While researching efforts to reduce the environmental effects of cargo shipping, a student has taken the following notes:
- Cargo ships burn marine fuel, releasing greenhouse gases.
- Ship propellers create underwater noise that can interfere with whale communication.
- During a coastal trial, several shipping companies lowered vessel cruising speeds in whale habitat.
- The trial vessels used less fuel and produced less underwater noise than when they traveled at their usual speeds.
- Operators adjusted departure times, and cargo shipments arrived according to their original schedules.
- Without scheduling changes, lower cruising speeds can lengthen delivery times.
The student wants to emphasize that the trial provided both a climate-related benefit and a wildlife-related benefit without delaying deliveries. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical-synthesis questions, separate the stated goal into required components and match each component to specific notes. Choose the option that accurately combines all required information, and eliminate choices that provide only background, omit a required result, or emphasize a detail that does not advance the goal.
Hints
Break down the goal
Look for three distinct elements: one benefit related to climate, one related to wildlife, and evidence about delivery timing.
Link causes and effects
Consider how fuel use relates to greenhouse gas emissions and how underwater noise relates to whale communication.
Check completeness
Eliminate any choice that omits one required outcome or merely describes why the trial occurred instead of reporting what it achieved.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the required ideas
The goal requires three elements: a climate-related benefit, a wildlife-related benefit, and evidence that deliveries were not delayed.
Connect the relevant notes
Reduced fuel use means fewer greenhouse gas emissions, addressing the climate-related benefit. Reduced underwater noise can help whales communicate, addressing the wildlife-related benefit, while the scheduling note establishes that shipments remained on time.
Evaluate the choices
The strongest choice must combine both environmental outcomes with the unchanged delivery schedules. Choices that omit one benefit, mention only a possible drawback, or describe the trial without reporting its results do not fully accomplish the goal.
Select the complete synthesis
The best choice states that slower cruising reduced fuel use, emissions, and disruptive underwater noise while adjusted departure times kept deliveries on schedule. It accurately synthesizes all three required points.