DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

To what extent do the approaches and strategies of different environmental value systems improve access to fresh water?

Tundra ecosystems are vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Discuss the response of two contrasting environmental value systems to the effects of global warming on the tundra.

A vegetarian diet is often described as “better for the environment”. Discuss this statement using your knowledge of ecosystems and environmental value systems.

Environmental value systems such as ecocentrism and technocentrism may determine the approaches taken to resource management.

Discuss which of these value systems you consider most appropriate in its approach to the management of fossil fuel resources. Support your conclusion with valid reasons or evidence.

Evaluate contrasting human perceptions of the issue of global warming.

Predict how a technocentric and an ecocentric might differ in their views about dams.

Discuss how a Deep Ecologist and a Cornucopian may differ in their approach to this project.

Evaluate the sustainability of freshwater use in a named case study and the environmental philosophy(ies) involved in this decision making process for the management of this resource.

Discuss how different environmental philosophies can affect the choice of pollution management strategies in response to global warming.

Environmental value systems may be seen as having both inputs and outputs as shown in the diagram below:

As a society develops over time from an original pioneer population, various influences may have caused changes in their common value systems and decisions.

With reference to energy sources in a developed country (MEDC), discuss how historical changes in internal and external factors have influenced their environmental value systems and decisions on energy supply.

Ecocentrics recognise that all species have an intrinsic value.

Explain the strengths and weaknesses of using intrinsic value when making decisions about development and conservation.

Outline the Gaia hypothesis as a model of the global ecosystem.

Environmental value systems may lead to different approaches to addressing the issue of global warming. Discuss which environmental value system(s) you consider to be most appropriate in the management of global warming.

Outline two historical influences on the development of the modern environmental movement.

Using evidence from the resource booklet, justify from an ecocentric viewpoint why the Husab Uranium Project should not be approved.

Outline two reasons why the value of resources like Uranium can change over time.

Even though there is growing global support for ecocentric values, the global consumption of fossil fuels continues to rise each year.

With reference to energy choices in named countries, discuss possible reasons for this situation occurring.

Technocentrists may support the belief that technological development has always been able to overcome limits to human population growth.

To what extent do the patterns of growth and development in human populations, as demonstrated in the Demographic Transition Model, support this claim?

Discuss the consequences of changing global per capita meat consumption on the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.

Explain why the harvesting of a named aquatic species may be controversial.

Outline the factors that lead to different environmental value systems in contrasting cultures.

To what extent does Algonquin Provincial Park provide a model of sustainable management of a protected area?

Discuss the implications of environmental value systems in the protection of tropical biomes.

Explain the role of two historical influences in shaping the development of the environmental movement.

To what extent do anthropocentric value systems dominate the international efforts to address climate change?

To what extent can different environmental value systems contribute to both causing and resolving the problem of water scarcity?

Environmental value systems differ in how they view the importance of biodiversity and this could influence a community’s approach to conservation.

Discuss how these different perspectives, including your own, may influence approaches to conservation.