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