Its land mass. Yet they are home to over half of the world's plant and

animal species. Originally, rainforest covered twice the area they do

today.

There are approximately 1.6 acres of forests per person living on the

planet.

All of Earth's oxygen is produced by photosynthesis, the process plants

use to combine water and carbon dioxide to create glucose (their own

food) and oxygen.

The first dinosaurs on Earth appeared only about 140 million years af-

ter trees first appeared - about 230 million years ago.

Just three trees planted around the average size home can lower air-

conditioning bills by up to 50%, and trees that shield homes against the

wind can lower heating bills by up to 30%.

Trees produce natural anti-freeze chemicals which can keep them from

freezing in temperatures up to -40 degrees Fahrenheit in some species.

Technically, deforestation only occurs when land once covered with

trees is totally converted to other use and is not replanted.

An average tree absorbs ten pounds of pollutants from the air each

year, including four pounds of ozone and three pounds of particulates.

Time for Reading

33

While reading the text, fill in the table below.

Causes of deforestation Consequences of deforestation

DEFORESTATION

Today, forests occupy around a third of Earth's land area, represent over

60% of the leaf area of land plants, and contain 70% of the carbon present in liv-

ing things. They are home to more than half the world's terrestrial species.

The over-exploitation of forests for timber, fuel, agricultural land, and

other basic needs has led to widespread deforestation and pollution - wiping out

more than half of the world's original forest cover. Around 1% of the world's

forests are lost every year. Two million hectares disappear each year in Brazil

alone and this figure is on the increase.

Half of the trees felled across the world are used for fuel. In less devel-

oped countries it is difficult to find alternative sources, particularly in rural ar-

eas. The burning of animal dung, for instance, removes an important fertiliser

and reduces crop production.

Wood and paper consumption, primarily in industrialised countries, is one

of the primary factors driving global deforestation. At least half of the world's

timber and nearly three-quarters of world's paper is consumed by a mere 22% of

the world's population, those living in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Cattle ranching is a major cause of rainforest destruction in Central and

South America. Ranchers slash and burn rainforests to grow grass pasture for

cattle. Once the cattle have grazed sufficiently, they are slaughtered and ex-

ported to industrialised countries, including the US, to be made into fast food

hamburgers and frozen meat products. It has been estimated that for every quar-

ter pound hamburger made from rainforest cattle, 5 sq m of rainforest is cleared.

Forests are also cleared to grow crops. In the southern Amazon, large-scale soya

farming is a profitable industry and vital for the region's economy.

The activities of multinational corporations, particularly resource extrac-

tion corporations involved in mining, oil extraction and logging, are one of the

leading causes of rainforest destruction. Even when these activities aren't di-

rectly responsible for large-scale rainforest destruction, they create the infra-

structure that opens the way for the degradation of forest areas.

Population is one of the most important factors affecting rainforest de-

struction today. People are increasingly moving into previously undisturbed for-

ests to log, mine, or farm, causing unprecedented forest degradation. This proc-

ess is frequently referred to as 'colonisation'.

Forests are highly sensitive to climate change and up to one third of

currently forested areas could be affected by climate change in some way.

Global warming poses myriad threats to the survival of rainforests. Warmer

temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may create the conditions for

34

increased forest fires. In addition, as global temperatures rise, tree species may

not be able to shift their range fast enough to survive.

When trees are removed, particularly from mountainous areas, top soil is

exposed and may be washed away by rain. The resulting erosion can clog

streams with silt, harm fish populations and degrade water quality. This problem

can be reduced by the use of terracing and the planting of ground cover crops.

Deforestation is a major contributor to the habitat loss that continues to

threaten endangered species across the planet. For example, the rate of destruc-

tion of the Amazonian rainforest increased by 40% between 2001 and 2002.

More than 25,000 sq km were cleared in a year, mainly for farming. That repre-

sents an area of land larger than Belgium. The Amazon is home to up to 30% of

the world's animal and plant life.

Trees also convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, thereby playing a major

part in reducing pollution and controlling climate change caused by excess

greenhouse gases.

It is impossible to stop deforestation in the foreseeable future, but there

are many opportunities for bringing it under control and minimising its negative

impacts. Residual forests can be preserved, logged areas replanted and new laws

can be introduced to limit the amount of land that can be deforested each year.

People can also explore the use of alternative materials and recycled materials.

Did You Get It?

I. Say whether the statements below true or false. Correct the false

ones.

1. Soya farming is a major cause of rainforest destruction in Central and

South America.

2. The activities of multinational corporations are indirectly responsible

for large-scale rainforest destruction.

3. More than 25,000 sq km of Amazonian rainforest cleared annually

represents an area of land larger than Brazil.

4. Trees convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.

5. Global warming poses many threats to the survival of rainforests.

6. The Amazon is home to 50% of the world's animal and plant life.

7. Colonization is one of the most important factors affecting rainforest

destruction today.

II. Answer the questions.

1. What is the importance of the forests?

2. What has the over-exploitation of forests lead to?

3. What are forests cleared for in Central and South America?

4. What is wood used for in the developed countries?

5. What are the activities of multinational corporations that lead to the

destruction of the rainforests?

6. Name the negative effects of deforestation in mountainous areas.

7. How can the problem of deforestation be reduced in mountainous ar-

eas?

35

8. How is it possible to reduce the negative impacts of the deforestation?

III. Match up the beginning of the sentence (column A) with the ending

(column B).

A B

a. Forests are highly sensitive 1. wiped out more than half of the

world's original forest cover.

b. A half of the trees cut down 2. under control and minimising its

across the world negative impacts.

c. Large-scale soya farming is a 3. are lost every year.

profitable industry

d. There are many opportunities 4. to climate change.

for bringing deforestation

e. Around 1% of the world's for- 5. in the southern Amazon.

ests

f. The over-exploitation of for- 6. are used for fuel.

ests

IV. Read and translate the following number expressions and say what

they refer to.

• over 60% • nearly three-quarters by 40 %

• a third • more than 25,000 sq km

• more than half • by a mere 22%

• around 1% • up to 30%

• half • up to one third

• at least half

Words, Words, Words...

I. Match up and explain.

• rainforest • areas

• fast • extraction

• profitable • farming

• large-scale • destruction

• resource • species

• climate • food

• global • industry

• tree • warming

• logged • change

II. Fill in the appropriate word from the table below.

• large-scale • meat • leaf

• global • rainfall • foreseeable

• recycled • habitat • endangered

• greenhouse • living •

__________ loss _________ warming

__________ area _________ things

36

__________ product _________ gases

__________ species _________ materials

__________ patterns _________ farming

_________ future

III. Find the pair of words with the similar meaning.

• earthly • lost • timber • decreasing

• profitable • crop • wood • unprecedented

• wiping out • rural • destruction • disappear

• over-use • terrestrial • country • over-exploitation

• degradation • yield • beneficial • unparalleled

IV. Match up the definitions (column A) with their explanations (col-

umn B).

A B

a slash 1. large ruminant animals with horns and

cloven hoofs, ex. cow, bull, sheep etc.;

b deforestation 2. excrement of animals;

c pasture 3. cut or gash with a knife etc.;

d cattle 4. grassland suitable for grazing;

e logging 5. left as a remainder;

f dung 6. work of cutting and preparing forest

timber;

g residual 7. kill (animals) for food or skins or be-

cause of disease;

h slaughter 8. the process of removing trees or for-

ests from the place.

V. Put the following remarks of the dialogue in the right order. The

first two have been done for you as an example. Act the dialogue

out.

The dialogue represents a radio interview between a journalist, Gerald

Brook and an environmentalist, Trevor Stern.

Gerald Brook: So tell us, Trevor, why is it important to save the rain for-

ests?

Trevor Stern: There are a number of reasons. One is that many plants

which could be useful in medicine grow in the rainforest. We don’t know all the

plants yet – there are thousands and thousands of them. Researchers are trying to

discover their secrets before they are destroyed.

Gerald Brook: I see. What other Trevor Stern: Well, what happens when

reasons are there? you heat ice?

Gerald Brook: Thank you, Trevor. Trevor Stern: OK. The polar ice caps

consist of million of tons of ice. If they

melt the level of the sea will rise and

cause terrible floods. Many scientists

37

believe that the temperatures are already

rising. We must do everything we can to

prevent global warming, and that includes

the preserving of the rainforests.

Gerald Brook: But is global Trevor Stern: That’s right. The

warming really such a problem? I rainforests have an important effect on

enjoy warm sunshine. the earth’s climate. They are disappearing

at a terrifying rate and soon they will be

gone. People are not doing enough to

save them.

Gerald Brook: You mean the idea Trevor Stern: Well, I am sure you’ve

that the world is getting warmer? heard about global warming?

Gerald Brook: It melts of course. Trevor Stern: Thank you.

Time to Talk

Work in pairs. Make up an interview between a journalist and a con-

servationist. Choose one of the topics of interview:

• Deforestation. Its causes and consequences. How can the nations re-

duce its rates and its negative impacts?

• The destruction of the rainforests and its negative effects.

UNIT IV WASTE MANAGEMENT

RECYCLING

Text 1

Question Time

I. Study the table below to learn about waste in the United States. Do

these statistics surprise you?

38

Percentages of products and energy wasted in the US.

II. Study the information below and say whether the recycling worth

doing and why.

Recycling Facts

• Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water.

• Recycling one aluminium can saves enough electricity to run a TV for

3 hours.

• Recycling one glass bottle or jar saves enough electricity to light a

100-watt bulb for four hours.

• Recycling one ton of plastic saves the equivalent of 1,000–2,000 gal-

lons of gasoline.

• More than 30 million trees are cut down to produce a year’s supply of

newspapers.

Time for Reading

Read the text and match up the headings with the paragraph num-

ber.

a) Recycling.

b) Statistics of waste management.

c) Methods to manage wastes.

d) Source reduction.

e) The three Rs approach.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

(i) As natural part of the life cycle, waste occurs when any organism

returns substances to the environment. No society has been immune from the

day-to-day problems associated with waste disposal. Communities use a variety

of methods to manage wastes depending on the type of waste involved. The

methods used include landfills, incineration, and composting, with separation of

usable materials for recycling, especially for incineration. Landfills remain the

primary place where waste goes, but incineration, recycling, composting, source

reduction are all part of a comprehensive waste management program. Wastes

39

come from residential, commercial, and industrial sources. Industrial wastes

result from manufacturing and can be either hazardous or non-hazardous in

nearly any form.

(ii) The trend among communities in the United States is to take an inte-

grated approach to disposing of municipal wastes. Almost every community has

some type of recycling program and encourage citizens to practice the three Rs,

i.e. reduce, reuse, and then recycle to minimize the amount of waste generated.

(iii) The three “chasing arrows” called the Mobius are a

symbol for recycling. The arrows represent collection, proc-

essing, and usage of materials. American products bearing

the symbol are supposed to have been made from recycled

materials. Plastic materials often have numbers inside of the

Mobius to indicate whether or not the plastic is recyclable or

not. According to the governmental estimates, in 2001, 28% of municipal solid

waste had been recycled or composted, about three times as much as was recy-

cled in 1990.

(iv) According to estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, in 2000 Americans disposed of about 232 million tons of municipal

solid waste. Of this, about 55% was put in landfills, another 30 % was recycled

or composted, and 15 % burned. Although waste management in the United

States is decentralized and diverse, regulations are enforced by the Environ-

mental Protection Agency and similar agencies at the state and local levels.

(v) A very important component of minimizing waste is source reduction.

Manufacturers are making products lighter, using fewer materials, and packag-

ing them more efficiently. Most household goods and appliances were made

with pounds of steel and metals three decades ago. Now lightweight plastics and

other materials have made these goods smaller and lighter. The amount of pack-

aging used has also decreased. Think of the large, bulky cardboard boxes used

only a few years ago for compact discs, designed to discourage theft. Now,

technology has replaced those bulky boxes with a magnetized strip that serves

the same purpose. Technology, and particularly, green design are reducing the

amount of materials that have to be disposed.

Did You Get It?

I. Match up the beginning of a sentence in column A with an ending in

column B to produce a statement which is true according to the text.

A B

a) Waste i. can be either hazardous or non-

hazardous.

b) Depending on the type of waste ii. take an integrated approach to

involved disposing of municipal wastes.

c) According to estimates, 28% of iii. is decentralized and diverse.

municipal solid waste

d) Waste management in the United iv. are reducing the amount of ma-

States terials that have to be disposed.

40

e) The arrows v. communities use a variety of

methods to manage wastes

f) Communities in the United States vi. is a natural part of the life cycle.

g) Technology and green design vii. had been recycled or composted

in 2001.

h) Industrial wastes viii. represent collection, processing,

and usage of materials.

II. Say whether the following statements true or false and give para-

graph number to show where your information comes from.

Statement True/ # paragraph

False

1) Incinerators are the primary place where

waste goes.

2) Glass containers often have numbers inside

of the Mobius to indicate whether or not the

glass is recyclable or not.

3) Nowadays lightweight plastics and other

materials have made these goods bigger and

heavier.

4) American products having the Mobius are

supposed to have been made from recycled

materials

5) British citizens are encouraged to practice

the “3 Rs”, i.e. reduce, reuse, and then recy-

cle to minimize the amount of waste gener-

ated.

6) In 2000 Americans disposed of about 232

million tons of industrial solid waste.

7) The amount of used packaging has in-

creased.

III. Answer the following questions.

1. When does waste occur?

2. What methods do communities use to manage wastes?

3. What sources do wastes come from?

4. Where do the most wastes go?

5. What is meant by the integrated approach to disposing of municipal

waste?

6. How much waste was put in landfills in 2000?

7. What is the symbol for recycling?

8. What does the Mobius represent?

9. All plastic materials are recyclable, aren’t they?

10. The amount of recycled municipal solid waste is increasing, isn’t it?

11. How do manufacturers minimize waste?

Words, Words, Words...

41

I. Match up the words with their definitions.

a. Recycling • to make something into a mixture of decaying

plants and animals;

b. Composting • a low area of land that is built up by deposits

of solid refuse in layers covered by soil;

c. Incineration • processing of used or waste materials by mak-

ing them suitable for reuse;

d. Landfills • burning of waste

II. Find the odd word out.

• dump, disregard, dispose, discard;

• waste, garbage, litter, pollution;

• recycle, reuse, redo, reprocess;

• toxin, poison, venom, garbage;

• dustbin - cupboard - waste-paper basket – ashtray;

• tin - can - metal – plastic;

• waste - litter - glass – rubbish;

• reduce - involve - lessen – decrease.

III. Find in the text words and word combination which mean the

following.

a) an adjective meaning “domestic” (para i);

b) an adjective meaning “of less than average weight” (para v);.

c) a noun meaning “the act of getting rid of something, removal” (para

i);

d) a noun meaning “articles for sale” (para v);

e) an adjective meaning “containing risks or danger” (para i);

f) a noun meaning “burning unwanted things” (para i);

g) a verb meaning “to prevent or try to prevent something” (para v).

h) an adjective meaning “happening as a regular part of life” (para i).

IV. Complete the following table of corresponding nouns and verbs.

Make sure you know their meanings.

Noun Verb

? to incinerate

recycling ?

? to manage

disposal ?

? to manufacture

usage ?

? to compost

? to reduce

package ?

V. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate word(s) from the list below.

• plastic • environment • decompose

• environmentally aware • products • disposing of

• recycling • aluminium • bottle banks

42

It is important these days to try to be as ____(1)_____ as possible, which

means ____(2)_____ our waste instead of ____(3)____ it in the usual way. For

example, instead of throwing ____(4)____ cans away, they can be crushed and

taken for recycling, and bottles can be taken to ____(5)_____ instead of being

put in the rubbish bin. We should try to use as little ____(6)____ as possible be-

cause it takes a long time to ____(7)_____, and to buy recycled paper to write

on. Recycled __(8)____ are often the same price as normal ones, but are a lot

kinder to the ___(9)______.

VI. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate word(s) from the list below.

Note that one word is extra.

• packaged • waste

• long-term • sorted

• wrapping

1) We should try to dispose of our.................... in a way that won't harm

the environment.(rubbish)

2) Frozen vegetables are usually ..................in sealed plastic bags. (put

in)

3) We should try to buy products with as little …………… as possible.

(packaging)

4) Rubbish must be ....... before it is sent for recycling. (separated into

similar types)

VII. a) Using the words from the box fill in the numbered gaps in the

text.

There is an emerging field which seeks to rethink waste and to __(i)___

industrial processes in ways that more closely mimic natural process. In natural

ecosystems, one organism's waste becomes __(ii)___ for another organism. Re-

search in this field looks at how __(iii)____ waste of materials and energy and

reduce emissions by analyzing all points of the product ___(iv)____ from ex-

traction of minerals and other resources to the manufacturing process through

use and final disposition of the product as waste. This includes substituting less

toxic materials in manufacturing, finding ways to reuse those materials in an-

other process, reducing the amount of materials used, and designing products so

they can be __(v)___ after use. This type of systematic reduction of the envi-

ronmental __(vi)____ of manufacturing and use of products is called "green de-

sign."

One example of the research in __(vii)____ ecology is a small industrial

park in Kalundbord, Denmark, where a group of companies have developed a

__(viii)____ relationship in which the companies exchange materials flows.

Treated wastewater from an oil ___(ix)____ is used by a power station for cool-

ing. Several companies buy the waste steam generated by the power station,

which is also used for household heating and to warm a local fish farm. Fly ash

generated by the power station is used to make ___(x)____. Residue from a

pharmaceutical plant is treated and reused as __(xi)____ for local farms.

• redesign • industrial • symbiotic

43

• fertilizer • refinery • recycled

• burden • cement • food

• to reduce • lifecycle

b) Choose the best title for the text above.

Time to Talk

Get ready to talk about:

a. Waste management in the USA.

b. Green design.

c. The importance of recycling.

Text 2

Time for Reading

Put the sentences a-f into the numbered gaps in the following text.

a. The wireless industry was built on competition between carriers and

between standards.

b. The rechargeable batteries that power cell phones also contain a num-

ber of highly toxic substances.

c. Because these devices are so small, their environmental impacts might

appear to be minimal.

d. These toxins have been associated with cancer and neurological disor-

ders, especially in children.

e. Many of the phones taken back are resold in developing countries.

f. Cadmium is known to cause lung, liver, and kidney damage and is

toxic to wildlife.

CELL PHONE WASTE

According to some estimates, Americans discard about 130 million cellu-

lar telephones a year, and that means 65,000 tons of trash, including toxic metals

and other health hazards. ____(1)_____. But the growth in cell phone use has

been so rapid and enormous that the environmental and public health impacts of

the waste they create are a significant concern.

There are more than 135 million people now registered as users of cell

phones and the number is growing. On average a cellular telephone is kept only