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Prereading Task Reading for a Specific Purpose

Use the following text to practice reading for a specific purpose. Do not be distracted by words or sentences you don't understand. Read as quickly as possible only to find out what are the main ecological challenges that Canada face.

Ecological Issues of Canada

In spite of Canada's huge size and relatively small population, we experience some of the same ecological problems creating stress over the world. The Great Lakes have suffered from so much pollution that many fish, plants, and other life have died or are diseased. It is now dangerous to eat the fish from the Great Lakes and some other lakes and rivers in the country.

The great rain forests of the Pacific Northwest are threatened by logging. A growing number of activists fight to pro­tect them and the animals, which live in them, but loggers are concerned about their livelihoods. Logging companies are becoming more aware of their environ­mental responsibilities, but the issue remains controversial.

People are also concerned about pro­tecting our national parks from develop­ments such as roads and hotels. These developments would attract more people to the parks, but would they also destroy the natural environments the parks were created to protect? Jasper and Banff National Parks, for example, have become extremely popular tourist spots in the summer. This tourism is very good for our economy, but at what point do we say that we choose not to cut down more trees and build more hotels around these beautiful natural sites?

Garbage has become an issue. Every household is now expected to take some responsibility for reducing the amount of garbage it produces annually. Recycling depots and other recycling programs are common in all cities now. Urban house-holds are also beginning to compost plant and animal waste just like rural households have done for centuries.

Canadians are also being encouraged to be more careful with certain kinds of toxic waste. Instead of throwing medica­tion down the toilets where it will poison our rivers, and throwing old paint in the garbage where it will pollute our landfill sites, we are now saving such waste for the toxic waste round-ups in spring and fall. Or, people are taking it to special sites designated for toxic waste.

More and more commuters are turn­ing to buses, trains, and bicycles to get to work rather than driving their cars and burning more gas (which is expensive as well as polluting). Whereas air pollution is not as big a problem in Canadian cities as it is in Mexico City, Santiago, Calcutta, or the industrial centers of China, it is enough of a problem in Toronto, Hamilton, and Vancouver that when weather conditions trap the air over the city, asthmatics suffer. Our grocery stores stock more and more "green" products each year: laundry soap which is less polluting, juice in tetra-paks rather than cans, dish detergent in refill bags rather than plastic containers, cosmetics produced without animal test­ing, and so on. We are eating less meat and more grains and vegetables. As consumers, Canadians are more conscious that what we buy affects the health of our planet. Nonetheless, we must be ever vigilant of damage to our environment and take action to protect it.

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