ENEC 201 Midterm 1

What is maladaptation?

Failing to adjust appropriately to environmental or social change.

How do Cornucopians and Neo-Malthusians differ regarding Earth's growth limits?

Cornucopians believe human ingenuity enables continuous adaptation and growth, whereas Neo-Malthusians assert Earth has finite limits that can support only a limited population.

What societal and environmental factors led to the collapse of Easter Island?

Deforestation and soil erosion driven by status competition (building Moai), coupled with resistance to social change.

What narrow economic dependence made Norse Greenland vulnerable to climate cooling and trade decline?

A high reliance on pastoralism and the walrus-ivory trade.

Before germ theory was established, what historical theory blamed disease spread on bad smells?

Miasma theory.

In economics, what is a negative externality?

A cost imposed on individuals or parties outside of a economic transaction.

What is meant by a political or business 'race to the bottom'?

Cutting costs by weakening environmental, social, or labor protections to gain a competitive edge.

How does a carbon tax differ from a cap-and-trade system?

A carbon tax fixes the price per unit of pollution emitted, while cap-and-trade sets a fixed overall limit on pollution quantity and allows permits to be traded.

What is a primary limitation of the Rational Actor Model in policy decision-making?

It assumes decision-makers act objectively on complete information, ignoring human biases, self-interest, and incomplete data.

According to the Bureaucratic Model, how do unelected agency officials wield significant influence over policy?

By interpreting and implementing laws and controlling the flow of technical information to elected leaders.

What core idea defines Classical Pluralism in environmental policy?

Multiple interest groups compete for influence, and elected officials broker political compromises among them.

Which three groups form an 'iron triangle' in political policy-making?

Interest groups, legislative committees, and bureaucratic agencies.

What is regulatory (or agency) capture?

When a regulatory agency advances the commercial or political interests of the industry it was meant to regulate.

What does the term 'revolving door' signify in government regulation?

The movement of personnel back and forth between government regulatory roles and private industry positions.

What critique does the course text raise regarding modern environmental group messaging?

It relies heavily on doom-focused messaging and frames climate change strictly as an environmental issue rather than a broad social/economic one.

Why does reliance on the ergodic axiom fail in economic and environmental forecasting?

It assumes past statistical patterns will hold in the future, which breaks down when underlying environmental or economic conditions shift.

What significant elements does Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exclude when measuring societal prosperity?

Wealth distribution and the destruction or degradation of natural capital and ecosystems.

According to Keynesian economics, what components constitute aggregate demand (AD)?

Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + Net Exports

How does Neoliberalism view government environmental regulation?

As an unnecessary market intervention that restricts economic freedom, hampers short-term investment, and threatens job growth.

How does Ordoliberalism (a social market economy) differ from pure Neoliberalism?

It pairs free markets with state action to actively prevent market power abuses and maintain social safety nets like healthcare and pensions.

How does the Shareholder model of corporate governance differ from the Stakeholder model?

The Shareholder model focuses strictly on maximizing short-term profits for investors, while the Stakeholder model includes employees, communities, and long-term sustainability.

What individual behaviors are associated with a high Materialistic Value Orientation (MVO)?

Weaker community ties, reduced personal autonomy, and more competitive or manipulative behavior.

What population dynamic defines Stage 2 of the Demographic Transition Model?

Death rates fall rapidly while birth rates remain high, triggering rapid population growth.

What is replacement fertility, and what numerical rate maintains population size in low-mortality populations?

The average fertility rate needed to keep population constant; approximately 2.1 births per woman.

List the pathogen groups in order from simplest to most complex structural organization.

Prions, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and macroparasites.

Why do RNA viruses typically mutate faster than DNA viruses?

RNA replication mechanisms lack the error-correcting and proofreading mechanisms present in DNA replication.

What is the core distinction between extensive agriculture and intensive agriculture?

Extensive agriculture uses lower labor and capital input relative to land area, whereas intensive agriculture applies higher labor or capital per land unit.

What are the primary long-term environmental and systemic costs of industrial agriculture?

Biodiversity loss, pesticide resistance, vulnerability of high-yield monocultures, rural decline, and loss of systemic resilience.

According to the course guide, how does gene editing (e.g., CRISPR) differ from traditional GMOs?

Gene editing alters an organism's native genes directly, whereas traditional GMO methods often introduce recombinant DNA from another species.

What is path dependency in energy systems?

The tendency for legacy technologies to persist because existing infrastructure, capital investments, regulations, and habits locked them in place.

In economic terms, what is a stranded asset?

An asset that loses economic value before the end of its intended operational life due to changing technological or market conditions.

Why have electric power utilities historically been regulated as natural monopolies?

Because a single firm can supply energy to an entire market at a lower total cost than multiple competing infrastructure providers.

What causes the solar energy 'duck curve' on regional electric grids?

High mid-day solar generation creates excess power and a low net demand, followed by a steep ramp-up in demand as solar output drops in the evening.

What does a 24% learning rate for solar PV technology indicate?

For every doubling of cumulative global solar manufacturing scale, the cost of solar production drops by approximately 24%.

What is green hydrogen?

Hydrogen fuel produced by splitting water molecules using surplus zero-carbon renewable electricity.

What is the primary function of Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs)?

They operate and coordinate regional electric grids across multiple states to ensure grid reliability and efficient wholesale energy dispatch.

Why are Electric Vehicles (EVs) fundamentally more energy-efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles?

They convert a much larger proportion of stored electrical energy directly into drive power rather than losing it as waste heat.

What characterizes urban sprawl in regional land-use planning?

Low-density, single-use suburban development that makes residents dependent on private automobiles for daily travel.

What historical discriminatory housing practice denied mortgage loans in minority neighborhoods by marking them high-risk?

Redlining.

In urban government policies, what is municipal 'underbounding'?

Refusing to annex or extend city borders to incorporate nearby Black communities, leaving them without municipal services like water and sewer.

What is environmental racism?

The disproportionate placement of polluting facilities, environmental hazards, and industrial waste sites in low-income or racial minority communities.

What fraction of Earth's total water supply is freshwater?

Approximately 3% (with the remaining 97% being saltwater).

Which global sector accounts for approximately 70% of human freshwater usage?

Agriculture.

What is virtual water?

The total volume of water embedded in the production process of agricultural or industrial goods that are traded between regions.

How does water withdrawal differ from water consumption?

Water withdrawal pulls water from a source but returns a portion to the ecosystem, while water consumption removes it permanently via evaporation or incorporation.

How does an increasing-block pricing model promote water conservation?

It charges a low baseline rate for essential daily water use and progressively higher unit rates for excessive consumption.

Why do solar PV and wind generation have a distinct operational advantage regarding water resources?

Unlike thermoelectric power plants, solar PV and wind require virtually no cooling water during operation.

What is a major environmental downside of industrial seawater desalination?

High operational energy requirements and the disposal of hyper-saline brine waste that damages local marine ecosystems.

What is the key trade-off between economic efficiency and systemic resilience?

Efficiency optimizes lower output costs under stable, predictable conditions, whereas resilience builds extra buffer capacity to withstand major shocks.

How do baseload power plants differ from peak power plants?

Baseload plants run continuously to supply minimum baseline power, whereas peak power plants operate specifically during high demand periods.

How did post-WWII federally supported suburban home loans exacerbate the racial wealth gap?

White families gained access to backed mortgages in equity-building developments like Levittown, while Black families were explicitly excluded.

What key drivers prompted human societies to transition from hunter-gatherers to pre-industrial farming?

Population growth, a warmer and more predictable climate, declining large game availability, and the demand for a stable food supply.

What is peak shaving in electricity demand-side management?

Strategies or economic incentives that shift or lower energy consumption away from peak demand hours to reduce grid strain.

What role does pumped-storage hydropower play in clean power grids?

It acts as a large-scale energy storage system by pumping water uphill using surplus renewable energy and releasing it through turbines during high power demand.

What is the concept of a 'risk society' in modern environmental policy?

A condition in which advanced societies must expend major resources managing systemic hazards (e.g., climate change, pandemics) generated by their own technological success.