AP AP Environmental History & Human-Nature Interactions 3

Question 1

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s in the United States was primarily caused by:

Accepted Answer

Decades of deep plowing that destroyed drought-resistant prairie grasses, combined with severe drought

Answer

A global volcanic winter that altered precipitation patterns

Answer

Overgrazing by bison herds that federal policy had allowed to recover

Answer

Government irrigation projects that depleted the Ogallala Aquifer

Question 2

The British colonization of Australia is associated with which environmental concept?

Accepted Answer

Ecological imperialism—introduced sheep, rabbits, and weeds transformed Australian ecosystems

Answer

Sustainable agriculture learned from Aboriginal peoples

Answer

Creation of protected nature reserves before any land clearing occurred

Answer

Environmental protection policies that preserved Aboriginal land management

Question 3

In AP World History, the deforestation of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is often cited as an example of:

Accepted Answer

Environmental collapse caused by overexploitation of resources, contributing to societal decline

Answer

How volcanic activity can destroy island civilizations

Answer

Successful long-term resource management by Polynesian navigators

Answer

Climate-driven collapse unrelated to human activity

Question 4

The construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt (completed 1970) illustrates which trade-off in development history?

Accepted Answer

How large infrastructure projects generate electricity and irrigation but displace people, alter river ecology, and reduce downstream soil fertility

Answer

How dams always increase agricultural productivity without negative consequences

Answer

How Soviet-funded projects were always more successful than Western alternatives

Answer

How dam construction ended seasonal flooding that had historically devastated Egyptian agriculture

Question 5

Which event is considered the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the United States?

Accepted Answer

Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962

Answer

The creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872

Answer

The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969

Answer

President Theodore Roosevelt's conservation policies in the early 1900s

Question 6

The AP World History concept of 'carrying capacity' in environmental history refers to:

Accepted Answer

The maximum population size an environment can sustain given available resources

Answer

The number of ships an empire could deploy to maintain trade routes

Answer

The amount of tribute a colonial economy could extract without causing rebellion

Answer

The productive capacity of an industrial economy at full employment