Exam Questions Chapter 24 Politics, Environment, And

CHAPTER 24—POLITICS, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. In 2008, the first college level School of Sustainability was opened at ____.

2. In the United States, local and national elections are held as often as every two years. An important implication of this is that ____.

3. In the United States, the three branches of government aim to act collectively. What is their primary goal?

4. Committing civilization to storing deadly radioactive wastes for up to 240,000 years is a failure of the ____.

5. Motor vehicle drivers paying for the full cost of the harmful effects of fossil fuel use is the application of the ____.

6. Future reliance on energy technologies such as tar sands, shale oil, and nuclear power, would be a violation of which of the following?

7. Development of public policy follows a four-stage policy life cycle. Which of the following is the first of those stages?

8. History shows that significant changes to environmental policy usually come from ____.

9. Some environmental advocates are motivated by the observation that social change requires active support by what percentage of the population?

10. Which branch of government is responsible for overseeing the agencies that carry out government policies?

11. Which of the following is an important principle of inquiry and debate in science?

12. Environmental scientist Norman Myers contends that lobbying helps to create subsidies that lead to environmental harms. In support of this, he notes that lobbyists spend the equivalent of how much per member of Congress per day?

13. What proportion of SLAPPs are thrown out by judges?

14. The intention of most SLAPPs is to ____.

15. What is the body of statements defining what is acceptable environmental behavior for individuals and groups, according to the larger community?

16. Most environmental lawsuits are ____.

17. The court hearing the case may order the defendant to stop whatever action is causing concern. This is called a(n) ____.

18. What is a civil suit filed by a group, often a public interest, consumer, or environmental group, on behalf of a larger number of citizens, all of whom claim to have experienced similar damages from a product or an action, but who need not be listed and represented individually?

19. In order have legal standing, ____.

20. Which of the following is true of compensation for lawyers involved in class action suits?

21. The National Environmental Policy Act requires that ____.

22. How much of the nation’s land is under the control of the federal agencies?

23. In 2012, economist Gernot Wagner estimated that the benefits of the U.S. Clean Air Act exceeded the costs of complying with the law by

24. What percentage of the U.S. population strongly supports environmental laws and regulations, and does not want them weakened?

25. What percentage of the U.S. population considers the environment to be one of the most pressing issues facing the nation?

26. When did Congress restrict the use of lead-based paint in homes?

27. When was the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) established?

28. When did the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act give EPA power to manage all toxic wastes?

29. When was the federal ban on chlorofluorocarbons (ozone-depleting chemicals) enacted?

30. When did the Superfund law establish a fund for cleaning up hazardous waste dumps while holding polluters responsible?

31. Which statement best describes the current state of environmental laws in the United States?

32. A lawsuit filed by a corporation or developer against citizens who publicly criticize a business for an activity is called a(n) ____.

33. The primary aim of the Safe Drinking Water Act is to ____.

34. The primary aim of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is to ____.

35. The primary aim of the Endangered Species Act is to ____.

36. The primary aim of the National Environmental Policy Act is to ____.

37. The primary aim of the Clean Air Acts is to ____.

38. Denis Hayes is known for his role in the development of ____.

39. Which environmental NGO worked with a German manufacturer to build a refrigerator that does not use the potent greenhouse gases called HFCs as coolants?

40. Which environmental NGO helped U.S. citizens organize massive opposition to a proposed government policy that would have allowed sewer operators to routinely dump virtually untreated sewage into the nation’s lakes, rivers, and streams?

41. Which environmental NGO helped forge an agreement among Canadian timber companies, environmentalists, native peoples, and the provincial government of British Columbia (Canada) to protect a vast area of the Great Bear Rainforest from destructive logging?

42. In the United States, how many citizens belong to non-governmental organizations that address environmental issues?

43. Which environmental NGO worked with McDonald’s to redesign its packaging system to eliminate its plastic hamburger containers?

44. At the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Anjali Appadurai referred to requirements for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pointed out that the regulations ____.

45. Which of the following is considered to be a success?

46. Finding ways to create more economic value with less harmful health and environmental impacts is known as ____.

47. Research by Thomas Homer-Dixon, director of Canada’s Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, has revealed a strong correlation between growing scarcities of resources and ____.

48. Policy expert Lester Brown argued that security goals can be most effectively achieved by

49. The global agenda for sustainable development was developed by the ____.

50. How much money would be required, on an annual basis, for the world to meet basic social and health goals and to provide environmental security?

1. Applying the Environmental Justice Principle would mean no group of people would bear an unfair share of environmental pollution or degradation.

2. Once a law has been passed and funded, the appropriate department or agency must first develop regulations and rules for implementing it.

3. Businesses facing environmental regulations often try to have people from the business appointed to high positions in the agencies regulating the business.

4. The opportunity to lobby elected representatives is an important right for everyone in a democracy.

5. Environmental lawsuits are typically easy to win.

6. Most SLAPPs are not expected to be won.

7. There has been almost no well-organized movement opposition to the strong environmental laws passed in the 1970s.

8. Polls show that more than 80% of the U.S. public strongly supports environmental laws and regulations and do not want them weakened.

9. According to Konrad von Moltke, “There isn’t a government in the world that would have done anything for the environment if it weren’t for the citizen groups.”

10. In conservation land trusts, property owners agree to protect their land from development or other harmful environmental activities, often in return for tax breaks on the land’s value.

11. Chief executive officers of corporations have learned there is a lot of money to be made providing environmentally friendly goods and services.

12. The economies of all countries are supported by the earth’s natural capital.

13. The Rio120 Earth Summit led to agreements that were nonbinding.

14. There are currently more than 500 multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).

15. The world does not possess the technology, knowledge, or financial resources to make the shift to more equitable and environmentally sustainable global and national policies.

1. The exact role played by a government is determined by its ____________________.

2. One of our greatest challenges in creating solutions for environmental challenges is to place more emphasis on ____________________ thinking.

3. Groups that advocate passing laws favorable to their causes and repealing laws unfavorable to their positions are called ____________________.

4. Using government subsidies to pay for inefficient energy alternatives is a violation of the ____________________ principle.

5. Decisions made by various courts make up a body of law known as ____________________.

6. ____________________ is an important process, in which individuals or groups use public pressure, personal contacts, and political action to persuade legislators to vote in their favor.

7. At a fundamental level, all politics is ____________________.

8. The legal concept of ____________________ occurs when people use their property in a way that causes annoyance or injury to others.

9. Common law cases may involve ____________________, in which a party causes damage by knowingly acting in an unlawful or unreasonable manner.

10. Less than ____________________% of the U.S. public considers the environment to be one of the nation's most pressing problems.

11. More than ____________________% of the U.S. public strongly supports environment laws and regulations and does not want them weakened.

12. Many environmental groups on college campuses have made ____________________ of their campuses, gathering data on practices affecting the environment.

13. NGOs working together worldwide serve as an emerging citizen-based ____________________.

14. Environmental scientist __________ promotes the inclusion of corporate interests in solutions to environmental problems.

15. Environmental security is as important as military and economic security because all ____________________ are supported by the earth's natural capital.

1. Individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. How do individuals interact with the courts?

2. Individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Via what mechanism do small businesses and corporations interact with the legislative branch?

3. Individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Lobbyists typically interact directly with which branch of government?

4. Individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. In what two ways can individuals exert an influence on businesses and corporations?

5. Individuals, corporations, and environmental organizations interact with each other and with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Through what primary mechanism does the legislative branch interact with the executive branch?

1. The public policy life cycle given in the text consists of four stages. Choose an environmental issue covered in the book and describe where you think the issue is in the cycle. What is the next step in the cycle for your chosen issue? What do you think will happen when the cycle is complete?

2. Lobbying is an important part of the legislative process in our society. Lobbyists, though, have become an easy scapegoat in our public conversations. Do lobbyists play an important role in the development of legislation, or could they be abolished? Explain.

3. Explain the function of a SLAPP. Do you think this is an appropriate way to influence persons to not sue a company? Is there a balance that must be maintained, where neither companies nor citizens should be harassed by the other?

4. In the midst of all the competing interests a student has, you might not be inclined to help with a campus environmental audit. Does the fact that the environment will likely have a significant impact on your future make any difference in your deliberations about working on an audit? Why or why not?

5. Violent conflicts are often in the news. Seldom do the environmental consequences of such conflicts make the news. As new weapons become more and more toxic, should the environmental consequences play a role in decision-making? Why or why not? The World Trade Center collapse had a devastating effect on the city of New York and its people. Does an event like this make a difference in your thinking? Why or why not?