Read the text and choose the correct statements.

The Truth about the Environment

1) For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.
2) But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book 'The Limits to Growth' was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world's population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7 % of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25–50 %, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are transient – associated with the early phases of industrialisation and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it. One form of pollution – the release of greenhouse gases that causes global warming – does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future, but its total impact is unlikely to pose a devastating problem. A bigger problem may well turn out to be an inappropriate response to it.
3) Yet opinion polls suggest that many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.
4) One is the lopsidedness built into scientific research. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case.
5) Secondly, environmental groups need to be noticed by the mass media. They also need to keep the money rolling in. Understandably, perhaps, they sometimes overstate their arguments. In 1997, for example, one of the world funds for nature issued a press release entitled: 'Two thirds of the world's forests lost forever'. The truth turns out to be nearer 20 %.
6) Though these groups are run overwhelmingly by selfless folk, they nevertheless share many of the characteristics of other lobby groups. That would matter less if people applied the same degree of scepticism to environmental lobbying as they do to lobby groups in other fields. A trade organisation arguing for, say, weaker pollution controls is instantly seen as self-interested. Yet a green organisation opposing such a weakening is seen as altruistic, even if an impartial view of the controls in question might suggest they are doing more harm than good.
7) A third source of confusion is the attitude of the media. People are clearly more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. That, however, can lead to significant distortions of perception. An example was America's encounter with El Nino in 1997 and 1998. This climatic phenomenon was accused of wrecking tourism, causing allergies, melting the ski-slopes and causing 22 deaths. However, according to an article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the damage it did was estimated at US\(4 billion but the benefits amounted to some US\)19 billion. These came from higher winter temperatures \(which saved an estimated 850 lives, reduced heating costs and diminished spring floods caused by meltwaters\).
8) Despite the intuition that something drastic needs to be done about such a costly problem, economic analyses clearly show it will be far more expensive to cut carbon dioxide emissions radically than to pay the costs of adaptation to the increased temperatures. A model by one of the main authors of the United Nations Climate Change Panel shows how an expected temperature increase of 2.1 degrees in 2100 would only be diminished to an increase of 1.9 degrees.
9) It is crucial that we look at the facts if we want to make the best possible decisions for the future. It may be costly to be overly optimistic – but more costly still to be too pessimistic.

1 What aspect of scientific research does the writer express concern about in paragraph 4?
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A the need to produce results
B the lack of financial support
C the selection of areas to research
D the desire to solve every research problem

2 The writer quotes from the Worldwide Fund for Nature to illustrate how
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A influential the mass media can be.
B effective environmental groups can be.
C the mass media can help groups raise funds.
D environmental groups can exaggerate their claims.

3 What is the writer’s main point about lobby groups in paragraph 6?
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A Some are more active than others.
B Some are better organised than others.
C Some receive more criticism than others.
D Some support more important issues than others.

4 The writer suggests that newspapers print items that are intended to
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A educate readers.
B meet their readers’ expectations.
C encourage feedback from readers.
D mislead readers.

5 Some economic analyses show that
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A it might be less expensive to adapt to the increased temperatures than to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
B people can easily cut carbon dioxide emissions.
C temperature increase will never be diminished.
D people are too optimistic about the climate change.