2022 CSAT — Q1
Passage
The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns. Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels. We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite. The close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed for human development to become truly sustainable. Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling and investing in public transport and infrastructure. But most developing countries are hampered by the high costs and low availability of clean energy sources. Developed countries need to support developing countries’ transition to sustainable human development.
Unsustainability in production pattern is due to which of the following?
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Heavy dependence on fossil fuels
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Limited availability of resources
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Expansion of recycling
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Thinking pathway
Locate. This is a locate-the-detail question: match each numbered item to the exact line. The passage names the cause of unsustainability: “Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels. We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite.” Then, separately, it names a remedy: “Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling.”
Test (cause-vs-remedy separation). Item 1 (fossil-fuel dependence) and item 2 (limited/finite resources) are both stated as why production is unsustainable. Item 3 (expansion of recycling) is introduced as a way to alleviate the problem — a remedy, the opposite of a cause.
Eliminate by anatomy. (c)/(d) seat item 3 — a cause-and-effect reversal: a remedy mistaken for a cause. (b) drops item 1, which the first sentence states explicitly. The transferable rule on “which causes?” items: a measure described as alleviating the problem can never be one of its causes. Key: (a).
Evidence in the text
“Current production models rely heavily on fossil fuels. We now know that this is unsustainable because the resources are finite.” — both 1 (fossil-fuel dependence) and 2 (finite/limited resources) are stated CAUSES of unsustainability. Recycling appears as a REMEDY, not a cause: “Some developed countries have begun to alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling” → item 3 is out of scope as a cause → (a).
Worked rationale
The passage attributes unsustainability to two things: heavy reliance on fossil fuels and the finitude of resources. Recycling is presented as a corrective (“alleviate the worst effects by expanding recycling”), not a driver.
Items 1 and 2 are causes; item 3 is a remedy. Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only.
Why the other options miss
- B half right, half wrong: keeps the finite-resources cause but drops the explicitly-stated fossil-fuel dependence.
- C cause and effect reversed: treats recycling (a stated remedy) as a cause, and drops the finite-resources cause.
- D adds the remedy (item 3) to the two genuine causes.
Specialist insight
The single discriminator is the cause/remedy line. The passage’s structure is problem → remedy: fossil fuels + finite resources cause unsustainability; recycling and public-transport investment alleviate it. Any option that pulls a remedy across into the cause column is wrong. Read the verb: “rely heavily / because finite” (cause) vs “alleviate by expanding recycling” (remedy). (a).
Recycling is the passage's remedy, not a cause — so it cannot join fossil fuels and finite resources; the answer is (a).