Soc Module 12 Exam

The Environmental Protection Agency claims that the United States has one of the safest supplies of drinking water in the world, but:

10 percent of U.S. water systems do not meet EPA standards.

early 1900s, what percentage of Americans lived in cities?

40 percent

Few people today even know that the Milky Way is a spiral arm of our galaxy, containing such a dense cluster of stars that in the past it appeared not as individual points of light but as a splash of light across the night sky. Why is it no longer visible this way?

light pollution

Given that fertility rates in the United States have dropped below the level needed to maintain the population level, why is the population here growing?

Immigration rates have risen.

Will world population continue to grow, or will it eventually stabilize?

We may not know the answer for many years.

What are environmental sociologists referring to when they use the term "environment"?

both the natural and the human-made environment

Although Japan has one of the world's highest life expectancies, it has experienced a net loss of population for many years, the result of declining birth rates and very low immigration rates. However, the population rose in both 2008 and 2009, largely due to Japanese citizens abroad returning home. This data was collected by a:

demographer.

People who use violent or criminal methods to disrupt or destroy businesses or organizations that they believe are harming the environment are called:

ecoterrorists.

The belief that humans will find ways to overcome any problems posed by pollution and waste is consistent with what attitude?

human exceptionalism

The process by which members of a group individually conclude that nothing is wrong because they observe that no one else seems to be worried is called:

pluralistic ignorance.

The shift of large segments of the population away from the urban core and toward the edges of cities is called:

suburbanization.

Which political party made social justice, community-based economics, feminism, and diversity central to its platform?

the Green Party

How is urban density measured?

the number of people per square mile

Under what circumstances are bystanders LESS likely to attempt to help a stranger who appears to be in danger?

when there are lots of bystanders

How is an edge city different from a suburb?

An edge city has its own centers of employment and commerce.

What environmental activist is credited with organizing the first Earth Day?

Gaylord Nelson

Earth First describes itself as a global organization, but its website contains links to local chapters in Montreal, the Netherlands, and Humboldt and Santa Cruz, California. What does this suggest about the organization?

It believes in grassroots environmentalism.

If a sociologist is studying the problems associated with resource depletion, which of the following facts might he or she be interested in when he or she investigates the way our society uses paper?

It requires more than three pounds of tree pulp to make one pound of paper.

The "green revolution" refers to a major transformation in agriculture that occurred in the twentieth century and resulted in an explosion in food production. For example, plant biologists bred wheat that had much shorter stalks and carried more wheat on top without falling over. What effect would you expect this to have on global demographics?

The population will increase.

Why are the poor and minorities more likely to suffer health problems that result from exposure to pollution?

They are disproportionately exposed to pollution.

If Georg Simmel is correct, in which type of community would you be LEAST likely to have a friendly relationship with your neighbors?

a large city

An estimate of the land and water area that is required to produce all of the goods that an individual consumes and to assimilate all of the waste that he or she produces is called:

an ecological footprint.

Environmental racism occurs when:

an environmental policy or practice negatively affects individuals, groups, or communities as a result of their race.

An environmentalist named Aldo Leopold believed that we need to develop a "land ethic" that "changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it." What sort of attitude is Leopold trying to move our society away from?

anthropocentric

What sort of rural areas are most likely to experience a "rural rebound"?

areas that are near urban areas

Which of the following is a major area of concern within the four analytic frameworks of environmental sociology?

attitudes about the environment

According to Herbert Gans, if you move to New York City because you love theater, you are a(n):

cosmopolite.

Which of the following is one of the categories of urbanites identified by Herbert Gans in his ethnography Urban Villagers?

cosmopolites

In 2007 Kevin Tubbs was sentenced to more than twelve years in prison for his part in setting fire to an SUV dealership, a ranger station, and a tree farm. He expressed remorse and said that he was motivated by "hopelessness and desperation over cruelty to animals and destruction of the earth." What are his actions called?

ecoterrorism

An industry dumps waste in an area adjacent to where minorities reside. What is this practice called?

environmental racism

Although Los Angeles is infamous for its air pollution and smog, there are many parts of LA where the air is quite nice, especially in the mountains and by the sea. However, the people who live in these places are disproportionately white, while the people who live in the places with the worst air quality are disproportionately likely to be racial and ethnic minorities. This is an example of:

environmental racism.

Which of the following would be an example of a "positive check" on population growth?

famine

Even according to the lowest United Nations estimates, the globe will have two billion more people living on it by the year 2050. After that, the population may actually shrink because, while life expectancy may continue to rise, the average number of children each woman gives birth to is poised to drop below 2.1. What demographic variable might make the global population drop?

fertility

The city of Mumbai, India, has fourteen million people, making it the second-largest city in the world, and Mumbai handles the majority of India's maritime commerce. These facts help to explain why Mumbai would be called a(n):

global city.

Some types of air pollution cause less sunlight to reach Earth, a phenomenon known as:

global dimming.

During what era did the environmental movement focus on citizen participation and change at the local level?

grassroots environmentalism

What sort of pollution is responsible for global warming?

greenhouse gases

The Environmental Defense Fund hires scientists, economists, and lawyers to lobby the government and to educate the public about the environmental consequences of modern life. They brag that they had a part in passing important elements of the Clean Air Act, California's emissions rules, and a treaty to phase out CFCs. With what era of the environmental movement is this sort of organization most commonly associated?

mainstream environmentalism

Milwaukee has over 500,000 inhabitants. What type of city is this, according to demographers?

metropolis

Due to an oil boom, North Dakota has experienced the greatest population increase among all of the states in the United States in the recent past. Which demographic variable explains this?

migration

Which of the following is a basic demographic variable?

migration

According to a controversial study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, before the United States invaded Iraq, about 5.5 people out of every thousand would die each year, but after the invasion, that number rose to over 13. This study was attempting to measure:

mortality.

Garrett Hardin believes that "a 'just' sharing of the world's wealth among all the inhabitants, without coercive control of individual reproduction, would result in a continual, exponential growth of the human population" and much more suffering. This means Hardin is a:

neo-Malthusian.

Resources, like coal and oil, that CANNOT be replaced except through very slow geological processes are called:

nonrenewable resources.

The net migration rate is the

number of emigrants subtracted from the number of immigrants.

Chris McCandless lived on his own in the wilderness because he felt constrained and betrayed by a society that cared so little for its individual members. What term describes the attitude to which McCandless objected?

social atomization

In the past, the vast majority of people lived in rural areas and small towns where it was truly shocking to encounter a genuine stranger, but today most of us live in cities where we are constantly surrounded by total strangers. This leads directly to:

social atomization.

One of the major problems with slowing greenhouse gas emissions lies in the developing world, where many countries are just now starting to burn fossil fuels at the same rate as the industrialized world. Aside from the pollution produced, this is also a problem because there is not enough oil left for the world to burn it at its current rate. To solve this problem, many believe that we need:

sustainable development

The Environmental Protection Agency has a department whose mandate is to work for the "fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." What is this department most likely to be called, based on your reading in Chapter 15?

the Environmental Justice Department

According to law enforcement, if you are in trouble or injured, rather than yelling for help or appealing to a group, you should pick out an individual—even a stranger—point to him or her, and request assistance. This strategy would help to defeat:

the bystander effect.

According to the text, which of the following is one of the four major eras of environmental activism?

the conservation era

In countries where ________ has happened, there no longer is a "natural increase" in population.

the demographic transition

Which of the following helped lead to rapid population growth in Europe in the eighteenth century, around the time of Thomas Malthus?

the potato

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, most environmental activism was focused on:

the protection and conservation of wilderness.

What group was most likely to move away from the urban core to the suburbs?

whites