total waste volumes.
D) is more environmentally costly than landfilling.
E) is not realistic for college students.
Q2) Hazardous waste is anything that
A) causes human health threats.
B) severely contaminates the environment.
C) is toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, corrosive, or explosive.
D) has the potential of causing health problems.
E) All of these are correct.
Q3) Illegal dumping and storage of hazardous waste
A) continues to threaten public health.
B) has completely stopped since the Superfund Act.
C) has not stopped completely but is rare.
D) has become a problem mainly since the Superfund Act.
E) will always be present because people are not concerned about toxic wastes.
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Chapter 15: Economics and Urbanization
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Q1) When a factory pollutes a river, the costs and losses that affect people downstream would be called
A) indirect costs.
B) external costs.
C) incidental costs.
D) internal costs.
E) social costs.
Q2) The dilemma of public property use presented by Garret Hardin is also called the "free rider problem."
A)True
B)False
Q3) Businesses are now willing to become "green" because
A) it improves their public image.
B) it saves money.
C) doing so is expensive but makes good advertising.
D) doing so improves their image and saves money in the end.
E) they need to obey laws and comply with government regulations.
Q4) Cap-and-trade is a system where market forces help drive sustainability.
A)True
B)False
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Environmental Policy and Sustainability
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Q1) The case of the president of a Colorado company who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for knowingly contaminating the water table is an example of a
A) common law case.
B) tort law case.
C) statute law case.
D) administrative law case.
E) criminal law case.
Q2) After an original idea is turned into a bill, it
A) is introduced in the House and Senate.
B) needs to be sponsored by a legislator.
C) is referred to a committee.
D) undergoes subcommittee hearings.
E) needs to be marked up.
Q3) The Christmas Bird Count is an example of _____________________.
A) citizen science
B) ecosystem management
C) environmental literacy
D) international treaty
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