The debate over the environment crisis is not new: anxiety

Question

The debate over the environment crisis is not new: anxiety about industry’s impact on the environment has existed for over a century. What is new is the extreme polarization of views. Mounting evidence of humanity’s capacity to damage the environment irreversibly coupled with suspicions that government, industry, and even science might be impotent to prevent environmental destruction have provoked accusatory polemics on the part of environmentalists. In turn, these polemics have elicited a corresponding backlash (a strong adverse reaction (as to a recent political or social development)) from industry. The sad effect of this polarization is that it is now even more difficult for industry than it was a hundred years ago to respond appropriately to impact analyses that demand action.

Unlike today’s adversaries, earlier ecological reformers shared with advocates of industrial growth a confidence in timely corrective action. George P. Marsh’s pioneering conservation tract Man and Nature (1864) elicited wide acclaim without embittered denials. Man and Nature castigated Earth’s despoilers for heedless greed, declaring that humanity “has brought the face of the Earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the Moon.” But no entrepreneur of industrialists sought to refute Marsh’s accusations, to defend the gutting (to destroy the essential power or effectiveness of “inflation gutting the economy” of forests or the slaughter of wildlife as economically essential, or to dismiss his ecological warnings as hysterical. To the contrary, they generally agreed with him.

Why? Marsh and his followers took environmental improvement and economic progress as givens: they disputed not the desirability of conquering nature but the bungling way in which the conquest was carried out. Blame was not personalized (to make personal or individual; specifically: to mark as the property of a particular person “personalized stationery”), Marsh denounced general greed rather than particular entrepreneurs, and the media did not hound (underwrite: to pursue with or as if with hounds) malefactors. Further, corrective measures seemed to entail no sacrifice, to demand no draconian remedies. Self-interest underwrote (to guarantee financial support of) most prescribed reforms. Marsh’s emphasis on future stewardship (the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care “stewardship of our natural resources”) was then a widely accepted ideal (if not practice). His ecological admonitions were in keeping with the Enlightenment premise that humanity’s mission was to subdue and transform nature.

Not until the 1960s did a gloomier perspective gain popular ground. Fredric Clements’ equilibrium model of ecology, developed in the 1930s, seemed consistent with mounting environmental disasters. In this view, nature was most fruitful when least altered. Left undisturbed, flora and fauna gradually attained maximum diversity and stability. Despoliation thwarted the culmination or shortened the duration of this beneficent climax: technology did not improve nature but destroyed it.

The equilibrium model became an  ecological mystique : environmental interference was now taboo, wilderness adored. Nature as unfinished fabric perfected by human ingenuity gave way to the image nature debased and endangered by technology. In contrast to the Enlightenment vision of nature, according to which rational managers construct an ever more improved environment, twentieth-century reformers’ vision of nature calls for a reduction of human interference in order to restore environmental stability.   1 
 1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage?

(A) Mounting evidence of humanity’s capacity to damage the environment should motivate action to prevent further damage.
(B) The ecological mystique identified with Frederic Clements has become a religious conviction among ecological reformers.
(C) George P. Marsh’s ideas about conservation and stewardship have heavily influenced the present debate over the environment.
(D) The views of ecologists and industrial growth advocates concerning the environment have only recently become polarized. 
(E) General greed, rather than particular individuals or industries, should be blamed for the environmental crisis.

2 
 2. The author refers to the equilibrium model of ecology as an “ecological mystique” ( Highlighted ) most likely in order to do which one of the following?

(A) underscore the fervor with which twentieth-century reformers adhere to the equilibrium model
(B) point out that the equilibrium model of ecology has recently been supported by empirical scientific research 
(C) express appreciation for how plants and animals attain maximum diversity and stability when left alone
(D) indicate that the idea of twentieth-century ecological reformers are often so theoretical as to be difficult to understand
(E) indicate how widespread support is for the equilibrium model of ecology in the scientific community

3 
 3. Which one of the following practices is most clearly an application of Frederic Clements’ equilibrium model of ecology?

(A) introducing a species into an environment to which it is not help control the spread of another species that no longer has any natural predators
(B) developing incentives for industries to take corrective measures to protect the environment
(C) using scientific methods to increase the stability of plants and animals in areas where species are in danger of becoming extinct
(D) using technology to develop plant and animal resources but balancing that development with stringent restrictions on technology
(E) setting areas of land aside to be maintained as wilderness from which the use of extraction of natural resources is prohibited

4 
 4. The passage suggests that George P. Marsh and today’s ecological reformers would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Regulating industries in order to protect the environment does not conflict with the self interest of those industries.
(B) Solving the environmental crisis does not require drastic and costly remedies.
(C) Human despoliation of the Earth has caused widespread environmental damage. 
(D) Environmental improvement and economic progress are equally important goals.
(E) Rather than blaming specific industries, general greed should be denounced as the cause of environmental destruction.

5 
 5. The passage is primarily concerned with which one of the following?

(A) providing examples of possible solutions to a current crisis
(B) explaining how conflicting viewpoints in a current debate are equally valid
(C) determining which of two conflicting viewpoints in a current debate is more persuasive
(D) outlining the background and development of conflicting viewpoints in a current debate 
(E) demonstrating weaknesses in the arguments made by one side in a current debate

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

2. The author refers to the equilibrium model of ecology as an “ecological mystique” (Highlighted) most likely in order to do which one of the following?

Read these lines from the passage

"The equilibrium model became an ecological   mystique  : environmental interference was now   taboo, wilderness adored  "

Even if you didn't read the full passage but only these two lines you can know that something negative or mysterious happened about equilibrium model.

Now read answer choices A Vs E

(A)     underscore the fervor    with which twentieth-century reformers    adhere to the equilibrium model    - This option indicates that something mysterious is happens about equilibrium model

(E)  indicate how    widespread support    is for the equilibrium model of ecology in the scientific community. This option is weak as it doesnt support any negative or mysterious thing with equilibrium Model.

Answer: A

TheNightKing · Answer

1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage?

(A) Mounting evidence of humanity’s capacity to damage the environment should motivate action to prevent further damage.
(B) The ecological mystique identified with Frederic Clements has become a religious conviction among ecological reformers.
(C) George P. Marsh’s ideas about conservation and stewardship have heavily influenced the present debate over the environment.
(D) The views of ecologists and industrial growth advocates concerning the environment have only recently become polarized. -  True. Because if you understand the logical structure of the passage the author first provides an introduction, then goes back in the history and provides example and then comes back to recent times and mentions evenironment damage as a concern. This is best described here. 
(E) General greed, rather than particular individuals or industries, should be blamed for the environmental crisis.

2. The author refers to the equilibrium model of ecology as an “ecological mystique” ( Highlighted ) most likely in order to do which one of the following?

(A) underscore the fervor with which twentieth-century reformers adhere to the equilibrium model -  If you get the gist of last two paragraphs when the author mentions the model then the only reason author brings up mystique is to provide recent support by reformers to this model. 
(B) point out that the equilibrium model of ecology has recently been supported by empirical scientific research 
(C) express appreciation for how plants and animals attain maximum diversity and stability when left alone
(D) indicate that the idea of twentieth-century ecological reformers are often so theoretical as to be difficult to understand
(E) indicate how widespread support is for the equilibrium model of ecology in the scientific community

3. Which one of the following practices is most clearly an application of Frederic Clements’ equilibrium model of ecology?

(A) introducing a species into an environment to which it is not help control the spread of another species that no longer has any natural predators
(B) developing incentives for industries to take corrective measures to protect the environment
(C) using scientific methods to increase the stability of plants and animals in areas where species are in danger of becoming extinct
(D) using technology to develop plant and animal resources but balancing that development with stringent restrictions on technology
(E) setting areas of land aside to be maintained as wilderness from which the use of extraction of natural resources is prohibited -  This was fairly easy one. The author mentions the FC will agree with the fact that nature should be best left untouched.

4. The passage suggests that George P. Marsh and today’s ecological reformers would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Regulating industries in order to protect the environment does not conflict with the self interest of those industries.
(B) Solving the environmental crisis does not require drastic and costly remedies.
(C) Human despoliation of the Earth has caused widespread environmental damage. -  Though I did not get this question right. But I guess at the high level both the reformers and GPM will agree to this. I did not find explicit support for this and marked D. 
(D) Environmental improvement and economic progress are equally important goals.
(E) Rather than blaming specific industries, general greed should be denounced as the cause of environmental destruction.

5. The passage is primarily concerned with which one of the following?

(A) providing examples of possible solutions to a current crisis
(B) explaining how conflicting viewpoints in a current debate are equally valid
(C) determining which of two conflicting viewpoints in a current debate is more persuasive
(D) outlining the background and development of conflicting viewpoints in a current debate  Somewhat related to the question 1. If you understood the flow of the passage then this is fairly straight forward choice. 
(E) demonstrating weaknesses in the arguments made by one side in a current debate

Sorry for not providing explanations for each option for each question.

Thank you!

dushyanta · Answer

--> But no entrepreneur of industrialists sought to refute Marsh’s accusations <Seems Entrepreneurs are Ok with Marsh's views, 
 --> In turn, these polemics have elicited a corresponding backlash (a strong adverse reaction (as to a recent political or social development)) from industry. 
 --> Earlier reformers - Further, corrective measures seemed to entail no sacrifice, to demand no draconian remedies. 
 --> Later reformers - Left undisturbed, flora and fauna gradually attained maximum diversity and stability.

The passage suggests that George P. Marsh and today’s ecological reformers would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Regulating industries in order to protect the environment does not conflict with the self interest of those industries.
 Not explicitly mention but as from the jest maybe earlier reformers agree with this but not current. Can't say - Still keep it as Contender 
(B) Solving the environmental crisis does not require drastic and costly remedies.
 Earlier reformers agree with this but not current ones 
(C) Human despoliation of the Earth has caused widespread environmental damage.
 Yea.. both of them would agree that there is an environment despoliation by humans - Contender 
(D) Environmental improvement and economic progress are equally important goals.
 Earlier reformers may agree but not current ones 
(E) Rather than blaming specific industries, general greed should be denounced as the cause of environmental destruction.
 This is also what earlier reformers would have agreed but not later one

I believe these questions could be answered well when u cross off the answer choices that appear to be incorrect
Between A & E -- E appears to be explicitly provided

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

4. The passage suggests that George P. Marsh and today’s ecological reformers would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

Explanation

What would Marsh and today’s reformers agree on? Well, remember, although Marsh had a different overall philosophy than current reformers, he did consider the environmental damage caused by industry to be a serious problem, and one worthy of attention. Even though he essentially supported the philosophy of industry, he did believe that industry was doing a bad job of harnessing the resources of the earth, and was thus  “despoiling”  the planet in the name of greed. The same concept is used to describe the current reformers’ position in  Para 4 :  “Despoliation thwarted the culmination or shortened the duration of this beneficent climax . . .”  Both Marsh and the current reformers, then, feel that human despoliation has caused damage to the environment— choice (C).

(A)  Marsh probably agrees with  (A) , as he believed that reforms would spring from industry’s natural self-interests. But we have no way of knowing how today’s reformers would feel about how regulation would impact on industry’s self-interest; this topic is never discussed in light of the current reformers.

(B) , like  (A) , this is an explicit notion of Marsh’s as detailed in the  third para . But as for current reformers, we don’t even know if they believe that a solution is possible; in fact, a more pessimistic outlook is hinted at in the  1st and 4th paras . We know that they think a  “hands off”  approach is best; but to say that they believe that solving the environmental crisis won’t be difficult and costly is going a bit too far given the information presented.

(D)  is a little extreme for either side. While we may reasonably infer that Marsh, in his proindustry stance, may have placed economic priorities on equal footing with environmental concerns, we have no actual evidence that he believed these concerns to be equal. The current reformers would seem even less likely to consider economic growth to be as important as environmental improvement, but again, we’re given no hard data on this comparison. All in all, then, there’s no way we can say that the two groups would agree on this issue.

(E) , like  (A) and (B) , comes right out of the philosophy of Marsh, but it concerns an issue that we can only guess about as to the reformers’ opinion (and if we did propose to guess, our guess would be that the reformers would not agree with Marsh on this point anyway).

Answer: C

Hope it helps

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Passage Summary

We might expect the author to follow up on her opinion expressed at the end of the  first paragraph , but essentially she doesn’t. The rest of the passage deals mostly with the history of the debate, and is not directly about how solving the problem is harder now than in the past. So while this passage promises at one point to take on an opinionated tone, it is for the most part descriptive.

• When a debate is introduced, strive to determine where the author stands on the issue, if he or she even takes a stand. Here, the author doesn’t explicitly take sides, but does state that the extreme nature of the debate itself, the  “polarization”  she refers to, will make it harder for industry to respond to a situation that  “demands action.”  Although we may expect a stronger opinion on the debate itself, her main concern is how and when this polarization evolved.

• Learn to recognize time clues and to understand what they tell us regarding the author’s concerns. In the first sentence, the author says that a current debate is not new. She then goes on to speak about the nature of the debate in the 1860’s, and then jumps to the debate in the 1960’s. All of this strongly suggests that the author’s purpose is to describe an historical development, a notion that helps bag a few questions directly.

• Think ahead as you read, and always pay careful attention to structural signals. The word  “Why?”  as the first word of  paragraph 3  can only mean one thing: The author in this paragraph is going to explain the phenomenon of the previous paragraph, namely, why there was no apparent conflict in the late nineteenth century between environmental reformers like Marsh and the leaders of industry. Anticipating the author’s next move and using structural signals can help you to incorporate each paragraph's into the gist of the unfolding story.

Source: Kaplan LSAT

MPRS22 · Answer

I am not so sure about the term "recent" in question 1. If this piece were written in 1980 then relative to the 1960 the debate is recent, if in 2021, not so recent

Bunuel   VeritasKarishma   egmat   GMATNinja

MBAB123 · Answer

MPRS22 , you don't need to know when this piece was written. You need to answer the question in context to the passage. The idea of the passage is that the polarisation is new. You will hardly ever be given info on when the RC passage is written. And if we were going by actual years, then the term recent becomes highly relative. So it's best to go by what the passage is saying. I'm quoting a piece from the first para which has the answer - "What is new is the extreme polarization of views . Mounting evidence of humanity’s capacity to damage the environment irreversibly coupled with suspicions that government, industry, and even science might be impotent to prevent environmental destruction have provoked accusatory polemics on the part of environmentalists." Hope this helps!

KarishmaB · Answer

When you are given a piece for analysis, you should assume that the author just wrote it (or is saying it to you) until and unless it is mentioned otherwise such as "As per this letter written by X in 1994, ...."

When I read, I imagine the author speaking the words to me. Helps me keep in mind the author's perspective, the perspective of the people he mentions and what I think about it all.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The debate over the environment crisis is not new: anxiety

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The debate over the environment crisis is not new: anxiety

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