Unit Seven Environmental Concerns By Xu Cuihua Oct. 20, 2008
Objective of learning • In this unit, you will • 1. be aware of environmental problems in Section One • 2. increase your awareness of environmental problems and practice listening and speaking skills in Section Two • 3. learn solutions to environmental problems in Section Three • 4. Learning English: 100 Ways you can do to Save The Environment
Section One • Global concerns of environmental problems • Listening in • Speaking out
Global concerns • What’s wrong with him? • What does he suffer from?
General concerns • Greenhouse gas emissions? • Global warming? • Energy consumption? • Water pollution? • Air pollution? • Desertification? • Sandstorms? • …?
Discussion • Work with your partner and make a list of the most serious environmental problems now affecting the world, i. e. the environmental problems our planet now is facing.
• The following are some of the examples that presents the seriousness of the problems.
Acid Rain
Air Pollution
Global Warming
Hazardous Waste
Ozone Depletion
Deforestation
Desertification
Listening in (Dialogues) • Dialogue 1—Call for an International Response • Directions: • Listen to Dialogue 1 and complete the following table about the two environmental problems mentioned • P. 100
Dialogue 2 • Dialogue 2—Call for Response from Everybody • P. 100 • Directions: Listen to Dialogue 2 and answer the following questions.
Dialogue 2 • 1. Since there is “lots of clean, modern technology” to solve the problem of air pollution, why are countries reluctant to use it? • Because companies in developed countries say they’re expensive and developing countries put more emphasis on economic development than on environment protection.
• 2. Why should we protect rainforests? • Because the forests are an important natural habitat for thousands of species of animal and plant life. • 3. Why should we prevent farmland from desertification? • Because desertification means that people cannot grow enough food and that people sometimes fight over the farmland that remains, i. e. damaging the environment actually leads to conflict between people.
Speaking out • • A. Telling a story B. Role-play C. Doing a survey [referring to page 101 -104]
Section Two Pay the Price • • • Listening in (News Report 1—Bald Eagles Return ) Study the words on page 105 and fill in the following blanks with these words before listening. Do not look at the words while you do the exercise.
1. An _____ is a piece of equipment used to keep eggs or bacteria at the correct temperature for them to develop. 2. A _____is a doll that you can move, either by pulling strings which are attached to it or by putting your hand inside its body and moving your fingers. 3. An _______ is a large bird that lives by eating small animals. An ____ is a young bird of this type.
4. Something that is _______ is easily broken or damaged. 5. A _____ experience is extremely upsetting or disturbing. We had a _______ time after the 5. 12 Sichuan Earthquake. . 6. If something is _______, it has a covering that feels soft and like fur.
7. If you _______ a fruit, flower, or leaf, you take it between your fingers and pull it in order to remove it from its stalk where it is growing. If you ____something from somewhere, you take it between your fingers and pull it sharply from where it is. 8. If something ____ from somewhere or if you _____ it somewhere, it hangs or swings loosely. 9. If resources such as money are _____ for a particular purpose, they are reserved for that purpose. E. g. 30 million dollars has just been earmarked for the wildlife conservation project.
1. An incubator is a piece of equipment used to keep eggs or bacteria at the correct temperature for them to develop. 2. A puppet is a doll that you can move, either by pulling strings which are attached to it or by putting your hand inside its body and moving your fingers. 3. An eagle is a large bird that lives by eating small animals. An eaglet is a young bird of this type.
4. Something that is fragile is easily broken or damaged. 5. A harrowing experience is extremely upsetting or disturbing. We had a harrowing time after the 5. 12 Sichuan Earthquake. . 6. If something is fuzzy, it has a covering that feels soft and like fur.
7. If you pluck a fruit, flower, or leaf, you take it between your fingers and pull it in order to remove it from its stalk where it is growing. If you pluck something from somewhere, you take it between your fingers and pull it sharply from where it is. 8. If something dangles from somewhere or if you dangle it somewhere, it hangs or swings loosely. 9. If resources such as money are earmarked for a particular purpose, they are reserved for that purpose. E. g. 30 million dollars has just been earmarked for the wildlife conservation project.
Key to the listening p. 106 • A. vanished, dedicated, pesticide, environment • B. thin, chain, puppet, nest, dumped, court • C. • 1. There may not be enough money for them to finish the project. • 2. Until that time, these eagles will have to rely on Peter and his team to help hatch the eggs.
Speaking out • Directions: Form groups of four and survey at least 8 of your classmates using the following questions. Summarize the results with your group members and choose one representative to report the result to the class in a 3 minute speech. • Do you know any examples of upset ecology? • Who should be blamed? • What has been done to improve the environment?
Section Three Taking Action • Listening in (News Report 2—An Environmental Major) • Useful words to learn: • Cutting-edge • Trade-off
cutting edge • A cutting edge is literally the edge of a tool’s blade, the edge of a knife, for example. • If you are at the cutting edge of a particular field of activity, you are involved in its most important or most exciting developments. • If someone or something gives you a cutting edge, they give you an advantage over your competitors If Pearce had been fit, we would have won. We missed the cutting edge he would have given us. [Being fit is a cutting edge优势]. • Cutting-edge techniques or equipment are the most advanced that there are in a particular field.
trade off • If you trade off one thing against another, you exchange all or part of one thing for another, as part of a negotiation or compromise. • They cynically tried to trade off a reduction in the slaughter of dolphins against a resumption of commercial whaling. . . • There is a possibility of being able to trade off information for a reduced sentence.
trade-off • A trade-off is a situation where you make a compromise between two things, or where you exchange all or part of one thing for another. (JOURNALISM) • . . . the trade-off between inflation and unemployment.
A. Listen for the main idea • Directions: Listen to the news report and judge which sentence tells the main idea of the news. • a. An increasing number of students go to college. • b. All things about the environment are hot topics. • c. Colleges offer a new environment studies major. • d. Colleges students majoring in Sustainability enjoy their studies.
B. Listen for details • Directions: Fill in the blanks by using the exact wording in the news. • (1) What may a Sustainability major learn in his environmental studies? • The college offers an environmental studies major, taking students from caring for seals damaged by boats to the potential dangers of climate change. • The new major called Sustainability brings together everything from architecture, to engineering, to urban planning, in an effort to find solutions to environmental issues.
• (2)What is the purpose of the new major? • According to a student, it’s for protecting our environment. According to the president of Arizona State University, it’s for the health and wellbeing of the planet. • (3) What are the students’ attitudes towards their major? • They both have idealism to make a difference, but they also realize that there are trade-offs.
C. Listen for the inferred meanings. • Directions: Discuss in pairs and try to answer the questions below. • (1) Why is the Phoenix area a natural laboratory? • Because the Phoenix area has a growing population, a limited water supply and an abundant amount of sunlight, and these natural environmental conditions are ideal for testing cutting-edge technology that are used to protect or improve the environment.
• (2) Why is the sun both friend and foe to the local people? • The sun is a friend because it is necessary for living things to grow. It is an enemy because too much sun can be life-threatening. In the news, it is saying that the building materials used are trapping the sun’s heat, so that at night, the city doesn’t have an opportunity to cool down, changing the natural environment.
• (3) Why do “these students see no trade-offs in opportunity”? • A trade-off is to sacrifice something for the benefits of something else. In this context, the trade-off is to give up all the modern conveniences that is causing damage to the environment. These students don’t feel that in order to protect and save the environment they have to give them up. Instead, they are researching to develop other strategies that will enable people to have the conveniences that are also environmentally friendly, that is, the students don’t have to give up anything in seizing this opportunity to study Sustainability because the major secures their own future at the beginning stage of the movement.
Speaking out • Directions: Make up a short conversation based on the following roles and the background information on page 111. • Role A: You are a middle-aged housewife. You always use free shopping bags. You think they make your life more convenient. Besides, you often reuse them as trash bags at home, and you think these bags help you save money. You never feel guilty when you take one from a store. This time, you asked for free shopping bags at the check-out counter of IKEA, but were turned down. So you are angry and quarrel with the cashier (Role B). • Role B: You are a cashier at IKEA. You refuse to offer free plastic bags to the shopper (Role A) and try to explain.
Solutions to environmental problems • 温家宝谈环境问题 • 温家宝：环保 作要实现三个转变 做好四 方面 作 2006年 04月18日 • Learning English: 100 ways you can do to save our environment
三个转变 • 温家宝强调，做好新形势下的环保 作，要加快 实现三个转变：一是从重经济增长轻环境保护转 变为保护环境与经济增长并重，在保护环境中求 发展。二是从环境保护滞后于经济发展转变为环 境保护和经济发展同步，努力做到不欠新帐，多 还旧帐，改变先污染后治理、边治理边破坏的状 况。三是从主要用行政办法保护环境转变为综合 运用法律、经济、技术和必要的行政办法解决环 境问题，自觉遵循经济规律和自然规律，提高环 境保护 作水平。
Three Changes • China’s central government is greatly concerned by these problems. Premier Wen Jiabao has stressed the importance of the “Three Changes”. Firstly, to move from a mode of growth that stresses the economy to one which balances the economy and the environment. Secondly, to move from a situation in which environmental protection holds the economy back, to one where they develop in tandem; from a passive and remedial model of environmental protection to a proactive, protective method. Thirdly, to move from the use of policy and administrative methods to protect the environment to the combined use of legal, economic and technical methods, alongside political intervention when necessary, to adapt to new circumstances and accelerate innovation. P. 115
四个方面 • 温家宝指出，当前和今后一个时期，需要着力做 好四个方面 作。第一，加大污染治理力度，切 实解决突出的环境问题。重点是加强水污染、大 气污染、土壤污染防治。第二，加强自然生态保 护，努力扭转生态恶化趋势。一方面，控制不合 理的资源开发活动；另一方面，坚持不懈地开展 生态 程建设。第三，加快经济结构调整，从源 头上减少对环境的破坏。大力推动产业结构优化 升级，形成一个有利于资源节约和环境保护的产 业体系。第四，加快发展环境科技和环保产业， 提高环境保护的能力。
Learning English: 100 Ways to Save The Environment • • In Your Home – Conserve Energy 28 In Your Home – Reduce Toxicity 9 In Your Yard 11 In Your Office 9 Ways To Protect Our Air 15 Ways to Use Less Water 8 Ways to Protect Our Water 6 Create Less Trash 14
In Your Home – Conserve Energy 1. Clean or replace air filters on your air conditioning unit at least once a month. 2. If you have central air conditioning, do not close vents（通风孔） in unused rooms. 3. Lower thermostat（温度调节装置） on your water heater to 120. 4. Wrap（包裹，包装） your water heater in an insulated（绝缘的） blanket. 5. Turn down or shut off your water heater when you will be away for extended periods. 6. Turn off unneeded lights even when leaving a room for a short time. 7. Set your refrigerator（冰箱） temperature（温度） at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5.
In Your Home – Conserve Energy 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. When using an oven（烤箱，灶）, minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to 30 every time you open the door. Clean the lint filter in your dryer after every load so that it uses less energy. Unplug（拔掉） seldom used appliances. Use a microwave when- ever you can instead of a conventional oven or stove. Wash clothes with warm or cold water instead of hot. Reverse your indoor ceiling fans for summer and winter operations as recommended. Turn off lights, computers and other appliances when not in use.
In Your Home – Conserve Energy 15. Purchase appliances and office equipment with the Energy Star Label; old refridgerators, for example, use up to 50 more electricity than newer models. 16. Only use electric appliances when you need them. 17. Use compact fluorescent（荧光灯） light bulbs（圆形 灯泡） to save money and energy. 18. Keep your thermostat at 68 in winter and 78 in summer. 19. Keep your thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter when you are away 20. Insulate your home as best as you can. 21. Install weather stripping around all doors and windows.
In Your Home – Conserve Energy 22. Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work. 23. Plant trees to shade your home. 24. Shade outside air conditioning units by trees or other means. 25. Replace old windows with energy efficient ones. 26. Use cold water instead of warm or hot water when possible. 27. Connect your outdoor lights to a timer. 28. Buy green electricity - electricity produced by low - or even zero-pollution facilities (NC Greenpower for North Carolina - www. ncgreenpower. org). In your homereduce toxicity.
In Your Home – Reduce Toxicity 1. Eliminate mercury（汞，水银） from your home by purchasing items without mercury, and dispose of items containing mercury at an appropriate drop-off facility when necessary (e. g. old thermometers). 2. Learn about alternatives to household cleaning items that do not use hazardous（危险的） chemicals（化学品）. 3. Buy the right amount of paint for the job. 4. Review labels of household cleaners you use. Consider alternatives like baking soda, scouring pads, water or a little more elbow grease.
In Your Home – Reduce Toxicity 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. When no good alternatives exist to a toxic（有毒的） item, find the least amount required for an effective, sanitary（清洁的，卫生的） result. If you have an older home, have paint in your home tested for lead. If you have lead-based（含铅的） paint, cover it with wall paper or other material instead of sanding（打磨，磨砂） it or burning it off. Use traps（陷阱，诱捕器） instead of rat and mouse poisons and insect killers. Have your home tested for radon（氡，惰性气体）. Use cedar（雪松） chips or aromatic（芬芳的） herbs （药草，香草） instead of mothballs（樟脑球）.
In Your Yard 1. Avoid using leaf blowers and other dust-producing equipment. 2. Use an electric lawn- mower（割草机） instead of a gaspowered one. 3. Leave grass clippings on the yard-they decompose（分 解） and return nutrients（营养） to the soil. 4. Use recycled wood chips as mulch to keep weeds down, retain（保持） moisture（湿润 and prevent erosion. （腐 蚀） 5. Use only the required amount of fertilizer. 6. Minimize pesticide（杀虫剂） use.
In Your Yard 7. Create a wildlife habitat（动植物的生活环境，栖息地， 产地） in your yard. 8. Water grass early in the morning. 9. Rent or borrow items like ladders（梯子）, chain saws （锯）, party decorations（装饰品） and others that are seldom used. 10. Take actions that use non hazardous components (e. g. , to ward（保卫，阻止，避免） off pests（害虫， 有害物）, plant marigolds（万寿菊） in a garden instead of using pesticide). 11. Put leaves in a compost（堆肥） heap instead of burning them or throwing them away. Yard debris too large for your compost bin should be taken to a yarddebris recycler.
In Your Office 1. Copy and print on both sides of paper. 2. Reuse items like envelopes（信封）, folders（ 文件夹） and paper clips（曲别针）. 3. Use mailer sheets for interoffice mail instead of an envelope. 4. Set up a bulletin board for memos instead of sending a copy to each employee.
In Your Office 5. Use e-mail instead of paper correspondence（ 通信，信件）. 6. Use recycled paper. 7. Use discarded paper for scrap paper. 8. Encourage your school and/or company to print documents with soy-based inks, which are less toxic. 9. Use a ceramic（陶器制品） coffee mug（杯子） instead of a disposable（可任意使用的） cup.
Ways To Protect Our Air 1. Ask your employer to consider flexible work schedules or telecommuting. 2. Recycle printer cartridges. 3. Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work. 4. Report smoking vehicles to your local air agency. 5. Don't use your wood stove or fireplace when air quality is poor. 6. Avoid slow-burning, smoldering fires. They produce the largest amount of pollution. 7. Burn seasoned wood - it burns cleaner than green wood. 8. Use solar power for home and water heating.
Ways To Protect Our Air 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Use low-VOC or water-based paints, stains, finishes and paint strippers. Purchase radial tires and keep them properly inflated for your vehicle. Paint with brushes or rollers instead of using spray（喷雾，飞沫） paints to minimize harmful emissions（散发，喷射）. Ignite（点燃） charcoal（木炭） barbecues（吃烧烤肉的野餐） with an electric probe or other alternative to lighter fluid. If you use a wood stove, use one sold after 1990. They are required to meet federal emissions standards and are more efficient and cleaner burning. Walk or ride your bike instead of driving, whenever possible. Join a carpool（合伙使用汽车） or vanpool（上下班交通车合用小 组） to get to work.
Ways to Use Less Water 1. Check and fix any water leaks（泄漏，漏洞）. 2. Install water-saving devices on your faucets（水龙头，塞子） and toilets（卫生间）. 3. Don't wash dishes with the water running continuously. 4. Wash and dry only full loads of laundry and dishes. 5. Follow your community's water use restrictions or guidelines. 6. Install a low-flow shower head. 7. Replace old toilets with new ones that use a lot less water. 8. Turn off washing machine's water supply to prevent leaks.
Ways to Protect Our Water 1. Revegetate（再植） or mulch（覆盖树根） disturbed（ 被扰乱的） soil as soon as possible. 2. Never dump（倾倒（垃圾）） anything down a storm drain（排水沟）. 3. Have your septic（腐败的，败血的） tank（容器） pumped and system inspected regularly. 4. Check your car for oil or other leaks, and recycle motor oil. 5. Take your car to a car wash instead of washing it in the driveway. 6. Learn about your watershed.
Create Less Trash 1. Buy items in bulk from loose bins when possible to reduce the packaging wasted. 2. Avoid products with several layers of packaging when only one is sufficient. About 33 of what we throw away is packaging. 3. Buy products that you can reuse. 4. Maintain and repair durable（持久的，耐用的） products instead of buying new ones. 5. Check reports for products that are easily repaired and have low breakdown（崩溃，衰弱） rates. 6. Reuse items like bags and containers when possible. 7. Use cloth napkins（餐巾，餐巾纸） instead of paper ones.
Create Less Trash 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Use reusable plates and utensils（器具） instead of disposable ones. Use reusable containers to store food instead of aluminum（铝） foil（箔） and cling（薄膜） wrap. Shop with a canvas（帆布） bag instead of using paper and plastic bags. Buy rechargeable batteries for devices used frequently. Reuse packaging cartons and shipping materials. Old newspapers make great packaging material. Compost your vegetable scraps（零碎，碎片，余料）. Buy used furniture - there is a surplus of it, and it is much cheaper than new furniture.
• Origainally From: http: //www. seql. org/100 ways. cfm?
the Ideal • “We believe all citizens have an inherent right to the enjoyment of pure and uncontaminated air and water and soil; that this right should be regarded as belonging to the whole community; and that no one should be allowed to trespass upon it by his carelessness or his avarice or even his ignorance. ” • resolution adopted in 1869 by the Massachusetts Board of Health
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