Discussion Points. Do you agree or disagree to the following statements? Specify your answer and give your reasons

1. Many housing developments in Ukraine are built with little concern for wildlife.

2. One should design building sites in harmony with

nature.

3. Approaches to development permitting nature to

direct the design of human settlement.

 

5 Find the English equivalents of the following words:

 

розвиток, дика природа, дюжина, крок, людський, страждати, цінний, ретельний, персонал, проектувати

 

6. Define the tense forms of the verbs and put them into the Infinitive. Translate the sentences into Ukrainian.

 

1. Roads were built on high ground.

2. Designing with nature requires wisdom and foresight.

3. A landscape architect has begun to change the conventional

way of building.

 

Put four types of questions to each sentence.

1. The ecological situation in this region is becoming worse fro year to year.

2. Most of the rivers that used to be clean

Pick up one of the ecological issues listed below and make a detailed essay on it. There are short summaries to help you.

Population Explosion

Today the planet holds more than 6 billion people. Global population has doubled in the last 40 years and is expected to double again by 2050, with90 percent of that increase occurring in development countries.

 

African nations are expending at the fastest rate. In the year 2000, Africa had 900 million people with an annual population growth of 3 percent. Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, soared from 112 million to 274 million. China, now the most populous country in the world with 1.2 billion people, will retain the lead with a population expected to reach over 1.5 billion by the year 2050.

 

Hunger

Despite claims that there is less famine in the world today, over150 million children go to bed hungry every night. According to the Unite Nations report, 37 percent of people in India cannot buy enough food to feed their families, and in the Horn of Africa, it is estimated than more than 20 million people, mostly women and children are at the risk of starving. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization reports than there are more than 786 million underfed people in developing nations. But the developing countries are not alone.

The United States are not exempt. Due to the recession and structural changes in the economy, a record number of 23 million people, or 10 percent of Americans, were dependent on food stamps in 1992, over half were families with children under the age of 5. We are looking at half quarter of the globe plagued with hunger and lacking the most basic needs of life.

 

 

Extinction

Biological diversity- the variety among living organisms and their habitats- is more threatened now than at any time in the past. Tropical deforestation is the main reason behind the crisis, but the destruction of temperate forests and the pollution of rivers, lakes, and oceans also play an important role.

The total number of species is not known. Biologists estimate that there between 5 and 30 million species, many of them insects, tiny sea creatures, and lesser known plants and animals. As these species become extinct, they in turn take with them more of nature’s wealth. The removal of a single species, no matter how tiny, can set off a chain reaction affecting many others. It has been estimated, for example, that a disappearing plant can take with it up to 30 other species, including insects, higher animals, and even other plants. Each species, no matter how small or obscure, plays an essential role in maintaining the balance of nature.

 

 

Global Warming

Human activity is altering the composition of the atmosphere in ways that could bring the rapid changes in climate. Although naturally occurring green house gases keep the earth’s surface warm by trapping infrared radiation given off by the sun, human activity is increasing the concentration of these gases, as well as adding new, more dangerous chemicals to the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, has increased in the atmosphere over the past four decades from the burning of fossil fuels and, more recently, from deforestation. Carbon dioxide is pouring atmosphere from motor vehicles and factories.

But perhaps the most dangerous is the production of chemically synthesized chlorofluorocarbons, which are used in cooling systems and aerosol spray cans and in the production of some fast food containers. The greenhouse gas has been blamed for heating up the atmosphere as well as thinning the upper level of the atmosphere, the ozone layer.

Many scientists are predicting an increase of about 1 degree Celsius in the global mean temperature by 2025 and a 3-degree increase by the end of the next century.

 

 

 

UNIT 4