Read the passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
Until a hundred years ago as humans, we had a simple, uncomplicated biological connect with nature. It was a straightforward equation: we drew roughly 3,000 calories each of energy out of the Earth for our food and life's sustenance. Today that number per capita has grown to 1,00,000 calories. We still need only 3,000 calories each to nourish life itself. All the rest of this energy is what we extract from the Earth for everything else besides keeping ourselves alive.
How to soften this abuse of resources? What is sustainable development? How can it be started in our homes? Beyond the ceremonial planting of green and getting people to run marathons of various lengths in support of the environment, is there more that we can add to the abstract value of "sustainability"? What are the little things we can do in our day-to-day lives, to reduce the demand for things that people make and market? Of course, we know that it helps to avoid a plastic bag when you can use a newspaper bag, or a brown bag, or even a jute bag, which you can use for many more years.
However, there's actually quite a bit more that you and I can do, with very little as cost incurred, and with solutions that are very feasible and within our reach. It is possible to understand our ecological footprint and its disastrous consequences, in terms of the impact on the environment that we make.
Which one of the following statements cannot be inferred from the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → We do not depend on the Earth for our food and life sustenance.
The passage says we draw about 3,000 calories each out of the Earth for our food and life's sustenance, and far more for everything else. So we do depend on the Earth; Option 3 contradicts the passage and cannot be inferred.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: There are many little things we can do to save our Earth. — Incorrect. True in the passage: the passage asks what little things we can do in daily life and says there is quite a bit more we can do at very little cost, so this can be inferred.
Option 2: Only running marathons of various lengths does not help. — Incorrect. True in the passage: the writer asks whether there is more we can do beyond ceremonial planting and marathons, which implies that such events alone are not enough.
Option 4: A lot many years before, our association with the Nature was quite simple. — Incorrect. True in the passage: the passage opens by saying that until a hundred years ago we had a simple, uncomplicated biological connect with nature.