The environment is a complex and ever-changing system that sustains life on Earth. From the air we breathe to the water we drink, the environment plays a critical role in our well-being and survival. Despite its importance, the environment is often under threat from human activities such as pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Environmental trivia questions are a great way to test your knowledge of this critical issue and to learn more about the ways in which we can protect and preserve the natural world.
This list of environment trivia questions covers a wide range of topics and is designed to challenge your understanding of the environment and the challenges it faces. Some of the questions are straightforward and can be answered by simple recall, while others require a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Regardless of your level of expertise, this list of environment trivia questions is sure to be both educational and entertaining.
Whether you're an environmentalist, a student of science, or simply someone who is concerned about the future of the planet, this list of environment trivia questions is sure to provide you with hours of enjoyment and learning. So why not put your knowledge to the test and see how you fare? Let's explore the complex and ever-changing world of the environment and see how much you really know!
124 Environment Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- An anoxic environment wouldn’t be great for humans, but certain organisms thrive in them. Anoxic means that which element needed by most life to survive is absent?
Answer: Oxygen
- Large swaths of Minnesota are considered to be in the biome known for plants in mid- to high latitudes shed their leaves as temperatures drop in autumn. What is the d-word for this type of foliage?
Answer: Deciduous
- Nest and Ecobee are examples of smart versions of what temperature equipment, that can adjust temperature to not just be more comfortable, but also more efficient for the environment?
Answer: Thermostat
- The largest power station in the U.S. (measured by installed capacity) is a concrete gravity dam in Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. What is the name of this dam that was first constructed in the 1930s?
Answer: Grand Coulee Dam
- Aged 15 years old at the time, what Swedish environmentalist said, "You are never too small to make a difference," in her 2019 speech "Climate Justice Now" at an international conference in Poland?
Answer: Greta Thunberg
- A major potential in efforts to engineer environmental sustainability are attempts to breed bacteria that can eat what polymer-based materials that are difficult to recycle?
Answer: Plastic - IMO is the organization responsible for setting standards for the safety, security, and environmental performance of ships. What does IMO stand for?
Answer: The International Maritime Organization
- When Charles Darwin visited the Galápagos Islands, the creatures and sights inspired him in the formation of his theory of evolution through natural selection. Given its historical and environmental significance, what northwestern Latin American country that oversees it has made sure it’s a national park and protected marine reserve?
Answer: Ecuador
- The largest living species of tortoise in the world is native to what island archipelago in the Pacific Ocean? The archipelago was also the name of a 1985 Kurt Vonnegut novel, about a shipwreck there.
Answer: Galapagos
- In which Japanese city, whose name is an anagram of Japan’s capital, was an international treaty signed in 1997 relating to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?
Answer: Kyoto
- A 1995 storm known as the Mayfest Storm thunderstorm escalated dramatically and caused almost $2 billion of damage in Texas when it deposited 18 inches of what type of precipitation on the citizens of Palo Pinto and Parker Counties?
Answer: Hail
- What is the three-letter acronym of the international organization established in 1961 whose purpose is environmentalism and conversation? This organization’s logo includes a depiction of a species of bear found in Asia.
Answer: WWF
- What macropod, whose native environment is many, many miles from the Kansas City area, is the mascot of the University of Missouri at Kansas City?
Answer: Kangaroo
- Car “go-go juice” used to contain tetraethyl lead—until we realized it was a health and environmental hazard. Today, you’re filling up at the pump with the unleaded variety of what liquid?
Answer: Gasoline
- What President created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? The agency officially opened on December 2, 1970.
Answer: Richard Nixon
- The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was environmental activist Wangari Maathai, who came from what country that's home to Nairobi National Park?
Answer: Kenya
- By what process do cyanobacteria, species of bacteria which are ubiquitous in marine environments, obtain energy? Some species can produce powerful toxins, called cyanotoxins, that can harm people and animals.
Answer: Photosynthesis
- Known throughout the world as an environmental leader, Costa Rica generates more than 99% of its electricity using renewable sources. The vast majority of this renewable energy comes from what source?
Answer: Hydroelectric
- The Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie was the first person to use solar power to cross what body of water in 1996?
Answer: Pacific Ocean
- The seeds for what annual global event that takes place on April 22 started in the late 1960s with Environmental Teach-Ins across U.S. college campuses?
Answer: Earth Day
- Per its full name, the UN body known as IPCC is an environmental organization that focuses on what two-word alliterative phenomenon?
Answer: Climate change
- Eventually ordered removed by Reagan, solar panels were installed on the White House roof in the 1970s by which president?
Answer: Jimmy Carter
- The per capita leaders in the use of solar hot water systems are Israel and what Mediterranean island nation with Greek and Turkish as its official languages?
Answer: Cyprus
- What "P" word refers to an individual organism's observable traits, such as eye color and body size, which result from both genomic and environmental factors?
Answer: Phenotype
- In the summer of 1969, a fire in which river in Cleveland brought more awareness to the environmental threat of pollution?
Answer: Cuyahoga
- The infamous "hole" in the ozone layer, nearly nine million square miles in size, lies mostly over what continent?
Answer: Antarctica
- Which “ology” comes from the Ancient Greek words for “study” and “house,” and focuses on how organisms relate to the environment they live in? (Hint: You’ll hear it often in environmentalism, but it actually belongs to the field of biology)
Answer: Ecology
- Spread out about 200km north of Jodhpur, the massive Badhla Solar Park services what country?
Answer: India
- John James Audubon, an American artist and naturalist active in the early 1800s, lends his name to a “society” of environmentalists dedicated to the conservation of what type of animal?
Answer: Birds
- The conservation-focused National Audubon Society (Audubon) is a non-profit environmental organization with a primary focus on what type of animal?
Answer: Birds
- In 1989, a ship hit a reef in the Prince William Sound and spilled more than 10 million gallons of crude oil over more than 1,000 miles of coastline. What was the famous, ill-fated two-word name of this ship?
Answer: Exxon Valdez
- Introduced by Montana Senator James E. Murray, the Resources and Conservation Act of 1959 paved the way for what U.S. government agency to form in 1970?
Answer: The Environmental Protection Agency
- What second-most populous Canadian city precedes the 1987 “Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer” international agreement, which eliminated the use of ozone-reducing substances including chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons?
Answer: Montreal
- What technique that quantifies a product's environmental impact from the time its components are sourced and for as long as the product lasts, is known as "LCA" for short?
Answer: Life-Cycle Analysis
- Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake and the world’s deepest lake, is found in which country? The primary outflow of Lake Baikal is the Angara river.
Answer: Russia
- Which inorganic molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms is found at a higher concentration in the Earth’s stratosphere than in any other one of the Earth’s atmospheric layers?
Answer: Ozone
- Sequoioideae is the scientific name of what coniferous trees found in Northern California? The color in its name is reminiscent of a wheelbarrow from a poem by William Carlos Williams.
Answer: redwood
- In 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency permanently relocated 500 residents from Times Beach in what Midwestern state because of widespread dioxin contamination?
Answer: Missouri
- We have Gaylord Nelson to thank for what national environmental observance, which he founded on April 22, 1970?
Answer: Earth Day
- Named one of the “New 7 Wonders of Nature” in the late 2000s, Komodo Island is the famous home of the namesake largest lizard on Earth that’s located within what Southeast Asian country whose capital is Jakarta?
Answer: Indonesia
- What is a branch of civil and environmental engineering beginning with S that deals with issues affecting public health, such as safe drinking water and sewage disposal?
Answer: Sanitary Engineering
- The two most abundant greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). What compound, which has the chemical formula CH4 and is the main component of natural gas, is the third?
Answer: Methane
- What is the name of the 2006 Oscar-winning documentary that follows former Vice President Al Gore on the lecture circuit as he attempts to raise awareness about the dangers of global warming?
Answer: An Inconvenient Truth
- RECs are tradable and non-tangible energy commodities representing proof of a certain amount of energy being generated by more climate-friendly means than fossil fuels. What does REC stand for?
Answer: Renewable Energy Certificates
- What is the name of the biological phenomenon that allows certain living organisms, like fireflies, to emit light?
Answer: Bioluminescence
- Widely believed to be the worst industrial accident in history, over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas in 1984 at a pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal in what country?
Answer: India
- During 2021's UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, activists dressed as Pikachu to protest the continued use of coal by what Asian nation?
Answer: Japan
- Unlike swamps, what kind of wetland habitat has primarily herbaceous vegetation?
Answer: Marsh
- Also the name of a letter in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, what Volkswagen model does Car and Driver rate as one of the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid, non-electric vehicles of 2021?
Answer: Golf
- Snore! What Elon Musk-founded tunneling firm raised $118 million in venture capital funding in April 2018?
Answer: The Boring Company
- What 1962 Rachel Carson book addressed the environmental effects of pesticides? Its two-word title implied that poisoning the environment could stop plant growth entirely.
Answer: Silent Spring
- The Honest Company, a startup which began in 2011, targeted selling environmentally friendly products to young mothers. Which Hollywood actress started the brand, and also acts as the face of the company?
Answer: Jessica Alba
- In what country were the first modern large-scale environmental laws enacted, in 1863? The Alkali Acts regulated pollution from industry producing soda-ash.
Answer: Great Britain
- Arsenic, benzene, and radon are a few examples of which type of cancer-causing substances in the environment?
Answer: Carcinogens
- American Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts can now earn solar energy merit badges after completing a program developed by a national non-profit that goes by what very guessable three-letter acronym?
Answer: SUN
- Environmental regulations ensure refineries remove certain pollutants. What element, a large contributor to 'acid rain', is removed in the refining process?
Answer: Sulfur
- What’s the term for an organism that loves and thrives in an environment with a pH under 4?
Answer: Acidophile
- Most weather phenomena occur in what lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere, which begins at the surface and extends three to eleven miles above the earth, depending on latitude?
Answer: Troposphere
- Starting in 2008, a fungal disease known as "White Nose Syndrome" has decimated North American populations of what mammals?
Answer: Bats
- Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's landmark work of environmental writing, helped lead to a worldwide ban on what three-letter agricultural pesticide?
Answer: DDT
- What long-serving politician from Minnesota was known as "Mr. Environment" and has a namesake recreational trail that runs between Hinckley and Duluth?
Answer: Willard Munger
- The state of Texas has an initiative to help reduce atmospheric emissions by offering grants to purchase new equipment with less of an environmental impact. The plan is often abbreviated by a four-letter acronym that sounds like slang for a turtle. What is this acronym?
Answer: TERP (Texas Emissions Reduction Plan)
- The commonly used energy-efficiency certification, LEED, stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental WHAT?
Answer: Design
- Chlorofluorocarbons, often abbreviated as CFCs, the hydrocarbons known to deplete Earth’s ozone layers, are often referred to by what “F” registered trademark of the Dupont Corporation, currently owned by the Chemours Company?
Answer: Freon
- What T-word describes a biome where tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons?
Answer: Tundra
- What “C” term refers to a reduction of a customer’s energy use based on personal changes in behavior, reducing end use of energy service? It’s a word often used in terms of preserving natural land and aiding the environment.
Answer: Conservation
- In 1995, environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped what Berlin building completely in plastic?
Answer: Sunflowers
- What word refers to the study of the movement and distribution of water around the Earth, including the study of the water cycle and water resources?
Answer: Hydrology
- What classic Dr. Seuss children's book about the plight of the environment features a title character who "speaks for the trees?"
Answer: The Lorax
- What Italian-derived word is defined as an area of calm sea water separated from the ocean by a line of rock or sand?
Answer: Lagoon
- As of 2022, which country is the number one exporter of coal in the world?
Answer: Indonesia
- What ecosystem, perhaps most associated with Africa, is defined by a mixed grassland and woodland where the trees are far enough apart that the canopy does not close?
Answer: Savannah
- Which wide-ranging fintech company claims to be "the world's largest carbon spot exchange" for buying, trading, and analyzing environment-related commodities?
Answer: xpansive
- What South Dakota National Park was the first national park to protect a cave? This was the sixth national park in the U.S.
Answer: Wind Cave
- After being battered by natural disasters in 2015 and 2017, what Caribbean island nation (whose capital is Roseau) announced plans to become "the world's first climate-resilient nation?
Answer: Dominica
- If it turns out your business is contributing to polluting the Earth in some way, what kind of liability insurance policy can help cover the costs of remediation?
Answer: Environmental
- What “a” is defined as a body of rock or sediment that holds groundwater?
Answer: Aquifer
- Passing away in 2017, after recognizing the economic and environmental benefits of energy efficient equipment, who was nicknamed ‘the godfather of energy efficiency’?
Answer: Arthur Rosenfeld
- The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the first convention center in the world to receive what four-letter environmental certification, making it possibly the largest "green" building in the world?
Answer: LEED
- What term refers to commercial or industrial sites that are abandoned or under-utilized and have real or perceived environmental contamination?
Answer: Brownfield
- By what name is the process of rapidly multiplying plant material to producing many offspring plants, using in vitro division of small pieces of the parent plant in a sterile environment?
Answer: Micropropagation
- The International Convention regulating the release of mercury and mercury compounds, approved in 2013, was named after the city of Minamata in what Asian country?
Answer: Japan
- This paralegal and environmental activist’s real-life case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and its contamination of groundwater in the California town of Hinkley became the subject of a 2000 biopic starring Julia Roberts portraying her in the film. Name her.
Answer: Erin Brockovich
- In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a state of emergency for Niagara Falls, New York, because of a massive chemical disaster occurring in what neighborhood, which had been built on the site of a chemical dumping ground?
Answer: Love Canal
- Which former U.S. Senator and Wisconsin governor was responsible for starting Earth Day in 1970?
Answer: Gaylord Nelson
- The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (the precursor to the Clean Water Act), the first major law in the U.S. to deal with water pollution, came into being in what year?
Answer: 1948
- In 1983, the UN created the World Commission on Environment and Development, also known by what other name?
Answer: The Brundtland Commission
- What billionaire cofounder of PayPal was refused permission to build a bunker-like lodge in a remote area on New Zealand's South Island, after the local council decided it would impact the environment too much?
Answer: Peter Thiel
- What is the country with the highest biodiversity that is found entirely in the southern hemisphere?
Answer: Australia
- Stemming from its early Spanish name meaning “River of the Wild Sheep,” the 698-mile-long Cimarron River stretches across four U.S. states: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and what fourth state that’s sandwiched between Nebraska and Oklahoma?
Answer: Arkansas
- Naturalist John Muir was the first president of what environmental organization founded in 1892?
Answer: Sierra Club
- To keep everyone in different countries on the same page, energy efficiency in transportation is measured in meters per what precious unit of energy named for an English physicist? And don't just pop down one letter.
Answer: Joules
- What colorful two-word term is used to describe fixed-income securities that fund projects designed to help the environment, such as solar energy or sustainable water management?
Answer: Green bonds
- The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions created by human activity is better known by what two-word term which originated from a concept conceived by environmentalists William E. Rees and Dr. Mathis Wackernagel during the 1990s?
Answer: Carbon footprint
- A certain author's 1957 research trip to Florence, Oregon began as an attempt to write an article on environmental efforts to use grasses to slow the spread of beach sands. Though article was never written, the trip did inspire what appropriately-named 1965 science fiction novel?
Answer: Dune
- The trash heap known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" exists inside the NPG, a system of circulating ocean currents. "N" and "P" stand for "North Pacific"; what word is represented by the "G?"
Answer: Gyre
- Spanning more than 1,800 miles, the World Solar Challenge is an every-other-year car race for solar-powered vehicles across what country?
Answer: Australia
- What A-word describes the process of growing plants, such as cannabis, in an air-based environment, independent of soil?
Answer: Aeroponics
- Green biotechnology refers to biotechnology used in the environmental sector, whereas what color is used to describe biotechnology used in the medical and pharma field?
Answer: Red
- What effect, created by the rotation of the Earth, deflects winds to the east in both the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere
Answer: Coriolis Effect
- Which E-term describes an organism that gets heat from its environment (as opposed to one that creates heat for itself)?
Answer: Ectotherm
- Because it features a shape that resembles a traditionally woven "skep," the Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings is often referred to by what name?
Answer: The Beehive
- Drosophila is a genus of what type of winged animal which lives in rural and urban environments all around the world? One of the more than 1,000 species plays an ongoing critical role as a common model organism in reproduction and genetics research.
Answer: Fly
- In 2000, the UN established a set of international Development Goals with aims of achieving them by 2015. Examples include "eradicate extreme poverty and hunger" and "ensure environmental sustainability." How many goals were there in this set?
Answer: Eight
- Environmental superhero Captain Planet is produced by the combination of the powers of wind, water, earth, fire, and what fifth "element" one might need to pursue environmental change in the world?
Answer: Heart
- What controversial structure, built along China's Yangtze River, became the world's largest power station in 2012 and is also the world's largest concrete structure?
Answer: Three Gorges Dam
- The acronym CAT refers to what kind of market-based emissions reduction program, where polluters must buy credits if they want to increase their emissions?
Answer: Cap and trade
- What Ohio town was the location of a major 2023 train derailment, which released 100,000 gallons of toxic materials like vinyl chloride?
Answer: East Palestine
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes a "red list" of what?
Answer: Threatened species
- Having the title as the world’s oldest rainforest at 180 million years old, the Daintree rainforest is found in which country?
Answer: Australia
- What biome is also known as the boreal forest or snow forest? The biome is identifiable through its coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. Although sparsely populated compared to other biomes, it is the world's largest apart from the oceans. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska.
Answer: Taiga
- What word beginning with the letter “N” is a very small pellet of plastic used as raw material in plastic manufacturing? Its small size makes it very easy to enter and then pollute various bodies of water.
Answer: Nurdle
- In 2015, the European Union passed legislation to require that appliance manufacturers declare the intended lifespan of products. What two-word "P.O." consumer and environmental protection issue was the EU trying to address?
Answer: Planned obsolescence
- What's the term for the process in which organisms that aren't closely related still independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches?
Answer: Convergent evolution
- What French word, which might look like a type of dog or general term for an area of land, is defined as "the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate?"
Answer: Terroir
- What avian environmental ally of Smokey Bear advises Americans: "Give a Hoot—Don't Pollute!"
Answer: Woodsy Owl
- What "R" term, coined by members of the activist group Earth First!, refers to the practice of conserving habitats by returning them to their original, natural state?
Answer: Rewilding
- On March 15, 2023, the entire length of the Vjosa River was declared a national park, thus becoming the first wild-river national park on earth. What Balkan country took this environmentally farsighted step?
Answer: Albania
- In the 2010s, the size of photovoltaic power stations to generate and store solar energy has increased dramatically. Back in 2012, the largest project to-date was completed in Arizona and had a capacity of 247 MegaWatts. Only eight years later, there are now two power stations with capacity for more than 2,000 MegaWatts each, both of which are located in what country?
Answer: India
- What endorheic lake in Central Asia, once the fourth largest in the world, dwindled to 10% of its former size by the early 21st century?
Answer: Aral Sea
- Solar energy inventor and pioneer Frank Shuman wrote the following in the New York Times in what decade? "We have proved ... that after our stores of oil and coal are exhausted the human race can receive unlimited power from the rays of the Sun."
Answer: 1910s
- What's the scientific term for the organisms more commonly known as "air plants," which grow on the surface of other plants and derive moisture and nutrients from the surrounding environment?
Answer: Epiphytes
- Also called “lab-grown” meat or “cultured” meat, what “meat of the future” with a potentially lower carbon footprint than traditional meat uses cells from a live animal to grow meat in a lab rather than slaughtering and butchering?
Answer: Cultivated
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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