Sustainable Development

Typical Exam Questions


1. Define sustainable development and discuss some of the key issues that are essential in such a process.

2. State the generally-accepted definition of sustainable development and explain how this relates to depletion of fossil fuel reserves.

3. It might be asserted that the underlying goal of the whole course was to expose the challenges to sustainable development and help the student contribute to meeting these challenges. Give the Bruntland Commission definition of sustainable development and discuss three general ways ( e.g., "recycle my pop cans" is not general) the Global Change course attempts to prepare students to meet these challenges.

4. Global human population, technology, and affluence are factors that determine the magnitude of anthropogenic global change. These were discussed in at least 5 units in Block 3. Give four examples of how advances in technology and/or affluence can lead to a decreasing impact on the global environment.