Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

204 practice makes perfect Advanced English Reading and Comprehension

1. Renewable resources cannot be consumed faster than they can be regenerated.


2. Nonrenewable resources cannot be used up faster than they can be replaced by a renewable
   resource.


3. Pollution cannot exceed the environment’s capacity to absorb waste or to render it harmless.
   In practical terms, sustainability means limiting human reproduction to two children per couple,
   reducing consumption rates in aluent countries so that poorer countries can have a fair share,
   and bringing human activity into balance with the environment.
   10 Sustainability does not mean, as many naysayers and critics would argue, zero growth, eco-
   nomic paralysis or stagnation, rigid political control, cultural uniformity, or the end of democ-
   racy. It does mean responsible management of resources, long-term planning, and a more equi-
   table redistribution of food, services, and capital so that everyone has enough to live comfortably
   and with dignity.
   11 Whereas technology can be of great service in protecting land and soil, reducing pollution,
   and making more eicient use of resources, real change can come about only with a change in
   people’s hearts and minds. A new ideology is in order: one that values human well-being above
   wealth, favors long-term development over short-term growth, satisies social and spiritual needs
   before material wants, and ensures that people do not take more from the earth than it can give.
   12 Since its irst publication, he Limits to Growth has held its ground. In 2008, the Australian
   Commonwealth Scientiic and Industrial Research Organization revisited he Limits to Growth’s
   scenarios and compared 30 years of historical data to its World3 scenarios. heir indings con-
   irmed that “the global system is on an unsustainable trajectory unless there is substantial and
   rapid reduction in consumptive behavior, in combination with technological progress.” It is cru-
   cial, therefore, that we ask ourselves: do we stand on the sidelines, gazing helplessly at a horse and
   a train on a collision course, or do we take our lives and the future of our children into our hands
   and set a new direction?

After reading

In the Pre-reading section, check to see if your predictions about the reading text were correct.

Vocabulary

15 · 1

EXERCISE

Thematic vocabulary List 10 words or phrases related to the negative

consequences of unlimited growth.