Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context, 7e (Knox/Marston)
Chapter 4 People and Nature
4.1 Multiple Choice
1) According to our text, which of the following is NOT true?
A) Affluent core countries are more effective at protecting their environments than poor
peripheral countries.
B) Core countries are more interested in protecting the environment because of their Judeo-
Christian perspective on nature.
C) Core countries help protect their environments by exporting industrial wastes to peripheral
countries.
D) Core countries help protect their environments through technological innovations.
2) Which of the following is NOT evidence of global climate change?
A) disappearing rainforests
B) rising sea level
C) disappearing Arctic sea ice
D) increasing atmospheric CO2
E) rising global average temperatures
3) The production of hydropower is most strongly associated with
A) river resources.
B) ground water resources.
C) lake resources.
D) arid environments.
E) tropical environments.
4) All of the following are renewable energy resources except
A) hydropower.
B) wind power.
C) tidal power.
D) geothermal energy.
E) hydropower, wind power, tidal power, and geothermal energy.
5) National Forests and Parks across the United States, from the Rockies to the Smokies, operate
under a view of natural resource use built on ________ and the idea that natural resources can be
used responsibly.
A) preservation
B) conservation
C) deforestation
D) modernization
E) economic development
6) The idea that “nature is a social creation” means that
A) humans have built the physical world and its landscapes—nothing is natural.
B) the physical world means different things to different people at different times.
C) God created the earth in six days.
D) the evolutionary process concluded with the emergence of humans.
E) the physical world and its resources were made for human use.
7) Vandana Shiva is most well-known for
A) her position as being the first person from the world’s periphery to head the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
B) her symbolic power as Hindu god of the environment, agricultural lands and food production.
C) her work protecting environmental diversity & sustainability through such things as organic
farming, fair trade and the use and preservation of native seeds.
D) identifying the benefits of safe agricultural pesticides and genetically modified plants &
animals.
E) founding Greenpeace.
8) One conceptual theory (i.e., I = PAT) for understanding the factors contributing to
environmental impacts relates them to
A) technological level.
B) level of affluence.
C) population size.
D) technological level, level of affluence, and population size.
E) technological level and the level of influence.
9) Which of the following is most influential in anticipating a population’s impact on nature?
A) its affluence
B) its prevailing religious beliefs
C) its gender balance
D) its resource base
E) both its gender balance and its resource base
10) Human adaptations to and uses of the natural environment
A) have been occurring for hundreds and thousands of years.
B) no longer occur with globalization of the late 20th century.
C) began with the Industrial Revolution.
D) almost never result in pollution or environmental degradation.
E) occur in only hearth areas—many regions of the world remain pristine and untouched by
human activity.
11) According to your text, which of the following may be threatened by the commodification of
carbon in the world’s tropical periphery?
A) carbon sequestration
B) local economic development
C) biodiversity and local/indigenous rights
D) reforestation
E) the spread of democracy
12) Political ecologists emphasize
A) the impact of political and economic forces on local cultures and resource use.
B) traditional groups’ involvement in the political process.
C) environmental and resource policy.
D) environmental ethics and the ethics of resource use.
E) the impact of globalization on resource trade.
13) All of the following statements are indications of climate change except one. Which one?
A) temperature increases in the Northern Hemisphere
B) increased precipitation in in some parts of the world
C) declining mountain glaciers and shrinking Arctic sea ice
D) rising sea level
E) deforestation in the world’s tropical regions
14) The contemporary view of nature dominant in the United States is most strongly linked to the
A) Judeo-Christian tradition, in which nature is to be dominated or tamed by Man.
B) North American Indian tradition, which emphasized the interrelatedness of the natural world.
C) romantic philosophies of Henry David Thoreau, in which all creatures have divine qualities—
humans are not exceptional.
D) transcendental poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, who encouraged a mystical and spiritual
alternative to the primitive and savage life.
15) By 2025, world energy demand will increase by almost
A) 10%.
B) 25%.
C) 50%.
D) 100%.
E) It will stay about the same.
16) The foundations of the U.S. environmental movement of the 20th century are drawn from the
ideas of
A) Sally Marston.
B) George Perkins Marsh.
C) Carl Sauer.
D) Teddy Roosevelt.
E) Karl Marx.
17) Radical environmentalists who believe that the environment is sacred and should not be
exploited are
A) conservationists.
B) preservationists.
C) political ecologists.
D) cultural ecologists.
E) ecological imperialists.
18) Whereas environmental preservationists advocate that certain habitats, species, and resources
should be off-limits and left entirely alone, conservation approaches encourage
A) respectful and sustainable used of natural resources.
B) exploitation of natural resources.
C) a return to “natural” lifestyles like those lived by Native Americans.
D) re-creation and reclamation of natural landscapes.
E) rights for animals, trees and landscapes equal to those given humans.
19) The demographic collapse across the Americas following the Columbian Exchange was due
to
A) virgin soil epidemics.
B) environmental determinism.
C) deforestation and desertification.
D) ecological imperialism.
E) bioprospecting.
20) Of average household energy use in the United States, the biggest portion is for
A) heating space.
B) heating water.
C) cooling air.
D) running appliances and electronics.
E) mowing our lawns.
21) “Water crises” around the world are occurring not only because of water shortages, but
because water as a public good is rapidly being turned into a
A) virtual product.
B) privatized commodity.
C) corporate subsidy.
D) trade export.
E) polluted resource.
22) The environmental justice movement emphasizes the disproportional burdens that the
________ face from the negative consequences of economic development.
A) core
B) periphery
C) rich
D) middle-class
E) poor
23) Which of the following groups links the exploitation of nature with patriarchy?
A) romanticists
B) ecofeminists
C) environmental ethicists
D) ecotheologists
E) deep ecologists
24) More than half of all land purchased internationally—to ensure the buying country’s
domestic food supply—is in
A) Africa.
B) East Asia.
C) North America.
D) South America.
E) Australia.
25) The world’s biggest agricultural “land grabber” is
A) China.
B) the United States.
C) Russia.
D) Brazil.
E) Pakistan.
26) Some countries limit or reduce the overall amount of pollution by letting companies
negotiate, buy, sell, and trade the “right” to pollute among themselves. Such a system is based on
A) emissions trading.
B) ecocapitalism.
C) pollution permits.
D) barter bucks.
E) pollute-for-profit.
27) Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Windscale are
A) Nobel prize-winning physicists.
B) environmental philosophers.
C) nuclear power plants.
D) imprisoned ecoterrorists.
E) Secretaries General of the United Nations.
28) The big losers from bioprospecting are typically
A) indigenous peoples.
B) corporations.
C) urban populations.
D) coastal populations.
E) core populations.
29) Sulfur dioxide emissions are most strongly associated with which environmental problem?
A) acid rain
B) the ozone hole
C) global warming
D) biodiversity loss
E) soil erosion
30) Geothermal energy is energy in the form of heat from
A) the interior of the earth.
B) the sun.
C) biomass.
D) friction from the earth’s plates.
E) recycled heat from factories.
31) Well before the start of European colonialism, Europe had already
A) cut down most of its forests.
B) established a strong record of environmental preservation.
C) doubled its area by reclaiming land from the sea.
D) polluted its air, water and soils through industrialization.
E) identified the relationship between human actions and global warming.
32) European colonization of the New World resulted in the greatest loss of human life in
history. The primary factor responsible was
A) disease.
B) war.
C) slavery.
D) fire.
E) famine.
33) The introduction of exotic plants and animals into new ecosystems, such as the introduction
of African bees to Brazil in the 1950s with hopes of improving the local bee-keeping industry, is
an example of
A) ecological imperialism.
B) demographic collapse.
C) virgin soil epidemic.
D) transcendentalism.
E) the Columbian exchange.
34) Russia holds about one-third of the world’s known reserves of ________, predicted to be this
century’s fastest growing energy source.
A) natural gas
B) hydropower
C) nuclear power
D) low-sulfur coal
E) geothermal energy
35) The great environmental benefit of hydropower as an energy source is that it
A) produces few atmospheric pollutants.
B) benefits water quality.
C) has no impact on local plant and animal life.
D) maintains the pristine quality of the body of water on which it is built.
E) both that it benefits water quality and it has no impact on local plant and animal life.
36) Global temperature increases over the last century have been greatest
A) at the Arctic.
B) around the Equator.
C) over the world’s deserts.
D) over the world’s seas.
E) across the Southern Hemisphere.
37) The biggest investors in the agricultural lands of other countries–in the effort to guarantee
future food supplies–are
A) China and South Korea.
B) the USA and Canada.
C) Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
D) Germany and France.
E) Russia and Ukraine.
38) Marshes, bogs, peatlands, and swamps are all in the ________ category of land cover.
A) wetland
B) steppe
C) archipelago
D) forest
E) grassland
39) International efforts to protect biodiversity have included efforts to halt “bioprospecting,” the
corporate practice of
A) intentionally reducing the varieties of fruits and vegetables found in the grocery store.
B) replacing traditional and native species of plants with crops for export.
C) overharvesting non-traditional crops like hemp and seaweed from public areas.
D) exploiting indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants for commercial purposes.
40) Desertification occurring in the grasslands of the Sahel, bordering the Sahara, is the result of
A) careless overgrazing by local herders.
B) expanding beef production for U.S. and European markets.
C) a complex set of environmental, cultural and political economic factors.
D) industrialization and urbanization.
E) droughts and other acts of nature or God.
41) The region with the greatest number of urban areas vulnerable to sea level rise is
A) Europe.
B) South America.
C) Australia.
D) Africa.
E) Southeast Asia.
42) The benefits of hydraulic fracturing—“fracking”—include
A) opportunities for economic development and a sense of energy independence.
B) the lack of environmentally problematic waste products.
C) environmentally sustainable oil and gas extraction processes.
D) a sustainable source of cheap energy.
E) both that it is a sustainable source of cheap energy and it is environmentally sustainable oil
and gas extraction process.
43) The region with the greatest economic benefits from shark ecotourism is
A) the Americas.
B) Australia.
C) Asia.
D) Europe.
E) Africa.
44) The 1992 Earth Summit was concerned primarily with this type of issue.
A) population growth
B) the status of women
C) water pollution
D) global environmental issues
45) In the United States, acid rain is worst
A) in Hawaii.
B) in the desert Southwest.
C) in the Pacific Northwest.
D) on the East Coast.
46) The biggest financial beneficiaries of ecotourism in peripheral countries are
A) the environmental movements in those countries.
B) local communities in those countries.
C) businesses and firms in core countries.
D) the governments of the peripheral countries.
47) Which perspective on nature is most likely to advocate that humans dominate nature?
A) Romanticism
B) Biospherical egalitarianism
C) Judeo-Christian tradition
D) Transcendentalism
48) Henry David Thoreau
A) founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
B) stressed man’s domination over nature.
C) denounced Gifford Pinchot and transcendentalism.
D) is often credited as the originator of U.S. ecological philosophy.
E) was Amish.
49) Which of the following environmental philosophies is currently the most conventional?
A) conservation
B) environmental ethics
C) deep ecology
D) ecofeminism
E) preservation
50) Ecofeminism
A) rejects Goddess worship.
B) has found significant acceptance primarily in core countries.
C) argues that men equate nature with women.
D) calls for the creation of a strong patriarchy.
51) Before the Columbian Exchange, the potato was only available in
A) Ireland
B) Russia.
C) Peru.
D) Indonesia.
E) Ethiopia.
52) Ecotheologists are most likely to blame ________ for environmental degradation.
A) capitalist institutions.
B) socialist institutions.
C) Judeo-Christians.
D) people of the periphery.
E) ecofeminists.
53) To ecofeminists, ________ is at the center of today’s environmental problems.
A) romanticism
B) patriarchy
C) political ecology
D) cultural ecology
54) Western Europe lost most of its forests by the 13th century due to
A) the Bubonic Plague.
B) war.
C) agricultural expansion.
D) urbanization.
55) One of the most serious consequences of long-term irrigation is
A) desertification.
B) soil salinization.
C) virgin soil epidemics.
D) deforestation.
56) The primary destination of electronic waste exported from Europe and North America is
A) India and China.
B) Europe and North America.
C) Africa.
D) South America.
57) During the era of internal European expansion, the most obvious change in the land was
A) siltation and the loss of rivers.
B) soil salinization.
C) the creation of vineyards.
D) deforestation.
58) Prior to the Columbian Exchange, the only large domestic animals in the Americas used for
work/protein were
A) dogs.
B) dogs and llamas.
C) dogs, llamas and horses.
D) dogs, llamas, horses, and oxen.
E) dogs, llamas, horses, oxen and pigs.
59) The greatest factor behind the New World’s large population decrease after the arrival of the
Europeans was
A) disease.
B) war.
C) genocide.
D) migration.
60) Fossil fuel use increased dramatically during the
A) demographic collapse.
B) Neolithic Period.
C) early Middle Ages.
D) Industrial Revolution.
E) Age of Exploration.