192 Environment Trivia Questions (Ranked from Easiest to Hardest)

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!

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192 Environment Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2025)

1. Though it's not as sinister as its name suggests, the eastern hellbender is the largest kind of what 10-letter “S” amphibian within the Americas, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute?

Answer: Salamander

2. Which color certificate is a tradable commodity that can be “earned” for generating renewable energy?

Answer: Green

3. 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

4. Founded in 1946, the IWC is an international organization that aims to "provide for the proper conservation" of what kind of marine mammal which includes the baleen and rorqual families?

Answer: Whales

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. By the end of 2025, a Dutch company is hoping to start production on the first affordable solar-powered car on the market. What is the car manufacturer's name, the same as the surname of a character from "Toy Story"?

Answer: Lightyear

11. In 2010, what feline-named shoe company collaborated with Swiss designer Yves Béhar and fuseproject to ditch their traditional red shoeboxes for eco-friendly “Clever Little Bag(s)?”

Answer: PUMA

12. Looking more like quinoa than anything in an artichoke, the shelled seeds of a hemp plant are known by the name of what pump-y organ?

Answer: Heart

13. A major potential in efforts to engineer environmental sustainability is attempts to breed bacteria that can eat what polymer-based materials that are difficult to recycle?

Answer: Plastic

14. For her contributions to environmental conservation and women’s rights, Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win which prestigious international award in 2004?

Answer: Nobel Peace Prize

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. January 1, 1970 is known as what term, beginning with the letter E, that is the date from which time is measured in Unix environments?

Answer: Epoch

20. In which Japanese city, whose name is an anagram of Japan’s capital, was an international treaty signed in 1997 relating to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?

Answer: Kyoto

21. What is the three-letter acronym of the international organization established in 1961 whose purpose is environmentalism and conservation? This organization’s logo includes a depiction of a species of bear found in Asia.

Answer: WWF

22. 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

23. The Mobius strip was the inspiration for a universal symbol first created in 1970 and composed of 3 arrows in a roughly triangular shape. This symbol stands for what action?

Answer: Recycling

24. During the 1996 and 2000 U.S. presidential elections, economist and Native environmental advocate Winona LaDuke accompanied Ralph Nader on what colorful political party’s ticket?

Answer: Green Party

25. In 1903, Mary Anderson received a patent for an invention that cleaned precipitation and debris. Her initial version was controlled by a handle inside a vehicle. Her invention was widespread within 15 years. By what alliterative name do we know Mary's invention?

Answer: Windshield wipers

26. 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

27. What President created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? The agency officially opened on December 2, 1970.

Answer: Richard Nixon

28. 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

29. By what process do cyanobacteria, a species of bacteria ubiquitous in marine environments, obtain energy? Some species can produce powerful toxins, called cyanotoxins, that can harm people and animals.

Answer: Photosynthesis

30. Mycelium is a light-weight biodegradable packaging that’s made of what forest-fun organism?

Answer: Mushrooms

31. In 2012, Mexico added a clause to its national constitution guaranteeing a right to what vital resource? It also passed a new law to implement the constitutional provision.

Answer: Water

32. 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

33. The Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie was the first person to use solar power to cross what body of water in 1996?

Answer: Pacific Ocean

34. Eventually ordered removed by Reagan, solar panels were installed on the White House roof in the 1970s by which president?

Answer: Jimmy Carter

35. 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

36. 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

37. In the summer of 1969, a fire in which river in Cleveland brought more awareness to the environmental threat of pollution?

Answer: Cuyahoga

38. The infamous "hole" in the ozone layer, nearly nine million square miles in size, lies mostly over what continent?

Answer: Antarctica

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

42. Spread out about 200km north of Jodhpur, the massive Badhla Solar Park serves what country?

Answer: India

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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: Environmental Protection Agency

46. The two most abundant greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Coming in at third is what stanky main component of natural gas with the chemical formula CH4?

Answer: Methane

47. 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

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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

51. 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

52. In 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency permanently relocated 500 residents from Times Beach in what Midwestern state because of widespread dioxin contamination?

Answer: Missouri

53. We have Gaylord Nelson to thank for what national environmental observance, which he founded on April 22, 1970?

Answer: Earth Day

54. 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

55. 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

56. What is the process by which land becomes degraded and arid, and loses its flora, fauna, and bodies of water, because of climate change, overexploitation of resources, and drought?

Answer: Desertification

57. One of South America's largest, the Cauchari Solar Plant is located near the borders of Chile and Bolivia in the Jujuy province of what pampas-y nation?

Answer: Argentina

58. Every building in the Solar Settlement at Schlierberg runs on 100% solar energy. What Euro country is this clean-energy-conscious community found in?

Answer: Germany

59. 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

60. 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

61. 100% reusability, durability that isn't affected by repeated use or recycling, and a fast turnover time for recycling are reasons to choose what material for bottles?

Answer: Glass

62. What T-word describes a biome where tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons?

Answer: Tundra

63. What is the name of the biological phenomenon that allows certain living organisms, like fireflies, to emit light?

Answer: Bioluminescence

64. 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

65. What bustling K-word energy do wind turbines convert to electrical energy? (Hint: It’s the kind of energy that is created by wind)

Answer: Kinetic

66. 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

67. Unlike swamps, what kind of wetland habitat has primarily herbaceous vegetation?

Answer: Marsh

68. 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

69. 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

70. The Honest Company, a startup that 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

71. 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: Britain

72. Arsenic, benzene, and radon are a few examples of which type of cancer-causing substances in the environment?

Answer: Carcinogens

73. 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

74. “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson's landmark work of environmental writing, helped lead to a worldwide ban on what three-letter agricultural pesticide?

Answer: DDT

75. What’s the term for an organism that loves and thrives in an environment with a pH under 4?

Answer: Acidophile

76. What term is described as “the abrupt burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment”?

Answer: Backdraft

77. Most weather phenomena occur in what lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere, which begins at the surface and extends three to 11 miles above Earth, depending on latitude?

Answer: Troposphere

78. Starting in 2008, a fungal disease known as "White Nose Syndrome" has decimated North American populations of what mammals?

Answer: Bats

79. 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

80. 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)

81. Like the Impossible Burger, Walmart's Kindly bra line uses what sustainable general material?

Answer: Plants

82. The commonly used energy-efficiency certification, LEED, stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental what?

Answer: design

83. What country has the most cultivated land area in the world? Their major agricultural products include pulses, milk, jute, and rice.

Answer: India

84. Chlorofluorocarbons, often abbreviated as CFCs, the hydrocarbons known to deplete Earth’s ozone layer are often referred to by what “F” registered trademark of the DuPont Corporation, currently owned by the Chemours Company?

Answer: Freon

85. What “C” term refers to a reduction of a customer’s energy use based on personal changes in behavior, reducing the end use of energy service? It’s a word often used in terms of preserving natural land and aiding the environment.

Answer: Conservation

86. “QFs” make steam from the heat produced as waste by a process (e.g., manufacturing) that can be harnessed as an energy source (e.g., to power a wind turbine). What term describes the process QFs use?

Answer: Cogeneration

87. In 1995, environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped what Berlin building completely in plastic?

Answer: Reichstag

88. 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

89. 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

90. What Italian-derived word is defined as an area of calm seawater separated from the ocean by a line of rock or sand?

Answer: Lagoon

91. As of 2022, which country is the number one exporter of coal in the world?

Answer: Indonesia

92. 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

93. 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

94. 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

95. 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

96. 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

97. Sarek National Park was the first national park in Europe, established in 1909. In what country would you find Sarek National Park?

Answer: Sweden

98. What “A” term is defined as a body of rock or sediment that holds groundwater?

Answer: Aquifer

99. 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

100. 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

101. In a bid to move away from environmentally unfriendly petroleum, automakers like Toyota changed up the coating they used to cover the wires in their cars circuitry. The plan kind of backfired, however, when drivers started filing class action lawsuits claiming that the new coating was attracting rodents. What was the plant-based coating made of that apparently turned wires into a tasty tofu treat for mice?

Answer: Soybean

102. What term refers to commercial or industrial sites that are abandoned or underutilized and have real or perceived environmental contamination?

Answer: Brownfield

103. What term is used in HSEQ and means maintaining the working environment in a tidy manner so that, in particular, access and movement are not hindered?

Answer: Housekeeping

104. By what name is the process of rapidly multiplying plant material to produce many offspring plants, using in vitro division of small pieces of the parent plant in a sterile environment?

Answer: Micropropagation

105. 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

106. 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

107. Which former U.S. Senator and Wisconsin governor was responsible for starting Earth Day in 1970?

Answer: Gaylord Nelson

108. 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

109. In 1983, the UN created the World Commission on Environment and Development, also known by what other name?

Answer: The Brundtland Commission

110. What is the country with the highest biodiversity that is found entirely in the southern hemisphere?

Answer: Australia

111. 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

112. Naturalist John Muir was the first president of what environmental organization founded in 1892?

Answer: Sierra Club

113. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) is an environmental treaty "for the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory animals and their habitats." What German city is this convention named after?

Answer: Bonn

114. What is the proposed (although not yet formally adopted) term for the period of geologic time during which the natural processes of the Earth (such as climate) have been altered by human activity?

Answer: Anthropocene

115. What aquifer, which lies beneath 174,000 square miles of eight states extending from South Dakota down to western Texas, and provides almost all of the water for residential, industrial, and agricultural use in the High Plains region, is disappearing due to overuse?

Answer: Ogallala

116. Scientists are studying what apex predators, who have populations seven times greater in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone than in neighboring protected areas of Belarus, to see whether they have developed mutations that make them resistant to cancer?

Answer: Wolves

117. A major oil spill, caused by the sinking of the tanker Princess Empress, occurred in March 2023 off the coast of an island province in what nation?

Answer: Philippines

118. Although they may also be abundant in fresh waters, Actinomycetota are best known for being found in what environment, where they are vitally important to human life?

Answer: Soil

119. What oil company was responsible for the Deepwater Horizon spill, which dumped 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico during three months in 2010?

Answer: BP

120. Microsoft has recently instrumented their ServiceNow Environment with a Microsoft Monitor service with what name beginning with the letter A?

Answer: Azure

121. What term beginning with “B” is given to a group of plant species that reproduce via spores rather than flowers or seeds?

Answer: Bryophyte

122. Antarctica’s polar desert is regarded as the largest desert in the world. Where will you find the second largest?

Answer: Arctic Circle

123. Extinction is the word meaning global eradication of a species, but what word means eradication of a species in a given geographical region (also known as local extinction)?

Answer: Extirpation

124. What enormous propeller-equipped, air current-harvesting, “farm” structures can average about 320 feet tall, towering over the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: Wind turbines

125. On July 25, 2020, the Japanese ship Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef and leaked more than 7,400 barrels of oil into an environmentally sensitive lagoon on what island in the Indian Ocean?

Answer: Mauritius

126. Apayao Biosphere Reserve, one of eleven Biosphere Reserves designated by UNESCO in July 2024, is located in what island nation?

Answer: Philippines

127. The over-fishing of what large ocean mammal has downstream effects on the carbon cycle, since these enormous creatures carry a lot of carbon with them to the bottom of the sea when they die?

Answer: Whales

128. The Great Barrier Reef is about 2,300 square kilometers. In terms of area, you could say it’s about the size of Italy or, if you’re in America, about half the size of what Southern “Lone Star” state known for oil, BBQ, and the Wild West?

Answer: Texas

129. What gas used for pain management in surgery and dentistry is often listed with carbon dioxide and methane as one of the three biggest greenhouse gases contributing to climate change?

Answer: Nitrous oxide

130. Arkansas's Act 411 established an oversight committee for monitoring and potentially blacklisting financial institutions engaged in what three-letter type of green investing?

Answer: ESG

131. In 2021, a brand of aquarium moss sold at pet stores around the nation was revealed to contain what invasive species, which has wreaked havoc in the Great Lakes since the late 1980's?

Answer: Zebra Mussels

132. Harmful algae blooms found in coastal areas are often referred to by what two-word phrase, even though they can come in many colors?

Answer: Red Tide

133. The Paris Agreement, also called the “Paris Accords” or “Paris Climate Accords, was signed in 2016. Which Western nation withdrew from the international treaty on climate change in 2020, only to rejoin in 2021?

Answer: United States

134. Stretching from Djibouti to Dakar, the Great Green Wall is a development project to both plant trees and combat the spread of what big desert that keeps expanding further south?

Answer: Sahara

135. When “Wilderness and the American Mind” was published in 1967, it introduced the concept of “environment history” as part of its exploration of how humans feel about nature. Who was the author who coined the phrase?

Answer: Roderick Nash

136. Most water is rated around a 7 on the pH scale. If it's 5 or lower and is falling from the sky, it has high levels of hydrogen ions and is considered what phenomenon, known to cause soil weathering?

Answer: Acid rain

137. What state is home to Crotched Mountain, site of the world's first wind farm in 1980? Another mountain in this state is known for having the world's highest recorded wind speeds.

Answer: New Hampshire

138. Oh là là! Signed in 2016 by 195 countries, the international treaty on climate change that was negotiated at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference is named after what capital city?

Answer: Paris

139. "Pittsburgh Town," sometimes known as "Pittsburgh is a Great Old Town," was written by what Oklahoma native about the labor and environmental conditions in the city in the early 20th century?

Answer: Woody Guthrie

140. Between 1949 and 1957, Texas got 30 to 50% less rain than normal with above-average temperatures, leading to a period of what type of very dry weather event that devastated the state’s economy and environment?

Answer: Drought

141. Which American naturalist who left home at 17 to live in the Appalachian Mountains did author Elizabeth Gilbert write about in her 2002 book “The Last American Man?” He was also profiled in an episode of “This American Life.”

Answer: Eustace Conway

142. Set to begin shutting down in 2026, the Ivanpah Solar Plant is located between Las Vegas and Los Angeles in what large desert?

Answer: Mojave

143. After the last universally accepted sighting in 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally declared what large woodpecker to be extinct in 2021?

Answer: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

144. One of the largest environmental protests of the last decade occurred from 2016-2017 when "water protectors" from around the country joined residents of what reservation to protest the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline?

Answer: Standing Rock

145. What nature conservation organization was founded in the late 19th century by naturalist John Muir to advocate for preserving its namesake mountain range?

Answer: The Sierra Club

146. 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

147. 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: Joule

148. Mimosa pudica is better known as the “sensitive plant” because it shrinks away when what part of it is touched?

Answer: Leaves

149. 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

150. 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 the article was never written, the trip did inspire what appropriately-named 1965 science fiction novel?

Answer: Dune

151. 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

152. 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

153. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to 80% of the world's reserves of what element, number 27 on the periodic table, and essential to the manufacture of Lithium-ion batteries?

Answer: Cobalt

154. 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

155. What A-word describes the process of growing plants, such as cannabis, in an air-based environment, independent of soil?

Answer: Aeroponics

156. What 1962 book by marine biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson about the dangers of pesticides led to a national ban on DDT?

Answer: Silent Spring

157. 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

158. 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

159. Which E-term describes an organism that gets heat from its environment (as opposed to one that creates heat for itself)?

Answer: Ectotherm

160. We're positive! We can use the power of the sunlight down here on Earth, thanks in part to the fusion of what subatomic particle in the center of the Sun?

Answer: Proton

161. The three largest operational solar thermal power stations in the U.S. are Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, Solar Energy Generating Systems, and the Mojave Solar Project. Each of these is located in what state?

Answer: California

162. Which subfield of social work focuses on protecting kids from abuse and neglect and supporting families in providing a safe and caring home environment?

Answer: Child Welfare

163. In 1976, the town of Seveso in what country was the site of one of the world's worst industrial accidents when a chemical plant overheated, releasing a cloud of toxic fumes?

Answer: Italy

164. How many continents on Earth have no deserts?

Answer: One

165. What is the law first effective in 1918 that protects over 1,000 American bird species from being killed, pursued, sold, or collected without a government permit?

Answer: Migratory Bird Treaty Act

166. In 2007's “The Simpsons Movie," Abe Simpson interrupts a Sunday church service by shouting the three-letter initialism of what government agency that helps enforce the Safe Drinking Water Act?

Answer: EPA

167. 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

168. What "magician of iron" engineer designed the skeletal framework for the Statue of Liberty?

Answer: Gustav Eiffel

169. 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

170. 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

171. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes a "red list" of what? In 2023, the list will be published once on July 20th and again on December 7th.

Answer: Threatened species

172. Having the title as the world’s oldest rainforest at 180 million years old, the Daintree rainforest is found in which country?

Answer: Australia

173. During the 1960s-1980s, the United States government undertook a meteorological experiment called Project Stormfury, the goal of which was to weaken tropical storms by flying planes into them that would “seed” the clouds with which chemical compound (Agl on the periodic table of elements) that was supposed to supercool the water and freeze the cyclones?

Answer: Silver iodide

174. The Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions went into effect in 2005 as a result of the ratification of which European country which also has veto power on the UN Security Council?

Answer: Russia

175. What river in Cleveland, Ohio, was so polluted that it caught fire multiple times, most notably on June 22, 1969, when the fire caught the attention of the national press in the U.S.?

Answer: Cuyahoga

176. The Maori concept of "kaitiakitanga" refers to guardianship and protection of what key condition of life on Earth that’s celebrated through things like national parks and nature preserves, and campaigns to reduce negative effects on it by humans?

Answer: Environment

177. 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

178. "Doping” solar panels with what element, 31 on the periodic table and named for France, has been shown to increase their efficiency and slow degradation?

Answer: Gallium

179. 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

180. Abbreviated MCA, what 1980 act requires trucks to carry minimum insurance coverage to pay liability and environmental restoration claims resulting from accidents?

Answer: Motor Carrier Act

181. 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

182. 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

183. 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

184. What avian environmental ally of Smokey Bear advises Americans: "Give a Hoot--Don't Pollute!"

Answer: Woodsy Owl

185. 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

186. 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 two power stations with capacity for more than 2,000 MegaWatts each, both of which are found in what country?

Answer: India

187. Copepods are small marine crustaceans found in nearly every saltwater and freshwater environment. Somewhat uniquely, these organisms have three of what part of the eye?

Answer: Lens

188. What endorheic lake in Central Asia, once the fourth largest in the world, dwindled to ten percent of its former size by the early 21st century?

Answer: Aral Sea

189. 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

190. What term beginning with “C” is for the minute lines appearing in or near the surface of materials such as plastics, usually as a response to environment?

Answer: Crazing

191. What mathematical symbol that’s become synonymous with recyclable materials was created by graphic designer Gary Anderson in 1970 as his entry into a contest for Container Corporation of America’s environmental initiative?

Answer: Mobius loop

192. 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

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