SUS1501 Assignment 8 PORTFOLIO (QUALITY ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025

This document contains workings, explanations and solutions to the SUS1501 Assignment 8 PORTFOLIO (QUALITY ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025. For assistance whats-app us on 0.6.8..8.1.2..0.9.3.4.. 1. (YOU MUST WRITE NOTES ON THIS QUESTION) "The wealth of the few depends upon the poverty of many." My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. So long as I am amongst the few I don't care. b. This is just not true – the rich are simply more “diligent, intelligent, and above all frugal”. c. This is just not true – if it were not for the generous wealthy, the poor would be even poorer than they are. d. This is absolutely true – there is only so much wealth in the world at any one moment so if one person has more than their share someone else has to have less than their share. e. This is absolutely true and given how much poverty there is we ought to do something about it. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 2. (YOU MUST WRITE NOTES ON THIS QUESTION) “In order to have the continued opportunity to express their ‘generosity,’ the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well.” (Paulo Freire) My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. This is crazy ‘commie’ nonsense from Freire – it’s a disgrace that Unisa allows this rubbish to appear in its official study material. b. This is rubbish - if it were not for the essential goodness of the wealthy, the lives of the poor would be so much worse than they already are.. c. So let me get this straight – Freire is saying that in order for some (like Bill Gates for instance) to continue being generous, wealth AND poverty need to be sustained? I’m going to have to think about this. d. Freire is absolutely right - all this ‘generosity’ just makes rich people look like the heroes when actually they are the villains. e. How can you possibly say something as ungrateful as option d? Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 3. (YOU MUST WRITE NOTES ON THIS QUESTION) "In 2024, Elon Musk's net worth increased by about ZAR 12 billion every day!" My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Good for him – he is brilliant and worked hard to earn this. b. The only problem I have with this is that it wasn’t me getting ZAR 12 billion richer every day! c. No problem with this. I'm sure all of these billionaires donate huge amounts to charities. d. I think that it is morally wrong for anyone to earn that much money. e. I think that active steps should be taken to correct such immoral earnings Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 4. (YOU MUST WRITE NOTES ON THIS QUESTION) “Drill baby drill!” (Donald J Trump) My personal opinion on this statement, is most closely described by: a. Trump = visionary; environmentalist = fools. b. What happens when the US runs out of oil and gas? c. This represents a huge setback for global climate change mitigation efforts. d. Trump is clearly banking on Musk’s SpaceX to get the human race to Mars because planet earth is doomed. e. Time for an environmental liberation movement – bomb the pipelines and oil wells! Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 5. (YOU MUST WRITE NOTES ON THIS QUESTION) “It is estimated that humans are consuming natural resource at a rate that is 30% above the renewal rate. If we continue to consume in this way we are likely to suffer dire consequences which could include extinction.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast, but I don’t think this is a problem as there is plenty of time to find technological solutions to problems that emerge b. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is to put the brakes on human population growth. c. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is for rich people to reduce their consumption significantly. d. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. And frankly I don’t see any solution because increasing consumption is the basis of our economic growth. e. I don’t believe this tale of doom. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 6. “It’s a fact! You cannot expect to have economic growth when there is the threat of expropriation without compensation.” (van der Merwe) My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Obviously! b. I don’t know about economic growth, but those who wrote the Constitution of South Africa knew what they were doing so private property is sacred and must be respected at all cost. c. The notion of private property is a Western individualist notion. d. Hmmmm …. you have to admit that the economies of the north grew very handsomely on the basis of expropriation without compensation? So, this is not an immutable natural law. It's just how the rules are currently structured right? Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 7. “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” (Mark Fisher) My personal opinion on this statement, is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. This is what comes from a world population that believes that the path to enlightenment is X. c. Capitalism is absolutely the only viable economic system, so yes, this is true and right. d. I had never thought of this, but as unreasonable as this might sound, it is actually so true. e. I think that we need to work on our imagination then because this is clearly absurd. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 8. “The Great White Shark is listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN and has a declining population.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. I really don’t care. b. Good. Great Whites eat beautiful cuddly seals. c. Good. Great White Sharks are horrible people eaters! d. Great Whites are critical for controlling seal populations. Without them, other fish species might go extinct. e. We must save Great Whites because it is just the right thing to do. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 9. “Unless fossil-fuel use slows dramatically, the earth’s average temperature could rise by six degrees Celsius in the next 100 years.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. I don’t believe this climate change nonsense b. Six degrees will make winters much more bearable to me personally c. I’m a bit concerned about this, but why should I invest my personal time, effort or money in solving a general social. d. I think that individually we can and should strive to solve this problem for the greater good. e. I think it is time for radical action to disrupt the fossil-fuel cartel. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 10. “Show me a great fortune and I’ll show you a great crime.” (a translation from Honoré de Balzac) My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Clearly Balzac had taken too much hashish when he wrote that! b. It is completely possible to make a fortune by legal means – in fact this is what I intend to do in my life. c. I don't care - watch out Elon Musk, here I come! d. I think that this is absolutely true. e. Even if great fortunes are acquired in a technically legal way, they are always morally problematic. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 11. "You won’t make the poor rich by making the rich poorer." (Winston Churchill) My personal opinion of what should be done is most closely described by: a. This is rubbish and we should attack extreme wealth wherever it arises. b. This is the sort of trite rhetoric that the rich try and sell to the world in order to protect their privilege. c. This is rubbish. If a few take a huge share, it leaves that much less for the rest. It’s simple maths. d. This is absolutely true. Without the money that the rich have, the poor would be that much worse off and lefty socialists would do well to understand this fact. e. Since my personal aim is to be rich, my opinion here is simple – just leave the rich alone. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 12. “60% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the DRC. Significant amounts of this is mined under appalling conditions often by child labourers.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. What’s cobalt got to do with to me? b. The DRC is a long way from where I live so I don’t really care. c. This is just a fact of global supply chains and necessary for global economic growth, which is in everyone’s best interest. d. I wonder who is profiting out of this? e. It breaks my heart to see children exploited. This is morally wrong and must not be allowed. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 13. “Of the top 10 wealthiest people (all men), eight are tech billionaires. Their net worth is US$ 1.6 trillion or ZAR 31 trillion!” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. I think that such wealth is utterly immoral when there is so much poverty and suffering in the world and so active steps should be taken to correct this. b. These billionaires are all tech visionaries and deserve every cent of their wealth because of their brilliance. c. Why would anyone want or need that amount of money? d. These are my heroes. I aspire to be like them. e. Bill Gates is one of them and look at how much money he is giving to the poor through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 14. “Greed is good” (Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street) My personal opinion of what should be done, is most closely described by: a. It’s not good or bad. It’s just how things are. b. Absolutely! If it wasn’t for greed we would never achieve anything. c. I’m not sure. Sometimes I think that it’s good. At other times I think that it’s bad. d. It depends on how you define “greed”. e. Absolutely not! Greed is bad. It leads to much pain and suffering. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 15. “The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.” (Joshua Becker) My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. I really don’t care about the environment. b. Yeah – I really want a Range Rover so I am going to say this is rubbish irrespective of whether is makes any sense. c. This is a very subversive statement aimed at collapsing capitalism and human happiness. d. As much as I want a Range Rover, this is a really wise statement. e. Capitalism’s lust for consumption is the greatest threat to the sustainability of the human species. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 16. “Save the rhino!!!” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Why? b. Let the people who want to use this resource pay to protect it. c. We have bigger problems than worrying about rhinos. d. We must save rhino because their survival is critical for sustaining healthy ecosystems. e. We must save the rhinos because it is the right thing to do. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 17. “It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there will be only two genders: male and female.” (Donald J Trump) My personal opinion on this statement, is most closely described by: a. This is what God tells us too. b. This is a biological fact anyway. c. So, Trump is following the leadership of Yoweri Museveni? d. Isn’t it funny that out of one side of his mouth Trump speaks of freedom and out of the other he says this? e. Years of fighting for sexual rights down the toilet. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 18. “Black lives matter.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. So do white lives matter b. “All lives matter.” c. The problem is that at the moment this is not supported by evidence. d. Finally we are starting to recognise this! e. Slogans are pointless. We need to enforce radical social changes aimed at actively destroying structural racism. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 19. “Even before COVID, one out of every five South Africans lived below the food poverty line.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. If population growth rates of the poor were not so high they wouldn’t be so poor. c. If they worked harder, they wouldn't be so poor. d. This is sad, but to be honest, it is not going to stop me from focusing on my own wellbeing first. e. I think that we must all strive to eliminate poverty together. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 20. “Every day some 20,000 children die prematurely from poverty related causes, mostly treatable diseases.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. It’s hard to say it, but given the rising human population, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for the human species as a whole c. It’s hard to say it, but this just means less people competing with me for scarce opportunities and resources. d. This is morally wrong, but practically, I think that it would cost too much money to solve e. It is morally unacceptable for a single child to die of a preventable disease and we should collectively fix this irrespective of the cost. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: