four big environmental fears

I. Long Answer Section I (1 ½ page maximum)

1. In the article, “The Truth About the Environment” Bjorn Lomborg discusses what he defines as

four big environmental fears generally advanced by environmentalists.

(i) List the fears and discuss what Lomborg describes as the evidence related to these fears.

(ii) In addition, Lomborg also addresses the issue of why there remains the belief that environmental

standards are declining. Briefly, outline the factors Lomborg thinks contribute to this belief.

I. Long Answer Section II (1 ½ page maximum)

2. In the 2 book chapters, Steve Koonin examines what climate science tells us, what it doesn’t and

why it might matter. (Answer length 1 ½ pages maximum)

(i) Koonin discusses the three core questions of climate science. Define what they are.

(ii) Describe what Koonin means by the importance of understanding uncertainties regarding changes

to climate the how the various assessment reports, about the state of the climate, are put together.

(iii) Koonin states it is important to understand the distinction between weather and climate.

Comment on how they are related according to Koonin and the importance of measurement of

climate changes.

(iv) In discussing changes in surface and ocean temperatures, Koonin asks how one might determine

to what extent human influences are contributing to the change. Discuss how climate researchers

attempt to determine the role of human influences in changing global surface temperatures.

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II. Long Answer III. (3 page maximum to answer this long answer question)

3. There are two views regarding the relationship of capitalism to issues like climate change that are

currently fashionable. One view is that of Naomi Klein (2011) who argues that capitalism must be

reformed or replaced if climate change is to be addressed, the second view is that of Jaccard

(2014) who argues that the difficulty in addressing climate change is not the fault of capitalism,

which has demonstrated and ability to address what is admittedly a difficult problem.

(i) Compare and contrast the two views as represented by Naomi Klein (2011) and Jaccard (2014)

regarding the relationship between climate change and capitalism.

(ii) What are the key differences regarding their beliefs regarding how capitalism can resolve issues

such as climate change.

(iii) Jaccard (2014) claims that Klein misses many compelling reasons why humanity is having so

much trouble addressing climate change. What are they?

III. Short Answer Section (1/2 Page each question).

4. Consider an economy which produces oil and manufactured goods, with the price of oil, given

as poil and the price of manufactured goods given as pm. Using a diagram with the amount of oil

on the vertical axis and the amount of manufactured goods on the horizontal show the initial

production and consumption of the economy if the relative price without international trade is –

pm/po. Show what happens when there is an increase world price of oil for the production of oil

and manufactured goods in the economy and how consumers might be better off after

specialization and international trade.

5. Suppose a good is produced with declining average costs, so it is described as a “natural

monopoly”. Using a diagram, show the regulatory options that are available to governments and

public utilities boards and comment on the relative efficiency of these options.