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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What statement best describes how the authors feel about consumerism?
(a) We can blame our children for our own consumerism.
(b) It is the fault of an education system that does not teach good consumerism.
(c) It is not completely the consumer's fault for the mass production of environmentally dangerous products.
(d) We can blame uneducated consumers for the state of the environment.

2. Why does Michael tether himself to the smoke stacks at Ciba-Geigy?
(a) To compete his experiment on the effects of toxic waste on the human body.
(b) To bring attention to a chemical spill caused by the company, Ciba-Geigy.
(c) To blame consumers for the large amount of toxins in the environment.
(d) To protest the fur industry and the use of chemicals on animals.

3. What is the general definition of "sick building syndrome"?
(a) A syndrome that causes dizziness when indoors every day.
(b) A wide range of immunologic responses to the environment like asthma and allergies.
(c) A condition where the heart cannot function properly because of a high level of emotional stress.
(d) A disease characterized by high fever.

4. What is the problem with recycling as we know it?
(a) Recycling means eating old food.
(b) Recycling means using inferior products.
(c) Recycling means losing more money to better technology.
(d) Recycling means using the materials in a way they were not intended.

5. Why is goat hair a good material for the Bedouin tents?
(a) Because Bedouins hate goats.
(b) Because Bedouins have a constant source of this environmentally friendly material.
(c) Because Bedouins like tents that are heavy.
(d) Because goat hair is a good insulator but hard to find.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is problematic about the attitude of design and production during the Industrial Revolution?

2. Which statement is the best explanation for why sports shoes are produced outside the U.S.?

3. What health problems can be caused by high levels of contaminants in a normal household?

4. How must ink be removed from paper in order to recycle the paper?

5. What is the prediction of Thomas Malthus in the 1800s?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the idea of eco-efficiency and how it proposes to solve the industry, consumer, and environment problems.

2. Describe how early industrialists considered nature and the environment.

3. What do the authors suggest for a solution to more efficient home designs, as opposed to the International Style of architecture?

4. Explain how you could be breathing benzene fumes from your treadmill even though benzene is forbidden for use in rubber products in the United States.

5. Explain how recycling is really downcycling.

6. Explain and give an example of how the Industrial Revolution intended to make more and more money.

7. Describe why many materials cannot be recycled into a product of equal quality as the original material.

8. What do both Bill and Michael conclude about trying to improve products and industry?

9. Describe the negative consequences the Industrial Revolution has on the environment and human health.

10. List three examples of how a focus on efficiency in design can have negative consequences.

(see the answer keys)

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