Unit 2 Earth and Environment
Part 1 Warming up
A
1. ...impact of climate change … damage to crops … worse ... 2. ...2000 delegates … northern Brazil … third United Nations Conference on Desertification.
3. ...A huge oil spill … Mexico, ... 4. Wildfires … Florida … contained … a week ...
5. ... Greenland is melting around the edges … 50 cubic kilometers … raise global sea level ... B
1. It attempts to balance environmental concerns and the needs of the community.
2. Reptile species are in greater trouble than amphibian species.
3. A new approach in the fight against the illegal drugs trade.
4. One in every eight species of plants is threatened with extinction.
5. A new local directory for the environmentally-aware, called the “Boulder County Green Pages”.
Tapescripts:
1. Australia is the world’s driest continent. There’s general agreement that the country has to use water more efficiently. In many part supplies are in crisis.
At a meeting in Canberra, the Council of Australian Governments has approved national water plan. It attempts to balance environmental concerns and the needs of the community. The amount of water taken from rivers for commercial use is to be cut and farmers will be compensated.
2. The disappearance and deformity of amphibians such as frogs and salamanders from rain forests and mountain lakes worldwide has attracted wide-spread scientific attention over the last decade. Now a new study says reptile species including turtles, snakes, and alligators are in even greater trouble. Twice as many reptiles as amphibians, or some 100 species, are currently listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union. The study says habitat loss and degradation, pollution, disease, climate change, and over-collection for food, pets and drugs are the major threat to reptiles.
3. Four regional governors from Columbia, on a visit to Washington, have
sharply criticized an American-backed aerial offensive to eradicate thousands of hectares of illegal coke and poppy plantations. At a news conference the governors called for a different approach in the fight against the illegal drugs trade, saying that the herbicides currently being used were harmful to public health and the environment.
4. Much attention has been devoted to the threatened animal species. But what about plants which are the fundamental bases of life? One in every eight species of plants is threatened with extinction. Since all food chains begin in the sphere of plant life, this is bad news for the animals too, including humans who depend on plants not only for food but also for medicines, building materials, and other vital purposes.
5. A new local directory for the environmentally-aware is now available, called the “Boulder County Green Pages.” The Rotary Clubs in Boulder County got together with local recycling and environmental specialists to put together this firstever directory. It includes quick reference to green products and services for recycling, xeriscaping, energy conservation, and more. The $5 cost helps raise funds for the sponsoring groups.
Part II News Reports
A
...Washington … the information economy … deteriorating health of the
planet … information economy … communication … education and entertainment … physical exam … vital signs … species … climate … temperatures … water tables … glaciers … forests … fisheries … to stabilize both climate and world population growth
Tapescript:
An annual study by the Worldwatch Institute here in Washington says with the boom in the information economy, Americans have lost sight of the deteriorating health of the planet.
State of the World 2000 says the fast growing information economy is affecting every aspect of life, from communication, commerce and work, to education and entertainment.
Lead author and Worldwatch President Lester Brown says while Americans generally feel a sense of optimism about the economy, the planet’s health is suffering. He says it is a mistake “to confuse the vibrancy of the virtual world with the increasingly troubled state of the real world.”
“We give the earth an annual physical, and this book is the result of that annual physical. We check its vital signs. And almost all those vital signs, whether it’s the number of species, whether it’s the stability of climate, whether it’s the number of species, whether it’s the stability of climate, whether it’s the health of coral reefs, all those trends show deterioration.”
Lester Brown says other warning signs are rising temperatures, falling water tables, melting glaciers, shrinking forests and collapsing fisheries. He says the major environmental challenges in the 21st century will be to stabilize both climate and world population growth.
Worldwatch Institute President Lester Brown also points out initiatives by multinational corporations to seek energy alternatives. For example, Daimler-Chrysler and Shell Oil are working with the government of Iceland to turn that country into the first hydrogen powered economy.
B
Summary
… the severe shortage of water in some developing nations. … global solutions are found soon.
Answers to the questions
1. 150
2. Monday
3. Almost one billion people could suffer from a scarcity of water.
4. Middle East, parts of Africa, western Asia, Northeastern China, western and
southern India, large parts of Pakistan and Mexico, parts of the Pacific coast of the United States and South America. 5. To treat water as a precious resource.
6. 5 liters
7. 50 liters
8. 500 liters
Tapescript:
The UN water experts are warning that a severe water shortage will have what they call catastrophic consequences in some developing nations unless global solutions are found soon. One hundred and fifty experts around the world will discuss the water situation at a conference beginning Monday in Geneva.
A top official from the World Meteorological Organization Arthur Askew says that by the year 2025, almost 1 billion people could be living in areas suffering from a scarcity of water. He says the number could double by the middle of the next century. Mr Askew says one area with serious water problems is the Middle East. But he says officials in the area are already working on ways to deal with the situation.
Experts say water shortage problems also could develop in parts of Africa and
western Asia as well as northeastern China, western and southern India, large parts of Pakistan and Mexico, and parts of the Pacific coast of the United States and South America. Mr Askew says there’s a moral obligation to treat water as a precious resource and a need to realize that large amounts of water are used often wastefully in food production and manufacturing.
“All commodities have used water in their production and you must be aware therefore that if you’re importing food from one country to another you are in fact importing part of the water resources of that country.”
Mr Askew also says water shortages lead to a conflict between rural and urban demands.
“In many regions of the world, the water crisis is not coming because of human consumption directly for potable water, for drinking, or for sanitary purposes, it’s coming for agriculture. And in general about 80 percent of the water, which is consumed, i. e., is extracted from the rivers or from underground resources and is not returned, is for agriculture. And there’s considerable pressure now on the agricultural sectors to see if they cannot use that water ore efficiently.
Mr Askew says it’s estimated that a person needs about 5 liters of water a day to survive, and a person needs about 5 liters of water a day to survive, and a person lives comfortably with about 50 liters a day. But he says people in many countries are using 500 liters of water each day. He says ways must be found to
reduce such overuse before it’s too late.
Part III City recycling
A a. 2 b. 4 c. 3 d. 1
B
1. 130,000 / 80%
2. Plastic / glass / tin cans / newspapers
3. Recycle truck pick it up.
4. One of community’s recycling centers
5. Each weekday 6. Conducts tours of the plant 7. 3 / 4
8. Sod to other companies that make them into different products
9. Made into new containers
10. One of the top five in the USA
Tapescript:
The United States is running out of landfill space, places to put its trash. Because of that, more communities are encouraging their residents to recycle, to set aside certain materials that won’t go to the landfill. One area that’s met the recycling challenge head-on, is the southeast City of Charlotte, North Carolina. In just a few years, its recycling program has become one of the country’s most successful.
Catherine Smith lives in one of the 130,000 eligible recycling households in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nearly 80 percent of the households participate in the program. Each week, Smith goes to her front porch and fills her red plastic bin with recyclables. “You’ve got any plastic containers marked one or two. You’ve got any glass. They also recycle tin cans and newspapers. So all of that can go in the curbside pick-up bin.”
“Well, this is the easy part. Then someone, ah, driving a Charlotte Mecklenburg
‘Recycle
Now’
truck
comes
and,
usually,
at
some
point—tomorrow or Friday—and they pick it up at curbside. And that’s it.”
From there, Smith’s cans, bottles, and newspapers are taken to one of the community’s recycling centers. The City of Charlotte actually contracts with a private company to process the recyclables.
This plant is operated by a company called FCR. The recycling trucks pull into FCR each weekday morning to drop off the used material. Inside, the processing center at FCR is bustling with activity. One of the first things you notice in the 26,000-square-foot facility is a huge mound of materials called the “commingle area.” Basically, it’s a big pile of assorted trash. There are forklifts transporting garbage, and people sorting through it. Paula Hoffman is education coordinator at FCR. She conducts tours of the plant for more than one thousand people a month.
“The aluminum cans, the number one and number two plastic containers, the spiral cans, the glass bottles and jars are all mixed together into a huge pile. And…we are receiving about 100 tons a day, which is 200,000 pounds, so you can imagine how many bottles and cans are in that pile.”
“Can we walk around a little bit?”
“As you can see, the bottles and cans are riding up the conveyor belt, and they’ll end up on a sorting station, where there are twelve workers that will hand-sort the bottles and cans and other containers. As you can see, from the sorting station, they drop their material down a chute into a large container below. The sorting station is on a raised platform.”
Across from the sorters and the commingle area is a mound of newspaper. Of the material brought to FCR, three quarters of it is newsprint. It rides a separate conveyor belt, is checked, and is compacted into bales, 11 to 12 hundred pounds each. Back in the quiet of FCR’s auditorium, Paula Hoffman describes what
happens to the sorted and processed recyclables the company receives from Catherine Smith and the thousands of other area residents. Hoffman says they’re sold to other companies that then make them into different products.
“Your food and beverage glass containers are always made into new food and beverage glass containers. Your aluminum beverage cans are, the biggest percentage of the time, made into new aluminum beverage cans. Twenty five percent of all beverage, Coca-Cola, Pepsi bottles are now made into new Pepsi or Coke bottles. However, a certain percentage is also made into other products such as the fuzz on a tennis ball, carpeting…your number two plastic…a lot of it’s made into plastic wood.”
Charlotte, the surrounding county, and FCR are glad to add new recyclables to their program as long as there’s a need for the recycled material. From its high participation rate to the quality end product, Charlotte’s recycling program is considered one of the top five in the nation.
But ultimately, the success of the Charlotte area recycling program can be traced to the curbsides of the many individual citizens who, like Catherine Smith, are active participants in program.
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