Mid-semester examination

CE 241A: Sustainable Built Environment

Total marks (80)

1. Define environment. What are the main components of the environment? (1)

2. What global environmental problem/s (occurring abroad and caused by other countries), do
you think can affect India? (1)

3. According to recently published Niti Aayog report on India’s progress towards SDGs, which
five Indian States are the best and which five are the worst performers? (1)

4. When was wheel invented and how could Egyptians build the pyramids before that? (1)

5. How has rainfall patterns changed in central India in past 50 years? (1)

6. What is the difference between climate mitigation and adaptation? (1)

7. What were the major causes behind the great Potato famine of 1840s in Ireland? (1)

8. What message does Bhagavat Geeta give regarding the relation between Humans and
Environment? (1)

9. Why is Earth such a perfect self-regulating, equilibrium system? What conditions make life
possible on Earth? (2)

10. Define sustainability. What are 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) – provide a list of
them or describe what is their main goal? (2)

11. List the % of different human land uses on Earth? What % is still untouched? (2)

12. List the radiation budget (in W/m2) of Earth and its atmosphere. (2)

13. What is/are the major factor behind the rise of humans to the top of food chain on Earth? (2)

14. List four ways to make your agriculture farm more environmentally friendly. (2)

15. Do you think British rule in India degraded or improved its environment? In what ways? (2)

16. If you go to Europe and USA, everything looks green and clean but still most people say that
western countries and their lifestyle is damaging the environment. How come? (2)

17. India needs more money to mitigate and adapt to climate change. List some ways through
which it is generating this money and what more it should do. (2)

18. What is the species richness and abundance in the room that you are giving exam? How many
species are there on the Earth? Where do you find higher species diversity on Earth? (2)

19. What is India’s target for non-fossil based energy production by 2030? List India’s adaptation
strategies for climate change in the Agriculture sector. (2)
20. In what ways Infosys or TCS can help improve the environmental conditions in India? (2)

21. List eight ways in which climate change can negatively impact human lives. (2)

22. What are the main tasks of IPCC and IPBES? (2)

23. Why is cow considered holy in India? What are the underlying causes of modern environmental
degradation? (2)

24. What are traditional ways of handling the environment or pollution and why are they failing? (2)

25. Describe ways in which forestry, transportation sector can be made environmentally-friendly? (2)

26. Discuss differences between ‘Animism’, ‘Monotheism’ and ‘Humanist’ religions and
implications for the environment. Give examples. (3)

27. IIT education is highly subsidized, why? What are government of India’s expectations from
IITans? How can they help improve India’s environmental problems directly or indirectly? (3)

28. Europe was one of the most backward/poor regions of the world few centuries ago. Provide four
major reasons why they became most powerful only in past 500 years. (4)

29. Define land degradation. What are its direct/indirect drivers in India and its negative impact?
How can we reduce/mitigate land degradation? (4)

30. Describe how brick, glass and cement industries damage the environment and what can be done
to reduce these impacts? (4)

31. What is the difference between climate and weather? What are major factors behind climate
change? Discuss how India plans to contribute towards minimizing climate change in future? (4)

32. How can we make the steel, textile, plastic, furniture and railway industry more environmentally-
friendly? (4)

33. Looking back at past 100,000 years, describe four major stages (periods) of human driven
environmental degradation. For each of the four stages above, list major ways in which humans
caused environmental damage across the globe. (6)

34. What are the causes of genetic diversity within a population of same species? List some
examples in which species use various tricks to survive and reproduce. What is the definition of a
terrestrial biodiversity hotspot? Which regions of India are biodiversity hotspots? (6)