Enviro-Myths You Can Stop Believing

ANN ARBOR, Michigan - We recently participated in an environmental festival at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the largest indoor shopping center in America. After speaking with thousands of parents, children and teachers, we were appalled at the public's wealth of environmental misunderstanding. Here are some examples.'

Actually, recycling is one of the least important things we can do, if our real objective is to conserve resources.

Remember the phrase "reduce, reuse and recycle"? Reduce comes first for a good reason: It's better not to create waste than to have to figure out what to do with it. And recycling, like any other form of manufacturing, uses energy and other resources while creating pollution and greenhouse gases.

Rather, we need to make products more durable, lighter, more energy efficient and easier to repair rather than to replace. Finally, we need to reduce and reuse packaging.

The original garbage crisis occurred when people first settled down to farm and could no longer leave their campsites after their garbage grew too deep. Since then, every society has had to figure out what to do with discards. That something was usually unhealthy and ugly - throwing garbage in the streets, piling it up just outside of town, incorporating it into structures or simply setting it on fire. Today we can design history's and the world's safest recycling facilities, landfills and incinerators.

The problem is political. No one wants to spend money on just getting rid of garbage or to have a garbage site in the backyard. The obvious solution is to stop generating so much garbage in the first place. Doing so requires both the knowledge and the self-discipline to conserve energy and do more with less stuff.

No, it's all people's fault. Certainly industry has played a significant role in destroying habitats, generating pollution and depleting resources. But we are the ones who signal to businesses that what they are doing is acceptable -every time we open our wallets.

And don't just blame industrial societies. In his recent book "Earth Politics," Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker wrote that "perhaps 90 percent of the extinction of species, soil erosion, forest and wilderness destruction and also desertification are taking place in developing countries". Thus, even non-industrialized, subsistence economies are creating environmental havoc.

Four. The earth is in peril. Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained.

Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually doing so.

Ex 7. Translate into Russian paying attention to nouns in the function of attributes:

1. No coal fires are allowed in London. 2. Cigarette smoke is a major factor in air pollution. 3. Oil pollution causes great damage to beaches and wildlife. 4. Air and water contamination result in serious health problems. 5. Acid rains are known to damage forests both in Europe and North America. 6. Waste disposal is a major problem in modern industry. 7. Risk factors for different types of environmental pollution are calculated. 8. Environmental situation has become a subject of separate and joint research efforts of ecopsychologist, biologists, chemists and biochemists.

1. Загрязнение питьевой воды приводит к болезням. 2. Сигаретный дым отравляет воздух в общественных местах. 3.Новые автомобильные дороги часто портят сельскую местность, принося туда шум и загрязнение. 4. Проблемы защиты окружающей среды приобретают все большую важность. 5. Человечество стоит перед острыми экологическими проблемами. 6. Уровень загрязнения окружающей среды можно измерить при помощи специальных приборов.

Ex 10. Look at the table, then listen to a radio interview with an ecologist and tick (ü) the solutions mentioned. Listen again and discuss the solutions adding any ideas of your own. Use words like: I think, I believe, I agree, also, as well as, in addition, moreover, besides, etc.

Ex 11. Read the following statements about acid rain and try to guess the answers. Then, listen to the tape and underline the correct word. Listen again and say what acid rain is, what damage is caused and how the problem can be solved.

2. Harmful chemicals/poisons are released into the air atmosphere and mix with the water in clouds to produce acid rain.

3.Acid rain causes great damage to the plant and animal life in parks and zoos/lakes and streams.

4. Acid rain can slowly eat away the debris/stone on the outside walls of buildings. strength/threat of acid rain.

5. Governments are forcing power stations to reduce/increase the amounts of poisonous fumes that they release into the atmosphere.

7. If we used public transport more often, the atmosphere wouldn’t become so polluted/affected by car exhaust fumes.

8.If we all make an effort, we can help to decrease the strength/threat of acid rain.

1. As far as the environment is concerned the trends are positive rather than negative. 2. With respect to water quality, the key measure is drinkability. By this measure the water quality is getting better rather than worse. 3. There is no factual basis for the forecast of more pollution in the future. 4. The concept of "ecological stability" is too diffuse (not precisely defined) to be measured. 5. There never have been any data showing that population growth, size or density have a negative effect upon the level of pollution. 6. The number of potential threats to the environment is infinite.

1. We need to move in our basic thinking from the “Taker” to the “Leaver” mentality. 2. We have to bring back some kind of animism. 3. Environmental problem solving must pay a lot of attention to a philosophical critique of the values of industrial capitalist society.

As a participant in the International Conference on Environmental Protection you’re to present the information about the pollution of environment in your/ foreign countries and the solutions of this problem.

Ex 15. The number of deaths from cancer caused by bad environment is constantly growing. Write a letter to the local mass media asking for information on the solution of the ecological problems in the region.

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