Problem 1
Portland, Oregon (Core Case Study) has made significant progress in becoming a more environmentally sustainable and desirable place to live. If you live in an urban area, what steps, if any, has your community taken toward becoming more environmentally sustainable? What further steps could be taken?
Problem 2
Do you think that the global population of 7.1 billion is too large? Explain. If your answer was yes, what do you think should be done to slow human population growth? If your answer was no, do you believe that there is a population size that would be too big? Explain. Do you think that the population of the country where you live is too large? Explain.
Problem 3
If you could say hello to a new person every second without taking a break and working around the clock, how many years would it take you to greet the 85 million people who were added to the world's population in 2013? (Hint: start by dividing 85 million seconds by 60 to find the number of minutes, and go from there to find the number of years.) How many years would it take for you to greet 7.1 billion people?
Problem 4
Identify a major local, national, or global environmental problem, and describe the role that population growth plays in this problem.
Problem 5
Some people think that our most important environmental goal should be to sharply reduce the rate of population growth in less-developed countries, where at least \(92 \%\) of the world's population growth is expected to take place between now and 2050. Others argue that the most serious environmental problems stem from high levels of resource consumption per person in more- developed countries, which have much larger ecological footprints per person than do less-developed countries. What is your view on this issue? Explain.
Problem 6
If you own a car or hope to own one, what conditions, if any, would encourage you to rely less on your car and to travel to school or work by bicycle, on foot, by mass transit, or by carpool?
Problem 7
Do you think the United States (or the country in which you live) should develop a comprehensive and integrated mass-transit system over the next 20 years, including an efficient rapid-rail network for travel within and between its major cities? Explain. If so, how would you pay for such a system?
