UNIT 1                      Text 1 Climate change

Факультет Международных отношений

 

 

                                 Пособие по английскому языку

                                  для студентов 2 курса

                                        (4 семестр)

           (Уровень: Advanced, Upper-Intermediate, Intermediate)                                        

                        Environment

 

 

               

 

 

                        Санкт –Петербург

                                                      2018

UNIT 1                      Text 1 Climate change

 

Before you read t hink over the following questions:

- What are the most important environmental problems nowadays?

- Why have all countries got concerned about climate change?

- What is being done by the international community to prevent negative consequences of climate change for our planet?

Read the following text. Translate the underlined passage(s) into Russian.

  Human societies over the ages have depleted natural resources and degraded their local environments. Populations have also modified their local climates by cutting down trees or building cities. It is now apparent that human activities are perturbing the climate system at the global scale. Climate change is likely to have wide-ranging and potentially serious health consequences.

Global climate change is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere. The global concentration of these gases is increasing, mainly due to human activities, such as the combustion of fossil fuels (which release carbon dioxide) and deforestation (because forests remove carbon from the atmosphere). The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, has increased by 30 percent since preindustrial times. This phenomenon is traditionally called greenhouse effect.

It is estimated that global mean surface temperature will rise by 1.5° to 3.5° C by 2100. This rate of global warming is significant. Large changes in precipitation, both increases and decreases, are forecast, largely in the tropics. Climate change is very likely to affect the frequency and intensity of weather events, such as storms and floods, around the world. Climate change will also cause sea level rise due to the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of the mountain glaciers and polar ice caps. Global mean sea level is anticipated to rise by 15 to 95 centimeters by 2100. Sea level rise will increase vulnerability to coastal flooding and storm surges. The faster the climate change is, the greater will be the risk of damage to the environment. Climatic zones (and thus ecosystems and agricultural zones) could shift toward the pole s by 150 to 550 kilometers by 2100. Many ecosystems may decline or fragment, and individual species may become extinct.

Climate change will increase the risk of both floods and droughts. It may affect human health dramatically. Human health depends on an adequate supply of potable water. By reducing fresh water supplies, climate change may affect sanitation and lower the efficiency of local sewer systems, leading to increased concentrations of pathogens in raw water supplies. Climate change may also reduce the water available for drinking and washing. Current assessments of the impact of climate change indicate that some regions are likely to benefit from increased agricultural productivity while others may suffer reductions, according to their location and dependence on the agricultural sector. Substantial changes in crop yields under climate change are also predicted.

 

                                           Exercises:

Match the following words and word combinations.

1. accumulation	a. засуха
2. greenhouse gases	b. атмосферные осадки
3. mean surface temperature	c. сжигание
4. melting	d. накопление
5. drought	e. обезлесивание
6. precipitation	f. ископаемое топливо
7. combustion	g. средняя температура поверхности
8. deforestation	h. уязвимость
9. fossil fuel	i. парниковые газы
10. carbon dioxide	j. урожайность культур
11. vulnerability	k. запасы пресной воды
12. crop yields	l. углекислый газ
13. fresh water supplies	m. система канализации
14. sewer system	n. таяние

Find English equivalents.

l. Загрязнение

    a. pollute   b. pollution    c. pollutant

 

2. Выделять

    a. emit     b. emission    c. emitting

 

3. сохранять

    a. conservation    b. conserve      c. conservationist

 

4. сторонник защиты окружающей среды

        a. environment b. environmental c. environmentalist

 

5. сокращать, уменьшать

       a. reduce      b. reduction          c. reduced

 

Choose the appropriate words or word combinations to complete the text.

 

a. mean temperature b. drought    c. build-up       d. carbon dioxide

Text Translation

 

Проблемы взаимодействия общества и природы, хозяйственной деятельности человека и ее влияния на природную среду существовали всегда. Однако размеры влияния были локальными и не сказывались на глобальном уровне, не создавали угрозу существованию биосферы.

 Резкий перелом наступил во второй половине XX в. Впервые человечество оказалось перед угрозой уничтожения среды своего обитания. Локальные изменения в природных системах стали перерастать в глобальные — нарушение озонового слоя атмосферы, гибель лесов, глобальное потепление климата, сокращение видового разнообразия. Многие процессы грозят стать необратимыми.

Современный экологический кризис в значительной степени объясняется тем, что на протяжении многих веков развития человечества ведущим был принцип неограниченного экономического роста. Это привело к истощению природных ресурсов, ухудшению среды обитания.

Деградация природной среды идет по нескольким направлениям: загрязнение атмосферного воздуха; загрязнение природных поверхностных и подземных вод; изменение растительного покрова; снижение численности многих промысловых зверей и птиц, амфибий и рептилий, насекомых-опылителей, многих промысловых беспозвоночных.

 

                               Text 2 The Planet in Peril

Read the following text. Translate the underlined passage(s) into Russian.

The threat to the planet from global warming is clear. Fortunately, so are the solutions. Despite what naysayers claim – that energy-use patterns cannot be altered to any great extent – real change is possible given the political will to enact it. If such change is not enacted, however, pessimistic prophecies become self-fulfilling, especially with government subsidies and intensive efforts by special-interest groups to prevent the public from becoming well-informed.

In reality, an alternative scenario is possible – and the US could take the lead. In response to oil shortages and price rises in the 1970s, the US controlled its energy use by requiring an increase from 13 to 24 miles per gallon in the auto-efficiency standard. Economic growth was decoupled from growth in the use of fossil fuels, and the efficiency gains were felt worldwide. Global growth of CO2 emissions slowed from more than 4 percent each year to between 1 and 2 percent growth each year.

The US maintained the slower growth rate despite lower energy prices. Yet the US is only half as efficient in energy use as Western Europe, which encourages efficiency by fossil-fuel taxes. China and India, using older technologies, are less energy-efficient than the US and have a higher rate of CO2 emissions.

Available technologies could improve energy efficiency, even in Europe.              

  Economists agree that the potential could be achieved most effectively by a tax on carbon emissions, although only strong political leadership could persuasively explain the case for such a tax to the public. The tax could be revenue-neutral. Consumers who make a special effort to save energy could gain; well-to-do consumers who insist on three Hummers would pay for their excess.

Achieving a decline in CO2 emissions faces two obstacles: the huge number of vehicles that are inefficient in using fuel, and continuing CO2 emissions from power plants. Automakers oppose efficiency standards, prominently advertising their most powerful vehicles, which yield the greatest short-term profits. Coal companies want new coal-fired power plants built soon, assuring their long-term profits.     

The world must delay construction of new coal-fired power plants until the technology needed to diminish CO2 emissions is available. In the interim, new electricity requirements should be met with renewable energies. Much could be done to limit emissions by improving fuel-efficiency standards in buildings and appliances. Such improvements are entirely possible, but require strong leadership.

The Kyoto Protocol encouraged developed countries to decrease emissions slowly early in this century and extended help to the developing countries for adopting "clean" energy technologies that limit the growth of their emissions. Delays in that approach – especially US refusal to participate in Kyoto and improve vehicle and power-plant efficiencies – and the rapid growth in the use of dirty technologies resulted in an increase of 2 percent per year in global CO2 emissions during the past ten years. If such growth continues another decade, emissions in 2015 will be 35 percent greater than they were in 2000.

Any responsible assessment of environmental impact must conclude that further global warming exceeding 2 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous. Yet because of the warming bound to take place, from continuing long-term effects of greenhouse gases and energy systems now in use, the world will exceed the 2-degree limit unless a change in direction begins this decade.

The public can act as our planet's keeper. The first human-made atmospheric crisis emerged in 1974, when chemists reported that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) might destroy the stratospheric ozone layer that protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Production of CFCs increased 10 percent per year for decades. If this business-as-usual growth of CFCs had continued just one more decade, it would have caused a larger greenhouse effect than CO2.

Instead, the media reported chemists’ warning, and consumers boycotted goods containing CFCs. Annual growth of CFC usage plummeted to zero. The principal CFC manufacturer developed alternatives. As a result, CFC use is decreasing. The ozone layer will recover.

Yet the same scientists and political forces that succeeded in controlling the threat to the ozone layer now fail to control the global-warming crisis. There are multiple reasons for that but one of the basic causes is that the government fails to provide leadership necessary to alter the situation.

Leaders with a long-term vision would place value on developing efficient energy technology and sources of clean energy. Rather than subsidizing fossil fuels, the government should provide incentives for companies to develop alternatives. Instead, politicians cast policies that favor short-term profits of energy companies, taking no account of the mounting costs of environmental damage.

Today’s leaders won’t pay for the tragic effects of a warming climate. If we pass the crucial point, history will judge harshly the scientists, reporters, special interests and politicians who failed to protect the planet. But our children will pay for the consequences.

It is not too late. The world has at most ten years to alter the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions. A good energy policy, economists agree, is not difficult. Fuel taxes should encourage conservation. With slow, continual increases of fuel cost, energy consumption will decline without harming the economy. Quality of life need not decline. However, the world needs politicians with courage to explain what is needed.

 

                                                  Exercises:

1.Translate the following words and word combinations into English and make your own sentences using them:

 

выделять; энергетическая политика; потребление энергии; экологически чистая энергия; парниковые газы; температура по Фаренгейту; Киотский протокол; возобновляемые источники энергии; электростанция, работающая на угле; фреоны; ультрафиолетовое излучение; резко сокращаться; стимул; изменить; недостаток нефти; выбросы; уязвимый; схемы использования энергии; ледник.

 

2. Find as many synonyms as you can:

to alter; to emit; consumption; to affect; accumulation; to degrade; percipitation; to plummet; to perturb; combustion; shortage; to become extinct.

 

3.Translate into English:

1. Такие факторы, как увеличение объема выбросов вредных веществ в атмосферу и вырубка лесов приводят к глобальному потеплению, а, следовательно, к изменению климата во всем мире. 2. Механизм возникновения парникового эффекта заключается в том, что накопление загрязняющие веществ в атмосфере не дает солнечному теплу выходить за ее пределы, следовательно, температура растет. 3. Накопленные в атмосфере загрязняющие вещества, такие как хлорфторуглероды, разрушают озоновый слой земли. 4. Одним из последствий глобального потепления является таяние арктических льдов, которое в свою очередь приводит к повышению уровня моря и затоплению прибрежных регионов. 5. Для борьбы с глобальным потеплением необходимо принятие мер по резкому снижению выбросов парниковых газов. 6. Эксперты предсказывают, что через несколько лет средняя температура на земле вырастет на четыре-шесть градусов. 7. Нужно бороться с теми компаниям, которые не изъявляют желания оснащать свои заводы очистными сооружениями, которые могли бы снизить объем выбросов вредных веществ.  

 

Text Translation

1.Парниковый эффект возник не сегодня - он существовал с тех пор, как появилась атмосфера земли, и без него температура приземных слоев этой атмосферы была бы в среднем градусов на тридцать ниже реально наблюдаемой. Однако за последний век содержание некоторых парниковых газов в атмосфере очень сильно выросло: углекислоты - более чем на треть, метана - в 2,5 раза. Появились и новые вещества - прежде всего хлор- и фтор углеводороды, в том числе пресловутые фреоны. Сам собой напрашивается вывод о связи между этими двумя процессами. Тем более, что причину быстрого роста количества парниковых газов тоже долго искать не надо - вся наша цивилизация, от костров первобытных охотников до современных газовых плит и автомобилей зиждется на быстром окислении соединений углерода, конечным продуктом которых и является СО2. С деятельностью человека связан и рост содержания метана (рисовые поля, скот, утечки из скважин и газопроводов)

 

2.Еще во времена Петра в Европе было гораздо холоднее. В ту пору и Темза в Лондоне замерзала. Постепенно от Петровских времен до конца ХIX века и особенно в ХХ веке развитие НТП привело к повышению годовой температуры на 1 градус по Цельсию. А в последней четверти XX в. началось резкое потепление глобального климата, которое в некоторых регионах сказывается уменьшением количества морозных зим. Средняя температура приземного слоя воздуха за последние 25 лет возросла на 0,7°С. В экваториальной зоне она не изменилась, но чем ближе к полюсам, тем потепление заметнее. Температура подледной воды в районе Северного полюса возросла почти на два градуса, вследствие чего началось подтаивание льда снизу.

 

3. Проблема глобального потепления была впервые высказана в гипотезе шведским ученым Сванте Арейниусом в конце XIX века. Не исключено, что это потепление частично имеет естественный природный характер. Однако скорость потепления заставляет признать роль антропогенного фактора в этом явлении. Сейчас человечество сжигает ежегодно 4,5 млрд. т угля, 3,2 млрд. т нефти и нефтепродуктов, а также природный газ, торф, горючие сланцы и дрова. Все это превращается в углекислый газ, содержание которого в атмосфере возросло с 0,031% в 1956г. до 0,035% в 1992г. и продолжает расти. Кроме того, резко увеличились выбросы в атмосферу другого парникового газа— метана. Сейчас большинство климатологов мира признает роль антропогенного фактора в потеплении климата.

(Адаптировано в учебных целях из Глобальное потепление: причины, последствия, тенденции Ханджян Р. http://www.ecosystema.ru/07referats/zagr.htm )

UNIT 2                     

                                     Text 1 Pollution

Before you read t hink over the following questions:

- Why has pollution become a threat to modern society?

- What forms does it take today?

- What should be done to reduce every kind of pollution?

Read the following text. Translate the underlined passage(s) into Russian.

Pollution is the contamination of the air, water, or earth by harmful or potentially harmful substances. The U.S. environmental movement in the 1960s emerged from concerns that air, water, and soil were being polluted by harmful chemicals and other toxic substances. During the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, the mass production of goods created harmful wastes, much of which was dumped into rivers and streams. The twentieth century saw the popular acceptance of the automobile and the internal combustion engine, which led to the pollution of the air. Rapidly expanding urban centers began to use rivers and lakes as repositories for sewage.

Land pollution involves the depositing of solid wastes that are useless, unwanted, or hazardous. Types of solid waste include garbage, rubbish, ashes, sewage-treatment solids, industrial wastes, mining wastes, and agricultural wastes. Most solid waste is buried in sanitary landfills. A small percentage of municipalities incinerate their refuse, while composting is rarely employed.

Modern landfills attempt to minimize pollution of surface and groundwater. They are now located in areas that will not flood and that have the proper type of soil. Solid wastes are compacted in the landfill and are vented to eliminate the buildup of dangerous gases. Hazardous wastes, including toxic chemicals and flammable, radioactive, or biological substances, cannot be deposited in landfills, and the management of these wastes is subject to federal and state regulation.

Nuclear wastes are radioactive materials that may be left after a commercial or laboratory process has been carried out. There has been public debate over the safest means of storing the waste, which can remain dangerously radioactive for up to hundreds of thousands of years. Present practice calls for encasing the waste in metal, concrete, and ceramic containers, and burying the containers deep underground in geologically stable locations

Solid waste pollution has been reduced by recycling wastes rather than burying them. This process includes burning waste to produce steam as well as recycling of glass, metal, and paper. The elimination of these kinds of materials from landfills has prevented pollution and extended the period during which landfills can receive waste.

Land pollution also involves the accumulation of chemicals in the ground. Modern agriculture, which has grown dependent on chemical fertilizers and chemicals that kill insects, has introduced substances into the soil that kill more than pests. For many years the chemical DDT was routinely sprayed on crops to control pests. It was banned when scientists discovered that the chemical entered the food chain and was harming wildlife and possibly humans.

Air pollution is a contamination process that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the earth's ecosystems. Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease.

Air pollutants are classified as either directly released or formed by subsequent chemical reactions. A direct release air pollutant is one that is emitted directly from a given source, such as the carbon monoxide or sulfur dioxide, all of which are byproducts of combustion; whereas, a subsequent air pollutant is formed in the atmosphere through chemical reactions involving direct release pollutants. Anthropogenic sources of air contamination are often related to burning different kinds of fuel, e.g. burning fossil fuels in power plants and gasoline used by motor vehicles. Other anthropogenic sources include oil refining, power plant operation and industrial activity in general, fumes from paint and aerosol sprays and so on.

There are many air pollution control technologies and urban planning strategies available to reduce air pollution; however, worldwide costs of addressing the issue are high.

Water pollution has existed longer than any other type of pollution. Depositing liquid and solid wastes in rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans was convenient and inexpensive for a company or municipality, but it eventually destroyed the ecosystems found in the water. Many large rivers became nothing more than sewers. Most troubling was the polluting of groundwater, creating serious health hazards for those people who drank water containing toxic substances.

 

                  Text 2 When does your waste become litter?

Translate into English:

1. Частицы вредных веществ, попадающих в атмосферу, оседают в легких людей и приводят к заболеваниям дыхательных путей. 2. Во многих крупных городах предприятия сбрасывают промышленные отходы в реки и озера, что приводит к их загрязнению и, в конечном итоге, к гибели экосистемы. 3. Среди всего прочего экологические организации призывают население земного шара покупать товары, не наносящие вреда экологии, которые впоследствии могут быть переработаны. 4. Хотя яблочные огрызки и банановая кожура со временем разлагаются, все же не стоит выбрасывать их прямо на улице, так как мусор на проезжей части и тротуарах сильно портит внешний вид города. 5. Так как промышленные предприятия начали устанавливать современные очистные сооружения, вода в Неве в последние несколько лет стала чище. 6. Основными причинами гибели морских обитателей являются сброс неочищенных сточных вод, утечки нефти, и, как ни странно, полиэтиленовые пакеты и обертки от продуктов, которые бросают в воду туристы. 7. Побочные продукты сжигания отходов также могут послужить причиной возникновения серьезных заболеваний.

H. refrigerators

 

                                  Save the ozone shield

The chemical threat to the life-protecting ozone layer in the high atmosphere turns out to be more serious than feared.

The ozone layer screens out the part of the sun's 1_________ that harms living things. Scientists have long warned that the ozone might be destroyed by the chlorine present in 2____________ chemicals known as 3___________, or CFCs. These are widely used as coolants in 4____________ and air conditioners and 5_______________.

Each 1 реr cent drop in ozone is thought to allow а 2 to 3 per cent rise in the ultraviolet light reaching Earth. Nо оnе knows what 6____________ that might have, but аnу large increase would 'be reason for serious concern. People could suffer increased 7______________ and weakening of the immune system.

CFCs take some seven years to reach the ozone layer, so that corrective action will take years to have аnу effect. There is nо time tо wait for evidence biological damage. The 8_________ is а fine first step, if а second will follow quickly.

 

Text Translation

1.Атмосферный воздух является самой важной жизнеобеспечивающей природной средой и представляет собой смесь газов и аэрозолей приземного слоя атмосферы, сложившуюся в ходе эволюции Земли и деятельности человека. Результаты экологических исследований, как в России, так и за рубежом свидетельствуют о том, что загрязнение приземной атмосферы - самый мощный, постоянно действующий фактор воздействия на человека, пищевую цепь и окружающую среду. В последние годы получены данные о существенной роли для сохранения биосферы озонового слоя атмосферы, поглощающего губительное для живых организмов ультрафиолетовое излучение Солнца и формирующего на высотах около 40 км тепловой барьер, предохраняющий охлаждение земной поверхности

 

2. Отрицательное влияние загрязненной атмосферы связано как с выпадением кислотных атмосферных осадков, вымывающих кальций, и другие микроэлементы из почв, так и с нарушением процессов фотосинтеза, приводящих к замедлению роста гибели растений. Совместное действие всех факторов приводит к заметному уменьшению плодородия почв и исчезновению лесов. Кислотные атмосферные осадки рассматриваются сейчас как мощный фактор не только выветривания горных пород и ухудшения качества несущих грунтов, но и химического разрушения техногенных объектов, включая памятники культуры и наземные линии связи.

 

3. Во многих экономически развитых странах в настоящее время реализуются программы по решению проблемы кислотных атмосферных осадков. В рамках Национальной программы по оценке влияния кислотных атмосферных осадков, утвержденной в 1980 году. Многие федеральные ведомства США начали финансировать исследования атмосферных процессов вызывающих кислотные дожди, с целью оценки влияния последних на экосистемы и выработки соответствующих природоохранных мер.

 

4. Процессы и источники загрязнения приземной атмосферы многочисленны и разнообразны. По происхождению они подразделяются на антропогенные и природные. Среди антропогенных к наиболее опасным процессам относятся сгорание топлива и мусора, ядерные реакции при получении атомной энергии, испытаниях ядерного оружия, металлургия и горячая металлообработка, различные химические производства, в том числе переработка нефти и газа, угля. При процессах сгорания топлива наиболее интенсивное загрязнение атмосферы происходит в мегаполисах ввиду широкого распространения в них автотранспортных средств и ТЭЦ, работающих на угле, мазуте, дизельном топливе, природном газе и бензине.

(Адаптировано в учебных целях из Проблемы загрязнения окружающей среды Костин С.Н.http://www.ecosystema.ru/07referats/zagr.htm )

 

UNIT 3

                                Text 1 Species Extinction

Before you read t hink over the following questions:

- Have you ever noticed the influence of worsening ecological situation on plants and animals?

- Think of some possible ways to prevent species from becoming extinct.

Read the following text. Translate the underlined passage(s) into Russian.

Extinction is the disappearance of species of living organisms. Extinction occurs as a result of changed conditions to which the species is not suited. If no member of the affected species survives and reproduces, the entire line dies out, leaving no descendants. This was the case with the saber-toothed tiger (Smilodon) of North America, which is not ancestral to any living species. However, a species may also become extinct through its gradual evolution into a new species, as a result of natural selection for characteristics suited for new conditions. What appears quite clear is the impact of human activity, such as overhunting a species or destroying its habitat, on species loss and accelerating species loss worldwide. There is a close parallel between early human migrations and the disappearance of large game species. Overexploitation of biological resources has continued to the present time, and numerous species have disappeared in regional environments as a consequence. An important aspect of extinction at the present time are human attempts to preserve critically endangered species through the creation of the conservation status extinct in the wild. Species listed under this status by the World Conservation Union (WCU) are not known to have any living specimens in the wild, and are maintained only in zoos or other artificial environments. Some of these species are functionally extinct. When possible, modern zoological institutions attempt to maintain a viable population for species preservation and possible future reintroduction to the wild through use of carefully planned breeding programs.

 

                                 Text 2 The Planet in Peril (part2)

Text Translation

 

1.Массовое вымирание животных и растений 2009 неуклонно продолжалось, подводят итоги уходящего года, экологи. Больше всего досталось тиграм, белым медведям и носорогов, считают в фонде WWF.
Амбициозная цель Европейского союза - остановить утрату биологического разнообразия видов остается недостижимой, отмечают во Всемирном фонде дикой природы. Причины такой ситуации хорошо известны всем, отмечает эксперт фонда Фолькер Гомес. Это уничтожение природной среды, глобальные изменения климата, масштабное браконьерство.

2. Больше всего потеряли в этом году тигры. По последним данным экологов, во всем мире на свободе сейчас проживают около 3200 тигров. Главная причина уменьшения популяции хищников - браконьерство и нелегальная торговля их зубами, шерстью и костями, что среди прочего используются традиционной азиатской медицине. «Если в борьбе с браконьерством в ближайшее время не произойдет прорыва, то тигры останутся только в зоопарках», - говорят специалисты./../
Угрозу чувствуют и белые медведи. Глобальное потепление меняет условия природной среды, где живут эти животные. 2009 года количество белых медведей сократилось. Это тревожная тенденция, бьют тревогу экологи. Значительная часть Арктики может к 2050 году превратиться в территорию без белых медведей. По данным экспертов фонда, 2009 год оказался также плохим и для носорогов, жаб и амфибий. /../

 

3. В то же время 2009 года были и положительные сдвиги. Сейчас в мире на воле обитают около 35 амурских леопардов. Поэтому защитники природы с необычайной радостью этом году восприняли сообщение с российского Дальнего Востока о самку амурского леопарда с тремя детенышами. Фотографии семьи амурских леопардов, сделанные патрулем, защищающий этих редких животных в регионе от браконьеров, вызвали значительный резонанс.

Положительной новостью стало и то, что популяция рыси в баварском лесу остается стабильной. Эксперты даже считают вполне реальной перспективу возвращения этих животных на альпийские территории.
(Адаптировано в учебных целях из http://nanotechics.ru/365.html)

UNIT 4

                           Text 1 Alternative energy

Before you read t hink over the following questions

- Why do a lot of think tanks today are in search of alternative kinds of energy?

- What resourses are considered by the scientists as such kinds of energy?

- Is it possible that these alternative sourses of energy will appear to be threatening to the enveronment?

Read the following text. Translate the underlined passage(s) into Russian.

Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal, petroleum or natural gas, formed from the remains of dead plants and animals. The theory that hydrocarbons were formed from these remains was first introduced by Mikhail Lomonosov in 1757. The utilization of fossil fuels has enabled large-scale industrial development and largely supplanted water-driven mills, as well as the combustion of wood or peat for heat. When generating electricity, energy from the combustion of fossil fuels is often used to power a turbine.

Yet the burning of fossil fuels by humans is the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. With global modernization in the 20th and 21st centuries, the thirst for energy from fossil fuels, especially gasoline derived from oil, has become one of the causes of major regional and global conflicts. A global movement toward the generation of renewable energy is therefore underway to help meet the increased global energy needs.

For many decades humanity has been striving to find various renewable power sources so that to use them in place of fossil fuels and uranium. Nuclear fusion devices are believed by some to be the best long-term option, because their primary energy source would be deuterium, abundant in ordinary water. Other technologies include solar energy, wind power, tidal power, wave power, hydroelectric power, and geothermal energy. The amount of energy in such renewable and virtually pollution-free sources is large in relation to world energy needs, yet at present only a small portion of it can be converted to electric power at reasonable cost.

 

Solar energy

Radiation from the Sun can produce heat, generate electricity, or cause chemical reactions. Solar energy is inexhaustible and nonpolluting, but converting solar radiation to electricity is not yet commercially competitive. Solar batteries play an important part in space satellites. Solar heating systems can supply heat and hot water for domestic use; heat collected in special plates on the roof of a house is stored in rocks or water held in a large container. Such systems, however, usually require a conventional heater to supplement them.

Wind power

Like waterwheels, windmills were among the original prime movers that replaced human beings as a source of power. Their most important traditional use was for grinding grain, though in certain areas their use in land drainage and water pumping was equally important. Windmill use became increasingly widespread in Europe (particularly the Netherlands) from the 12th century to the early 19th century, but thereafter slowly declined. Interest in windmills for generating electric power revived in the 1970s. Though wind is irregular and spread out, it contains tremendous amounts of energy. Sophisticated wind turbines have been developed to convert this energy to electric power.

Hydroelectric power

Electricity can also be produced by generators driven by water turbines that convert the energy in falling or fast-flowing water to mechanical energy. The advantages of hydroelectric power over such other sources as fossil fuels and nuclear energy are that it is continually renewable and produces no pollution. Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Switzerland rely heavily on hydroelectricity because they have industrialized areas close to mountainous regions with heavy rainfall. The U.S., Russia, China, India, and Brazil get a much smaller proportion of their electric power from hydroelectric generation.

Tidal-electric power is obtained by utilizing the recurring rise and fall of coastal waters. Large amounts of electric power could be developed in the world's coastal regions having tides of sufficient range, although even if fully developed this would amount to only a small percentage of the world's potential water power.

The term geothermal energy stands for p ower obtained by using heat from the Earth's interior. Most geothermal resources are in regions of active volcanism.

Hot springs, geysers and pools of boiling mud are the most easily exploited sources. The ancient Romans used hot springs to heat baths and homes, and similar uses are still found in Iceland, Turkey, and Japan. Geothermal energy's greatest potential lies in the generation of electricity. It was first used to produce electric power in Italy in 1904. Today geothermal power plants are in operation in New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Mexico, the U.S., and elsewhere.

 

                                              Exercises

Discussion

l. What can you do in your own home to reduce damage to the global environment?

2.List five household goods which you would classify as 'green', and describe how buying them would help the environment.

3.List three things which could be recycled and used for further manufacture after you have used them.

4.Can you think of any other ways in which households can help the environment?

 

Text Translation

1. Давайте вернемся к основам и посмотрим на различия между ископаемым топливом и возобновляемой энергией, чистым топливом и альтернативной энергетикой. Есть много типов возобновляемой энергии. Понятие «возобновляемая энергия» означает, что эту энергию мы получаем из источника, который возобновляется и не заканчивается, это естественный источник, который является бесконечным (если мерить масштабами человеческой жизни или цивилизации).

 

 Это источник энергии доступный и бесплатный, такой как солнечная энергия, энергия ветра, энергия воды – волн и приливов. Не возобновляемую энергию мы получаем, используя нефть, газ, уголь и поскольку их ограниченные запасы, то они конечны. А ведь мы могли бы использовать сейчас возобновляемые источники энергии и сберечь, углеродное сырье для более полезных целей. Ведь нефть, газ и уголь используются при производстве сотен полезных вещей, а не только для производства энергии, мы могли бы сберечь их для будущих поколений наших потомков используя альтернативную энергию из возобновляемых источников энергии. Что самое смешное и страшное, то что большинство людей считают возобновляемой энергией газ или “бурение новых нефтяных скважин”.

 

 2. Вот примеры возобновляемой энергии – геотермальная энергия недр планеты, энергия ветра, солнечная энергия, биотопливо (биогаз) и многое другое. Альтернативная энергия – эта фраза, которая часто используется как равнозначная возобновляемой энергии, но не всегда это одно и то же.

 

Альтернативная энергия – это аккумуляторные батареи в электромобилях и водородные топливные элементы для автомобилей, но это не IV поколение атомных электростанций, способных использовать свои же отходы. Понятие Альтернативная Энергия используется для описания возобновляемой энергии солнца и ветра. Они мало используемые виды естественной энергии и значит они альтернативны. Чрезмерно используемые виды энергии – ископаемое топливо и использование его вызывает нехорошие изменения климата. 99% ученых климатологов согласны с этим утверждением.

 

Поэтому, чтобы не позволить произойти непоправимым изменениям климата и не зависеть от ограниченных источников ископаемого топлива (зачастую импортируемого из-за рубежа) необходимо создавать сеть источников альтернативной энергии и отказываться от использования углеродных ресурсов для получения энергии.

 

3. Вот основные источники альтернативной энергии, доступные для использования уже сейчас: 1) Солнечная энергия (солнечные панели для получения электричества и термальные коллекторы для нагрева); 2) Энергия ветра (ветрогенераторы и ветротурбины для добычи электроэнергии и механической энергии);  3) Гидроэнергия (гидроэлектростанции на реках);  

4) Геотермальная энергия (тепловая энергия недр для отопления и производства электричества); 5) Биотопливо (как топливо для транспорта и сырье для “CHP”-заводов); 6) Энергия приливов (приливные электростанции).

 

 В этот список можно было бы включить и ядерную энергию, но при её производстве остаются радиоактивные отходы, так что это не экологически чистое производство, несмотря на то, что нет выбросов CO2. Будущее за возобновимыми альтернативными источниками энергии, давайте же сами создадим наше экологически чистое и комфортное будущее!

(http://energiportal.net/content/)

ESSAY: Write an essay of about 250 words on the following topic:

While some people consider global warming to be the most pressing environmental problem which we have at the moment, others believe that deforestation has a more devastating impact on our world.

Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

PRESENTATION:

1. Overpopulation

2. Acid Rain

3. Genetic Engineering

 4. Environmental organizations

5. Desertification

6. Chemical pollution

7. Overfishing

8. Ecotourism

9. Great Pacific Garbage Patch

10. Whaling

 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

CLIMATE CHANGE

Licence to pollute

When the first international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was signed in 1997, people thought the community of nations would take the issue seriously. We were in for a surprise: the treaty came with an "environmental" excuse for rich nations and their polluting corporations to start an absurd trade in the world's carbon-absorbing capacity. They discovered able partners in the developing countries, who sensed a business opportunity.

Despite its persistent refusal to take on any international emission reduction commitments, India emerged as a favoured carbon market destination. A friendly government, a "clean" and aggressive corporate sector, and a happy band of national as well as transnational "validators", consultants and project developers made India a paradise for carbon "offset" projects. With a record-breaking 450 projects queuing to sell credits in the Kyoto carbon market, which will allow extra fossil fuel emissions in developed countries, India has opened the door for bigger profits than any carbon consultant could have imagined.

All big Indian corporations are on board - disproving earlier apprehensions that the complex nature of the Kyoto carbon market would put them off. Carbon credits were found to boost companies' stock prices significantly, even in cases where carbon credit sales were not publicly recorded.

It is assumed in India that carbon offset projects are so environmental they do not need impact assessment. Information on projects is rarely available. Each time we have looked at claims made about these projects' benefits, we found differences between the claims and reality.

We do not object to trading. But trading at whose expense? How can the government of India accept proposals from chronic polluters? How is it ascertained that the project proponent has the will or capacity to ensure social and environmental wellbeing when the factory violates existing Indian legislation? How can a project be considered as "clean development" when it adversely affects the ecology of communities? How can projects be registered on the basis of incomplete and falsified project documents?

The carbon offset market is proving to be a win-win scenario for greenhouse gas emitters in both hemispheres. The polluting industries continue emitting toxic fly ash and carbon dust, their effluents pollute rivers and underground aquifers, yet they earn extra money through flimsy claims of sustainability and emissions reductions. And the buyers in developed countries get certified licences to pollute. Governments, intergovernmental forums such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, NGOs and financial institutions oversee this merry process.

What happens to the people the carbon market is supposed to benefit? In India, Brazil, Uganda, South Africa, Chile and Thailand, people see their land taken away and destroyed for hydro dams and monoculture tree plantations, while liquid and gaseous filth continues to poison rivers and air. Glaciers continue to melt, flash floods wipe away villages and droughts and extreme temperatures create havoc with agriculture.

The real danger of climate change is offset by the illusion of the most absurd market human civilization has seen. And that is bad for the climate.

POLLUTION

Chernobyl

 

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine on 26 April 1986, has been described as the worst-ever disaster in the world. A sequence of operational errors resulted in an explosion that blew the roof off reactor No. 4, hurling radioactive debris into the air, and starting an enormous fire. Radioactive clouds trailed from the stricken plant, polluting more than 20 countries up to 2,000 km away. It is difficult to project the number of deaths from the accident, as estimates vary from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of people: what can be said with certainty is that Chernobyl-related deaths will continue to occur for the next 50 years. In September 1986, the USSR calculated the cost of the disaster to the Soviet economy at £2 billion: by 1988, the projected cost had increased to £14 billion. The eventual total cost over the years may be as high as £200 billion       

  The Chernobyl plant was one of the best in the country, with efficient operational staff. It contained safety features not found in certain Western installations, including substantial steel and concrete containment walls round the reactor; modern control equipment, including sensors and measuring equipment made in West Germany.

According to the detailed analysis presented by the USSR to the International Atomic Energy Authority in August 1986, human error was largely responsible for the Chernobyl accident.

There were immediate casualties. In two days about 300 patients were sent to Moscow hospitals. Doctors had to divide the patients into three groups: those who were going to die, those who might live with treatment, and those who did not need immediate care. The middle group received priority attention, but surgeons needed to operate cautiously, as the affected people had absorbed so much radiation that internal organs, blood and urine had become radioactive. Within 10 days 130,000 people were evacuated.

At the plant itself, the first task was to stop the fire spreading to the other units. This was achieved by extraordinary heroism on the part of Soviet firefighters, working in the areas which they knew to be radioactive. Many died as a result. More will perish from the long-term effects of radiation exposure. Only on the10th day, the radioactive release was stopped.

Scientists predicted that during the next 50 years there would be up to 60,000 extra cancer-related deaths, 1,000 birth defects and 5,000 cases of genetic abnormality as a result of the Chernobyl accident, with about 40 per cent of the deaths occurring in the USSR. Other contaminated European countries would also suffer.