Module 7 technoecology

UNIT 1

HUMAN ACTIVITY INFLUENCE ON ENVIRONMENT

Pre-reading

Read the text quickly and write out the unknown words. Check their meaning in your dictionary. Try to make a crossword with them.

Energy figures into almost every human activity: it heats our homes, fuels our cars, ploughs our soil and powers our machinery. The exploitation of energy resources and energy production has a negative impact on the environment. The burning of fossil fuels is accompanied by discharges of acid gases, ashes, soot and other pollutants. Open cast mining leads to alteration and destruction of the landscape. Nuclear power stations are risky, and the storage and processing of radioactive waste is a technical problem yet to be solved. People have become more worried about global environmental issues like acid rain and climate change.

The world we know today and the standard of living we enjoy would be impossible without modern means of transportation. An efficient transportation system is essential for economic development. Although the benefits of modern transportation are undeniable, they come at a high price: traffic accidents, noise, air pollution and energy, natural resource consumption etc. Transportation affects the environment (natural and urban), as well as human health.

The Industrial Revolution changed the course of human history. The extended use of machinery brought about explosion on fabrics, vehicles and labour-saving devices. The purpose of industrial activity is to manufacture goods for either final or intermediate consumption. Every manufacturing industry impacts the environment to some extent by using up energy and raw materials. The impact on the environment is greater if those materials are non-renewable. Emissions from industrial activities also impact the environment. This pollution can, however, be reduced through environmentally clean technologies or emissions – abatement technologies.

Forests serve many important functions for the environment and man, society should take special care to preserve and manage them. The impact of recreational activities has been to both the benefit and detriment of forests. In general they tend to favour, and thus preserve, forests with high levels of biodiversity, encouraging the conservation and protection of wildlife and helping to limit the loss of forest to urban sprawl and road building. However, when the frequency of visitors and tourists becomes excessive, problems of soil errosion occur along footpaths. Wildlife is also disturbed, plants and saplings are trampled, and litter accumulates. The result of mass tourism growth is the rising rates of dangerous substances noise, and environmental degradation.

Human activity affects the urban environment. The high concentration of people and activities makes cities major contributors to local, regional and global environmental challenges. Thus, many environmental problems can be effectively addressed and resolved in cities.

We must remember that pollution and waste should not be put into the environment faster than the environment can degrade and recycle them, or render them harmless.

А-GROUP EXERCISES

HOMONYMS

1.Choose the suitable word.

1. Energy heat hour/our homes.

2. The storage and processing of radioactive waste/waist is a technical problem.

3. The world we know/no today would be impossible without modern means of transportation.

4. An efficient transportation system is essential four/for economic development.

5. Although the benefits of modern transportation are undeniable, they come at a hi/high price.

6. Every manufacturing industry impacts the environment to some extent by using up energy and roar/raw materials.

7. Nuclear power stations are too/two risky.

8. In summer children should spend a lot of time in the open air/heir.

9. People have become more worried about global environmental issues like acid rain/rein and climate change.

PARTS OF SPEECH

Adjectives

2. Which of these words are limit adjectives and which are gradable adjectives? Use the dictionary to match each limit adjective with a gradable adjective.

exhausted hot interesting

starving tiny tired small

hungry fascinating boiling

3. How much of the chart below can you complete? Suffixes are used, but not always!

Verb	Noun	Adjective
to lead
to transport
to choose
to preserve
to protect
to limit
to explore
to store
to solve

4. Give the opposite of:

powerful negative to burn hard risky risky to like impossible modern mean efficient essential personal

leisure high noise good final raw clean important urban fast remember harmless

VERB FORMS

5. Write out all the verbs in the text and define the

tense. Write the infinitive of the verb.

Example:

is — Present Simple, third person singular, to be;

is made up - Present Simple Passive Voice, to be made up.

6. Fill in the chart. Write the Past Simple and the Past Participle forms of the irregular verbs next to the infinitive.

Regular verbs	Irregular verbs
Work	choose – chose – chosen

B-GROUP EXERCISES

1. Most words in English have more than one meaning. Here are two meanings of some words. Try to guess the words and translate them into Ukrainian.

Meaning	Word	Translation
Act of specifying Detailed description
To found To bring about, set up
Organized pursuits Action
Functioning Handling
To include, take in To place smith. over
Place of open land Sphere

WORDS THAT GO TOGETHER

There are a lot of word combinations in the text. Match a line in A with a line in B to make them.

A	В
Transportation Traffic Technical Standard Resource Raw Radioactive Protection Power Personal Nuclear Negative Means Industrial Human High Fossil Essential Environmental Energy Economic Climate acid	Accidents Activity Change Consumption Degradation Development Faset Fuels gases impact materials mobility of living of transportation of wildlife price problem resources revolution stations stations system waste

3. Make your own sentences with the word combinations above.

For example:

Traffic accidents are a major cause of death.

C-GROUP EXERCISES

1. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form.

1. Airplane noise can (to be) a much greater disturbance to sleep than other noises.

2. Research (to indicate) that near a major airport – London (Heathrow)

3. Airport – the number of people awakened by airplanes is about 50% greater than the number awakened by other noises.

4. If we (not to isolate) the problem it is going to overtake the country.

5. As a result of the diffusion of air traffic, airports (to tend) to occupy very large land areas with multiple runways, and large airspace’s involved in landing and takeoff procedures.

6. In the area around London (Heathrow) Airport, the population (to increase) by 30% since 1963.

7. An increasing number of people (to work) in airports and in other areas of the aviation industry.

8. There (to be) signs that people’s tolerance to airport noise (to decrease), particularly as socio-economic status improves.

2. Put the words in the correct order to make sentences.

a) today’s, why, reliant, transportation, is, means, world, of, the, so, on?

b) health, endanger, could, lives, industrial, and, some, incidents, people’s.

c) it, for, continuously, to, production, possible, rise, automobile?

d) percent, total, of, origin, waste, 30, nearly, of, industrial, is, Europe’s.

e) repear, of, removal, for, a, is, company, there, and, the, responsible, the, vehicles, old?

f) not, cars, in, many, there, abandoned, our, are, area.

g) waste, Commission, visit, in, should, the, and, Sanitation, the, a, area, vicinity, developed, schools.

h) happen, what, her, or, environment, worked, if, the, to, immediate, everyone, would, in, to, his, proximity?

3. Change the following sentences, active to passive, passive to active.

1. Personal mobility for work, study and leisure is considered an essential faset of modern life.

2. Emissions from industrial activities also impact the environment.

3. This pollution can be reduced through environmentally clean technologies or emissions – abatement technologies.

4. Forests serve many important functions for the environment and man, society should take special care to preserve and manage them.

5. The Industrial Revolution changed the course of human history.

6. Human activity affects the urban environment.

7. Waste should not be put into the environment.

8. Wildlife is also disturbed, plants and saplings are trampled, and litter accumulates.

4. Match a line in A with a line in B to make a sentence.

A	B
Billions of tons of solid waste	Are thrown out annually.
A typical American	Generates an average of four pounds of solid waste each day.
Waste from developed countries	Contains a high percentage of synthetic materials.
Areas where wastes are buried	Are called landfills.
Hazardous wastes	Are kept in storage facilities.
Legal regulations restrict	How such materials may be used or disposed.
Pollution	Has a dramatic effect on natural resources.
Environmental contamination	May have far-reaching consequences.
Occupational disease	Refers to illness resulting from job-related exposures.
Pollution	Exists in many forms.

D-GROUP EXERCISES

1. Read the text. Fill in the gaps with one of the words from the box.

Rain, pollution, silt, logged, fields, aquatic, eliminate, streams, salmon

Erosion, the wearing away of topsoil by wind and _____, also contributes to water _____. Soil and _____ (a fine sediment) washed from _____ hillsides, flowed _____, or construction sites, can clog waterways and kill _____ vegetation. Even small amounts of silt can _____desirable fish species. For example, when logging removes the protective plant cover from hillsides, rain may wash soil and silt into _____, covering the gravel beds that trout or _____ use for spawning.

2.1 Read the text.

The marine fisheries supported by ocean ecosystems are an essential source of protein, particularly for people in developing countries; approximately 950 million people worldwide consume fish as their primary source of protein. Yet pollution in coastal bays, estuaries, and wetlands threatens fish stocks already depleted by over fishing. In 1989, 260,000 barrels of oil was spilled from the oil tanker into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, a pristine and rich fishing ground.

2.2 Put questions to the underlined words.

2.3 Translate the text in writing.

3. Topics for discussion:

1. Inefficient transportation of goods and passengers in your country.

2. The harmful influence of urbanization on the environment.

3. The way we can improve tourism in our country.