Exercise 1. Some words are often used together. Fill the gaps in sentences 1-8 with a word from the list that goes with the word in bold.
Unit 3. The Environmental Impacts of Transportation
Start up
Exercise 1. Transport is the only sector in which greenhouse gas emissions have considerably risen. Discuss with your partner and decide how different modes of transport pollute the environment. Which one has the most negative impact? Look at the pictures for some ideas.
A. B.
C. D.
Exercise 2. There are several types of environmental problems. Can you name some of them? Read information given below and guess about the type of an environmental problem.
1) Noise is the most important environmental problem for people living close to railway lines.
2) Air quality is being threatened by exhaust gas emission from the increasing road traffic.
3) The activities of the transport industry release several million tons of gases each year into the atmosphere. There is an ongoing debate to what extent these emissions may be linked to climate change and the role of anthropogenic factors.
4) Fuel, chemical and other hazardous particulates discarded from aircraft, cars, trucks and trains or from port and airport terminal operations, such as de-icing, can contaminate rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans.
5) The environmental impact of transportation on soil consists of soil erosion and soil contamination.
6) Major transport facilities can affect the quality of urban life by creating physical barriers, increasing noise levels, generating odors, reducing urban aesthetic and affecting the built heritage.
Vocabulary
Exercise 1. Some words are often used together. Fill the gaps in sentences 1-8 with a word from the list that goes with the word in bold.
a) material
b) impact
c) sector
d) pollution
e) surface
f) change
g) fuel
h) locomotive
1) Climate __________is a long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods that range from decades to millions of years.
2) Coal can have a heavy impact on the environment. In the same instance, cotton is the raw _________ we use the most.
3) The conclusion of the report pinpoints that up until now there has been no significant negative ___________ of this technology on the environment.
4) In common dialogue, the term fossil ____________ also includes hydrocarbon-containing natural resources that are not derived from animal or plant sources.
5) A diesel ___________is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine.
6) The satellite maps are the pictures of the Earth ____________, taken with the aid of the artificial Earth satellite.
7) That meeting is part of the continuing work of the Department on 22 sectors of economic activity, of which the transport __________ is one.
8) Air ____________ occurs when the concentrations of certain substances become high enough to cause the atmospheric environment to become toxic.