How do humans impact our environment?

Multiple Choice

What is one effect of habitat destruction?

• People might get sick

• Populations decrease or become extinct

• Destruction of cities

• 
  Gravity might disappear

Multiple Choice

Which best indicates the result of overfishing?

• Human populations will change over to a diet centered more around fish

• Phytoplankton populations will decrease

• Fish populations decrease as they are being caught faster than they can be replenished

• 
  The fishing industry will collapse because they are overworked

Open Ended

Part 1: Sugarcane farmers routinely set their crops on fire to get rid of the surrounding leaves and reveal the sugar-rich stalks beneath. The practice fills the air with smoke, soot, and ash into neighborhoods. Why should the amount of particulate matter (particles in the air) be monitored BEFORE the sugarcane burning?

Multiple Choice

Part 2: The practice fills the air with smoke, soot, and ash into neighborhoods. While sugarcane burning follows the guidelines of the Clean Air Act, the ash and smoke may set off asthma attacks and other problems. Which of the following would be a reason to continue monitoring even though the amount of pollution complies with the Clean Air Act?

• To show the eventual increase in sugarcane yields due to burning.

• To ensure the health of the surrounding citizens doesn’t worsen

• To gather evidence for the sugarcane burners that this is overall a great thing for the environment.

• To find a solution to the declining soil conditions due to burning.

Multiple Choice

Local environmentalists have noticed that a bird population has decreased in a local forest. They think that pollution from the nearby chemical plant is to blame. After pressure from the community, the factories put filters over their smokestacks to trap pollution before it is released into the air. Why would city officials need to monitor the bird population after the factories solved the issue?

• To ensure the public stays interested in the bird population

• To ensure that the filters on the chemical plant stop harming the bird population

• To make sure the bird population does not pass on a mutation to a different species

• To make sure the pollution from the chemical plant was causing the harm to the bird population