Earth Institute Sustainable Development Quiz

1: The most widely used definition of sustainable development is: "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In what text did this originate?

Brundtland Report/World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

UN Millennium Declaration (2000)

Monterrey Consensus on Millennium Development Goals

 

2: Which of the following is an important factor or indicator of sustainable development?

Equity between the present and the future

Environmental impact of economic activity

Externalities, or the costs that production and consumption impose on society over and above those that are captured in market prices

All of the above

 

3: Gross domestic product, or GDP, is a poor indicator of sustainable development and is largely overvalued because it neglects which of the following fundamental factors?

Increase in aggregate supply

Depletion of natural resources

Increase in prices

Fluctuations in population

 

4: Which of the following countries contributes the highest rate of investment towards sustainable development as a percentage of GDP?

United States

United Kingdom

China

India

 

5: Roughly 100 birds and mammals have become extinct between 1900 and 2000, which is an extinction rate of one species per year. How much greater is this rate than the average extinction rate, or background rate, as measured in the geologic record?

3 times

33 times

333 times

3,333 times

 

6: How many villages throughout Africa have been identified as hunger hotspots?

10,000

40,000

100,000

500,000

 

7: What percentage of the world's fish stocks are considered to be fully fished out or overexploited?

10%

25%

50%

75%

 

8: Since 1900, approximately how much has sea level risen?

0.067 to 0.071 inches

1.5 to 2.1 inches

6.7 to 7.1 inches

Sea level has not risen 

 

9: What is the approximate average life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa?

34 years

46 years

65 years

71 years

 

10: Malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis — often referred to as "the big three" — account for how many deaths annually?

600,000

1.6 million

5.6 million

10.6 million