Chapter 1 Environmental Science

Which of the following situations best describes the use of a renewable resource?

• a filling a car with gasoline
• building wooden furniture
• mining copper
• burning coal in a power plang

All of these fields of study contribute to environmental science except

• linguistics
• biology and earth sciences
• social sciences
• physics and chemistry

In which country is the population likely to be increasing most rapidly?

• Kenya
• Germany
• Australia
• Norway

Using scientific information from chemistry and biology to devise a plan to clean up a lake and make it healthy again describes

• ecology
• environmental science
• earth science
• social science

Why is the world�s loss of biodiversity a source of concern?

• Humans depend upon other organisms for food and oxygen.
• Species extinctions have been rare throughout history
• Loss of biodiversity is not a concern because extinctions are common

A focus of environmental science not studied in ecology is the

• interaction among living things
• use of natural resources
• influence of humans on the environment.

_____ is a biodegradable material that becomes a pollutant if allowed to accumulate more rapidly than it can decompose.

• plastic
• mercury
• newspaper
• metal junk cars

Which of the following describes the depletion of a renewable resource?

• hunting of excess deer to maintain a healthy population size
• intensive cultivation of farm land that exhausts soil nutrients
• mining coal
• increasing use of solar energy to generate electrical power

Which country is most likely to have either a stabilized or a slowly growing population?

• India
• Canada
• Mexico
• Pakistan

The �Tragedy of the Commons� describes the conflict between

• developing and developed nations
• farmers and industrialized society
• individuals and society
• Canada and Mexico