Chapter 4. Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection

Have you ever heard the words “sustainability”, “sustainable development”? What do they mean?

Task 1. Listen to the text about sustainable development and fill in the gaps (Recording 14):

Sustainable development is 1) ________________ words of the new century. Almost everything we do nowadays we 2) __________________ sustainable development. It is incredibly important. It’s a 3) _________________ of the Earth’s survival. It’s 4) ________________. There are so many people on Earth and 5) ________________. If there are too many people, there won’t 6) ________________ to sustain us – 7) ________________ food, water, shelter and other basics. Experts are trying to figure out how we can 8) ________________ the human population. This is tricky. Anyone can see this is difficult. How can there be enough water, farmland, trees 9) ________________ for us to 10) ________________ lives? We can’t.

1. Unscramble the words in the following phrases:

1. new nucyert

2. ieibnyldrc important

3. It’s a noecctp

4. the Earth’s vliuravs

5. many eousrserc

6. resources to sinatus us

7. food, water, srhelet and other basics

8. trying to frieug out

9. water, darflanm, trees and raw materials

10. uyxrlu lives

Task 3. Read the following text and fill in the gaps with the words from the box:

What is Sustainable Development

rich jot down to breathe needs to prevent countryside city compromising conflict labour neighbour landmark trade off acid

There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this 1) _______ one which first appeared in 1987:

“Development that meets the needs of the present without 2) _______the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

— from the World Commission on Environment and Development’s (the Brundtland Commission) report Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

But what does this mean? What are the needs of the present? Take a minute and 3) _______ five to ten needs that you have in your own life.

Have you listed any needs that conflict with one another? For example, if you listed clean air 4) _______, but also listed a car for transportation, your needs might 5) _______. Which would you choose, and how would you make your decision? If within ourselves, we have conflicting 6) _______, how much is that multiplied when we look at a whole community, 7) _______, country and world? For example, what happens when a company’s need for cheap 8) _______ conflicts with workers’ needs for liveable wages? Or when individual families’ needs for firewood conflict with the need 9) _______ erosion and conserve topsoil? Or when one country’s need for electricity results in 10) _______ rain that damages another country’s lakes and rivers?

How do we decide whose needs are met? Poor or 11) _______ people? Citizens or immigrants? People living in cities or in the12) _______? People in one country or another? You or your 13) _______? The environment or the corporation? This generation or the next generation? When there has to be a 14) _______, whose needs should go first?

Task 5. Read the following part of the British Sustainable Development Commission report and choose the best verb form to fill in the gaps:

The concept of sustainable development 1) _______ in many different ways, but at its core is an approach to development that 2) _______ to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations we 3) _______ as a society.

All too often, development 4) _______ by one particular need, without fully considering the wider or future impacts. We 5) _______ the damage this kind of approach can cause, from large-scale financial crises caused by irresponsible banking, to changes in global climate resulting from our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources. The longer we 6) _______ unsustainable development, the more frequent and severe its consequences are likely to become, which is why we 7) _______ action now.

Living within our environmental limits is one of the central principles of sustainable development. One implication of not doing so is climate change.

But the focus of sustainable development is far broader than just the environment. It’s also about ensuring a strong, healthy and just society. This 8) _______ meeting the diverse needs of all people in existing and future communities, promoting personal wellbeing, social cohesion and inclusion, and creating equal opportunity.

If sustainable development focuses on the future, it 9) _______ people lose out now. Sustainable development is about finding better ways of doing things, both for the future and the present. We 10) _______ to change the way we work and live now, but this doesn’t mean our quality of life will be reduced.

A sustainable development approach 11) _______ many benefits in the short to medium term, for example:

As a result of SDC scrutiny, government 12) _______ over £60m by improving efficiency across its estate.

Instead of driving, switching to walking or cycling for short journeys 13) _______ you money, improve your health and 14) _______ often just as quick and convenient.

1. a) can interpret

b) can be interpreted

c) can have been interpreted

2. a) has looked;

b) has been looking;

c) looks

3. a) face

b) are being faced;

c) had faced

4. a) is driven

b) has driven

c) was driven

5. a) are already being seen

b) are already seeing

c) have been seeing

6. a) will pursue

b) pursue

c) have pursued

7. a) needn’t have taken

b) needn’t take

c) need to take

8. a) means

b) is meaning

c) is meant

9. a) necessarily means

b) didn’t necessarily mean

c) does not necessarily mean

10. a) might have needed

b) must have needed

c) might need

11. a) has to bring

b) can bring

c) can’t bring

12. a) has saved

b) will save

c) has been saved

13. a) will save

b) will be saving

c) will be saved

14. a) was

b) will have been

c) is

5.1 Match the words from the text with their meanings:

core	involving many people or things, especially over a wide area
awareness	a result of a particular action or situation
impact	the quality of doing something well with no waste of time or money
large-scale	knowing something; knowing that something exists and is important
fossil fuel	the act or state of keeping together
frequent	the effect that an action or decision will have on something else in the future
consequence	1. the hard central part of a fruit such as an apple, that contains the seeds 2. the central part of an object
implication	to encourage the popularity, sale, development or existence of something
diverse	fuel such as coal or oil, that was formed over millions of years from the remains of animals or plants
promote	happening often; common
cohesion	the powerful effect that something has on somebody/something
scrutiny	useful, easy or quick to do; not causing problems
efficiency	careful and thorough examination
convenient	varied or different

Task 6. Listening. Consumer society by Julie Bray

“There is enough on earth for everybody’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”

Gandhi

6.1 Before you listen In the box are words from the text. Below are sentences containing these words. Can you put the words into the gaps in the sentences?

choice choose influenced probably rewarding unemployed wrapping

1. The …………… could find work more easily if we didn’t work more than 6 hours per day.

2. Being able to make your own things is more …………… than buying.

3. We should be able to …………… environmentally friendly products.

4. Consumers enjoy having a …………….

5. Some products have too much …………….

6. Try not to be …………… by advertising.

7. If you enjoy making something it is …………… good quality.

6.2 Can you answer the following questions?

1. What was the best thing you bought last week?

2. Where was it made?

3. Who made it?

4. What is it made from?

5. Would you like it to last long?

6.3 While listening. Make notes while listening.

6.4 After listening. Choose the correct answer to the following questions:

1. Taking a job where you work less and are paid less is called:

a. consumerism

b. downshifting

c. conservation

2. If you are a conserver, you:

a. throw your things away so you have less

b. look after your things well and keep them for a long time

c. only eat vegetables you grow yourself

3. When we buy something, we can usually choose:

a. the size and colour

b. where it comes from

c. where it is made

4. We can tell that the people who made a product were not paid well when:

a. the product is not made well

b. they forget to put the label on

c. the product is unbelievably cheap

5. Most perfumes and creams are made from:

a. plastic

b. alcohol and petroleum

c. plants

6. If we don’t use something very often we should:

a. put it in a safe place

b. buy a cheaper one

c. borrow one from somebody else or lend our own to others

7. The working day could be:

a. reduced to 6 hours

b. from 6-8 hours

c. reduced to 8 hours

In small groups discuss how you can change your shopping habits to avoid consumerism and thus to invest at least a little to sustainability in the world.