8 Listening 2.18 Listen to an oceanographer talk about 4 Boyan Slat a revolutionary cleanup system at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in September 2018. After four years of research and adjustments, the system consists now of a 600-meter-long floater that sits at the surface of the water and a 3-meter-deep ‘skirt’ attached below. Together, the U-shaped floater and skirt move with the oceans’ currents and waves, passively catching plastic waste along the way. The aim is to capture the plastic waste before it becomes microplastics, which is impossible to catch. The operation will take up to five years. Unfortunately, nobody has an immediate solution. Is there anything we can do? Limit drastically our plastic consumption could be a good start.
sea turtles. How many species are there?
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2.18 Listen again and write true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
1 Only three of the species are endangered. ___ 2 Humans don’t kill sea turtles for their meat. ___ 3 Sea turtles sometimes eat plastic. ___ 4 They get entangled in plastic bottles. ___ 5 Chemical pollutants affect sea turtles’ immune systems. ___ 6 It is easy for sea turtles to find a beach and lay the eggs. ___
Speaking 6 Pairwork Answer the questions below. 1 Do you think actions such as Oceans Cleanup can make a difference for the environment? 2 Do you think it is easy to change people’s attitude towards pollution? 3 In your country is anyone (the government, charities, schools and universities) doing anything to solve the problem of pollution? 4 What could you do to reduce pollution in your country?
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Writing strategies
Writing a descriptive essay Captain Charles Moore
When you finish your research and all your notes are on paper, order them in paragraphs: ● a short introduction to the topic ● a description of people and organisations working at the topic ● their objective ● why you think it is important ● why people must support them
Writing 7 Internet research Choose one of the
environmental problems from the box and find out more about them in your country. Find activists and organisations which are fighting to solve the problem and write a short text about what they are doing. Include some facts and figures. pollution in the Mediterranean Sea • endangered species pollution in the mountains • air pollution in cities 115