- •Unit 1 geoecology
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •2. Read the text, fulfill the exercises.
- •7. Read the text below, use the word given in capitals at the end of each line to form a word that fits in the space in the same line.
- •8. What are the subjects of the following sciences?
- •9. Here are some definitions. What are they? Complete the sentences.
- •10. Answer the questions.
- •11. 9 Listen to the interview with a senior research engineer called Dr. Michael Blomberg. Dr. Blomberg gives his opinions on future trends in science and technology.
- •12. Read the text, do the tasks after it. Science and values
- •13. Work in pairs. Discuss the following quotations about ecological problems.
- •14. Read the interesting facts about nature and tell one of them to your groupmates.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 2 the impact of mining and oil extraction on the environment
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •1. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •Match the words with their definitions.
- •9. Answer the questions.
- •10. State whether the sentences are true or false. If true, add the information you know, correct the false ones.
- •11. Read the text through and find the answers to these questions. Remember, you do not have to understand every word to answer the questions.
- •1. Are these statements True or False?
- •2. Classify the following items into four lists according to their role in environmental engineering. Then find a heading for each list.
- •3. Discuss the following points
- •12. 9 You will hear a lecture on impact of some trace elements of ore mineral on the environment. For questions 1-5, choose the best answer a, b, or c.
- •13. Read the text, tell about the impact of different stages of oil extraction on environment Environmental effect of Extracting Delivering, and Using Petroleum Products
- •14. Say in what content these figures are mentioned in the text.
- •15. Complete the sentences according to the text.
- •16. 9 You are going to hear a report about tanker disasters. Work in pairs. List possible causes of tanker disasters. Do you think that most accidents could be avoided or are some inevitable?
- •17. 9 You will hear various people talking about a tanker disaster. You will hear the people twice.
- •18. Imagine you are people from the list in Ex. 17. Act out interviews. Before you begin, decide what attitude you wish to convey by the tone of your voice and the way you speak.
- •19. Imagine you are fisherman or local hotel owners. Plan and write a letter demanding compensation for loss of trade caused by the oil spills.
- •20. Discuss the following facts and figures.
- •21. Discuss the following quotation from the standpoint of the ecological problems in mining and oil production
- •Deepwater Horizon oil spill
- •23. Write a paragraph on one of the topics, be ready to discuss it in group.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 3 the problems of power generation
- •Terms and vocabulary
- •A) Pay attention to the pronunciation of the following words.
- •2. Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •3. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and set-expressions.
- •4. Match the synonyms.
- •5. Match the antonyms.
- •6. Fill in the correct word from the list below.
- •7. Fill in the necessary preposition.
- •8. Read the examples, join the sentences in every possible way.
- •Join the sentences using the words in brackets. Think of other ways of joining them.
- •Translate the sentences, mind Subjective Infinitive Construction.
- •11. Translate the sentences using Subjective Infinitive Construction
- •12. Complete the sentences according to the text.
- •Answer the questions.
- •Read the text, suggest the title to it.
- •Answer the questions.
- •18. Understanding a lecture
- •19. Read the text attentively, do the task after it. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
- •20. Working in pairs, discuss one of the energy source, its advantages and disadvantages, its perspectives:
- •21. Read the article and answer the questions below: The Truth about Chernobyl
- •22. Organize a students’ conference “The modern problems of energy generation.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 4 the greenhouse effect
- •Terms and vocabulary
- •1. Guess the meaning of the words and remember the pronunciation.
- •2. Read the text, fulfill the exercises.
- •3. Complete the table with the appropriate word-formations.
- •5. Translate from Russian into English.
- •Fill in each gap with only one word.
- •7. Match the definitions.
- •8. Complete the following sentences:
- •9. Answer the questions.
- •10. Put the sections of the article from the New Scientist into the correct order. The first section is “ a” and the last is “g”. Looking on the Dark Side of Global Warming
- •11. 9 You will hear a lecture on global warming. For questions 1- 15 fill in the missing information.
- •Read the text without using a dictionary. Speak on the properties and practical applications of ozone
- •13. Tell about the greenhouse effect using this picture
- •14. 9 You will hear a man talking about a climatic phenomenon called El Niňo. For questions 10-14, choose the best answer (a, b, c or d) which fits best according to what you hear.
- •15. Discuss the following facts and figures.
- •16. Discuss the following problems. Find some additional information to prove your point of view.
- •Wordlist
- •Unit 5 the impact of chemical elements on human organism
- •Terms and Vocabulary
- •Read the words and remember their pronunciation.
- •Try to recognize the following words, remember their pronunciation.
- •3. Read the text, fulfil the exercises.
- •8. Fill in the necessary prepositions:
- •9. State whether each of the following sentences are true or false, if false, explain why.
- •10. Read the text again and make notes under the following headings. Find some additional information on each of the topics. Talk about the process of toxicokinetics. Use the scheme.
- •11. Read the text and answer the questions. Toxic heavy metals
- •Mechanisms of toxicity
- •Some principle processes of toxicity
- •Some other reaction of human organism to xenobiotic
- •Dose in the Exposure-Response relationships
- •Interaction of xenobiotics with each other
- •Carcinogenesis
- •More on carcinogenesis
- •Toxicity testing
- •Wordlist
- •Final tests
- •Variant 1
- •Variant 2
- •Glossary
- •Practical part
- •The result processing
- •Questions
- •Laboratory work № 2
- •Investigation of physiological characteristics of organism adaptation to low temperature
- •Theoretical introduction
- •Practical part
- •Questions
- •Laboratory work № 3 Study of calculation method of depletion time for non-renewable resources
- •Theoretical introduction
- •Practical part
- •Questions
- •Project work Types of Anthropogenic Impact in Tomsk Territory
- •References
Unit 4 the greenhouse effect
In recent decades, we often hear about the greenhouse effect in somewhat negative terms. The negative concerns are related to the possible impacts of an enhanced greenhouse effect. It is important to remember that without the greenhouse effect, life on earth as we know it would not be possible. While the earth's temperature is dependent upon the greenhouse-like action of the atmosphere, the amount of heating and cooling are strongly influenced by several factors just as greenhouses are affected by various factors.
Lead-in
Discuss the following quotations about ecological problems. Say how they are related to the theme of the unit.
The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.
~Marya Mannes, More in Anger, 1958
Economic advance is not the same thing as human progress.
John Clapham, A Concise Economic History of Britain, 1957
For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death.
~Tom McMillan, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990
Our environmental problems originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the central nervous system or the brain of nature. We're not the brain, we are a cancer on nature.
~Dave Foreman, Harper's, April 1990
Terms and vocabulary
Incident radiation |
падающее излучение |
Perturbation |
возмущение |
Deleterious effect |
вредный, отрицательный эффект |
Depletion |
истощение, износ |
Tenuous |
тонкий, незначительный |
Sewage disposal |
удаление, сброс сточных вод |
Diversity |
разнообразие |
Runaway |
быстро растущий |
To scatter |
рассеивать |
Repository |
хранилище, контейнер |
To trap |
улавливать |
A matter of controversy |
предмет разногласия, спора |
Abundance |
распространение, изобилие |
1. Guess the meaning of the words and remember the pronunciation.
energy ['enәdʒі] concentration [¸konsn'treı∫n]
anthropogenic[¸ænθrəpə'dʒınık] atmosphere ['ætməsfıə]
globe [glәυb] gravitation [¸grævı'teı∫n]
2. Read the text, fulfill the exercises.
Life as we know it on the Earth is entirely dependent on the tenuous layer of gas that clings to the surface of the globe, adding about 1 % to its diameter and insignificant amount to its total mass. And yet the atmosphere serves as the Earth’s window and protective shield, as a medium for the transport of heat and water, and as source and sink for exchange of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen with the biosphere. The atmosphere acts as a compressible fluid tied to the Earth by gravitation; as a receptor of solar energy and a thermal reservoir, it constitutes the working fluid of a heat engine that transports and redistributes matter and energy over the entire globe. The atmosphere is also a major temporary repository of a number of chemical elements that move in a cyclic manner between the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the upper lithosphere. Finally, the atmosphere is a site for a large variety of complex photochemically initiated reactions involving both natural and anthropogenic substances.
The energy radiated by the earth has a longer wavelength than the incident radiation. Most gases absorb radiation in this range quite efficiently, including those gases such as CO2 and N2O that do not absorb the incident radiation. The energy absorbed by atmospheric gases is re-radiated in all directions; some of it therefore escapes into space, but a portion returns to the Earth and reabsorbed, thus raising its temperature. This is commonly called the greenhouse effect. If the amount of an infrared-absorbing gas such as carbon dioxide increases, a larger fraction of the incident solar radiation is trapped, and the mean temperature of the Earth will increase.
Any significant increase in temperature of the oceans would increase the atmospheric concentrations of both water and CO2, producing the possibility of a runaway process that would be catastrophic from a human perspective. Fossil fuel combustion and deforestation during the last two hundred years have increased the atmospheric CO2 concentration by 25 % and this increase is continuing. The same combustion processes responsible for the increasing CO2 concentration also introduce considerable quantities of particulate materials into the upper atmosphere. The effect of these would be to scatter more of the incoming solar radiation, reducing the amount that reaches and heats the earth’s surface. The extent to which this process counteracts the greenhouse effect is still a matter of controversy; all that is known for sure is that the average temperature of the Earth is increasing.
Carbon dioxide is not the only atmospheric gas of anthropogenic origin that can affect the heat balance of the Earth; other examples are SO2 and N2O. Nitrous oxide is of particular interest, since its abundance is fairly high, and is increasing at a rate of about 0.5 % per year.
It is produced mainly by bacteria, and much of the increase is probably connected with introduction of increased nitrate into the environment through agricultural fertilization and sewage disposal. Besides being a strong infrared absorber, N2O is photochemically active, and can react with ozone. Any significant depletion of the ozone content of the upper atmosphere would permit more ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth. This would have numerous deleterious effects on present life forms, as well as contributing to a temperature increase. The warming effect attributed to anthropogenic additions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere is estimated to be about 2 watts per m2, or about 1.5% of the 150 watts per m2 trapped by clouds and atmospheric gases. This is a relatively large perturbation compared to the maximum variation in solar output of 0.5 watts per m2 that has been observed during the past century. Continuation of greenhouse gas emission at present levels for another century could increase the atmospheric warming effect by 6-8 watts per m2.
A less-appreciated side effect of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide may be reduction in plant species diversity by selectively encouraging the growth of species which are ordinarily held in check by other species that are able to grow well with fewer nutrients. This effect, for which there is already some evidence, could be especially pronounced when the competing species utilize the C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways that differ in their sensitivity to CO2.
Lower S. K. Survey of Environmental Geobiochemistry. Simon Fraser University, 2004.