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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why can't many materials be recycled?
(a) Because consumers are not committed to recycling.
(b) Because they are hybrids of too many other materials.
(c) Because they are materials that are too solid to be melted down.
(d) Because the technology doesn´t exist.

2. How are ants a good source of inspiration for positive design?
(a) They are very efficient but also contribute to the environment around them.
(b) They do not work in teams but are excellent individualists.
(c) They are fast and wasteful in their productivity.
(d) They take their time to accomplish a task.

3. How does the Menominee tribe use their forest resources?
(a) They sell a certain number of trees to maintain the rest of the forest.
(b) They don't collect any trees for any reason.
(c) They take only half of the trees at a time.
(d) They collect only the weak or sick trees, leaving the healthy trees to grow.

4. What material can be used to create a well-designed roof?
(a) Dry grass and leaves.
(b) Sod or grass.
(c) Concrete.
(d) Aluminum siding.

5. How did Henry Ford upcycle his shipping boxes?
(a) He donated them to be used as fruit crates.
(b) He used them to build new homes.
(c) He threw them out and made new ones.
(d) He reused them as floorboards on model-A trucks.

Short Answer Questions

1. How can industry model nature?

2. Which statement most accurately reflects the authors' ideas?

3. What structural material did McDonough suggest for the Bedouin houses?

4. Which of the following is a true statement?

5. How do the Chinese traditionally maintain nutrients to their rice patties?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the authors suggest we do so that our products resemble the diversity present in the natural world?

2. Explain why contamination is so permanent on the planet.

3. Explain and give an example of what the authors mean by products that are "monstrous hybrids".

4. How does the cherry tree model for industrial design differ from the current model of industrial design?

5. Describe what the authors suggest we do with products that produce toxic chemicals when they are recycled.

6. What are some advantages of designing homes with local materials?

7. Explain the idea of "devolution."

8. Explain how sewage systems can be improved.

9. Describe how most roofing materials are poor designs.

10. Describe how Egyptian civilization traditionally uses nutrient flows and explain how this has changed in recent times.

(see the answer keys)

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