IELTS Preparatory Course
Environmentalism
Manufactured Landscapes
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen, Ed Burtynsky
Ed Burtynsky: Inspired by nature...
that’s the theme here
I think, quite frankly, that’s where I started.
When looking at China, I was looking at that place where all these materials are coming in from all around the world. And then these factories are this place where all these materials get formed into products and sent back out around the world. A lot of the recycled materials that are collected here are being taken to
China. They’re trying to get all the valued metals out of those components.
If I said, “This is a terrible thing we are doing to the planet.” Then people will either agree or disagree. By not saying what you should see, that may allow them to see their world a little differently.
It looks like a “bombed out” landscape, but it isn’t. What it is, it’s a landscape that is an intentional one.
It’s not a simple right or wrong. It needs a whole new way of thinking
Waking the Green Tiger Trailer #1
In the winter of 2004, in a remote region of southern China, a small group of environmental activists and journalists, set out on a journey to save one of the last wild rivers in China.
It wouldn’t be easy. Ever since the time of Chairman Mao, protecting nature had not been a priority. Mao had declared that nature should be attacked and conquered in the name of progress. Millions of people were mobilized to carry out his plans. There was little room for dissent during Mao’s time or in the years that followed.
Then in 2004, something changed. The activists believed that the time had come to speak out to challenge the government to save a river.
Against the odds, in the months that followed, they ignited a national debate and they awakened a new kind of green activism that could transform China.
Notes:
Environmental activists: people that promote the environment but making speeches, organize group events to increase society’s education about protecting the environment
“(to do something)…in the name of…(a term)”: to use the term “progress” to do develop or do some kind of action.
Little room for (something): there is no free space for place for opinion. Can be used with “little room for compliant, little room for opposition, little room for protest”
Against the odds: with much opposition, little chance for one to win or something to work. Refers to statistics.
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