Key Class Activity 2

1. There is a proposal to put our toxic waste output ANSWER: No. 2nd law.
onto rockets and shoot it into space. Is this a
feasible solution for pollution? Please explain
briefly.
2. A start up company has developed a ANSWER: No. Cannot work. Against 2nd Law
revolutionary new technology that captures the
exhaust fumes from an automobile and converts
them back to fuel for the car. Would you invest in
this company? Why, or why not?
3. Please categorize the following as abiotic or (a) Polar Ice caps (a) AB
biotic resources. (b) Sugarcane ethanol (b) B
(c) The flu virus (c) B
(d) GMOs (d) B
4. Please categorize the following as Stock-Flow (a) Drinking water (a) SF
(SF) or Fund-Service (FS) resources: (b) Coal (b) SF
(c) Agricultural Land (c) FS
(d) Human Labor (d) FS
5. What percentage of Earth’s total water ANSWER: c
endowment is available for drinking?
(a) 5 per cent, (b) 95 per cent, (c) 1 per cent, (d)
3 per cent.
6. Consider the example in Box 6-3 (Page 103) of ANSWER: Both provide essential service for germination; both
the textbook. What are the similarities and threatened, but one out of neglect and the other despite attention
differences between this situation and that of the but ignorance.
bee colony collapse disorder (you’ll have to do a
google search on bees for this)?
7. TRUE or FALSE? Rivalness of a good or service F
 depends on the legal or institutional system of a
particular country.
8. In Table 6.1 on page 105 of the textbook, which (a) None
services provided by forests, which are (a) Rival, (b) Genetic resources, ecotourism, hiking, biking
(b) excludible, and (c) non-excludible (or (c) All others
impossible to exclude)?
9. Please answer the following questions with (a) K
reference to the sustainable yield curve depicted (b) S
in the Figure 6.1 of the textbook. (c) CD
(a) Prior to the arrival of humans in North (d) Shifts down
America, where on the graph was the
bison population?
(b) Where would it be before the arrival of
Europeans?
(c) Where would it be after the settling of the
frontier by Europeans?
(d) How would the sustainable yield curve
itself change as a result of the conversion
of land to agriculture?
10. Sort the following projections into three (a) Risk
categories: Risk, uncertainty, or ignorance.: (b) Uncertain
(a) The life expectancy of a resident of (c) Uncertain
Hyderabad (d) Uncertain
(b) Who will win the Oscar for best actor this
year?
(c) Which teams will qualify for the final of
next cricket world cup?
(d) What will be the increase in global
temperature by 2100?