RECYCLING PROSPERITY

1. While watching the film make notes of the sentences, in which the following words and word combinations are used.

- a consumer society

- to produce more efficiently and cheaply

- a throw-away society

- sustainable growth

- a land-fill site

- green-house gases

- incinerator

- to generate energy

- non-renewable raw materials

- valuable resources of oil

- oil shock

- drought

- a growing public awareness on environmental issues

- to alert the world to the dangers

- legislation

- enforcement measures

- significant fines

- environmentally friendly ingredients

- ferrous metals, copper, lead

- CFC

- to dismantle complex items of equipment

- constituent materials

- to maximize income

- crate

- the materials reclamation facility

- scarce resources

- to combat global warming

- motif-harness

2. After watching the film present the following problems in the report form based on the film information.

• A throw-away society of today.

• Recycling as a part of daily life.

• Green-house gases.

• The oil shock of 1976.

• Green parties in Europe.

• Public environmental awareness.

• Car recycling.

• Plastic recycling.

3. Which of the initiatives presented in the film could be introduced in Russia? Justify your choice.

TIME FOR FUN

ECO TEST

Are you eco friendly? Here is a test for you to find it out. Tick out the answer you think is the best option for each question.

1. What saves energy more effectively?

A. A TV turned off.

B. A TV with the sound turned down.

C. A TV on standby.

2. Why should a fridge door always be kept closed?

A. To avoid banging your head on it. Ouch!

B. To keep the food cold.

C. The kitchen would get really chilly.

3. Why should yyou use a shower rather than a bath?

A. Baths take too long to fill up.

B. Bath water goes cold quicker.

C. Showers use less water.

4. You have a big stack of magazines that you’ve already read. You need to get rid of them. What should you do to be eco friendly?

A. Find another use for them. Trade them with friends for magazines you haven't read.

B. Leave them where they are - they're not taking up that much space.

C. Give them to a charity shop.

5. Your old paper bucket has been taking up space for too long. You really need to get rid of it. choose an eco friendly wav of getting rid of it.

A. Hide in the wardrobe where mum can't see it!

B. Find another use for it. use it as a plant pot!

C. Use it to store things in.

6. You need to get rid of your old pile of clothes. What would be the most eco friendly wav of getting rid of them?

A. Throw them in the bin!

B. Reuse them! Give them to your kid cousin to wear.

С. Cut them up to use as rags.

LESSON 3

DISCUSSION.

Read the following quotations and proverbs. Do you agree with each of them? Why? Why not? What do they mean to you personally? How do they relate to your own experience?

1) Modern technology

owes ecology

an apology.

Alan M. Eddison

2) The solution

to pollution

is hold your breath

until your death.

Anon

3) In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment - there are consequences. (Robert С Ingersoll, Some Reasons Why)

Because of concern for, and interest in, the world in which we live ecological issues attract media attention. So terms which were previously used only by environmental scientists have become texts of everyday speech and the public debate over environmental issues is becoming increasingly technical. Here are some of them:

• greenhouse effect

• global warming

• acid rain

• deforestation

• desertification

• river pollution

• urbanization

• dumping

• biodegradability

• depletion of the ozone layer

• fossil fuel

• endangered species

• El Nino

Find definitions for each of the terms. Make up presentations of each of the points.

Read the text, define its main idea.

TEXT l

AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution has been recognised for several decades as being a major problem especially for developed nations with large industrial bases and highly developed infrastructures. Every year billions of tons of pollutants are released into the atmosphere, the sources ranging from electric power plants burning fossil fuels to the effects of sunlight on certain materials.

Among air pollutants emitted by natural sources, only the radioactive gas radon is recognised as a major health threat. The rest of the air pollutants released into the atmosphere are a direct result of man's activities and we have only ourselves to blame for producing life threatening pollutants. The following is a list of the major air pollutants and their causes:

• Carbon Monoxide...Some industrial processes, mainly motor vehicle exhaust

• Lead......Battery plants, lead smelters, motor vehicle exhaust

• Sulphur Dioxide......Sulphuric acid plants, mainly power generating plants burning fossil fuels

• Nitrogen Oxides......Motor vehicle exhaust, burning of fossil fuels, nitric acid plants, explosives, fertiliser plants

• Carbon Dioxide.....Any combustion source

• Photochemical oxidants...Formed in the atmosphere by the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, e.g. Ozone

• Methane...Natural decomposition of organic matter (not considered dangerous, but has long term global implications, e.g. "greenhouse effect'')

• Non methane hydrocarbons......Industrial processes, solvent evaporation, fuel combustion, exhausts, solid waste treatments

• Particulate matter......Motor vehicle exhaust, industrial processes, incineration, power generation, pollution reaction to gases in the atmosphere (may include carbon, nitrates, sulphates, and metal fragments/dusts)

The level is usually given in terms of atmospheric concentrations (micrograms of pollutants per cubic metre of air) or, for gases, in terms of parts per million, that is, number of pollutant molecules per million air molecules. Many come from directly identifiable sources; sulphur dioxide, for example, comes from electric power plants burning coal or oil.

Others are formed through the action of sunlight on previously emitted reactive materials (called precursors). For example, ozone, a dangerous pollutant in smog, is produced by the interaction of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides under the influence of sunlight. Ozone has also caused serious crop damage. On the other hand, the discovery in the 1980s that air pollutants such as fluorocarbons are causing a loss of ozone from the Earth's protective ozone layer has caused the phasing out of these materials.

What are the main sources of Air Pollution?

The biggest and most obvious cause is the combustion of coal, oil, and petrol. More than 80% of the sulphur dioxide, 50% of the nitrogen oxides, and 30 to 40% of the particulate matter emitted to the atmosphere are produced by fossil-fuel-fired electric power plants, industrial boilers, and residential furnaces. 80% of the carbon monoxide and 40% of the nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons come from vehicle exhaust emissions. Other major pollution sources include iron and steel mills; zinc, lead, and copper smelters; municipal incinerators; oil refineries; cement plants; and nitric and sulphuric acid plants.

What are the effects of Air Pollution?

Certainly those who suffer from asthma or any respiratory complaint will notice the effects of increased air pollution whether it be near a city, an industrial area, or near a main road. For others the clues are in the flora and fauna around us.

The tall smokestacks used by industries and utilities do not remove pollutants but simply boost them higher into the atmosphere, thereby reducing their concentration at the site. These pollutants may then be transported over large distances and produce adverse effects in areas far from the site of the original emission. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from western Europe are causing acid rain in Norway and Sweden.

The PH level, or relative acidity, of many freshwater lakes has been altered so dramatically by acid rain that entire fish populations have been destroyed. Sulphur dioxide emissions and the subsequent formation of sulphuric acid can also be responsible for the attack on limestone and marble at large distances from the source.

The increase in the burning of coal and oil has led to ever-increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide. The resulting "greenhouse effect" could lead to a warming trend that might affect the global climate and lead to a partial melting of the polar ice caps. Possibly an increase in cloud cover or absorption of excess carbon dioxide by the oceans (in the so-called carbon cycle) would check the greenhouse effect before it reached the stage of polar melting.

Nevertheless, many research reports released during the 1980s have indicated that the greenhouse effect is definitely under way and that the nations of the world should be taking immediate steps to deal with it. ("The Bell Curve". June 2004)

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1786