Noise Pollution

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 447.

Pollution is not always physical. In large bodies of water, sound waves can carry undiminished for miles. The increased presence of loud or persistent sounds from ships, sonar devices, oil rigs, and even from natural sources like earthquakes can disrupt the migration, communication, hunting, and reproduction patterns of many marine animals, particularly aquatic mammals like whales and dolphins.

End of the "Dilution" Era

Humans are beginning to see the shortsightedness of the "dilution" philosophy. Many national laws as well as international protocols now forbid dumping of harmful materials into the ocean, although enforcement can often be spotty. Marine sanctuaries are being created to maintain pristine ocean ecosystems. And isolated efforts to restore estuaries and bays have met with some success.

(a) Look through the highlighted words and expressions and find equivalents of the following:

to encourage intensive growth of algae, discharging waste in the oceans, mammals which live in the ocean, chemical substances used for processing soil, to catch or to get hold of , decay of the sea shore, the spot of the waste concentration in the Pacific Ocean, dumping ecologically harmful poisonous chemicals, to return rivers and bays to an earlier good condition, things made of plastic, waste and sewage from industry, fertilizers containing much Na, to throw waste from the shore or vessels, polluting by loud sounds, to conserve initial condition of ocean ecosystems, making weaker by mixing in other liquid, liquid waste, fishing nets no longer in use, to violate the natural procedure of the species existence, chemical substances for washing, to ban throwing ecologically dangerous things into the ocean, about to perish, to throw waste in water basins, to gather innumerable decaying plastic things in the ocean, decaying plastic, waste waters from farms and coastal cities, chemicals exterminating plants, solid waste, underground water in the soil and rocks, to make oxygen scarce in water, to take smth. for food by mistake, great flowing heaps of waste items, chemicals exterminating insects.

(b) Discuss the following:

1. What is the catchphrase of the proponents of dumping waste in the ocean?

2. Why are coastline ecosystems on the brink of collapse?

3. What are the basic forms of oceanic pollution?

4. What are the consequences of this pollution?

5. What is the Pacific Trash Vortex? Speak about it using the site of Greenpeace indicated in the text. Is it a unique phenomenon nowadays?

6. How do they describe the ways of eliminating ocean pollution? Have they proved efficient yet?

3 (a). The second element being heavily polluted is air. Watch the fragment “Common Air Pollutants” and fill in the gaps in the excerpts from the script form the word banks below.

Pollutants, air pollution, lawn mower (s) (x2), transportation, burning, visible, diesel, two-stroke gasoline, emissions, fossil fuel, emit, bank of fuel, harm, diesel-powered, low emission, diesel engine

Sometimes you can see ______ pollution in the air. Because we can see it we understand that this type of pollution is bad for us. But it's what you can't see that causes the most____. In the city its _________ accounts for the majority of all _________ . As our population grows so too is the number of cars in our region reducing the benefit of _________ engines. In addition to cars, one of the highest ______ comes from the smallest engines, especially the _________ engines, found in things like older _______ and leaf bearers. An older style _______ for an hour can ___ as many _____ as a new car traveling 550 km or about 340 ml.

The other half of pollution caused by ________ comes from ______ trucks, vessels and the construction industry. DC and Washington State are major ports and ships running on heavy ________ are prime polluters. Fleets of ________ trucks waiting by dock-side make the problem worse. “The typical _______ has fifteen to twenty year life, so it's gonna take a while to replace those fleets with these cleaner _______ and inherently clear engines and until that happens we are going to have that pollution around”.

PM 2.5, low-sulfur fuels, plug in, low-emission engines, re-suspended dusts, nitrogen dioxide, pollen, diesel, condensation, filtered out, electrical grid, smog reactions, bio-diesel, benzene, combustion products, microns, dust, toxins, hybrid cars, PM 10, penetrate (x 2), gasoline

Particulates are fine solids that hang in the air for days. Along with _______ the color the haze we associate with air pollution. They also carry _____ such as ______ found in _________ and other sources. Particulates can measure from less than ten _____ in diameter. And that what makes them dangerous because we breathe them in easily. “The larger particles come from mainly ________________ and mechanical activities. When you get down to smaller sizes it's mainly due to ______________or to __________ and ______________ in the atmosphere.

Larger particulates are called _______ . That's the size of ______ and ____ . Very small particulates, less than 2.5 microns in size are called _______ and are even more dangerous because they are small enough to ______ into the deepest part of the lung. “The larger particles equal to or greater then 10 microns are ______ more readily by your nose and to some extent by your mouth. The smaller particles go in and ________ more deeply in both cases”.

Technological innovations like ______ and _______________ are making a difference. The entire West Coast Merrytime Industry from Tahoma to Vancouver is addressing the issue of ________ pollution. The part of Seattle is converting its smaller vehicles to run on ______ . Its container handling machines including these huge carriers run on __________ . And rather than run their diesel engines whilst hide at that port, cruise ships in Seattle can _______ to an onshore ______________.

3 (b) Discard the following using the whole video fragment:

1. It is evident that air pollution is just an irritant.

2. Recently nobody had died of asthma in Washington State, just dozens have been hospitalized because of difficulties with breathing.

3. The major contributor of green house gases in the city is a vehicle moving fast.

4. The highest emissions in the city come from biggest engines and trucks.

5. Another type of polluters is diesel engines which have run out of their life term.

6. In rural areas pollution comes from smog.

7. Sunshine Coast, DC, is the clearest place in the District.

8. Particulates PM 10 are more dangerous than PM 2.5.

9. All particulates are readily filtered by our upper respiratory organs.

10. Hybrid cars make no difference for the level of pollution.

11. Only personal commitment can change the situation with air pollution.

4. A way to curb air pollution and ensuing global warming is the political agreement know as the Kyoto Protocol. Read the information about this agreement, its Doha prolongation and answer the questions below.