EVS Final Study Guide Questions well
answered already passed
main points of Ricki held V. the state of Montana - correct answer ✔✔- The State's limitation
prohibiting consideration of greenhouse gas emissions or climate change in environmental
reviews violated the plaintiffs' constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
- The Court ruled that the youth plaintiffs had standing to bring the action and that the
limitation in the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) implicated a constitutional right and
therefore was subject to strict scrutiny.
Tenth Amendment - correct answer ✔✔Amendment to the United States Constitution provides
that the States may exercise any powers which have not been otherwise delegated to the
Federal Government, or which the States have been prohibited from exercising
2021 greenhouse gas emissions based on economic sectors - correct answer ✔✔- Largest
contributor by sector is transportation
- residential contributions are greater then Commercial
- more than one half of the total contributions by the economic sector is made up of
Transportation and Industrial GHG emissions combined
Three Perceptions about Wildnerness - correct answer ✔✔- William Bradford described the
forests as "hideous and desolate."
- The wilderness was seen as a barrier to progress and posterity; something to be conquered.
- Early Europeans viewed the wilderness as possibly dangerous and an affront to civilization.
what was Henry David Thoreau's main theme in relation to the contrast between industrial
society and nature - correct answer ✔✔- Thoreau felt that nature was a source of vigor,
inspiration, and strength.
,what other measures besides Homestead Act in 1862 were taken to expand "civilization"
westward - correct answer ✔✔- Cattle were allowed freely to graze the public grasslands
- Miners were promised exclusive control of the minerals they discovered on public lands.
-Congress granted railroads millions of acres of land to speed things along.
John Muirs three attributes - correct answer ✔✔- He led an opposition campaign against
building a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley.
- He praised wilderness as a source of toughness and ethical values.
- He was the Founder of the Sierra Club.
Which environmental element was the main subject of the milestone publication, Silent Spring
by Racheal Carson in 1962 - correct answer ✔✔DDT, a pesticide.
California's historic regulation of land use and environmental issues was based on the common
law doctrine known as - correct answer ✔✔Nuisance
A common law doctrine used to regulate environmental impacts but had To prevail against a
defendant under this doctrine, the plaintiff had to establish, in part, that the defendant had
failed to exercise the degree of care of a reasonable person under the circumstances, show that
the defendant owed a legal duty of care to the plaintiff, and that the breach of this duty was the
cause of the resulting injury. - correct answer ✔✔Negligence
What are the two basic strategies to address the question of environmental law and policy in
the face of uncertainty - correct answer ✔✔- Develop better information.
-The precautionary principle.
a recent study by an international labor organization, "Working on a Warm Planet," calculated
the costs of the loss of construction productivity due to rising temperatures. What was the
estimated cost of this loss? - correct answer ✔✔2.4 trillion dollars
, what are four real examples of the concept known as the "tragedy of the commons" is Public
goods like air, land, ecosystems, and stormwater runoff have no real market value, which leads
to individuals seeking to optimize profits at the expense of other users - correct answer ✔✔1.
Pumping water from groundwater aquifers.
2. Wildcat oil drillers are racing to extract as much oil as quickly as possible.
3. Fishing with larger nets as fish supplies dwindle.
4. Overgrazing of grasslands.
what are the three main issues arising from an "absolute" approach to environmental rights? -
correct answer ✔✔- The concept of environmental rights tends to push policy toward absolute
positions, without consideration of costs.
- A "zero pollution standard" would ensure a safe environment, but would seriously undermine
the economy.
- Absolute biocenric or ecocentric rights could conflict with landowner property rights, and
could rise to the level of an unconstitutional taking.
Setting national ambient air quality standards and determining whether an action would
jeopardize an endangered or threatened species are applications used by who? and to do what?
- correct answer ✔✔Congress: to forbid the EPA or federal agencies to consider cost
which issues make it difficult to use a cost-benefit analysis in developing environmental
policies? - correct answer ✔✔- Ethical questions involving a tradeoff between the potential loss
of life in exchange for economic gain
- Calculating the market value of salmon.
- Determining the appropriate discount rate of a future value of a benefit accruing in the future
from an environmental action taken in the present time.
- Considerations of fairness, where one group enjoys the benefits and another group suffers the
risks of a decision involving an environmental issue.
answered already passed
main points of Ricki held V. the state of Montana - correct answer ✔✔- The State's limitation
prohibiting consideration of greenhouse gas emissions or climate change in environmental
reviews violated the plaintiffs' constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
- The Court ruled that the youth plaintiffs had standing to bring the action and that the
limitation in the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) implicated a constitutional right and
therefore was subject to strict scrutiny.
Tenth Amendment - correct answer ✔✔Amendment to the United States Constitution provides
that the States may exercise any powers which have not been otherwise delegated to the
Federal Government, or which the States have been prohibited from exercising
2021 greenhouse gas emissions based on economic sectors - correct answer ✔✔- Largest
contributor by sector is transportation
- residential contributions are greater then Commercial
- more than one half of the total contributions by the economic sector is made up of
Transportation and Industrial GHG emissions combined
Three Perceptions about Wildnerness - correct answer ✔✔- William Bradford described the
forests as "hideous and desolate."
- The wilderness was seen as a barrier to progress and posterity; something to be conquered.
- Early Europeans viewed the wilderness as possibly dangerous and an affront to civilization.
what was Henry David Thoreau's main theme in relation to the contrast between industrial
society and nature - correct answer ✔✔- Thoreau felt that nature was a source of vigor,
inspiration, and strength.
,what other measures besides Homestead Act in 1862 were taken to expand "civilization"
westward - correct answer ✔✔- Cattle were allowed freely to graze the public grasslands
- Miners were promised exclusive control of the minerals they discovered on public lands.
-Congress granted railroads millions of acres of land to speed things along.
John Muirs three attributes - correct answer ✔✔- He led an opposition campaign against
building a dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley.
- He praised wilderness as a source of toughness and ethical values.
- He was the Founder of the Sierra Club.
Which environmental element was the main subject of the milestone publication, Silent Spring
by Racheal Carson in 1962 - correct answer ✔✔DDT, a pesticide.
California's historic regulation of land use and environmental issues was based on the common
law doctrine known as - correct answer ✔✔Nuisance
A common law doctrine used to regulate environmental impacts but had To prevail against a
defendant under this doctrine, the plaintiff had to establish, in part, that the defendant had
failed to exercise the degree of care of a reasonable person under the circumstances, show that
the defendant owed a legal duty of care to the plaintiff, and that the breach of this duty was the
cause of the resulting injury. - correct answer ✔✔Negligence
What are the two basic strategies to address the question of environmental law and policy in
the face of uncertainty - correct answer ✔✔- Develop better information.
-The precautionary principle.
a recent study by an international labor organization, "Working on a Warm Planet," calculated
the costs of the loss of construction productivity due to rising temperatures. What was the
estimated cost of this loss? - correct answer ✔✔2.4 trillion dollars
, what are four real examples of the concept known as the "tragedy of the commons" is Public
goods like air, land, ecosystems, and stormwater runoff have no real market value, which leads
to individuals seeking to optimize profits at the expense of other users - correct answer ✔✔1.
Pumping water from groundwater aquifers.
2. Wildcat oil drillers are racing to extract as much oil as quickly as possible.
3. Fishing with larger nets as fish supplies dwindle.
4. Overgrazing of grasslands.
what are the three main issues arising from an "absolute" approach to environmental rights? -
correct answer ✔✔- The concept of environmental rights tends to push policy toward absolute
positions, without consideration of costs.
- A "zero pollution standard" would ensure a safe environment, but would seriously undermine
the economy.
- Absolute biocenric or ecocentric rights could conflict with landowner property rights, and
could rise to the level of an unconstitutional taking.
Setting national ambient air quality standards and determining whether an action would
jeopardize an endangered or threatened species are applications used by who? and to do what?
- correct answer ✔✔Congress: to forbid the EPA or federal agencies to consider cost
which issues make it difficult to use a cost-benefit analysis in developing environmental
policies? - correct answer ✔✔- Ethical questions involving a tradeoff between the potential loss
of life in exchange for economic gain
- Calculating the market value of salmon.
- Determining the appropriate discount rate of a future value of a benefit accruing in the future
from an environmental action taken in the present time.
- Considerations of fairness, where one group enjoys the benefits and another group suffers the
risks of a decision involving an environmental issue.
