Pre-District Social Science Practice Test Flashcards
Approximately how many years have passed since the climate became roughly what we know it to be today?
11,700
What best describes the Holocene epoch?
an interglacial period
Which of the following was a direct result of the joint conference on the ‘Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide of Other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts’?
the formation of the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG)
Before the Holocene, the global human population may not have surpassed?
10 million
A U.S. government report released by the White House in 2021 estimates how many people move from their homes due to extreme weather events every year?
30 million
Melting ice sheets around the North Pole is an example of a(n)?
positive feedback
In what year did Greta Thunberg begin school strikes to protest her government’s inaction on climate, which led to the creation of the global movement called Fridays for Future?
2018
When did the Late Holocene period end?
it had not yet ended
What best expresses William Nierenberg’s policy regarding climate change in the early 1990s?
he advocated that variability in solar energy caused global warming
Which group of people ruled Mesopotamia when abrupt climate changes occurred there around 2250 BCE?
the Akkadians
Who was the first chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
Bert Bolin
In 2017, who said the Paris Agreement of 2015 put the U.S. at a ‘very big economic disadvantage’?
Donald Trump
The Anthropocene is a term that describes a new geological epoch that recognizes the central role of humankind today in?
geology and ecology
What is the general marker of the start of the Holocene epoch?
the end of the last ice age
In response to the massive Canadian forest fires in the summer of 2023, which cable news channel gave airtime to known supporters of the oil industry who denied scientific consensus on the dangers of smoke?
Fox
What best describes why it is risky scholarship to desire to prove too specific a thesis before one studies one’s sources?
such an approach could lead to biases in the results
When did discussion of the Industrial Revolution begin?
in the late-1700s
In 1957, the Soviet Union carried out what international sensation?
it launched the first artificial earth satellite
What best describes the Late Holocene?
it spans a period of human history that is well documented
What important solar energy events occur approximately every 26,000 years, 41,000 years, and 100,000 years?
Milankovitch cycles
Fossil fuels are best described as being formed from?
the remains of living organisms from past geological epochs
Why did Al Gore lose the presidential election to George W. Bush in the year 2000?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Al Gore over voting ballots in Florida
What key factor did J.R. McNeill assert was the cause of the ‘Great Acceleration’ starting around 1950?
a significant increase in the human population
With regard to climate, what is the most notable about French historians E. Le Roy Ladurie and Fernand Braudel?
they were among the first historians to include climate in their narratives of global history
The Wolf, Maunder, and Dalton solar minima all correspond to changes which occurred in the?
European Alps
Who first used the term Anthropocene in the year 2000?
Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer
In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development founded the UN Climate Change. What is its formal name?
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Which epoch immediately preceded the Anthropocene?
the Holocene
Why did Michael McCormick assert 536 CE was ‘the worst year’ to be alive?
volcanic eruptions ushered in a cold year without a summer
The three components of the Triple Planetary Crisis are?
climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss
What is the most common synonym for carbon sequestration?
carbon capture
Reactions to climate change caused by forcing are best called what?
feedbacks
Who warned that the Green New Deal, if it were enacted, could problematically bolster what he calls ‘climate colonialism’?
Olufemi O. Taiwo
What is the concept of settler colonialism, as mentioned in the USAD Social Science Resource Guide?
the practice of forcibly obtaining land from existing inhabitants
With regard to the rise and fall of the Roman and Greek Empires, scholars?
have yet to determine a conclusive answer of the importance of climate trends
Who is noted as one of the first historians to demonstrate that sources in the archives of society could be used to produce trustworthy climate reconstructions?
Christian Pfister
The mandate of heaven concept that external conditions such as prosperity in the land and favorable weather validated the authority of the current rule was established in which dynasty?
Zhou dynasty
The Early Holocene epoch lasted from around?
11,700 to 8,236 years ago
According to a New York Times article, the leading issue that distinguished the candidates on the environment in the 2000 United States Presidential Election was related to the?
Kyoto Protocol
Which state or country below has been spared climate-related abnormally severe fires over the last few years?
England
What is the Justice40 Initiative?
justice-related climate change policy introduced by the Biden Administration
At the beginning of the LIA in the 1300s, what plague devastated European populations?
the Black Death
What best explains why ice cores from ancient glaciers are so important to researchers of climate change?
they can reveal atmospheric conditions hundreds of millennia ago
