LSAT 115, Section 1, RC Passage 1, Industrial Ecosystem

RC Passage 1 Explanation

This is an explanation for passage 1 of LSAT preptest 31, the June 2000 LSAT. This passage is about a possible solution to resource shortages: developing an industrial ecosystem.

This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.

Paragraph Summaries

1. We can’t keep wasting and consuming natural resources at the rate we do now. The system will fail.
2. We need an alternative model: an industrial ecosystem.
3. In an industrial ecosystem waste gets reused, as in nature. We can see the transition beginning.
4. We can’t do this with current tech, but with effort we could get closer to the goal.

Analysis

This passage is arranged both as an argument and as a description of the solution. The first paragraph frightens us so that we’ll be willing to consider the radical changes the argument proposes.

Paragraphs 2-3 describe what industrial ecosystems would look like. It’s useful to think of what you know about nature (everything gets reused).

Note that the passage doesn’t say we should become poorer. Maybe we will become poorer (because of resource shortages), but the author never says so.

In fact, an industrial ecosystem sounds like an efficient process. Nothing gets wasted. We might well become richer.