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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Down the River.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the original name of New Orleans, as given by Kolbert in this book?
(a) L'isle de Duc de l'Orléans.
(b) L’Isle de la Nouvelle Orléans.
(c) NOLA.
(d) Bulbancha.

2. What is NOT something that Kolbert says human domination over nature has caused?
(a) More species diversity and safer drinking water.
(b) Dammed and diverted rivers.
(c) Earthquakes.
(d) Large amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

3. Prior to the digging of the canal, Chicago’s waste ran into the Chicago River and into Lake Michigan, which led to what regular outbreaks?
(a) Bird Flu and Swine Flu.
(b) Consumption and West Nile Virus.
(c) Scarlet Fever and Yellow Fever.
(d) Typhoid and Cholera.

4. What is wrong with the Wood Screw Pumps in the twenty-four pumping stations that pump water out of the city?
(a) Many are broken and need to be fixed.
(b) They are speeding up the sinking of the city.
(c) They are difficult to replace.
(d) They are not effective at keeping out water.

5. In Down the River Chapter 1, what examples of metaphors does Elizabeth Kolbert give involving rivers?
(a) Rivers are metaphors for pollution, destruction, and decay.
(b) Rivers are metaphors for loneliness.
(c) Rivers are metaphors for depth, reflection, and life.
(d) Rivers are metaphors for all the problems that humans have caused.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what is the land in the southern region of Louisiana compared?

2. Each day at the Old River Control Auxiliary Structure, the gates are raised or lowered, depending on what?

3. What are CSOs?

4. Kolbert jumps to a day when she meets Alex Kolker, a professor at LSU, who has what as a side gig?

5. What does Kolbert find at LSU’s Center for River Studies?

(see the answer key)

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