Environmental Issues
Business and the Environment
Can business be Green?
• How important is the role of business in protecting or
destroying the environment?
• To what extent are the natural resources being exploited
by business? or is this a political issue to sort out/resolve?
• What are the dangers that threaten the environment?
• Is it possible to reverse the current trend towards
ecological disaster?
• What are the plans to halt the destruction of the planet?
What solutions are being proposed to reach sustainable
development? What are the environment initiatives and
renewable energy programmes?
• What about global warming? And the survial of the ecosystem? And climate change.
• Business now needs to appear Green to maintain its
popularity.
Vocabulary: match the words with meanings
1.
Natural
resources:
2. Global warming
3. Greenhouse
effect:
4. Greenhouse
gasses:
5. To recycle:
6. Eco-system
7. Damage
8. Irriversible
9. Conservation
10. Sustainable
• a community of living organisms (plants, animals …)
• When we refer to the continuing rise in the average
temperature of Earth's climate system.
• The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere
traps solar radiation.
• something that people can use which comes from
nature. Substances that occur naturally.
• a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect
• to make something new from (something that has
been used before)
• (verb) to harm something
• what can be used without being completely used
up or destroyed: this involves methods that do not
completely use up or destroy natural resources.
• Polluter: To make harmful to living things
• a process that is not reversible.
• the action of conserving something.
Vocabulary:
• Natural resources: A natural resource is anything that people can use
which comes from nature. substances that occur naturally
• Global warming: refers to the continuing rise in the average temperature
of Earth's climate system.
• Greenhouse effect: The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere
traps solar radiation.
• Greenhouse gasses: a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect.
• To recycle: to make something new from (something that has been used
before).
• Eco-system: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants,
animals …)
• Damage: to harm something.
• (toxic) Polluter: To make unfit for or harmful to living things.
• Irriversible (ecological damage): a process that is not reversible.
• Conservation: the action of conserving something.
• Sustainable (development): what can be used without being completely
used up or destroyed: Sustainable development involves methods that do
not completely use up or destroy natural resources.
The Worst Dangers:
match with translations
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nuclear reactors
Industrial emissions
The destruction of the rainforest
Industrial waste
Nuclear waste
Carbon monoxide fumes from
vehicles
Oil spills at sea
Chemical effluent
The greenhouse effect
The consumption of non-renewable
energy
The use of non-biodegradable
materials
Nuclear and chemical weapons buildup
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gli sversamenti di petrolio in mare
La distruzione della foresta pluviale
rifiuti industriali
reattori nucleari
emissioni industriali
effluenti chimici
L'effetto serra
Le scorie nucleari
Esalazioni/fumi di monossido di
carbonio dei veicoli
La corsa agli armi nucleari e chimiche
Il consumo di energia non rinnovabile
L'impiego di materiali non
biodegradabili
Worst dangers: KEY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nuclear reactors
Industrial emissions
The destruction of the rainforest
Industrial waste
Nuclear waste
Carbon monoxide fumes from
vehicles
Oil spills at sea
Chemical effluent
The greenhouse effect
The consumption of non-renewable
energy
The use of non-biodegradable
materials
Nuclear and chemical weapons buildup
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
reattori nucleari
emissioni industriali
La distruzione della foresta pluviale
rifiuti industriali
Le scorie nucleari
Esalazioni di monossido di carbonio
dei veicoli
Gli sversamenti di petrolio in mare
effluenti chimici
L'effetto serra
Il consumo di energia non rinnovabile
L'impiego di materiali non
biodegradabili
La corsa agli armi nucleari e chimiche
Match words to make collocations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Global
Sustainable
Green
Living
Environmental
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Warming
Growth
Change
Standards
Activists
development
KEY collocations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Climate
Global
Sustainable
Green
Living
Environmental
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Change
Warming
Development
Activists
Standards
Growth
Fill in the gaps with a different form of the word
in brackets. (the new word can be a noun, verb
or adjective)
1. Global …..(warm) and the …….(destroy) of the
environment are ……..(threat) the planet.
2. Green …..(active) and other pressure groups are
becoming increasingly …….(influence) in determining
the……(environment) policies of large companies.
3. Their government’s ….(economy) strategy is one of
rapid (industrialize). This has both…….(strong) and
……..(weak).
Key
1. Global warming and the destruction of the
environment are threatening the planet.
2. Green activists and other pressure groups are
becoming increasingly influencial in determining the
environmental policies of large companies.
3. Their government’s economic strategy is one of
rapid industrialization. This has both strengths and
weaknesses.
Complete with the correct word
contaminated – issue - pollution – fumes – waste –
dumping .
One serious….is water pollution. This is largely
caused by factories……chemicals and……..products
in rivers with result that the water has
become………… . Another urgent problem is
air…………. . In some cities, the smog is so terrible
that people have to walk around wearing masks so
that they do not breathe in the dangerous ……….. .
KEY
One serious issue is water pollution. This is
largely caused by factories dumping chemicals
and waste products in rivers with result that the
water has become contaminated. Another
urgent problem is air pollution. In some cities,
the smog is so terrible that people have to walk
around wearing masks so that they do not
breathe in the dangerous fumes.
Extra Background knowledge
(to help better understanding the
reading in dispensa p.86-87)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chernobyl Disaster
The Union Carbide Company
The Exxon Valdez
The Shell Brent Spar Oil platform
The kyoto Agreement:
Fukushima Disaster
Chernobyl disaster
(extra)
• 1986 nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine.
• The Chernobyl disaster is one of the worst
nuclear power plant accidents in history in terms
of cost and resulting deaths.
• An explosion and fire released large quantities of
radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which
spread over much of the western USSR and
Europe.
• long-term effects such as cancers and deformities
are still being accounted for.
The Union Carbide Company
(extra)
• The Bhopal disaster was an industrial disaster that
took place at a Union Carbade India Limited pesticide
plant in the Indian city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• On 3 December 1984, gas was accidentally released
from the plant, exposing more than 500,000 people to
MIC gas and other chemicals. The government of
Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths
related to the gas release. It left an estimated 40,000
individuals permanently disabled or suffering from
serious illness, making it one of the world's worst
industrial disasters in history.
The Exxon Valdez
(extra)
• The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska,
on March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil
tanker (ship) spilled 260,000 to 750,000
barrels (41,000 to 119,000 m3) of crude oil
into the sea. It is considered to be one of the
most devastating human-caused
environmental disasters.
The Shell Brent Spar Oil platform
(extra)
• Brent Spar Oil platform was considered to be of
no further use/value in 1991. Brent Spar became
an issue of public concern in 1995, when the
British government announced the platform
would be disposed/dumped in deep Atlantic
waters.
• Greenpeace organized a worldwide, high-profile
media campaign against this plan. Greenpeace
activists occupied the Brent Spar for more than
three weeks.
The kyoto Agreement:
(extra)
• The Kyoto Protocol is an international
agreement linked to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change,
which commits its Parties by setting
internationally binding emission reduction
targets.
• It entered into force in 2005.
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
March 2011
(extra)
• The Fukushima nuclear disaster was a catastrophic
failure at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant resulting
in a meltdown (overheated reactors) of three of the
plant's six nuclear reactors.
• The plant was hit by the tsunami triggered by an
earthquake.
• The plant began releasing substantial amounts of
radioactive materials becoming the largest nuclear
incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Reading page 87 -88
“Managing the Planet”
According to the text …
• Big business is responsible for most of the world’s
environmental damage, but, ironically only big
business can reverse it.
• Big business and heavy industry single-handedly
wrecked the planet in the last 100 years or so.
• But Green is now fashionable and business leaders are
keep to appear more environmentally friendly.