Anthony Giddens • Sociology 6th edition

Student Resources

Chapter 5 — The Environment

1. Environmental issues were central to the work of:
   a) Karl Marx
   b) Emile Durkheim
   c) Max Weber
   d) None of these
2. Which of these can sociology not help us with?
   a) predicting likely weather patterns in the future
   b) understanding how human societies put pressure on the environment
   c) understanding how environmental problems are distributed
   d) evaluating policies for tackling environmental problems
3. Which perspective on environmental issues tends to adopt an agnostic stance towards the severity of the problem itself?
   a) critical realism
   b) social constructionism
   c) structural Marxism
   d) ecofeminism
4. Which of the following statements is false?
   a) since the 1960s, the main source of air pollution is from motor vehicles
   b) river water quality in the developed world is improving
   c) soil degradation in Africa has markedly improved in the last 40 years
   d) around one billion people lack access to safe drinking water
5. How are genetically modified foods different from previous techniques?
   a) the genes used cannot spread into the wider environment
   b) they involve transplanting genes from one organism to another
   c) we can say with certainty that they are risk-free
   d) they have been accepted by consumers in all countries
6. Which one of these statements is correct?
   a) global warming is simply another term for the greenhouse effect
   b) global warming is a problem caused mainly by unregulated industrialization in the developing countries
   c) global warming is the rise in average temperature at Earth’s surface
   d) global warming is an entirely natural phenomenon
7. How did the Bruntland Commission (1987) define sustainable development?
   a) development that protects the environment for future generations, even at the expense of the present generation
   b) development which meets the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
   c) a type of development which put the interests of developing countries ahead of the interests of the rich nations
   d) development that is capable of maintaining sustainable economic growth for all countries of the world
8. Which of the following is not part of ecological modernization theory?
   a) environmental protection and economic growth are incompatible aims
   b) environmental protection cannot be achieved without high tech solutions
   c) an ecological form of economic growth is possible
   d) consumer demand and market mechanisms can bring about ecologically benign outcomes
9. Lois Gibbs’s attempt to relocate a community away from a toxic waste dump in the USA is an example of what kind of campaign?
   a) deep ecology
   b) reform environmentalism
   c) catastrophist environmentalism
   d) environmental justice
10. “… in the risk society the unknown and unintended consequences come to be a dominant force in history and society.” Whose words are these?
    a) Anthony Giddens
    b) Ulrich Beck
    c) Manuel Castells
    d) Zygmunt Bauman
11. Supporters of sustainable development are arguing for:
    a) more resources to be directed towards economic growth
    b) more resources to be put into Third World development
    c) growth that minimises resource depletion and pollution
    d) fewer resources to be directed towards economic growth
12. North America and Europe have less than 12% of the world's population, but their share of the world's private consumption is approximately:
    a) 30%
    b) 40%
    c) 50%
    d) 60%
13. Which of the following vehicles emits the most carbon?
    a) single-occupancy light truck
    b) high-occupancy city bus
    c) long-haul aeroplane
    d) high-speed coal-fired train
14. What proportion of groundwater in Europe is regarded by the EU as contaminated?
    a) 15%
    b) 20%
    c) 25%
    d) 30%
15. The 'grey goo problem' refers to
    a) the polluting effects caused by detergents and domestic waste
    b) the possibility of nano-size particles self-replicating uncontrollably
    c) clouds of toxic smoke particles emitted from high density urban areas
    d) the effects of oil spillages upon wild birds in areas of isolated coast
16. Global warming can most accurately be defined as:
    a) the build-up of heat-trapping gases within the earth's atmosphere
    b) the devastating environmental consequences of climate change
    c) the chemically induced rise in the earth's average temperature
    d) the generation of by-products such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
17. Which of the following has NOT been identified as a potential consequence of global warming?
    a) falls in agricultural yields
    b) the spread of disease
    c) the use of nuclear energy
    d) a rise in sea levels
18. GM crops are different from anything that has existed before because:
    a) they are produced by techniques of cross-breeding
    b) they are capable of drastically improving agricultural yields
    c) they involve transplanting genes between different organisms
    d) they have become front-page stories in the news everyday
19. The term 'manufactured risk' refers to:
    a) risks which result from human interaction with the natural world
    b) risks associated with the activities of manufacturing industries
    c) risks that have been exaggerated by the output of the media
    d) risks that only affect advanced industrial economies

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