Questions & Answers
Browse all 15 questions from the
Environmental Science History study set below.
Each question shows the correct answer — select a study format above to practice interactively.
1
Which 1952 environmental disaster led directly to the UK's Clean Air Act of 1956?
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A
The Great Smog of London
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B
The Windscale Fire
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C
The Flixborough disaster
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D
The Aberfan disaster
2
In 1974, Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland published a paper identifying which chemical compounds as the primary cause of ozone depletion?
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A
Sulfur hexafluoride
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B
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
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C
Nitrous oxide
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D
Polychlorinated biphenyls
3
The 'Keeling Curve,' which provides ongoing evidence of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, began recording data at which location in 1958?
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A
South Pole Station
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B
Mauna Loa Observatory
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C
Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station
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D
Barrow Atmospheric Baseline Observatory
4
Which 1972 report commissioned by the Club of Rome used computer modeling to predict the consequences of unchecked economic and population growth on planetary resources?
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A
The Brundtland Report
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B
The Limits to Growth
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C
The Stern Review
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D
The Ehrlich Report
5
What was the primary environmental objective of the 1987 Montreal Protocol?
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A
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
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B
Banning the use of DDT
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C
Phasing out ozone-depleting substances
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D
Establishing marine protected areas
6
The 1984 Bhopal disaster involved the accidental release of which toxic gas from a pesticide plant?
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A
Methyl isocyanate
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B
Phosgene
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C
Hydrogen cyanide
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D
Chlorine gas
7
Who is credited with sparking the modern environmental movement in the United States with the 1962 publication of 'Silent Spring'?
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A
Aldo Leopold
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B
John Muir
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C
Rachel Carson
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D
Garrett Hardin
8
The 1979 Three Mile Island accident, the most significant nuclear incident in U.S. commercial history, occurred in which state?
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A
New York
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B
Pennsylvania
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C
Ohio
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D
New Jersey
9
What was the first international treaty to set legally binding emissions reduction targets for developed countries to combat global warming?
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A
Kyoto Protocol
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B
Paris Agreement
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C
Copenhagen Accord
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D
Rio Earth Summit
10
Minamata disease, recognized in the 1950s, was caused by the industrial discharge of which substance into the sea?
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A
Cadmium
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B
Lead
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C
Methylmercury
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D
Arsenic
11
The 'Great Acceleration,' a term describing the surge in human impact on the Earth system, is widely cited by scientists as beginning around which decade?
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A
1920s
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B
1950s
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C
1970s
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D
1990s
12
The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill was a catalyst for which major piece of U.S. legislation?
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A
Clean Water Act
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B
Endangered Species Act
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C
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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D
Toxic Substances Control Act
13
Which 19th-century scientist was the first to calculate that human-induced CO2 emissions could lead to global warming?
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A
John Tyndall
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B
Svante Arrhenius
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C
Guy Stewart Callendar
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D
Charles David Keeling
14
The Love Canal disaster, which led to the creation of the Superfund program in the U.S., involved chemical waste buried under what?
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A
A school and residential neighborhood
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B
A major metropolitan water reservoir
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C
An industrial manufacturing zone
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D
A national park wilderness area
15
The 1977 treaty known as the ENMOD Convention prohibits which of the following?
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A
Deep sea mining
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B
Nuclear waste dumping at sea
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C
Military use of environmental modification techniques
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D
Transboundary air pollution
