Self-study
Mayor: Our city faces a difficult environmental problem caused by the enormous amount of garbage that we must dispose of. ████████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ █████████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ███████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why would new recycling projects be counterprodutive to the goal of minimizing environmental damage, even though the high amount of garbage produced by the city causes environmental damage and the recycling projects would reduce the amount of garbage?
Objective
The correct answer will suggest some way that new recycling projects could lead to more overall environmental damage than forgoing those recycling projects. Perhaps, for example, new recycling projects end up harming the environment in other ways, even if they help by reducing the amount of garbage.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ █████ ███ █████████ █████████
a
The vehicles that ████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████ ██████████
We don’t know whether incineration is part of the new recycling projects. But even if it were, (A) suggests incineration could produce less environmental damage than the current recycling method. So, we’d still expect new recycling projects to produce less overall damage.
b
The great costs ██ ███ █████████ ████████ █████ ███████ █████ ██████████████████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████████
Other pollution-reducing projects might reduce damage even more than the new recycling projects. If the new recycling projects prevent us from doing those other projects, this could be why the new recycling projects would be counterproductive.
c
The mayor's city ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
Is incineration a new recycling project? If it isn’t, it has no clear impact. If it is, then the lack of landfill space suggests incineration could be good for the environment. (C) doesn’t tell us something potentially negative about the new recycling projects.
d
More recycling would ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██████████
If anything, this answer suggests another benefit of new recycling projects. That doesn’t help explain why new recyling projects could lead to more overall environmental damage.
e
People who recycle ████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ████████
If anything, this suggests another benefit of new recycling projects. If we can get people to recycle, they might not use as many resources, which might be good for the environment. This doesn’t help explain why new recycling projects could lead to more environmental damage.