PrepTest 146, Section 2, Question 23
Environmentalist: Efforts to attain an overall reduction in(50 more words not shown)
The environmentalist's argument requires assuming(5 more words not shown)
- AConvincing most people(25 more words not shown)
- BThe calculations needed(23 more words not shown)
- CEfforts to convince(26 more words not shown)
- DIt is easier(23 more words not shown)
- EPeople who are(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Cutting my driving from 500 miles a month to 250 could be a real reduction without being enough to solve a much larger problem. I can see the environmentalist's point about scale: even widespread changes in personal habits might leave major sources of carbon use untouched.
At first, I'm tempted to argue with 'only government policies' by wondering whether something else could create large changes. But the conclusion we need to examine is the first sentence: efforts focused on personal use cannot achieve the goal. The claim about government supplies a reason for that conclusion.
What we’re looking for
What if the personal campaign leads to government action? Getting people to care about their own fuel use could also make them pressure officials or support candidates who will change policy. The campaign could work indirectly even if the personal reductions are too small by themselves. For the required assumption, I'd look for the author to rule out that route.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This closes the indirect route: the personal-use campaign won't lead people to successfully pressure the government into adopting policies that reduce carbon use. Without that assumption, the campaign could help bring about the very kind of change the environmentalist says is necessary.
The author moves from 'personal behavior changes aren't enough' to 'efforts promoting those changes cannot achieve the goal.' Those are different claims. An effort can have effects beyond the behavior it initially asks people to change. A blocks the political effect that would undermine the argument's dismissal of the campaign.
- B
The argument grants that most people might change their behavior and says those changes still wouldn't produce enough reduction. It doesn't need the calculations to be too hard. People could work out how to reduce their fuel use quite easily, yet the resulting personal savings could still fall short of the required scale.
- C
It doesn't matter whether the campaigners also help frame government policy. A policymaker could encourage personal conservation while the environmentalist maintains that personal changes alone are insufficient. The argument doesn't require the two groups of people to be separate.
- D
Easier doesn't mean capable of achieving enough change. Even if changing government policy were much harder than persuading individuals, it could still be the only route to reductions on the required scale. No comparison of difficulty is necessary for the reasoning.
- E
This sounds plausible, and it resembles part of the political route we considered. But the author doesn't need environmentally concerned people to be more likely to support these candidates. That tendency could instead help explain how a personal campaign might lead to policy change. The required assumption is the barrier to that successful indirect route, not a general tendency that might help create it.
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