ABAC ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE EXAM 2 – EARLS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |
EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE 2026/2027
How has the country of Costa Rica helped slow deforestation? - ✔✔-paying landholders to preserve
forest on private land, replant cleared areas, allow forest to regenerate naturally and establish
sustainable forestry systems
-national parks
-ecotourism
Environmental policy aims to - ✔✔Environmental policy aims to protect natural resources and
environmental amenities from degradation or depletion and to promote equitable treatment of people.
It addresses the tragedy of the commons, free riders, and external costs.
What are the different ways government aims to control pollution from industries? - ✔✔command and
control policies
What is the national environmental policy act? - ✔✔it created an agency called the Council on
Environmental Quality and required that an environmental impact statement be prepared for any major
federal action that may impact environmental quality
What or who encouraged western expansion? - ✔✔-Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in
Nevada)
-The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a "cowboy"
-Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad
-The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act
-New inventions allowing them to adapt to life on the Plains, such as the windmill and barbed wire
-Adventure and the lure of the "Wild West"
Abraham Lincoln encouraged them to go.
What is cap and trade? - ✔✔The cap on greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming is a firm
limit on pollution. The cap gets stricter over time.
The trade part is a market for companies to buy and sell allowances that let them emit only a certain
amount, as supply and demand set the price. Trading gives companies a strong incentive to save money
by cutting emissions in the most cost-effective ways.
What did the Clean Water Act of 1977 do? - ✔✔regulates the discharge of wastes into rivers and
streams and aims to protect wildlife and human health's well as helping to clean up U.S. waterways
What was established in the 1970s and put in charge of environmental research? - ✔✔EPA-
Environmental Protection Agency
What law gave the federal government the right to settle unsettled lands? - ✔✔General Land
Ordinances of 1875 and 1877
, Silent Spring- Rachel Carson - ✔✔book that exposed a hidden danger: the effects of pesticides on the
environment; led to public outcry that resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965
Why is Yellowstone National Park important - ✔✔-the first national park
-one of the world's last intact ecosystems
What is a free rider? - ✔✔someone who wants others to pay for a public good but plans to use the
good themselves; if many people act as free riders, the public good may never be provided. Markets
often have a difficult time producing public goods because free riders attempt to use the public good
without paying for it.
What is the approximate population of the world right now? - ✔✔8 billion
What is TFR? Where is it the highest and lowest globally? - ✔✔TFR means the total fertility rate.
Replacement fertility is the TFR that keeps the population stable.
What is the replacement fertility in humans? - ✔✔2.1
What does the increasing rate of education in women do to fertility rate? - ✔✔Decreases it
What is the pre-industrial stage? - ✔✔disease is widespread, rudimentary medical care, food is
unreliable, birth control is not available, people are compensating for infant mortality by having lots of
children
What is the industrial stage? - ✔✔increased food production, better sanitation, improved medical care,
population growth surges (people aren't used to the new social and economic realities they live in)
What is the post industrial stage? - ✔✔population size stabilizes or slightly declines, people enjoy the
social and economic state of the country without worrying about population size
Compare birth and death rates between the pre-industrial stage, the industrial stage and the post-
industrial stage - ✔✔Pre: death rates and birth rates are high
Industrial: lower death rates and high birth rates
Post: death and birth rates are both low and stable
What does the equation r=(b-d)+(i-e) signify? - ✔✔r: growth rate of the population
b-d: birth rate-death rate
I-e: immigration rate-emigration rate
=population growth
What method of reducing wind erosion is in place when farmers allow large trees to grow up around
fields? - ✔✔Windbreaks
EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE 2026/2027
How has the country of Costa Rica helped slow deforestation? - ✔✔-paying landholders to preserve
forest on private land, replant cleared areas, allow forest to regenerate naturally and establish
sustainable forestry systems
-national parks
-ecotourism
Environmental policy aims to - ✔✔Environmental policy aims to protect natural resources and
environmental amenities from degradation or depletion and to promote equitable treatment of people.
It addresses the tragedy of the commons, free riders, and external costs.
What are the different ways government aims to control pollution from industries? - ✔✔command and
control policies
What is the national environmental policy act? - ✔✔it created an agency called the Council on
Environmental Quality and required that an environmental impact statement be prepared for any major
federal action that may impact environmental quality
What or who encouraged western expansion? - ✔✔-Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in
Nevada)
-The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a "cowboy"
-Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad
-The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act
-New inventions allowing them to adapt to life on the Plains, such as the windmill and barbed wire
-Adventure and the lure of the "Wild West"
Abraham Lincoln encouraged them to go.
What is cap and trade? - ✔✔The cap on greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming is a firm
limit on pollution. The cap gets stricter over time.
The trade part is a market for companies to buy and sell allowances that let them emit only a certain
amount, as supply and demand set the price. Trading gives companies a strong incentive to save money
by cutting emissions in the most cost-effective ways.
What did the Clean Water Act of 1977 do? - ✔✔regulates the discharge of wastes into rivers and
streams and aims to protect wildlife and human health's well as helping to clean up U.S. waterways
What was established in the 1970s and put in charge of environmental research? - ✔✔EPA-
Environmental Protection Agency
What law gave the federal government the right to settle unsettled lands? - ✔✔General Land
Ordinances of 1875 and 1877
, Silent Spring- Rachel Carson - ✔✔book that exposed a hidden danger: the effects of pesticides on the
environment; led to public outcry that resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965
Why is Yellowstone National Park important - ✔✔-the first national park
-one of the world's last intact ecosystems
What is a free rider? - ✔✔someone who wants others to pay for a public good but plans to use the
good themselves; if many people act as free riders, the public good may never be provided. Markets
often have a difficult time producing public goods because free riders attempt to use the public good
without paying for it.
What is the approximate population of the world right now? - ✔✔8 billion
What is TFR? Where is it the highest and lowest globally? - ✔✔TFR means the total fertility rate.
Replacement fertility is the TFR that keeps the population stable.
What is the replacement fertility in humans? - ✔✔2.1
What does the increasing rate of education in women do to fertility rate? - ✔✔Decreases it
What is the pre-industrial stage? - ✔✔disease is widespread, rudimentary medical care, food is
unreliable, birth control is not available, people are compensating for infant mortality by having lots of
children
What is the industrial stage? - ✔✔increased food production, better sanitation, improved medical care,
population growth surges (people aren't used to the new social and economic realities they live in)
What is the post industrial stage? - ✔✔population size stabilizes or slightly declines, people enjoy the
social and economic state of the country without worrying about population size
Compare birth and death rates between the pre-industrial stage, the industrial stage and the post-
industrial stage - ✔✔Pre: death rates and birth rates are high
Industrial: lower death rates and high birth rates
Post: death and birth rates are both low and stable
What does the equation r=(b-d)+(i-e) signify? - ✔✔r: growth rate of the population
b-d: birth rate-death rate
I-e: immigration rate-emigration rate
=population growth
What method of reducing wind erosion is in place when farmers allow large trees to grow up around
fields? - ✔✔Windbreaks
