Define positive and negative feedback and open and closed systems. Explain with examples why negative feedback tends to stabilize a system and why positive feedback can be destabilizing.

Define leverage points and non-linearity. Explain how they relate to the problem of systems intervention.

We discussed two distinct but related concepts of entropy. Define both and explain how they relate to one another.

Define Umwelt, affordance, and embodied cognition. Explain how an agent’s sensory capacities, available actions, and local environment shape its behavior. What implications do these concepts have for the design of agents in computational social-science models?

Describe the Prisoner’s Dilemma and relate it to real-world commons problems. What critiques of the standard model have we examined, and how do Ostrom’s design principles respond to them?

Knowing a pollutant’s chemical properties is sufficient to explain why some social groups are more exposed to it than others.

A decline in a city’s average pollution level proves that air quality improved in every neighborhood.

Match each definition to the correct environmental sociological theory. Use each option once. Each correct pair is worth 0.5 point.

An airline advertises its flights as “zero-emission,” even though the flights still burn fossil fuel and release greenhouse gases. This misleading environmental marketing is called ________.

Once flood barriers reduce a town’s flood risk, the town no longer needs evacuation and emergency-response plans.