Environmental Protection — Nationwide Concern

As a highly industrialized state Britain cannot ignore the prob­lem of environmental protection. The practical results of the state policy in environmental protection include the development of technology to control atmospheric (air) and water pollution, ag­ricultural pollution control, the study of man's influence on the cli­mate, the forecasting of earthquakes and tsunamis, the biological and genetic consequences of pollution, protection of rare and van­ishing plants and animals as well as a whole lot more.

The Control of Pollution Act 1974, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales, sets out a. wide range of powers and duties for local and water authorities, including control over wastes, air and water pollution and noise, and contains important provisions on the release of information to the public on environmental condi­tions.

The main risks of land pollution lie in the indiscriminate dump­ing of materials on land, careless disposal of pesticides and chemi­cals, fall-out of materials from the atmosphere and the deposition of materials from flood-water. The use of sewage sludge on farms, too, involves risks as well as benefits to the land.

The Government encourages the reclamation and recycling of waste materials wherever this is practicable and economic in order to reduce imports and to help to conserve natural resources. Indus­try already makes considerable use of reclaimed waste materials such as metals, paper and textiles. In an increasing number of ar­eas there are "bottlebanks" where the public can deposit used glass containers.

There has been a steady and significant improvement in water quality: the level of pollution in the tidal Thames has been reduced to a quarter of the 1950s level and 100 different kinds of fish have been identified there. Discharges of polluting matter into rivers, lakes, estuaries and some coastal waters are already controlled by law.

Control of marine pollution from ships is based largely on inter­national conventions drawn up under the auspices of the Intema- tional Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency with head­quarters in London. In dealing with spillages of oil or chemicals at sea the main treatment method is to spray dispersant from aircraft or surface vessels, and emergency cargo transfer equipment is available to remove oil from a damaged tanker.

Considerable progress has been made towards the achievement of cleaner air and a better environment, especially in the last 20 years or so. Total emissions and average concentration of smoke in the air have fallen by 80 per cent. London no longer has the dense smoke-laden "smogs" of the 1950s and in central London winter sunshine has been increasing since the 1940s when average hours a day were about 40 per cent less than at Kew in outer London; the levels are now virtually the same.

Transport is one of the main offenders in noise pollution, and control measures are aimed at reducing noise at source, through requirements limiting the noise that aircraft and motor vehicles may make, and by protecting people from its effects.

In Britain radiation resulting from industrial and other process­es represents only a small fraction of that to which the population is exposed from the natural environment. Nevertheless, that frac­tion is subject to stringent control because of possible effects on health or longer-term genetic effects.

Various methods are used to store radioactive wastes, depend­ing primarily upon their physical form and radioactivity. Wastes of sufficiently low radioactivity are dispersed safely direct to the envi­ronment. For those of higher radioactivity a comprehensive, inter­national research programme is being carried out with government assistance and with the participation of the nuclear industry into methods of treatment, storage, transport and disposal.

2. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the major environmental problems confronting Brit­ain today? 2. What powers and duties for control authorities are set out by the Control of Pollution Act 1974? 3. What measures are taken to fight land pollution? 4. What are the main treatment methods applied to reduce water pollution? 5. What facts prove that a certain progress has been made towards cleaner air? 6. What operational measures have been introduced to reduce noise distur­bance? 7. What operational measures have been introduced to store radioactive wastes? 8. What do you think are the responsibili­ties of nature conservation authorities and voluntary organizations in Britain? 9. Why do you think people should be concerned about protecting environment from pollution and from destruction of natural resources?

3. Summarize the text in three paragraphs specifying the necessity of fight­ing environmental pollution on a wide scale.

4. Use the Topical Vocabulary in answering the following questions:

1. What are the major environmental issues confronting human­ity today? 2. What is the global imperative for environment as you see it? 3. Why are many people concerned about ecology today? Why do we say that every man should be environment-conscious and environment-educated? 4. On what basis should the "man-na- ture" relationship function? 5. What are the steps undertaken by the governments (authorities) of many countries to protect envi­ronment? 6. What do you know about the practical results of the international cooperation in environmental protection? 7. How does the state control nature conservation and environmental pro­tection in our country? 8. What role should mass media play in en­vironmental protection?

5. Give a short newspaper review on one of the major issues of environmental protection. Refer to the Topical Vocabulary. Remember that your review should appeal to the interests and attitudes of the intended reader. It can be neutral, de­scriptive, emotional. Choose the facts to prove your viewpoint. Reproduce your story in class.

Model:

Wild Flowers and the Law

All the protection that the law can effectively give to our wild flowers is likely to be provided by the Wild Plants Protection Bill, which is due for its second reading in the Lords shortly. If the Bill reaches the Statute Book, as is probable, it will become an offence to sell, offer or expose for sale any wild plant that has been picked or uprooted, and for anyone other than an authorized person wil­fully to uproot any wild plant. Picking of wild flowers will not be prohibited unless they are sold, or are included in the Bill's sched­ule of rare species. The Bill has rightly been widely welcomed be­cause so many of Britain' wild plants are already in danger of dis­appearing, and it is high time that the law recognized the need for their conservation. It would, however, be self-deception to suppose that the Bill by itself can provide the protection that is needed. Measures of this kind, which are concerned with the actions of in­dividuals, either greedy or ignorant, in remote and lonely places, are extremely difficult to enforce. If our rare plants are to be saved, only the greatest vigilance, in and outside the nature reserves, will save them.

You are asked to tell a group of foreign students (schoolchildren) about the nature conservation and environment protection in your country. You should cover the subject in about fifty words. Use the Topical Vocabulary.

7. Work in pairs. Discuss any of the environmental problems of today. You may speak about nature conservation in regard to nature destruction, environ­mental protection in regard to pollution. One of the students is supposed to in­troduce a subject of mutual interest, the other student disagrees with his part­ner's viewpoint on the subject under discussion. Use the Topical Vocabulary.

Model:

A: I must admit I'm mostly interested in the nature-man rela­tionship. I think it is the core item of the environmental protection policy. We should be environment-conscious to foresee the ill-ef­fects of unrestricted industrialization and urbanization. I see these problems as a global imperative for environmental protection to­day. I am all for fighting pollution and against destruction of na­ture by man...

B: I don't share your fears. You paint the situation black. I can hardly see any unfavourable connection between urbanization, on the one hand, and pollution, on the other. Could you possibly ex­plain what you mean by "the nature-man" relationship?

8. Speak about the after-effects of environmental pollution and nature de­struction. Consider the following:

1. Destruction of wildlife. 2. Land pollution. 3. Water pollution. 4. Air pollution. 5. Noise disturbance. 6. Radioactivity. 7. Unre­stricted industrialization.

9. During the last 20 years environmental protection has become a vital ne­cessity for people. What do you think has stimulated man's interest in the prob­lems of environment? Consider the following and expand on the points which you think especially significant:

1. The problems of environment include a wide range of burn­ing issues: nature destruction and pollution, extermination of wild­life on global scale, endangering human health with industrial wastes, etc.

2. There are the by-products of massive industrialization con­fronting all great industrial countries with the most serious prob­lem of environment mankind ever faced, that of pollution.

3. The "green belts" not only provide restful relaxation, they are regarded as important allies in the battle against air pollution.

4. Among the simple but far disappearing blessings is the smell of clean fresh air and the good taste of pure water.

5. How the problem of pollution has been and is being tackled has a great deal to do with politics and social initiative.

6. One of the great problems grappled with in the plans for eco­nomic and social development is how to harmonize industry and community, plants and people.

7. Pollution has to do with the giant enterprises which advance industries and abuse natural resources.

10. Read the following dialogue. The expressions in bold type show the WAYS OF CHECKING UNDERSTANDING. Note them down. Be ready to act out the dialogue in class:

— What I can't make out is why you're so... so keen on our go­ing to the country. Why on earth should we choose to live out in a

village... even if it is a popular village?

— Isn't that clear? After all these years in London I would have preferred the smell of clean fresh air and the good taste of pure wa­ter... and greenery... and....

— Stop talking through your hat. You've never been a lover of fresh air. You said it choked you. Why is that... that now you insist that your love of nature is boundless, you adore the countryside... when in fact.... You know that I'd much prefer to be in the town and....

— But I do like the country... or to be more exact I'd like to move to the country... if only....

— If only what? You sound as if you've made it a point to tease me!

— If only... well... if only we lived somewhere that would make it all possible and worthwhile. Never mind. Any place out of town is good enough, I suppose. There'll be fields and trees and whatnot nearby.

— You are so carried away with the idea. Well, your personal likes and dislikes are making you anything but practical.

— All right, all right. I'd much prefer to travel back and forth to London every day than be... How does it go?... "Cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd"...

— That's all very well to take that romantic attitude. You know... you think you can get out of everything... Wriggle out of any ar­gument... by quoting Shakespeare. What about my preferences? You are being selfish, you know.

— Selfish? Do you really mean it? I admit I'd like to be sort of free to do as I like. I've wanted to go to the village ever since I mar­ried you. But you've always preferred to live in London and be boxed in by a thousand other houses, surrounded by a thousand faceless neighbours. No... let's go for the village.

11. Discussing things often involves giving instructions to people. If you give instructions to someone you will probably need to check as you go along that your listener understands, like this:

Alright so far? Are you with me? Is that clear? Do you see what I mean? That's right. Now... Got that? Good! Now... Fine! Now... Sorry, but I don't quite see why you have to... Sorry, can you say that again, please? Sorry, but I'm not quite clear on...

Use clichés of checking understanding in making conversations of your own.

12. Work in pairs. Read the statements and expand on them. You may be of the similar or different opinion on the subject. Your comment should be followed by some appropriate speculation on the suggested point:

1. Everybody's talking about pollution. Pollution is what hap­pens when things we eat, the place we live in and the air around us are made dirty and unhealthy by machines and factories.

2. Men do not realize that a forest is more than a collection of trees. It is a complex community of plant and animal life. In a living forest two opposing forces are constantly at work: growth and de­cay. The growth of new trees balances destruction by insects, plant diseases, and occasional storms. But man's unrestricted cutting of timber disturbs this natural balance.

3. National forests and national grasslands are managed for many uses, including recreation and the continuing yield of such resources as wood, water, wildlife, honey, nuts and Christmas trees.

4. Factories pay for the water they rise, but in our homes we only pay to have water. After that we can use as much as we want. Ap­parently we lose every day enough water for the whole town. Final­ly what we have left in our rivers we make so dirty that we can't use it.

5. Some scientists believe that, if airlines operate a large number of supersonic airplanes, their engines may inject so much water va­pour into the upper atmosphere that there will be many more clouds, more of the sun's heat will be prevented from reaching the earth, and the earth's temperature will drop— this might change the climate of the whole world, with very serious results.

6. Europe is such an industrialized area that it sends about 20 million tonnes of sulphur into the air every year. There is an old saying in English: "What goes up, must come down." This 20 mil­lion tonnes is picked up by the wind. Most of it is carried some dis­tance, often to another country. Each nation in Europe produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of poison each year, and then sends it abroad.

13. Read the following text. Find in it arguments for protecting natural re­sources of your country. Think of the arguments that can be put forward in favour of the opposite viewpoint than that reflected in the text. Copy the argu­ments out into two columns (I — "for", II — "against"):

The True Story of Lake Baikal

It should be pointed out that the outcry about the threat of pol­lution faced by Baikal came from every section of society^ How to protect Baikal was the subject for widespread debate. There was some difference of opinion between those who one-sidedly empha­sized industrial production and those who insisted that the basic balanced approach had to be adhered to.

Baikal first faced such problems almost 200 years ago when its shores were settled and crop farming and cattle breeding devel­oped, and timber was felled. The floating of loose timber, particu­larly, polluted its waters. The pollution problem grew, especially after the war because of the accelerated development of industry and the rise of cities in Siberia.

Did the answer be in shutting down all existing enterprises and all production in Baikal's vicinity? Was it necessary that Baikal's vast treasures of forest, its power resources, mineral deposits and fertile soil lie untapped to protect its purity? Scientists reject the approach of the conservationist purists who contend that only by leaving nature untouched can environment be protected and pol­lution controlled. After considerable scientific study and debate the conclusion was Baikal's beauty and purity could be maintained at the same time that its rich resources were tapped. Baikal can provide both material wealth and beauty to the country.

The answer lies in the rational use of Baikal resources, in guar­anteeing its protection from pollution and despoliation.

14. Answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think the subject of Lake Baikal was very much in the news? 2. What posed a danger to the lake and its riches? 3. Do you agree with the conservationist purists that nature should be left untouched "in its virgin loveliness"? 4. What is meant by the rational use of natural resources in general and in reference to Lake Baikal in particular?

15. Discuss the text and the problem under study in pairs. One of the stu­dents takes a basically balanced viewpoint that Lake Baikal should be used ra­tionally for industrial and recreational needs, the other student defends a pur­ists' idea that to preserve natural wealth we should leave it untapped. Be sure to provide sound arguments for whatever you say. Work out arguments "for" and "against";.