Chap. 14. The Ten Commandments of Sustainability 365
of adequate energy supply as related to contamination of Earth’s environment with
toxic and persistent substances.
- Suggest scenarios by which the people of your country might be adversely affected
and its population might even decline because of declines in key environmental
support systems. Suggest how these problems might be avoided in the future by
actions taken now.
- Look up telecommuting on the internet and explain how it might fit with the ten
commandments of sustainability.
- In a quote attributed to the British sociologist Martin Albrow, sociospheres consist of
“distinct patterns of social activities belonging to networks of social relations of very
different intensity, spanning widely different territorial extents, from a few to many
thousands of miles.” Suggest how sociospheres relate to the anthrosphere. What is
your sociosphere? How might sociospheres be important in sustainability.
- It has been estimated that U.S. coal resources can provide for up to three centuries
of U.S. energy needs and could provide energy for much of the world. Is this a
sustainable source of energy? Explain.
- Explain how unsustainability may be the result of depletion of resources,
environmental pollution, or a combination. Give an example in which environmental
pollution reduces resource availability.
- From news events of the last five years, cite evidence that global climate change is
in fact occurring. Cite evidence to the contrary.
- Currently, population growth tends to occur in coastal areas. Suggest how global
warming might reverse that trend, especially in light of the 2005 U.S. Gulf Coast
hurricanes.
- Prior to European settlement, vast areas of the U.S. Great Plains supported huge herds
of bison that provided the base for a viable Native American population. Given the
erratic climate of that region, depleted groundwater for irrigation, and the aversion
of many people to dwell on the “lone prairie,” some authorities have suggested that
these areas revert to a bison-based system, sometimes called the “buffalo commons.”
Suggest how such a system might be viable and sustainable and give arguments
against it.
- Is the term “secure chemical landfill” an oxymoron? What are the alternatives to
such landfills?
