TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, A new product I would like to invent - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Suppose you were an inventor and you had the knowledge and ability to develop a new product. What product would you like to invent?

☆Let’s think

This topic starts with “Suppose you were …” This means that you can use your imagination and write about things that would not really be possible. If it seems that you can never come up with anything, trying to think of an idea related to the matter you know well is one idea. As you are always thinking about the matter, you have many things to write about it. If you are a political person, you might think of a product that can solve one of the biggest political problems in today’s world. If you are always concerned about your relationships, you could write about a machine that can improve them.

☆Ideas and Expressions

1       a medicine that would stop politicians from being involved in corruption

2       a totally clean and safe reusable energy source

3       an edible plant that grows anywhere which would help humans escape food crises

4       an application program which would tell you how the person you are text-messaging with is feeling

5       time machine: learn from the past, find out the real history

☆Let’s prepare

Here is a little activity to help you think of what you are going to write about your invention.

Picture yourself making a presentation on your plan for a new product. The procedure is as follows:

1)    Here is the present situation. 

2)    I would like to change this situation this way by inventing a product like this.

3)    Expected problems of this product and ways to deal with them are as follows.

To prepare for structuring your essay, answer some of the following questions.

1.    What is the present situation?

e.g. Global warming, combined with population increase and increasing demand for meat as a result of globalization, is worsening the problem of food shortage.

2.    How would you like to change the situation with your product?

e.g. If I could, I would make a machine that break down CO2 in the air into sugar.

3.    What would be the counterargument and how would you deal with it?

4.    e.g. It is true that more efforts should be made to promote sustainable energy sources first, but they would not be in place soon.

☆Essay for ideas and expressions

2016 was the hottest year on record, and it is said that global warming has gone beyond the point of no return even if fossil-fuel burning is stopped right now. If making such a thing were possible, I would make a product which can decompose carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon, producing carbohydrate as a by-product of the process at a relatively low cost so that people can tackle the problems related to the climate change in two ways: CO2 reduction and food security stabilization.

Global warming, combined with population increase and increasing demand for meat as a result of globalization, is worsening the problem of food shortage. For example, the rising temperature has been rapidly changing the flora and fauna in many regions and affecting agriculture. Many farmers have started having difficulty growing the same crops in the same ways as in the past, but studies on new types of crops more suitable to new weather patterns are behind the speed of climate change. Also, the number of inundated fields due to rising sea level or flood is increasing, and still many other places have problems of water shortage due to desertification, extremely rapid thawing of glacier, or drought, all of which are at least partly the results of rising temperature. It is clear that many more parts of the world will have difficulty providing people with enough food. 

Lowering CO2 level in the air is the top priority for human survival now. If there were a machine which can break down CO2, the main greenhouse gas, into two harmless substances, oxygen and carbon, it could safely and directly reduce the amount of CO2 that already exists in the atmosphere. We could install the device on top of buildings and mountains. Also, the machine could drastically reduce CO2 emissions if installed in the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants and the exhaust pipes of vehicles. Moreover, my dream machine would contribute to stabilizing food security if it could produce carbohydrate as a by-product, since carbohydrate is the source of energy. Carbohydrate made from the air needs less water to make and can be provided regularly, so it would be a great help in making up for the food shortage.

It is true that putting reusable energy sources that already exist in place would be more important than creating a new machine. However, implementing sustainable energy sources has been hopelessly behind the rate of the rising average global temperature due to current socioeconomic structure. We ordinary people, who are affected most, do not have the power to make decisions in this world. It is the time when each individual’s conscience is tested and ingenuity called for.

The impact of global warming can wipe the human race out. It would be nice if there were a machine that can directly suck out CO2 from the air and make food from it.