Ch3 Exam Prep Risk, Economics, and Environmental Concerns

Environmental Science, 15e (Enger)

Chapter 3 Risk, Economics, and Environmental Concerns

1) Risk assessment consists of two primary considerations:

A) time and costs.

B) issues involved and time.

C) risk and cost.

D) risk and time.

2) The use of facts and assumptions to estimate the probability of harm to human health or the environment is called

A) negligible risk.

B) risk management.

C) sustainable development.

D) risk assessment.

3) Risk assessment usually involves a statement regarding the possibility that something could occur.

4) Deciding which risks should be given the highest priority and how much risk is acceptable are two decisions involved in risk management.

5) The general public typically perceives involuntary risks, such as nuclear weapons, a greater risk than voluntary risks, such as smoking.

6) There is essentially no difference between risk assessment and risk management.

7) Risk is the probability that a condition or action will lead to an injury, damage, or loss.

8) Probability is the same as possibility.

9) Which of the following is NOT a pollution cost?

A) expenditure to avoid pollution damage once it has occurred

B) increased health costs

C) sewage treatment

D) None of these are correct

10) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of sustainable development?

A) renewability

B) institutional commitment

C) assigning value to everything

D) adaptability

11) Which is NOT a step in the cost-benefit analysis?

A) determination of tradable emissions

B) calculation of the net profit

C) identification of the project

D) determination of all impacts

12) Which of the following is a market-based instrument used to modify behavior to improve the environment?

A) cost of raw materials

B) recycling costs

C) information programs

D) None of these are correct.

13) The goal of a deposit-refund program is to

A) encourage product recycling through the refund of a deposit.

B) use tax money to fund environmental cleanup programs.

C) give companies the right to emit specified quantities of pollutants.

D) inform consumers of the market choices.

14) Which of the following does NOT demonstrate the use of renewable resources?

A) using wind to power windmills to produce electricity

B) using water from a lake to turn turbines in a hydroelectric dam to produce electricity

C) using underground coal deposits to produce heat and electricity

D) using corn or switchgrass to produce fuel ethanol to power our vehicles

15) The amount of a good or service available to be purchased is the

A) resource.

B) supply.

C) demand.

D) None of these are correct.

16) What does the price of a product or service reflect?

A) the fair market value

B) that if a person does not want the product, then the price is too high

C) the demand for and availability of the product

D) the highest amount the seller can get for the product

17) Which of the following is a disadvantage of a subsidy?

A) It places a value on everything, including aesthetics.

B) It increases the demand for a product.

C) It discourages technological innovation for environmental protection.

D) It keeps the price of the product or service being subsidized below the true market price.

18) When the supply of a commodity exceeds the demand,

A) producers raise their prices.

B) producers lower their prices.

C) producers ask for government subsidies.

D) producers use tradable emissions permits.

19) In the United States, performance bonds are used

A) to encourage recycling.

B) to cover the cost of reclaiming and revegetating mined sites.

C) to reduce pollutants in industrial wastewater.

D) All of these are correct.

20) Which of the following is an example of an extended product responsibility?

A) ecotourism

B) soft loans for business planning to implement environmental products

C) the requirement that a company that accept a used product for disposal or remanufacture

D) tradable emission permits

21) The basic premise behind the "The tragedy of the commons" is

A) a resource becomes overexploited when its ownership is shared.

B) pollution prevention is costs less than pollution clean-up.

C) when assessing risk, people frequently overestimate unfamiliar risks.

D) All of these are correct.

22) Classically there are three kinds of resources, which are

A) land, water, and air.

B) oil, labor, and capital.

C) land, labor, and water.

D) labor, capital, and land.

23) We assign value to natural resources based on our perception of their ________.

A) relative scarcity

B) relative abundance

C) cost to extract

D) profit margin

24) Many of the negative effects companies have on the environment could be offset by ________ government regulation, but such regulation could also ________ impact industry and the economy.

A) increased, positively

B) decreased, negatively

C) increased, neutrally

D) increased, negatively

E) decreased, positively

25) Economic factors should be considered when

A) reducing the number of oil spills.

B) increasing the amount of waste in logging.

C) making any environmental decisions.

D) None of these are correct.

Which of the following best matches the description?

26) Using renewable resources in harmony with ecological systems to produce a rise in real income and improved standard of living.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

27) Decision-making process that uses input such as risk assessment and economic impacts.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

28) Expenses borne by someone other than the individuals who use the resource.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

29) Amount of a product that consumers are willing and able to buy at a given price.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

30) Mathematical statement about how likely it is that something will happen.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

31) Gift to private enterprise by government when the enterprise is in economic difficulty.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

32) Relationship between available supply of a commodity or service and its price.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

33) Point at which there is no significant health or environmental risk.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

34) Use of facts to estimate the probability of harm to human health that may result from exposure to pollutants, toxins, or management decisions.

A) risk

B) supply/demand curve

C) subsidy

D) probability

E) demand

F) risk assessment

G) risk management

H) sustainable development

J) negligible risk

K) external costs

35) Man has a tendency to misuse or overexploit any resource that is held in common public ownership.

36) Cost-benefit analysis is concerned with whether a policy generates more social benefit than social cost.

37) A similarity between ecosystems and markets is that they both operate in the same time frame.

38) In economics, the price rises when demand exceeds supply.

39) A market-based instrument is a calculation of the net benefit or total positive impact of an environmental policy.

40) One concern of the cost-benefit analysis is that it places an economic value on everything.

41) The supply is the amount of goods or service people are willing to sell at a given price.

42) Economists look at resources as the available supply of something that can be used.

43) Environmental costs are easy to assess, since they can be easily converted into monetary values.

44) A primary environmental cost is pollution.

45) In cost-benefit analysis, why is it difficult to consider environmental issues?

46) Give an example of cost-benefit analysis. Do not use the providing clean water and improved sanitation example given in the book. Be sure to explain all the variables affecting the costs and benefits of your decision. Based on your analysis, state whether you would be for or against the product you analyzed.

47) Which one of the following statements about the perception of environmental risk is correct?

A) The lay public ranks the risk of radiation lower than environmental professionals.

B) The lay public ranks the risk of invasive species lower than environmental professionals.

C) The lay public ranks the risk of pollution by sewage lower than environmental professionals.

D) The lay public ranks the risk of hazardous waste sites lower than environmental professionals.

48) Which one of the following is NOT a significant environmental cause of death worldwide?

A) water pollution

B) air pollution

C) traffic accidents

D) genetically modified organisms

49) Which one of the statements about the acceptability of risk is correct?

A) Risks imposed on a person are less acceptable than those voluntarily accepted.

B) Risks that are familiar are less acceptable than risks that are unfamiliar.

C) Risks to children are less acceptable than risks to children.

D) Risks that are part of nature are less acceptable than those that are not.

50) Which one of the following is NOT a way to place value on ecosystems services?

A) cost of the damage to coastal areas caused by the destruction of wetlands.

B) fees to visit protected environmental sites.

C) cost farmers are willing to pay to have bee hives placed in their orchards.

D) providing free access to protected habitats.

51) The cost to government to clean up contaminated industrial sites is an example of

A) a deferred cost.

B) an external cost.

C) both a deferred and an external cost.

D) neither a deferred nor an external cost.

52) The assessing the benefit of providing improved sanitation and safe water to the public involves

A) placing a value on health care cost to treat diarrheal diseases.

B) placing a value on the number of workdays lost due to illness.

C) Placing a value on the time needed to travel to obtain water.

D) All of the options listed are involved.

53) Which one of the following is NOT an economic tool used to encourage individuals or corporations to change their behavior and achieve an environmental benefit?

A) payments to farmers to use techniques to reduce soil erosion.

B) payments to lawyers to challenge environmental regulations.

C) fines to corporations that cause air pollution.

D) permits that allow corporations to pollute up to a certain level that can be sold by a corporation if it eliminates or reduces it level of pollution.

54) The primary source of mercury in the air is from emissions from coal-fired electric power plants. An EPA regulation that required a reduction of this pollution has resulted in which one of the following?

A) The supreme court ruled that the EPA rule was invalid.

B) The supreme court ruled that the EPA had to consider the cost to power companies of complying with the ruling.

C) There has been an increase in the number of coal-fired power plants being built.

D) Mercury pollution has increased.