Environmental final
The average automobile is only about ________ % efficient at moving itself down the road.
14
Evidence from polar ice core analysis shows that, until now, global carbon dioxide levels have never exceeded ________ ppm in the last 800,000 years.
300
In 2007, Congress mandated strict Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that called for automakers to raise average fleet fuel efficiency to ________ mpg by the year ________.
35; 2020
Approximately ________% of the world's marine fish populations are either fully exploited or overexploited.
80
The Kyoto Protocol uses the 1990 emission levels of each nation as a baseline target for greenhouse gas reductions. Which of the following countries showed the greatest increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2012?
Australia
Which country leads the world in coal production and consumption by extracting and consuming approximately half of the world's annual coal yield?
China
Which of the following pollutants has the longest residence time?
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
As water warms, it ______
Decreases in density
Which of the following is an example of bycatching?
Fishermen accidentally catch sea turtles while drift netting for pelagic fish.
Near the equator, the patterns of convection currents are called __
Hadley cells
Which of the following technologies is currently allowing us to decrease carbon emissions from automobiles?
Hydrogen fuel cells
Which of the following is a consequence of acid deposition?
It leaches important minerals from soils.
Which of the following U.S. cities still experiences over 3 months of unhealthy air per year, with air quality index (AQI) values of greater than 100?
Los Angeles
What gas comprises the largest portion of Earth's atmosphere?
Nitrogen
What happens at an oil refinery?
Oil is separated into its component compounds.
________ is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that may cause lung cancer.
Radon
Crude oil is ________
Refined to separate the chemicals used for gasoline, lubricants, plastics, and other products
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the concept of eminent domain?
Residents of the Chicago area who were in the proposed path of Interstate 355 were forced to sell their homes and move when the interstate was built.
What is the current status of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the U.S.?
Technologies are not sufficiently reliable, and it is currently too energetically expensive for coal power plants to capture and store their carbon emissions.
Which of the following would be put at risk by the Keystone XL pipeline?
The Ogallala Aquifer
In the wake of the U.S. failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, ______
U.S. cities and states are setting their own programs for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Which of the following may result in a positive feedback mechanism that would intensify climate change?
Warmer temperatures result in the melting of permafrost.
Stratospheric ozone is important to ecosystems because it ___
absorbs and scatters UV light
In the U.S., which of the following has decreased since 1980?
air pollution emissions
All of the following are anthropogenic factors contributing to climate change EXCEPT ____
breathing
Human sources of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere include all of the following EXCEPT _____
burning fire wood
Energy conservation in the United States ________
can be achieved through personal actions and more efficient technologies
All of the following are standard steps at a coal-fired power plant in the U.S. EXCEPT _____
carbon capture
The ________ is the area that underlies the shallow water bordering continents.
continental shelf
Bottom trawling is most likely to harm ____
coral reefs
About 80% of the ocean's water is found in the ____
deep zone
The largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the United States is ___
electricity generation
Red tides are caused by ___
elevated nutrient levels
Which of the following energy sources is considered nonrenewable?
fossil fuel energy
In 1970, the source of most of the airborne lead emissions in the U.S. was ____
gasoline
The Coriolis effect contributes to ____
global wind patterns
The data in the figures suggest that northeastern offshore spotted dolphins and eastern spinner dolphin populations in the eastern Pacific ________
have not recovered despite actions taken to protect them
One consequence of CFC pollution is _____
increased rates of skin cancer in humans
In the U.S., per capita energy use ________, and energy intensity ________.
increased sharply from 1950 to the 1970s but has since declined; has been declining since 1970
Earth's climate _____
is changing as a result of natural and human processes
In the thermohaline circulation systems, surface water is ____
less salty, less dense, and warmer
The various classes of coal have been exposed to high heat and pressure for different periods of time. Which of the following lists in order the classes of coal from lowest to highest energy content?
lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous, anthracite
All of the following statements about mangroves are true EXCEPT ___
mangroves and kelp are usually found growing in the same area
Small island nations such as the Maldives are in the international spotlight because they ____
may be among the first nations to be completely flooded by rising sea levels
One of the problems with finding new fossil fuel deposits in developing countries is that _____
multinational companies often move in to harvest the new deposit, and very little money or resource remains in the country
The Earth's atmosphere is composed mostly of _____
nitrogen and oxygen
Rising sea levels result in all of the following EXCEPT _
ocean acidification
All of the following are allowed in marine protected areas EXCEPT ___
oil drilling
Currently, the greatest ecological crisis facing marine organisms and food webs is __
overharvesting
Which of the following is a secondary air pollutant?
ozone
Alaskans benefit from the trans-Alaska pipeline because Alaska's state constitution requires approximately 25% of state revenues associated with the oil industry to be placed into a monetary fund called the Permanent Fund, which _______
pays yearly dividends to all Alaska residents
Recent research suggests that ________ is now the key limiting factor in phytoplankton growth in the Gulf of Mexico.
phosphorus
El Niño and La Niña events _____
produce changes of opposite direction in temperature and precipitation patterns
Carbon dioxide is ________
produced during the combustion of fossil fuels
In industrialized nations, the two most deadly sources of indoor pollution are _
radon and cigarette smoke
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an international panel that __
reports on how climate change influences wildlife, ecosystems, and society
Zooxanthellae are ____
symbiotic algae that provide corals with energy via their photosynthetic activity
The decrease in NOx emissions in the U.S. from 1970 to 2014 can be partially attributed to which of the following?
the use of catalytic converters in motor vehicles
What are groundfish?
various species that live in benthic habitats, such as halibut and flounder
Water in the surface zone of the ocean is, for the most part, ____
well mixed
The huge dust storms that took place in the United States in the 1930s __
were the result of poor farming techniques