Look through the following quotations and proverbs and try to outline the problems to be discussed
1. We’re not passengers on Spaceship Earth: we’re the crew. We’re not residents; we’re citizens. The difference, in both cases, is responsibility. Rusty Schweickart, (Apollo astronaut).
2. Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone's need, but not enough to satisfy everyone's greed. Mahatma Gandhi, (pacifist and founding father of modern India, 1869-1948).
3. We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive, we will be ensuring the survival of our own… Wangari Maathai, (2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement).
4. In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment – there are consequences. Robert G. Ingersoll.
5. As a man sows, so shall he reap. It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.
2. Work in pairs. You’ve got some information about a number of general problems of our society. Speak of them to your partner. Replace the underlined words by the synonyms given in the box.
Once a year, the Earth has its day. Nowadays, the Earth Day is celebrated in many countries. The first Earth Day was held on April, 22, 1970 when millions of people gathered in parks and paraded down city streets throughout the United States. They wanted to emphasize one very important thing: taking care of the Earth, preserving its beauty is everybody's business.
It's true that some very general problems of present society are: different ways of destruction of nature as consequences of human development. They affect living, economy, working and environment. They are changing cities of all sizes as well as rural areas. Recent results from science show that success is only possible when an integrated approach is undertaken. For this goal, citizens, companies, politicians and governments should work together. Thus, coalitions between economy and environmentalists must be very close in order to overcome economic and ecological problems.
The necessity of such approach became evident in the XX century.
Many species of flora and fauna have been written down into the «Red Book» of Nature as they are on the brink of extinction. People's industrial activity changed the life to the better but at the expense of the natural resources and nature itself.
Now people are aware of the ecological problems such as the change of climate, acid rains, deforestation of the Earth, depletion of the ozone layer and many others.
ruin, common, on the verge, united, influence, looking after, keeping, realize, the union, concern, marched, point out
Match the words in the first column with their explanation in the second column.
| A | ecology | a | radioactive dust from a nuclear explosion | |
| pollution | b | extinguished | ||
| protection | c | serious illness of people, plants, animals | ||
| environment | d. | making dirty | ||
| catastrophe | e | substance, either natural or man-made which is formed by elements | ||
| depletion | f | defense | ||
| extinct | g | disaster | ||
| chemical | h | a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments | ||
| fall out | i | a reduction in number or quantity so as to endanger the ability to function | ||
| disease | j | surroundings in which you live |
| B | wildlife | a | harm | |
| suffer | b | type of oxygen | ||
| water shortage | c | ecological system | ||
| damage | d | the state or condition supported, kept or continued | ||
| ozone | e | be in a difficult situation | ||
| sustainability | f | result | ||
| consequence | g | warning that smth. unpleasant will happen or will be done | ||
| radioactive | h | of uranium, having atoms that break up and in doing so send out rays in the form of electricity | ||
| threat | i | wild animals, birds, insects, etc., taken collectively | ||
| eco-system | j | lack in water |