Unit 6 Topic: Business and Environment.

1. Text A. Environmental problems.

Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. People always polluted their surroundings. But until now pollution was not such a serious problem. People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution – caused by machines. With the development of crowded industrial cities, which created huge amounts of pollutants, the problem has become more important. Today our planet is in serious danger. We are facing a lot of environmental problems.

1. Water and air pollution. Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The products of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables on. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. So it's very important for us to clean up the air we all breathe. To reduce traffic pollution in some cities, for example, you cannot drive your car on certain days. In other places they use electronic cars and buses, solar cars. Some cities now have special bicycle paths. Some car companies make smaller cars because they use less petrol.

Our rivers and lakes are polluted with dangerous chemicals. Oil tankers are releasing oil into our oceans. Tons and tons of industrial and domestic waste are poured into our seas. Consequently, sea life is threatened with extinction.

2. Greenhouse effect and acid rains. Factories emit tons of harmful chemicals and gases. These emissions have formed a "blanket" around the Earth. The heat from the sun cannot escape and so the temperature is rising. The gases mix with water vapour in the air and make it acidic. Then the acid falls back to earth with rain or snow. Acid rain is extremely harmful to everything on our planet.

3. Fewer trees. Our forests are disappearing because they are cut down or burnt. If this trend continues, one day we won't have enough oxygen to breathe. The tropical rainforests are called "the lungs" of the planet. As a result of this problem, some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.

4. Ozone layer. Ozone is important because it stops ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Many aerosol sprays and factories destroy ozone and have made a very big hole in the ozone layer. This means that too much ultraviolet radiation now enters the Earth and it can cause cancer.

5. Naturals resources are not renewable. Coal, gas, oil, metals and minerals, for example, will finish one day. Other resources take a long time to grow, such as trees, or they are not always available, such as water. We have to reduce the amount of resources and energy that we use. We also have to find alternative ways to make energy. We can use the sun, the wind, the sea and the heat of the Earth.

6. A great threat is nuclear power . The most horrible ecological disaster befell Ukraine and its people after the Chernobyl tragedy in April 1986. Byelarus, Japan were also polluted with radioactive substances. A great damage has been done to the agriculture, forests and people's health. The consequences of this explosion at the atomic power-station are tragic for all the nations.

9. Urban Problems. There is a tendency towards rise in the population of cities. The problems arising as a result of this are water supply, public transport, unemployment, food, housing construction, air pollution, noise, etc. The problems of ecological imbalance in big cities are very urgent and they can cause a chaos if the measures are not taken.

Fortunately, it's not too late to solve these problems. We have the time, the money and even the technology to make our planet a better, cleaner and safer place. We can plant trees and create parks for endangered species. We can recycle rubbish. Individuals and groups of people can work together to persuade enterprises to stop polluting activities.

The serious measures to create a system of ecological security should be taken. Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries - members of the UNO - have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems facing ecologically poor regions. The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to protect the environment.

2. Read and memorize the following words and word-combinations.

environment	середовище, оточення
to pollute	забруднювати
to protect	захищати
pollution	забруднення
to cause	спричиняти
danger	небезпека
enterprise	підприємство
to appear	з'являтися
harmful	шкідливий, згубний
dust	пил
to suffer	страждати
to reduce	зменшувати
chemicals	хімікалії; хімічні препарати
to release	випускати
extinction	вимирання; знищення
vapour	пар
to emit	випускати
to escape	збігати
acidic	кислотний
to disappear	зникати
to cut down	вирубати
to burn	палити, горіти
ozone layer	озоновий пласт
ultraviolet radiation	ультрафіолетова радіація
renewable	поновлюваний
to destroy	руйнувати
nuclear	ядерний
disaster	нещастя
to befall (befell, befallen)	траплятися, випадати на (чию-небудь) долю
substance	речовина, субстанція
explosion	вибух
tendency	тенденція, напрям
to rise	підіймати
to supply	постачати
urgent	терміново
endangered species	вимираючі види
to recycle	переробляти
to persuade	переконувати
emissions of pollutants	викиди забруднювачів
greenhouse effect	парниковий ефект
to take certain measures	вживати заходи

3. As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environment, more and more companies claim to be producing 'environmentally-friendly' products. Read the claims below and match each one to the company that you think made it.

a) cosmetics firm c) a fast food chain

b) car manufacture d) a sport footwear firm

1 'We provide refills for all our bottles.'

2 'All our packaging is made of biodegradable materials.'

3 'When you've finished with our products bring them back, we recycle them.'

4. 'Our latest model is much less polluting.'

4. What other companies with environmentally-friendly policies do you know?

5. Discuss these statements made by Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop International. Do you agree with any of them? Why? Why not?

- “A good business should be part of society, and you have to have pride in what you do. There's no pride in making millions of pounds, but there is pride in helping people and the environment.”

- “The idea now is global responsibility. Businesses are the true planetary citizens, they can push frontiers, they can change society.”

- “In the next decade, environmentalism will be the most important issue for business.”

6. Learn the following vocabulary and the examples. Make your own sentences with these words.

Word	Meaning	Example sentence
ban	disallow an action or thing in a specified area	The school banned water bottles because they are bad for the environment.
commute	travel from home to work (either by public transit or driving)	Imagine how much pollution you cause in a lifetime by commuting two hours a day?
consume	take into our bodies or homes	Americans consume more than their share of the earth's resources.
emit	to give off or out	Cars emit harmful pollutants into the atmosphere.
minimize	make as little as possible	We can minimize pollution by walking instead of driving to work and school.
pollute	put dangerous substances into the ground and the air	Fumes from factories pollute our lakes and oceans.
protect	keep from harm	It is important to protect your skin from the harmful UV rays of the sun.
protest	voice concern about; fight against an issue or decision	The environmentalists will protest if the road builders don't make a bicycle lane.
recycle	to take materials from garbage and form it into something new that can be used	Please recycle your junk mail instead of throwing it in the garbage.
reduce	use less	You can reduce your household waste by buying products with less packaging.
reuse	use again	We reuse the inner bags from the cereal boxes inside our small garbage can.
throw away	put in the garbage	Don't throw away your grass clippings; leave them on your lawn.
use up	use until there is no more	We are using up the earth's natural resources faster than ever.
waste	throw away something that is still useful	Don't waste toilet paper; use one or two sheets instead of three or four.

7. Make the following sentences negative.

1. Patagonia introduced recycled fleece into its range in 1993.

2. Consumers will buy more and more 'environmentally-friendly' products.

3. Consumers took plastic bottles to the local recycling centre.

4. The company is going to add a new item to the product range.

8. Make general and special questions to the following sentences.

1. Patagonia's reputation for high is not going to decline.

2. Not all young people afford environmentally-friendly products.

3. Patagonia makes efforts to convince other companies to use organically-grown cotton.

4. Many companies resist to use organically-grown cotton because it costs more.

5. Pollution is rising in Paris.

6. People still prefer to take their cars to work.

7. Many countries organize separate waste collections for glass, paper, metal and

plastic.

8. Most beauty products carry the label 'against animal testing'.

9. Many countries and regions are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

10. Ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth.

11. Climate change demands an urgent global response as a serious global threat.

9. Use the correct form of the words in the box to complete the sentences below.

effective

manufacture consult

responsible commit

profit sustain

1. This particular product is not suitable for use inside the home.

2. We have found that in many countries, suppliers do not understand the importance of using natural resources that you can ____rather than deplete.

3. We are going to discuss the ____of the new sales policy at the meeting this afternoon.

4. The best way to reduce the environmental impact of business operations in developing countries is by helping companies there to take greater ____ for managing the resources that they use.

5. When designing packaging that can be recycled, it is sometimes necessary to use the services of ____ who can advise on the best ways to do this.

6. Although selling green products can help to protect the environment, it must also be _____ for the company.

7. Research shows that consumers would like to see more companies making a genuine ____ to protecting the environment.

8. _____ industries produce the highest levels of air pollution

10. Be ready to speak on the topic.