exam

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=new questions (posed by students)= 1. Identify five major oil disasters. What were the cause and consequences of the disasters?

2. Identify 15 alternative energies methods, briefly describing their pros and cons.

3. What is the biggest change that needs to be made in society to allow alternative energy to gain popular support and how should we bring that change?

4. How important is the issue of global warming vs. the issue of peak oil and which issue is more likely to pressure more movement in alternative energy?

5. What role do corporations play in oil politics?

6. What are five lifestyle changes you could make to decrease you oil consumption, and how could you implement them?

7. How can regulatory agencies be better insulated from political pressures to permit greater environmental scrutiny? Consider the role played by legislation, official discretioin and some other policy option.

8. Who is ultimately responsible for disasters related to oil processing, extraction and transportation: oil corporations, governments, local communities, or some combination of these and other actors? Support your viewpoint with relevant examples.

9. What can be learned from the variety of environmental disasters that have happened within the oil industry? How can this inform disaster prevention in the future?

10. What method would prove most efficient in relieving the world's oil dependency: an investment into stepping stone projects that will eventually allow for oil independence, or an aggressive investment into solutions now? Which is more feasible? Use specific examples.

11. Explain why there is an energy crisis globally, and in the United States, and what can be done to fix the crisis.

12. Explain how public transportation could be improved in the United States.

13. Identify five major oil disasters. What were the cause and consequences of the disasters?

14. Identify 15 alternative energy sources, briefly describing their pros and cons.

=spring 2011 exam questions= Answer ten of the following questions, in an essay approximately 500 words in length for each. A printed copy of the exam is due in class on Tuesday, May 10.

1. Identify twenty stakeholders in oil politics, briefly explaining how each is involved in oil politics, and would be affected by a shift to oil alternatives

2. Describe how ten of following people and organizations take positions and play a role in oil politics: • Sarah Palin • James Inhofe • Environmental Defense Fund • Pew Foundation • Ken Feinberg • Barack Obama • Greenpeace • Union of Concerned Scientists • Natural Resources Defense Council • American Petroleum Institute • Rocky Mountain Institute • Center for Media and Democracy • The Earth Institute, Columbia University

3. The following two websites address questions often raised about climate change. Identify the points that have most influenced your own thinking about climate change. Also list at least three questions that you still have about what is happening with the climate, weather, and climate politics. http://scienceblogs.com/illconsidered/2008/07/how_to_talk_to_a_sceptic.php http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2004/12/index/#Responses

4. One of the following: a. Design a curriculum that teaches middle school students about oil politics. What should be included? When and how should students be taught about the history of disasters related to oil? When and how should students be taught about the way oil politics shapes international politics?

b. Write a letter to the New York State Board of Education arguing for the importance of curriculum that teaches students about oil politics.

5. One of the following: a. Describe Naomi Klein's arguments, and how she supports them, in her December 2010 Ted Women Talk "Addicted to Risk." In the second part of the response, describe what aspects of Klein's talk you were persuaded by, and which you were not. http://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_klein_addicted_to_risk.html

b. What about American culture and identity contributes to oil addiction? What about American culture and identity could be leveraged to advance environmental sustainability?

6. One of the following: a. Evaluate the message, style and communicative affects of this stand-up history of oil: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5267640865741878159&q=newman%27s#

b. Review this journalism student project on the BP spill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxhMk0YFSc8&feature=related What is the ending message of this video? Do you agree? What would you add, or do differently?

7. Identify the role that ten of the following government agencies played in the aftermath of the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico: • U.S. Justice Department • U.S. Coast Guard • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency • U.S. Geological Survey • U.S. Minerals Management Service • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency • U.S. National Science Foundation • U.S. National Institutes of Health • U.S. Center for Disease Control • U.S. Government Accountability Office • U.S. Department of State

8. Identify twenty risks associate with oil exploration, extraction, refining, processing, transport and use.

9. Identify ten initiatives (in law, regulation, education, media, etc) that, in your view, would decrease the risk associated with oil extraction, refining, processing, transport and use.

10. Explain, from your point of view, what the US government should do to advance oil alternatives. What should the US government not do? Together, your lists should include at least six items. Include concrete example to illustrate your points.

11. Write two exam questions that creatively test students’ analytic sophistication about oil politics. Answer one of these questions.

12. Re-design the U.S. food system so that it is less oil dependent. What would be the key features of the new system? What would be the advantages? What would be the challenges?

13. Identify ten developments (in education, law, media, etc) that you think would help mobilize greater public awareness of oil politics.

14. Identify and provide examples of five key characteristics of green design. Reference at least two sources.