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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why would designers create products that wear out in a certain amount of time?

2. What is the goal of Germany's Green Party?

3. What is the goal of Bill and Michael's new company?

4. Who writes Silent Spring?

5. What are the Romantic writers inspired by?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why the authors say that eco-efficiency is not possible.

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

3. Describe how the authors use soap as an example of designing products for "worst-case" scenarios.

4. Describe the vision that both Bill and Michael have for the future of the environment.

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

6. Explain how recycling is really downcycling.

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

8. Describe what causes "sick building syndrome" and name some of the associated health effects.

9. Explain what the authors mean by "brute force."

10. Explain one example of how recycling is really downcycling of materials.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a three-part essay to summarize the problems with the current trend in designing crude products.

Part 1. Describe what the authors mean by "crude products." Why do the authors consider these designs to be unintelligent and inelegant?

Part 2. Explain what the authors suggest should be the basis to design, instead of inventing more crude products.

Part 3. Describe how soaps and detergents are crude products that need an improvement in their design. How can we improve soaps and detergents?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the reconstruction design and accomplishments of Ford's River Ridge factory in Dearborn, Michigan. Cover the following points in your writing.

1. Explain how is water used and maintained in and around the factory.

2. Describe how the design is meant to make workers feel.

3. Describe how the design meets the authors' goals of putting eco-effectiveness into practice.

Essay Topic 3

How has industry decreased the diversity that exists in the natural world? What do the authors find inspiring about the diversity that exists nature? How can designs reflect the diversity of the natural world?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 913 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample