Sustaining Your World

Which of these countries has the largest ecological footprint?

• Haiti
• France
• Brazil
• United States

The average footprint per person has increased from 2.2 to 2.7 since 2008, and the footprints of many developing nations, such as India and China, have also increased. This means that ________.

• we are even more unsustainable than before
• we are becoming more sustainable
• the ability of the planet to survive human beings has increased
• the populations of India and China are decreasing

Advances in agriculture

• have resulted in increased death of humans
• have resulted in alteration of natural ecosystems
• did not increase the amount of food per person
• do not include chemical fertilizers

The scientific process and knowledge is based on ______________. 

• observations only
• testing hypotheses that are built on observations
• quantitative data alone
• educated guessing

Sachiko and Fred are having a discussion about the scientific method. Sachiko makes the comment that every time she sees people carrying open umbrellas, she also sees several small car accidents. This is a(n) ________.

• theory about umbrellas
• theory about car accidents
• scientific study
• observation

Ecology is ________.

• concerned with only economic problems
• the study of organisms and their interactions with the environment
• not a crucial discipline in environmental science 
• the study of animal behavior

Ruben has a new puppy and wants to feed it the best possible food. He decides he will feed it the very best canned food plus a dietary supplement of vitamins recommended by a veterinarian. Which of the following best describes Ruben's project?

• This is an example of an excellent, controlled experiment as it is written.
• Ruben needs to take careful measurements for it to be a good experiment.
• Ruben needs to control for the amount of exercise that the puppy gets each week
• This is not an experiment—there are no controls, constants or replicates. This is just an idea. 

Geothermal energy, wind and solar radiation are all examples of ____________________

• renewable resources
• biotic environmental factors
• biodiversity
• biodegradable materials

Which of the following is the best description of a sustainable system component?

•  a component that does not need to interact with other components. 
• a component that requires increasing amounts of materials from surrounding components
• one which is in balance with the system as a whole.  The same amount of energy is removed and replace within the system.
• Energy input must be higher than output.

Ecosystem services ________.

• contribute to keeping the economy productive
• are not necessary to sustainable systems
• economically valuable services provided by natural systems
• valuable to natural systems but not to human-created systems