Midterm Exam Review

Questions before midterm

Ari Kelman wrote of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, “Segregation—environmental, socioeconomic, and racial—resulted in segregated suffering,” meaning that African Americans suffered more than Whites from the disaster.

True

If we want to keep total warming below 1.5 degrees centigrade with a 50% probability, we have fewer years of current emissions than we would if our target were to keep total warming below 3 degrees centigrade with the same probability.

True

The U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment says that the impacts of ecosystem degradations are never shifted onto other groups of people, particularly poorer people and future generations.

False

According to the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), human activity is causing biological species to go extinct at up to 1,000 times the “background” rates typical through Earth’s history.

True

By channeling silt and fresh water out to sea, artificial levees have been promoting the natural rejuvenation and growth of wetlands in southern Louisiana for about a century.

False

Vine Deloria wrote that the social contract was not extended to racial, ethnic, and other minorities in part because two minorities—women and Blacks—were at the time of the adoption of the constitution regarded as someone else’s property.

True

Higher discount rates diminish the economic value (or benefit) of mitigating climate change today.

True

According to ecological economist Herman Daly, a steady-state economy—one with constant stocks of people and artifacts—is not only desirable but is possible, and throughout more than 99% of human history, societies lived in economies approximating steady state characteristics.

True

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, about 60% of global ecosystem services studied are being degraded or used unsustainably today.

True

Fluctuations in solar radiance account for a major portion of global warming over the last century.

False

According to Campanella in “An Ethnic Geography of New Orleans,” the majority of African Americans’ homes in the greater New Orleans metropolis were inundated by the flood from Hurricane Katrina.

True

Sea level rise since the 1960s has already increased (by a factor of 5 to 10) the frequency of high tide flooding for several U.S. coastal communities. The frequency, depth, and extent of tidal flooding are expected to continue to increase, as is more severe flooding associated with coastal storms.

True

According to Campanella in “An Ethnic Geography of New Orleans,” racists deed covenants excluded Black families from some of the reclaimed land created as New Orleans expanded north in the early 20^th century, such as Lakeview.

True

In 1840 New Orleans was the wealthiest and third most populous city in the United States.

True

According to the U.N. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, about what percentage of mangrove wetlands (which can protect coastal communities from storms) worldwide had been destroyed as of 2005?

35%

Which of the following would NOT be expected to INCREASE over the coming century (unless perhaps with major, intensive climate mitigation)? (Read the answers carefully.)

September Arctic sea ice area

Which of the following is not one of the major characteristics of global climate disruption that Gardiner identifies as creating a "perfect moral storm"?

It's caused by Americans

Which of the following does not contribute (now or in the past) to the poor quality of New Orleans as a geographic site (in contrast with its good situation)?

racial inequality

According to the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, the global average surface temperature has risen by about how much since the year 1901?

1.1 degrees centigrade

Cancer Alley refers to what?

the region along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans with many refineries and chemical plants associated with the oil industry, which release or leak toxicants into the air, water, and soil

John Locke’s concept of the social contract explicitly includes all but which of the following?

the church

Which of the following is not a step in or an aspect of the creation of property according to English philosopher John Locke?

property created this way is communal unless otherwise specified

The “levees-only approach” criticized by Ari Kelman was based on all except which of the following?

natural siltation of wetlands

How much more carbon can be emitted into the atmosphere without increasing global warming?

none

Which of the following is one of the two major categories of climate geoengineering approaches?

Solar Radiation Management

Of the following, property most accurately means what?

a set of rights and obligations

Which of the following was a major crop produced using fertile Mississippi floodplain soils and cheap slave labor extracted from Africa in the southeast United States and exported through New Orleans in the 18^th and 19^th centuries?

sugar cane

The main cause of the increase in global average surface temperatures since the year 1901 is which of the following?

human activity--emissions of greenhouse gases

Which nation has by far released more greenhouse gases over history?

the United States of America

Which of the following is not one of the features of climate resilient development specified in AR6?

intensive animal production

Of the following, which is the most direct cause of the racial disparity of the impact of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans?

legally supported racial segregation (through racial covenants) of the reclaimed lowlands outside the original city center

Which of the following political groups in the U.S. shows the least concern and calls for the least action in response to the global climate emergency?

conservative Republicans

Which potential climate geoengineering approach carries these two major risks: shutting down the South Asia monsoon season and "the termination effect," in which temperatures could rise dramatically and suddenly if it stops working or is no longer carried out?

sulfur injection into the atmosphere

Which of the following cannot be considered a significant cause of the disproportional suffering of African Americans in New Orleans from the Hurricane Katrina disaster?

Only African Americans lived in the low areas of the city