Early Warning

Which statement best describes the central idea of the passage?

• Marsh’s experience growing up on a farm allowed him to witness firsthand how human demands on nature can lead to problems, and as an adult he wrote one of the first books about conservation.

• Marsh challenged the notion that nature can repair the damage people cause to it, but he also supported human-made modifications to nature that improve transportation and commerce.

• Marsh’s ideas about the environment were considered radical in his lifetime, but they later gained popularity during the environmental movement in the twentieth century.

• Marsh was a radical thinker who believed that people’s actions could dramatically affect nature, and his writings are considered foundational to the conservation movement.

Marsh believed that the people of his time caused harm to the environment because

• they assumed that future generations would solve any environmental problems.

• they thought industrial progress was more important than protecting nature

• they were unwilling to change farming and waste-disposal practices.

• they lacked knowledge of nature and natural processes.

What is the most likely reason the author uses the word “surprisingly” in paragraph 1?

• to argue that Marsh’s ideas are more applicable in the present than they were during his lifetime

• to show that Marsh introduced ideas a century before they became widely accepted

• to emphasize that Marsh was unaware that his ideas would help begin a conservation movement

• to prove that there would be fewer issues with the environment today if people had accepted Marsh’s ideas earlier

Which evidence supports the accuracy of Marsh’s theories about nature?

• the details about Marsh’s observations of environmental degradation

• the details about how Marsh’s writing inspired a conservation movement

• the details about how Marsh’s ideas are essential to modern environmental science

• the details about Marsh’s opinions on human alterations to the environmen

Which detail about Marsh provides support for the author’s statement in paragraph 5?

• his reputation as a radical thinker

• his contribution to the conservation movement

• his experience working as an ambassador

• his approval of beneficial human-made projects in nature

Which of Marsh’s ideas most influenced the environmental movement of the 1960s?

• Some human alterations to the environment are necessary.

• People lack an understanding of the environmen

• Human activities could damage the environment.

• Environmental degradation has been occurring for many years.