What does the author mean by 'wrong about its own indispensability'?
Debates about climate change are sometimes framed as a contest between cutting emissions and adapting to a warmer world. Advocates of adaptation say that it is practical: sea walls, drought-resistant crops and better early warnings help real people now. Advocates of prevention say that adapting without cutting emissions merely postpones the problem. Each is right about the other's weakness and wrong about its own indispensability. Adaptation cannot cope with unlimited warming; some changes, such as the loss of coral reefs, cannot be adapted to at all. But prevention will not undo the warming that is already locked in. A sensible policy treats the two as complements, with attention to which dollar spent on either does more good at the margin.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. Each side wrongly claims that its approach is the only one that is needed
- Step 1: 'Indispensable' means essential.
- Step 2: The author says each is right about the other's weakness but wrong to think itself the only necessary approach.
Answer
Each side wrongly claims that its approach is the only one that is needed.
Why not the others: The phrase is not about mistaken views of the other, cost, inseparability or being unnecessary.
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