Mark: Plastic‐foam cups, which

Answer choices

1. A

   Weak Impact9% picked this

   how soon each of the kinds of harm cited by Mark and Tina would be likely to be

   If we knew that X would be at its maximum level of harm in 20 years but Y would be at its maximum level of harm in 50 years, does that tell us which one to pick? Not really, because we need to also know whether the max level of harm is comparable. If X involves 100 units of harm but comes in 20 years, that still might be better than Y, if Y involves 500 units of harm but doesn't reach that for 50 years.

   9%
2. B

   No Impact: comparing societies1% picked this

   whether members of some societies use, on average, more disposable goods than do members

   This is helping us rank one society vs. another, in terms of who uses more disposable goods. But we're trying to decide whether plastic cups are a better/worse disposable good than paper cups. This answer has nothing to do with helping us decide on whether plastic or paper is the better route to go.

   1%
3. C

   No Impact: third alternative14% picked this

   whether it is necessary to seek a third alternative that has none of the negative consequences cited with

   The issue being debated is whether "paper cups are preferable" vs. "plastic is the better choice". It's a head to head battle for which is better. We're not fighting over which one is the best, so if there's some third option that is better than both plastic and paper, that won't pick a winner in this dispute. That would just mean that they're both wrong to be arguing for paper or plastic.

   14%
4. D

   Correct75% picked this

   how much of the chains of causation involved in the production, marketing, and disposal of the products should be considered

   Why this is right

   This is a pretty miserable answer, but it seems to be the best available. Both authors brought up factors about plastic and paper cups that related to their production and disposal. In analyzing the environmental impact of paper cups, should we consider that the production process is worse? (it involves more steam, electricity, petroleum, and water) Should we consider that styrene is a bad by-product of the foam cup production process? Should we be considering the fact that paper cups degrade into methane or that foam cups contain CFC's? Answer the question posed by this answer would by no means settle the issue, because even once we decide which factors to consider, we would still need to weigh them against each other. But answering this question is at least relevant to the debate over plastic vs. paper. The only other answer that can boast relevance is (A), but answering the question in (A) would be less helpful overall in moving the debate forward than would answering this question. Ultimately, this problem from Ye Olde Test 13 seems weird enough to me that it's probably better to "let it go" than to try to derive a usable takeaway, because that latter thing probably doesn't exist.

   Skill tested: Evaluate · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   75%
5. E

   No Impact1% picked this

   whether paper and foam cups, in their most popular sizes, hold the same

   It doesn't make any difference whether the most popular sizes of paper cups vs. foam cups are identical capacity or somewhat different capacities. Knowing "same" vs. "not-same" is not going to help us decide whether to go with paper or foam.

   1%