1.1 PerspectivesIB Environmental Systems and Societies HL: Subtopic test

1. 1
   A city council surveys 500 residents about a proposal to ban private cars from the city centre. Residents rate statements from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). One statement reads: "Nature has the right to exist whatever its use to people." Sixty per cent of respondents strongly agree with it.

   (a)

   What is a values survey best used to investigate?

   [1 mark]

   • AThe exact quantity of pollution in the city centre
   • BThe perspectives shown by a particular social group towards an environmental issue
   • CThe scientific accuracy of the council's air-quality data
   • DThe cost of introducing the ban

   (b)

   Which environmental worldview is most consistent with strong agreement with the statement?

   [1 mark]

   • ATechnocentric
   • BAnthropocentric
   • CPerspectives are unrelated to worldviews
   • DEcocentric

   (c)

   Outline why the survey results might be different if the survey were repeated in the same city 20 years later.

   [2 marks]

   Total for question 1: 4 marks

2. 2
   Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962. It described how pesticides such as DDT were harming birds and other wildlife. The book was widely read and discussed in the media. The Environmental Protection Agency was created in the USA in 1970, and DDT was banned for agricultural use there in 1972.

   (a)

   Silent Spring is an example of which influence on the development of the environmental movement?

   [1 mark]

   • AA book (literature) written by an individual
   • BA major environmental disaster
   • CAn international agreement
   • DA new technology

   (b)

   In an environmental value system model, the ban on DDT is best described as:

   [1 mark]

   • AAn input affecting perspectives
   • BA worldview
   • CAn output resulting from changed perspectives
   • DA storage of values

   (c)

   Using the example of DDT, outline how an environmental value system model links inputs to outputs.

   [2 marks]

   Total for question 2: 4 marks

3. 3
   A researcher surveyed 400 people in a fishing village and 400 people in a nearby city about a proposed marine protected area (MPA) that would close local fishing grounds. In the village, 140 people supported the MPA and 82% agreed that "fish are important mainly because they provide an income". In the city, 312 people supported the MPA and 41% agreed with the same statement about fish.

   (a)

   Calculate how many more city respondents than village respondents supported the MPA, and suggest two reasons for the difference in perspective.

   [3 marks]

   (b)

   Using the data, compare how an anthropocentric and an ecocentric worldview might respond to the proposed MPA.

   [4 marks]

   Total for question 3: 7 marks

4. 4
   The first Earth Day took place in the USA in 1970. In 1989 the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled about 41 million litres of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska. In 2018 Greta Thunberg began a school strike outside the Swedish parliament, which grew into the global Fridays for Future movement.

   (a)

   Explain how individuals, the media and major environmental disasters have influenced the development of the environmental movement, using the examples above.

   [6 marks]

   (b)

   Evaluate the claim that environmental perspectives are fixed by a person's culture and cannot be changed by campaigns or education.

   [6 marks]

   Total for question 4: 12 marks

End of questions