Environmental Problems Trivia

1. Undeniably, scientists agree that the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change. Over years of rising temperatures, coral has undergone what process, killing coral polyps over time?

From Quiz Reefer Madness

Answer: Bleaching

Coral bleaching can occur in coral with a single degree of change in ocean temperature, so it's unsurprising that climate change has a big effect on this part of the sea. The temperature has a big effect on chemical reactions that are necessary for the development of coral polyps and algae and, when they can't make this right, they cause the bleaching effect. This is why many stretches of the Great Barrier Reef look dead. They might not be-- yet-- but the lack of healthy flora means that reef health is compromised until the reactions can create energy. The polyps are, for lack of a better term, starved. The biggest bleaching events in the world tend to coincide with El Nino, a weather phenomenon that is only exacerbated by climate change and the factors involved.

From Quiz Honey, I Ruined the Planet!

Answer: The Industrial Revolution

While the Industrial Revolution was a very important catalyst for progress in many scientific fields during the 19th century, the long-term effects (and-- heck-- the short-term effects) may have been one of the early steps leading to an environmental nightmare. As factories became commonplace, the output of smoke pollution ended up becoming a cause for concern, and with most people moving to cities for work, it had an adverse effect on health. A hundred years after the Industrial Revolution, the world's average temperature had risen by one degree celsius.

From Quiz Light Pollution Enlightenment

Answer: excessive artificial light in the night sky

Light pollution can be seen in most developed cities. It is an orange haze of light over cities and is caused by the amount of artificial lights left on at night. These lights can be seen from space. It's more than just an eyesore, though. Light pollution has many negative affects on both humans and animals.

From Quiz Sanitary Sewers and Wastewater Treatment

Answer: eight inches in diameter

Most sanitary sewer lines are eight inches in diameter. Yes, some are larger, but that is only because the lines downstream near the treatment plants transport more flow. Storm sewers, which collect and transport rain water, are much larger.

From Quiz History of The Environmental Movement

Answer: Svante Arrhenius

Although French physicist Joseph Fourier was the first to investigate the idea that gases in the atmosphere could trap heat during the 1820s, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in an 1896 article published in the "Philosophical Magazine" first proposed that CO2 from burning fossil fuels might eventually lead to global warming (although he did not express concern over it).

From Quiz Saving Water - Every Drop Counts

Answer: Fresh water

Only 3% of the world's water is fresh. Of this 3% of fresh water, less than one third of 1% of this water is available for human use. The remainder is frozen in polar ice caps, glaciers or is unreachable deep down in the earth. Another way of looking at it is if 100 litres of water were in front of you representing the world's water, only half of a tablespoon is available to you as fresh water.

From Quiz Global Warming 2007

Answer: Thickening of the earth's atmosphere

Former Vice President Gore indicates that uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide is thickening the earth's atmosphere. This increases the amount of heat retained by the earth, since a thicker atmosphere retains more of the energy the earth receives from solar radiation.

From Quiz Cleaning up the Environment

Answer: CERCLA

It stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act

From Quiz Pollution

Answer: Chlorofluorocarbons

From Quiz You Sank My Island!

Answer: In warmer water, corals will expel the algae living in their tissues, causing the coral to turn white

In healthy coral, algae and coral are co-dependent and share a symbiotic relationship. The algae, called zooxanthellae, live within the tissues and are the primary food source for the coral. These algae give the coral their colour. When stressed, algae - which are sessile - leave the coral, but this is reversible. Bleached coral is vulnerable. Without a major source of food, coral turns white and is far more susceptible to disease. It is now at risk. Some Pacific Island nations' landmasses are comprised entirely of coral atolls. These include Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Tokelau. Despite being built on such a fragile base, there were no concerns about structural integrity until climate change became an issue, especially in the Pacific. Question contributed by Phoenix Rising's 1nn1.

From Quiz Living with Water

Answer: Pancake method

With more than two thirds of its land below sea level, the Netherlands has been preventing flooding and reclaiming land from the sea for over 2,000 years. In 1997, Amsterdam began reclaiming land from the ocean by creating a new artificial IJburg archipelago. Using a "pancake method", they have poured multiple layers of sand onto weak subsoil, allowing each to harden to sludge, and then covering them with the next "pancake" until the island reached two meters above the water level. In 2002, residents began moving onto the islands which provide a mixture of low-rise single homes and mid-rise buildings. Also interspersed are "neighbourhoods" of floating houses constructed on buoyant concrete tubs. The archipelago will house some 45,000 people when the last islands are completed by around 2026.

From Quiz Red Sky at Morning

Answer: Heat wave

In the decade from 1992, over 2,000 people in the US died as a result of heat waves. The figures for the other weather events were 880 in floods, about 500 in lightning strikes (averaging 49 per year for the past 30 years) and 150 in hurricanes. According to various studies, the frequency of heat waves has increased in recent decades with record temperatures a not-uncommon feature. Such heat waves saw at least 46,000 (and more than 70,000 by some estimates) die in the 2003 European heat wave. Power outages and violent crimes also tend to go up during these periods. If accompanied by low humidity, wild fires can also be a problem - examples of wild fires associated with heat waves are Portugal (2003), Greece (2007), Australia (2009) and Russia (2010).

From Quiz Light Pollution Enlightenment

Answer: lights that are not contained

Light fixtures that do not have proper coverings, or are unshielded altogether, allow light to escape upwards when it should be focused down where it is actually used. Unshielded lights cause glare and let light go beyond where it is needed, like into the sky. If many light fixture designs were rethought, light pollution could be reduced.

From Quiz Sanitary Sewers and Wastewater Treatment

Answer: A small camera is put through the sewer, and when they find the problem area, they measure the distance from the manhole. That's where they dig.

Sewers are often televised. Some folks call the videos dirty movies.

From Quiz History of The Environmental Movement

Answer: Joe Farman

Joe Farman was a British scientist working in Antarctica in 1982 when he discovered the measurement of ozone had decreased by one-half in the atmosphere above his research station. The results repeated the following year, and he published his result in "Nature" along with Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin in 1985. American scientist Frank Rowland along with fellow American Mario Molina first postulated that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) might deplete ozone. James Lovelock is a British scientist best known for formulating the Gaia hypothesis. Irving Stowe was an American activist who helped found Greenpeace.

From Quiz Saving Water - Every Drop Counts

Answer: Australia

Australia is the driest populated continent with average rainfall of 469mm per year, whereas the global average is 746mm per year. Antarctica is drier but is not populated in the same numbers as Australia (having no permanent residents). Australia is also the highest consumer of water per person. On average, each person uses 100,000 litres of fresh water per year. This figure does not include the water used in the products we buy and use every day, which all need water to be created.

From Quiz Cleaning up the Environment

Answer: brownfield

Brownfields are old industrial sites which are not polluted enough to qualify for Superfund assistance, but the cost in clean-up might otherwise discourage redevelopment.

From Quiz Honey, I Ruined the Planet!

Answer: Freon

CFCs were first created by Thomas Midgley Jr. who, as it may have turned out, may have been one of the single-most destructive human beings on the planet. After Freon started getting use in refrigeration and cooling units, it ended up becoming an important part of aerosol cans and inhaler sprays. What wasn't known at the time was that these difficult-to-break-down compounds would have such an adverse effect on the atmosphere, depleting ozone and increasing greenhouse gas emissions to catastrophic levels. Oh yeah, and he also created leaded gasoline. Some people.

From Quiz Sanitary Sewers and Wastewater Treatment

Answer: Not necessarily; many rings have been found in the sewers and handed to the police

Rings valued at well over $70,000 have been found in sanitary sewers and never reclaimed. Never enter a sewer because the environment can be extremely hazardous. The air is typically too low in oxygen to support human breathing, and gases such as hydrogen sulfide and methane can develop to strong enough levels that you would die. Without strong ventilation, you would slowly lose consciousness, without even realizing it, pass out, and then finally, pass on.

From Quiz History of The Environmental Movement

Answer: a Western view toward nature rooted in the book of Genesis, which suggests man should have dominion over the animals and subdue the earth

American historian Lynn White's article "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" was published in "Science" magazine and created a lot of debate among Christians who argued that Genesis could be interpreted as urging Adam and Eve to care for their surroundings.

From Quiz Saving Water - Every Drop Counts

Answer: 1 hamburger

It takes 2400 litres of water to create a hamburger, 2000 litres to create a t-shirt, 140 litres to create a cup of coffee and 32 litres of water to create a microchip. The water used in creating the hamburger includes water to grow the food the cow eats, water that the cow drinks, water for processing the meat and also water for cleaning the cow. When we think of water usage we usually think of only the water we use from our taps. All the things we use every day need water to create them including our clothing, furniture, building materials and just about everything else we use.

From Quiz Population: Bomb or Bottleneck?

Answer: World population will begin to decline.

Since 1970, the population growth rate has nearly halved, from 2.1% percent down to 1.1 to 1.2 percent. Now it is projected that the average woman will have 2.1 children in her lifetime, which is at or below the birthrate needed to replace the woman and one man. Because there are still a number of women who have not passed through (or even reached) the end of their childbearing years, population is continuing to grow but at an ever decreasing rate. Sometime after 2050, according to middle of the road demographic estimates, the world population will be in decline. Demographers' estimates vary, but most believe a population ceiling will be reached at between seven to eleven billion people. The estimates are very dependent on the number of children that women bear. An increase or decrease of one half child in the average number of children born to a woman over her reproductive life would increase or decrease the projected population in 2050 by 1.5 billion.

From Quiz Pollution

Answer: Smog

From Quiz Environmental Problems

Answer: A mirror

Showing the most dangerous species...humans.

From Quiz Living with Water

Answer: Room for the River

High barriers alone do not provide a comprehensive response to the water challenges of the future. Instead of focusing exclusively on keeping the water out, The Dutch are now taking a "living with water" approach. "Room for the River" is a program overseen by the Dutch Ministry for Infrastructure and Environment. Its solution to flood management is to enable rivers to expand more naturally during peak water periods. The agency is helping cities to introduce a wide range of measures to make this happen, such as pushing back dykes and deepening river beds to give rivers more room to expand. Some cities are creating secondary, high water channels to handle overflow; others are removing obstacles to allow water to move faster. Several are creating more open public spaces like outdoor parks where water can filter back into the ground during times of flooding. In some cases, these strategies involve moving houses and farms away from flood plains.

From Quiz Red Sky at Morning

Answer: Less than three percent

Of that three percent, about two percent is locked up in glaciers and the like, with half to three-quarters of the remainder in the form of groundwater and soil moisture. In fact only about 0.01 percent of the Earth's water occurs as fresh water in our lakes, rivers and swamps. Demand for fresh water is fuelled by many things, the main driver ultimately being population growth. In the last two centuries, the world's population went from a billion to six billion in 1999. It reached seven billion in 2011 and continues to grow. According to the United Nations, water use has grown at twice the population rate. The competition for fresh water is affecting many of the world's environments with large-scale loss of fauna and flora the result, sometimes leading to desertification. Some foresee that water-related conflicts will be increasingly common. The quote comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".

From Quiz Light Pollution Enlightenment

Answer: use lights that turn on with a motion sensor

Security lights that turn on with a motion sensor still do the job of deterring trespassers and potential criminals while also reducing light pollution by not keeping the security lights on all night. Using these types of lights would also save energy, and money, from being wasted.

From Quiz They Have Invaded Our Space

Answer: Zebra mussel

The zebra mussel is native to Russia. They were first discovered here in 1988 in the Great Lakes and have since spread rapidly through interconnected waterways. They pose a serious threat to native species as well as boats, power plants and water treatment plants.

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Last Updated May 09 2026 5:44 AM

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