Self-study
Because dried peat moss, which is derived from sphagnum moss, contains no chemical additives and is a renewable resource, many gardeners use large amounts of it as a soil conditioner in the belief that the practice is environmentally sound. ████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███████████
Summary
The author concludes that the use of peat moss, which is made from sphagnum moss, is bad for the environment. This is because sphagnum moss produces large amounts of oxygen, and the peat moss industry is removing far more sphagnum moss than it can replace.
Notable Assumptions
The author’s only supporting evidence for the conclusion that peat moss is bad for the environment is that its creation is removing oxygen from the atmosphere. The author is assuming that this removal of oxygen is bad for the environment, so we’re looking for a principle that explicitly states this rule:
Removing oxygen from the atmosphere is bad for the environment.
12.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████████
a
Using a product ███ ██ ███████████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████
We know that peat moss is renewable and contains no additives, but (A) only tells us it might be bad for the environment. We’re looking for an answer that tells us it must be bad for the environment, so (A) is too weak.
b
A practice is ███ ███████████████ █████ ██ ██ █████████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████████
We know that using peat moss significantly reduces the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. (B) confirms that these practices are indeed bad for the environment, which proves the conclusion.
c
A practice is ███████████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████
Wrong trigger and wrong conclusion. We have no clue how the use of peat moss affects rain forests, and we also want to prove that it’s bad for the environment, not that it’s good.
d
If the environmental ████████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████████████ ██████
Wrong trigger and wrong conclusion. The argument’s conclusion is about the environmental effects of peat moss, so that’s not information we can use to activate this conditional statement. We also want to prove that peat moss is bad for the environment, not that it’s good.
e
If the practices ██ ██ ████████ ████████ █ █████ █████████ █████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████
Wrong conclusion. We aren’t trying to prove that peat moss should be banned, just that it’s bad for the environment.