Reading Comprehension

PT23 · S4 · P3 · Q18 Environmental Alarmists

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The debate over the environmental crisis is not new; anxiety about industry’s impact on the environment has existed for over a century.

https://assets.lsatlab.com/uploads/2022/04/pt23-p4.mp4

Topic

The changing attitudes toward the environmental crisis and how views on industry’s impact on nature have shifted and polarized over time.

Framework

Old / New

Main Point

The debate on environmental issues has become much more polarized compared to the past, largely due to a shift in the way people perceive nature and humanity's role in relation to it. (Most Valuable Sentence: P1, )

P1: Introduction – The Rise of Polarization

A century ago, there was concern about environmental damage, but today the debate is way more polarized, with environmentalists and industry at odds, making productive cooperation even harder.

P2: Contrast with the Past

Back in the day, people like George Marsh could harshly criticize environmental destruction and still be taken seriously—nobody felt the need to aggressively defend industry or deny environmental harms.

18.

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

providing examples of possible solutions
No Solution
As we mentioned in our anticipation, this could be called a Problem / Solution type passage, but the author never delivered a solution. It was really just calling out the problem and informing the reader about how it came to pass / how it differs from before.
2% picked this
explaining how conflicting viewpoints in
Too Strong: equally valid
The author is presenting viewpoints of industrialists and environmentalists, but this is not an even-handed comparison. She doesn't like the new environmentalists. The author resents the alarmism and antagonism of where the environmental movement has gone. She is complimenting the environmentalists of the past for having done a better job of appreciating the interests of industry.
4% picked this
determining which of two conflicting
Weak Match
We could infer which of the two conflicting viewpoints (industry vs. environmentalists) the author thinks is more persuasive (not the new school environmentalists). She describes that new school perspective as gloomier, and a mystique. She definitely thinks it's less persuasive than Marsh's views. But this isn't anything like what we thought the big picture was, when we asked ourselves before being confused by the answers. We said Problem (w/o Solution) or Old / New. The author is telling a before / after story. A sad change from a better environmental movement to a worse one.
4% picked this
Correct
outlining the background and development
Why this is right
This edges out (C) because this reflects the Old / New big picture of the passage. The background/development (Old) leading up to the current (New). It's certainly not how we'd write our version of the correct answer, because we'd probably convey more of the idea that "one side of this current debate has evolved in a problematic way." But it's not-wrong, and that's good enough.
Skill tested: Primary Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
87% picked this
demonstrating weaknesses in the arguments
Out of Scope: demonstrating weaknesses
This answer sounds like we read a Challenge Position passage, which was not how we intuitively reacted to this passage or question stem. Like (C), the reader can infer some of the content of what this answer choice is talking about. By presenting us with the Old (seemingly superior) arguments made by Marsh and the New (gloomier / extremely polarized) arguments made by modern environmentalists, we could infer weaknesses in their arguments. But most of the passage is not applicable to this answer. It would only apply to paragraphs 4 and 5. Finally, most of the author's objections were more about tone and tactics of the new school environmentalists. There wasn't much deconstruction of arguments.
3% picked this

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