http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/image_full/russia/ru/photosvideos/photos/3817582.jpg

It is not uncommon today to see people picking up and recycling trash left in public recreation areas.

Of course, individuals all over the world are trying to live in a way that is friendly to the environment - saving energy around the home and workplace, recycling paper and glass, using public transportation, and planting trees.

/Adapted from Academic Encounters: reading, study skills, and writing. Kristine Brown, Susan Hood/

Comprehension check

1. Answer the following questions about the text:

1. How can the life of society be influenced by changes in the environment? Illustrate your point with examples from recent history.

2. What are the general causes of environmental problems?

3. What is the ecosystem? How can the natural balance of an ecosystem be disturbed?

4. How can the use of chemicals affect human beings? Give more examples of consequences of our actions which tend to be ignored.

5. How can poverty bring about environmental damage?

6. What are the major threats to the environment nowadays?

7. Enumerate the facts that illustrate the seriousness of the problem of diminishing natural resources.

8. Why does the author consider that industrialized nations take more than their fair share?

9. How can the problem of diminishing natural resources be solved? What can be the side-effects of these solutions?

10. What has been causing pollution for a long time? Why is the problem graver nowadays than it used to be?

11. What types of pollution are mentioned in the text?

12. What are the sources of air pollution?

13. What effects does air pollution have on the environment and on people’s life?

14. Define the words “the greenhouse effect”, “ozone layer”, “global warming”.

15. How does the greenhouse effect result in global warming?

16. Using the example of air pollution illustrate the general causes of environmental problems.

17. What solutions to environmental issues have been offered at the individual, national and international levels?

18. How optimistic is the author about the future of our planet?

2. Reading for the main idea

Strategy: Identifying the main idea It is important to note that the main idea is not simply what the text is about. It is not the information obtained during the introduction to the text when the title, headings, illustrations etc. are briefly considered. Readers need to explore the text at a deeper level in order to confirm or put aside any thoughts about the main idea that the text introduction may prompt. The main idea is what according to the author is important and valued in the text, i.e., across the whole text, not just within sections of it. The main idea is hardly ever explicitly stated by the author. To find the main idea constantly ask yourself where the author is placing emphasis. How do you find the main idea? 1 Identify the important information. 2 Groupthe important information. 3 Combine the groups to get the main idea.

All of the sentences below express central ideas of the text. Which best sums up the main idea of the whole text?

a. We must recognize two important principles: natural resources are limited and all our actions have environmental consequences.

b. Changes in society may affect the environment.

с. A major cause of environmental problems is the fact that we tend to take less care of public natural resources, such as air and water, than of our private possessions.

d. The major environmental problems are a decrease in natural resources and an increase in environmental pollution.

e. Today, there is considerable awareness of the need to "save the environment."

How do you know that it is the main idea?

3. Which idea from task 2 does the paragraph below illustrate? Explain your choice.

A group of farmers uses a piece of public grassland for grazing sheep. To make more money, one farmer increases the number of sheep he grazes on this piece of land. While he has the full benefit of the additional sheep, he may be damaging the land by overgraz­ing. Soon each farmer sees how the first farmer is making more money by having more sheep on the land and does the same. Eventually, the overgrazing destroys the land com­pletely and no one can use it at all.

4. Understanding the linking of ideas

Writers often use linking words such as in other words, for example, as a result to tell the reader what the relationship is between one sen­tence and the next. However, when there are no linking words, readers must figure out for themselves what relationship exists.

The five pairs of sentences below, from "The Environment," do not have linking words. For each pair, decide how the second sentence is related to the first. Select an answer from the following choices:

a. It gives a consequence or effect of something described in the first sentence.

b. It explains or clarifies the idea in the first sentence using different words.

с. It gives an example or fact to support the statement in the first sentence.

__b__ 1. First, natural resources have a limit. There is only so much life that each ecosystem (for example, a forest, a river, or an ocean) can support. _____ 2. If this continues, soon there will be no resources for anybody to use. According to some estimates, the global supply of oil will last only fifty years. _____ 3. Some argue that the future will be better. They say that we will know better how to control our environment and that technology will provide us with new resources. _____ 4. There are many sources of air pollution but the greatest is the automobile. It accounts for at least 80 percent of air pollution. _____ 5. Burning coal, oil, and wood release carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. A thick blanket of these gases forms and traps heat within our atmosphere.

/Adapted from Academic encounters: reading, study skills, and writing. Kristine Brown, Susan Hood/

Study the chart below and suggest appropriate linkers for each case. Note that there may be more than one option.

Function	Linkers	Examples
To express a consequence or an effect	As a result Thus Consequently / As a consequence Therefore	Many children spend their free time watching TV instead of playing outside. As a result, more and more of them are becoming overweight. Many parents today do not have time to cook healthy meals for their children. Consequently/As a consequence, many children grow up eating too much junk food. Children who grow up on a diet of junk food find it difficult to change this habit later in life. Therefore, it is essential that parents encourage healthy eating from an early age. Eating habits formed in childhood tend to continue into adult life. Thus, the best way to prevent heart disease among adults is to encourage healthy eating from an early age.
To explain or clarify the idea	In other words	They asked him to leave—in other words, he was fired.
To give an example	For example For instance	Wikis vary in how open they are. For example/For instance, some wikis allow anybody to edit content, while others only allow registered users to do this.

Language work

1. Look through the text and write out all collocations with the word ‘environment’.

Consult a dictionary and add more collocations to the word map. What derivatives for the word ‘environment’ are there?

2. Look through the text to find the words that match the following definitions. Write out collocations from the text and look up derivatives for the words in a monolingual dictionary.

Definition	Word	Collocations from the text	Derivatives
1. a source of power, such as fuel, used for driving machines, providing heat, etc. (N)		Adj + N V + N
2. materials that are no longer needed and are thrown away (N)		V + N V + N	V Adj Adv
3. to treat things that have already been used so that they can be used again (V)		V + N	N Adj
4. to stop holding smth or stop it from being held so that it can move, fly, fall, etc. freely (V)		V + N
5. to catch or keep smth in a place and prevent it from escaping (V)		V + N
6. the production or sending out of light, heat, gas, etc. (N)		N + N + N	V Adj
7. to decide or say officially that smth is not allowed (V)		V + N	N
8. a piece of land that is a protected area for animals, plants, etc. (N)		V + N

3. Complete the table with the derivatives of the following words:

Verb	Noun	Adjective
---	nature
	industry	1. 2.
to protect	1. 2.
---	1. 2.	toxic
	1. pollution 2. 3.

4. Fill in the gaps with the missing words and their derivatives from Exercises 1-3.

1. Wetlands ___________ us all in many ways -- they filter ___________ from our drinking water, ___________ our homes by storing floodwater, and provide homes for fish, shellfish, and wildlife.

2. After British scientist Brian Gardiner and two colleagues, Joseph Farman and Jonathan Shanklin, had discovered a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica in late 1984, scientists quickly found out that industrial gases called chlorofluorocarbons were to blame and within two years, most nations agreed to ___________ the gases.

3. The ___________ movement, a term that includes the conservation and green movements, is a scientific, social, and political movement for addressing ___________ issues.

4. The villagers have joined hands to form a committee to protect the ___________ where hunting of wild animals illegally has been a common practice.

5. ___________is the process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to make another product.

6. Cars, homes, factories, and the power plants that light streets, ___________ carbon dioxide into the air. It's also ___________ when fossil fuels are burned for energy.

7. The ability of gases to ___________ heat in the atmosphere, varies for different greenhouse gases. 

8. A number of air ___________ can cause damage to health.

9. A ___________ substance means any chemical or mixture that may be harmful to the ___________ and to human health if inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin.

10. Many Californians learned to use their ___________ more efficiently. They also learned how to ___________ energy. They learned how important it is to not ___________ energy, so there is enough for everyone.

5. Look through the text and find all the words which mean “damage, harm” and suggest the situations in which they are used. Look them up in the dictionary to find out the difference between these words. Think of some other words that mean the same.

6. Complete the following sentences with any of the words from Exercise 5 or their derivatives.

1. Their goal was to ___________ poverty.

2. The federal government has made it illegal to ___________ the habitat of critically ___________ killer whales off the coast of British Colombia.

3. CO₂ can act as a temperature barrier - it lets the sun's heat in, but does not let it escape. This is worrying because it can make the whole Earth heat up. This would change the world climate and ___________ rainfall patterns. If the Earth gets just 3 degrees centigrade warmer, the whole ecosystems would be altered or __________.

4. The definition of pollution is the act or process of polluting or the state of being polluted, especially the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the release of ___________ substances.

5. Since 1500, over 190 species of birds have become ___________, and this rate of __________ seems to be increasing.

6. Their goal is to encourage children to understand at a young age the importance of finding natural ways to ___________ pests.

Speaking

1. Complete the following mindmap about the text ‘Environment’.

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

_____________________________

___________

___________

2. Work in pairs. Use the mindmap to talk about environmental issues.

3. Discussion

Discuss the questions with your partner.

• Give examples of changes in society which have affected the environment.

• Give more examples of the mismanagement of public natural resources. How can private ownership change the situation?

• What counties have not yet fully ratified the Kyoto protocol? What can be the reason for that? Why did it take much time to persuade developing countries like China and Brazil to join the Kyoto protocol?

• Are people in your country aware of the need to "save the environment?" What is done to promote awareness in your native region? How efficient are these campaigns?

Grammar presentation Futures Review

1. Look at the book covers. Which of the phrases in the box would you expect to find in books like these?

car tyres dust and rubble insulation sledgehammer wiring and plumbing flush the toilet double glazing

2. Listen to a conversation and tick the home improvements that are mentioned.

1 insulate the walls

2 replace the wiring system

3 build a rainwater collection tank 4 install a water recycling system

5 put in double glazing

6 buy an air filter

7 install solar panels

8 sand the floorboards

3. Listen again and answer the questions.

1 How are they going to get money from their local council?

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

2 What will they get if they win the competition?

__________________________________________

3 What is Nell going to do in the kitchen?

________________________________________________________________________

4 What is a greywater tank?

________________________________________________________________________

5 How did Winston hurt himself?

________________________________________________________________________

4. Look at the sentences from the listening and match the examples a-f to their uses 1-6.

a. You're not going to win an ecological competition with all those old car tyres.

b. We're going to make the whole house green.

c. The judging doesn't start till next spring.

d. We're doing the bathroom next week.

e. With a bit of luck, we won't need any central heating.

f. I'll just move this out of the way.

1 to talk about a schedule

2 to talk about a definite arrangement

3 to talk about an intention

4 to talk about a decision made at the time of talking

5 to make a prediction

6 to make a prediction based on present evidence

Language Bank Schedules • Use the present simple to talk about schedules. Plans, arrangements and decisions • Use the present continuous + a future time expression to talk about definite arrangements. • Use going to + infinitive to talk about intentions. • The use of the present continuous and going to is very similar. You can always use going to instead of the present continuous, but you only use the present continuous to talk about a definite arrangement. • Use will + infinitive to talk about a decision made at the time of talking (i.e. there has been no decision, plan or arrangement made previously). Predictions • Use will + infinitive to make predictions about the future. • When there is present evidence for the prediction we usually use going to. Offers • Use shall to offerhelp,suggestsomething,orasksomeonewhattheywouldlikeyoutodo e.g. Shallwehavesomelunch? ShallIhelpyouwithyourluggage? Future-in-the-past • Was/were going to can be used if you planned something but didn’t do it. e.g. I was going to make something to eat, but in the end I went out.

/Adapted from Straightforward. Upper-intermediate Student’s book. Philip Kerr, Ceri Jones/

Grammar practice

1. Choose the best verb forms to complete the dialogue.

Becky: Have you heard? Nell and Winston (1) are going to / will add an extension on to the back of their house. They (2) 're starting / 'll start work next week.

Tim: And I suppose they (3) do / 're doing it all themselves.

Becky: They're (4) needing / going to need some help to do the wiring. But they've said that this is the last job they (5) do / 're going to do. And they haven't got much time to do it in. They've entered some sort of eco-competition and it (6) closes / is closing at the end of the month.

Tim: They (7) 're never finishing / 'll never finish on time.

Becky: And it (8) 's going to / will look awful. I saw Winston at work and he hasn't got a clue.

Tim: I (9) 'll give / 'm giving him a call and see if he needs a hand.

/From Straightforward. Upper-intermediate Student’s book. Philip Kerr, Ceri Jones/

2. Fill in the gaps using the verbs in brackets in an appropriate future form.

A: I need to get back to Oxford by 6.00 this evening.

B: Right. I ^1._________________ (check) the timetable. OK, there’s a train that ^2. _____________ (leave) at 4.10 and ^3. _________________ (get in) at 5.45. That ^4. _________________ (be) the one for you.

A: Yes, great.

A: Rosie ^5. _________________ (come) to stay on Wednesday, and she ^6. _________________ (bring) her new man with her.

B: Oh. What’s he like?

A: Well, I don’t know. I haven’t met him yet. I ^7. _________________ (tell) you next week.

A: Have you finished the work you were doing on your house?

B: Not quite, no.

A: Oh, I ^8. _________________ (ask) if I could come round next week to see it.

B: Oh, that ^9. _________________ (be) fine. Everything ^10. _________________ (be) over by then. I’ve got the rest of the week off work so I ^11. _________________ (work) on the house every day and should finish by Saturday.

/From Developing Grammar in Context. Mark Nettle and Diana Hopkins/

Speaking Finding a time to meet

LANGUAGE BANK
Starting a conversation	I’m calling about… I’m calling to confirm (to verify, etc.)
Arranging a meeting	Can/shall we fix/arrange an appointment/a meeting? How/What about_______? How/What about_______ instead/as an alternative? Shall we say Friday (12 o’clock, etc.)? Can we put it off till…?// Can we leave it open for the time being? (decide not to fix the date) What time would be convenient for//suit you? Can we reschedule for Monday (lunchtime, etc.)? I can’t/won’t be able to make Monday (the afternoon). // Sorry, I cannot make it to the lecture at 14… as… I’m afraid it cannot make //manage it on that day. Sorry, I’ve already got an appointment//an arrangement on that day. I am completely snowed under (very busy) That’s settled then.// Yes, that’s fine.
Checking information	Sorry, did you say…? Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Let me read it back to you.
Asking for information	Could you give me a few details//some more information about…? Did he say when he’d like to meet? I’d like to know a little more on this. I’d appreciate your help//if you… I would be grateful for your assistance. Do you think you could…?
Finishing a conversation	Thank you very much. That was very helpful. Thank you for your help in this matter.

Student A

You work for the Environmental Protection Agency. You are currently planning to attend a conference which centers on vital environmental problem, which is hosted by the UK. You have already fixed several appointments, but you would like to plan your whole trip today. You have not received the conference schedule, which is why you have decided to contact the organizing committee to obtain the needed information.

Your priorities are as follows:

a) to listen to speeches related to the US and the top 5 developing states.

b) to meet Mr. Salivan, a chairperson of the governmental Pollution Control panel, in person and discuss the project they have just launched in detail.

c) to have a word with Mr Fiori, Secretary of Agriculture, before delivering your speech.

Together with the member of the organizing committee arrange everything for your trip.

Student A The list from your notebook
	25.03 - Monday	26.03 - Tuesday	27.03 - Wednesday
09.00-11.00	11.30 – arrival at Heathrow, Terminal 2. Need a taxi (!)		10.30-11.30 – meet Secretary of State for the Environment.
11.00-13.00		11.55 – my speech. Need an electronic whiteboard (!)
13.00-15.00
15.00-17.00	16.45 – meet Ms Faunteleroy in the foyer. Discuss the financing of the EPA’s new technology development.
17.00-19.00		18.00 - Dinner in the Guildhall.
19.00-21.00	An evening out in the city. Tickets to the theatre (?)	(?) An evening out in the city.	17.30 – a taxi to Heathrow, flight BA 1762 at 20.00
Buy souvenirs for the family (!)

Student B You work for the organizing committee of a conference on vital environmental problems, which is due to take place in London next week. Study the preplanned program of activities. One of the participants contacts you to obtain some information about the conference. Help him/her to arrange his/her trip.
Student B The conference schedule
	25.03 - Monday	26.03 - Tuesday	27.03 - Wednesday
09.00 – 09.30	Registration	Registration of newcomers	Registration of newcomers
09.30-10.45	The welcome speech of the UK Prime Minister	Global warming: a myth or sad reality? (an expert from the Bell Institution’s department of Global ecology)	Alternative sources of energy used in the EU (Holland and Belgium)
	The welcome speech of the chairperson of the IPCC (the intergovernmental panel on climate change)	The Kyoto protocol: the role of developing countries (the Indian minister for Ecology and Development)	Solar energy and biofuel as adequate substitutes for fossil fuels. (the IPCC’s experts)
10.45-11.00	Coffee-break	Coffee-break	Coffee-break
11.00-12.45	Pollution hitting states overseas (the impact on the USA)	Natural resources: Anything left for our children?	Saving rain forests in Brazil: the role of the government
	Noise pollution in megalopolises: deafening nations.	California’s agricultural lands threaten to become a wasteland (the EPA’s researcher- the Environmental Protection Agency)	Bioscarcity: biodiversity in crisis (which species face extinction in the near future?)
13.00-14.30	Lunch break	Lunch break	Lunch break
14.30-15.45	Space exploration as a contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer	To recycle or not to recycle? (new technologies for recycling waste in the UK)	Reserves in Kenya: profit and protection
	Green cars – transport means of the future (spokesmen for Japanese carmakers)	Treasure in waste: extracting valuable materials from industrial waste stream	National parks in Russia and former USSR republics. Protecting rare species.
15.45-16.00	Coffee-break	Coffee-break	Coffee-break

16.00-17.15	Droughts in Africa, floods in Europe, hurricanes in the USA, tsunamis in India - what comes next?	Creating new public recreation areas in Australia as a way of improving people’s health.	Greenpeace and the WWF: joint fight for better future.
	Industrial progress in the US -approaching the point of no return	Solutions to climate change: using trees to trap carbon and produce energy in Germany	“Living in an environmentally-friendly way locally and globally!” – a speech by a special guest, Mr Gettison, Secretary of State for the Environment.
17.30-18.30	Dinner	Dinner	The closing cocktail in Restaurant Amis de la nature
	Optional for the evening: an opera in Covent Garden (£ 110-150)	Optional for the evening: musical The cats (£ 70-105, starts at 19.00)

Additional notes:

1. Mr. Salivan has informed you that his schedule in the morning and in the afternoon is too heavy to fix any appointment, but he is quite free in the evening. He is expected to arrive on March, 23, the flight details are not available. His return flight is on March, 27, at 20.30 from Hatwick. Mr Salivan is to go to Cambridge Agricultural College to deliver a lecture on March, 26.

2. Mr Fiori is due to arrive on March, 25 at 19.00.

Writing

You work for the Environmental Protection Agency. You are currently planning to attend a conference which centers on vital environmental problem. You have just contacted the organizing committee of the London conference and have obtained all the information you need for your trip. However, you need to arrange one more meeting, the one with Mr.Claires, a representative of a green pressure group who wants to present a new project to you. You are not quite sure how much time he needs for the presentation.

Write an email to Mr.Claires and describe your upcoming stay in London in detail, highlighting when you have some free time for the meeting. The beginning and the end of your email is given:

Dear Mr. Claires,

With reference to your email about our meeting in London during the Eco-conference, I am writing to ______________________________ ______________________________________________

Respectfully yours,

Your name