Signing vs. Ratification

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 437.

While almost every country in the world has signed the Kyoto Protocol, the signature alone is symbolic; a token gesture of support. Ratification carries legal obligations and effectively becomes a contractual arrangement.

169 countries have ratified the agreement. Canada denounced the convention effective 15 December 2012 and ceased to be a member from the date.

In Doha, Qatar, on 8 December 2012, the "Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol" was adopted. The amendment includes:

· New commitments for Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol who agreed to take on commitments in a second commitment period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020;

· A revised list of greenhouse gases (GHG) to be reported on by Parties in the second commitment period.

During the first commitment period, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community committed to reduce GHG emissions to an average of five percent against 1990 levels. During the second commitment period, Parties committed to reduce GHG emissions by at least 18 percent below 1990 levels in the eight-year period from 2013 to 2020; however, the composition of Parties in the second commitment period is different from the first.

1. What is the Kyoto protocol? How long was it valid?
2. What limitations does it impose on the countries?
3. How mane countries participate in its implementation?
4. What countries are exempt from it? Why?
5. What is the prolongation of the Protocol? What's the difference?
6. The main objection against it is that limitations on emissions cause slowing down the development of economies. Do you agree with it? Why?

5. The third element is soil. Read the text below and fill in the gaps with the phrases given below:

erosion; solvents and cleaners; land pollution; dispersing them over the surface; dumping waste materials; use of agrochemicals; denudation of soil; mercury, lead; minerals and medicines; deforestation; drainage waters; by-products of massive industrialization; derelict; storing radioactive wastes; overexploit; industrial wastes.

LAND POLLUTION

The issue of _____________________stands out among the most topical nowadays since the factors causing it range from ___________________on land to abusing land by agriculture.

The former lies in the sphere of industrialization and search of new sources of energy. This brings, for example, nuclear technologies to the necessity of ___________________in the land, which in the end may result in ________________________or under it by ________________. The other __________________are chemical and other _______________, which include ________________and various types of ____________________.

Agriculture nowadays affects land so that _________________is not a rare case. The immediate consequence of this is ___________. In Africa, for example, the Sahara desert is growing bigger every year. That's what happens when farmers _____________or misuse the land. As a result of the denudation of soil, the wind blows it away or erodes it. Extensive ________________as well as herbi- and pesticides makes the land ______________.

The other aspect of land pollution is __________________. 40% of the world's rainforests have disappeared in the last 80 years. Today in South America 50 hectares disappear every minute. This is happening because people need wood and paper, ___________________and more room for farms and houses.

7. One of the major factors in the soil pollution is bad waste management. Do you see any problems with waste management in your city/country? Brainstorm on the most frequently noticed or most disturbing problems with waste and dumping.

8. Read the text and agree or discard the statements below.

Waste disposal is the collection, processing, and recycling or deposition of the waste materials of human society. The term "waste" covers both solid wastes (refuse, or garbage) and sewage (wastewater).

Solid Waste Disposal Systems are the technique for the collection and disposal of the solid wastes of a community. The development and operation of these systems is often called solid-waste management.

Has it always been the same in human history?Although all societies have had some systematic form of refuse disposal, it was not until relatively recent times that the modern concept of solid-waste management became recognized as an essential health and welfare service.

Carelessly deposited garbage was for centuries a prime source of disease, whether through the infection of water supplies or as a breeding ground and food source for flies, rats, and other carriers of disease. Because pigs were often permitted to feed on raw garbage, they contracted such diseases as trichinosis, which was then passed along to humans. In the early 20th century Britain began heat treatment of garbage to prevent the transmission of such diseases.

How Did Industrialization Aggravate the Issue?The industrialization of modern societies resulted in a vast increase in the amount of refuse generated per person. Industry has created new types of waste, especially toxic chemicals and radioactive materials that are highly dangerous to public health and safety if they are disposed of improperly. There have already been several instances of entire communities being contaminated and evacuated because of careless handling or decomposition of toxic chemicals.

How We Ourselves Contribute into the Problem?Individuals share in the carelessness by littering roads and highways with trash and indiscriminately dumping such items as wrecked cars and old refrigerators. Estimates for the United States have put the bulk amount of these materials at 20,000,000 cubic yards (15,300,000 cubic metres) per year.

How is the Refuse Processed Now? Refuse is generally collected either by manually picking up trash bags from individual households or by mechanically emptying large community trash containers into trucks equipped with compactors to maximize their capacities. The refuse is then taken to a disposal site, of which the favoured design site is a sanitary landfill. Refuse of a landfill -- as opposed to garbage in an open dump which is left exposed--is dumped into trenches, levelled and compacted with a bulldozer, and then covered with a layer of soil. When the landfill has reached its full capacity after a period of years, it may be used as a recreational area. Many cities have begun to run short of landfill space, however, and have begun to transport refuse to areas with sparse populations.

Is Incineration a long-term alternative? Incineration has proved to be a satisfactory means of refuse disposal in areas where there is little or no landfill capacity. Combustible refuse is brought to a plant that is, in effect, an enormous furnace. There it is burned thoroughly by putting it through two combustion stages, and to protect air quality, the exhaust gases are cleansed. The expense of such a system can sometimes be reduced by putting the heat energy to use; plants of this type are in operation in Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, and Montreal.

Is the Issue of Waste in Water Solvable? Disposal of refuse in water often creates pollution that can be a hazard for living things; for this reason the long-practiced method of dumping garbage at sea from scows has been greatly restricted. A relatively effective and safe method of disposing of organic refuse in water is the use of a food grinder attached to the sewage system of a household or food-handling establishment. Although these devices add only a small quantity of water to the community sewage system, they do increase the amount of solid material that must be handled at the treatment plant.

Salvageable Materials. How to recycle? The practice of recycling such salvageable materials as metal, glass, and newsprint began in earnest during World War II and has been revived to some extent since the early 1970s. Several states have passed laws requiring deposits on beverage containers (refundable with the return of the containers), which has resulted in reduced roadside litter. A variety of salvage companies have been established; products made of recycled paper, for example, have become common.

Using the information given in the text above, confirm or discard the following statements:

1. Solid-waste management is the technique for collection and discrimination wastes.

2. The term “waste” covers refuse and garbage.

3. Manual packing up trash bags was a prime source of disease.

4. Solid wastes are a breeding ground and food source for flies, rats and other carriers of disease.

5. Rats were the main contractors of trichinosis.

6. The growth of industries in modern society resulted in the big amount of garbage.

7. Toxic chemicals and radioactive materials disposed improperly can contaminate communities evacuated in the places where they are dumped.

8. Indiscriminate dumping wastes causes littering roads and highways.

9. Compactors in the trash collecting trucks are used to avoid contaminating communities with the waste.

10. There is no principal difference between an ordinary dump and a landfill.

11. The landfill is a completely derelict land when it has reached its full capacity.

12. Incineration is possible only for combustible waste.

13. The expense of an incineration plant can be reduced by using its exhaust gases.

14. A food grinder in the household is a way to avoid polluting water by solid refuse.

15. The drawback of the food grinders is adding solid waste for processing it in the plant.

16. Salvageable materials are recycled due to the practice of fining the population for littering the roadsides.

8. As it is stated above, recycling is one of the keys to the problem of waste management. Watch the fragment “Waste Management and Recycling: How do they do it?” discuss or do the following:

1. How has collecting garbage procedure in San Francisco changed crucially nowadays?
2. How much is now being collected a day by one garbage truck?
3. Where do they take the garbage?
4. What is ‘the single stream recycling facility'?
5. How is the garbage sorted out? Make a stream scheme of processing the waste by material it is made of.
6. What happens with the garbage when it has been sorted out? What is baling?
7. How is the proper waste treated? Where and how is it transported?
8. What is a landfill? How is it designed? How and for what purpose is polyethylene and geo-textile used?
9. What can cause dangerous subsidence?
10. What do compactors and bulldozers do in the landfill?
11. How is car upholstery or auto fluff used there?
12. Where does methane come from and how is it utilized now and in perspective?