Year 7 Environmental English Work Pack

Year 7 Environmental Home Learning Pack CHS SOUTH ENGLISH

This pack is designed to help build your reading skills and comprehension skills.

Work through each topic and answer in full sentences.

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TOPIC 1 – THE ENVIRONMENT Our Responsibility to the Environment What is the environment and why are we responsible for it?

When we talk about the environment, we mean the planet and all of its natural resources, like forests, water, food etc. The environment has become more and more important as our awareness of science has increased. For example, the vast majority of experts are now sure that climate change is having an effect on the planet, and that human activity has influenced climate change.

We are responsible for the planet because we are having an impact on what is happening to it. We are also responsible for keeping the planet in a good state so that our children and grandchildren can live healthy and stable lives here, without worrying about flooding, crop failures, earthquakes, food shortages, and other potentially life-destroying effects of climate change.

What are the issues facing the environment today?

Our planet will soon have 8 billion people living on it. This means that there is a lot of pressure for resources like food, water and energy. The global population has tripled in the last 60 years, which has affected the environment in lots of different ways, including the clearing and development of land to keep up with demand for housing. Currently, one third of the entire planet’s population do not have access to clean drinking water. Sadly, this figure is predicted to increase to two thirds by 2050, because of increasing demands on water supplies, as well as pollution.

The earth’s oceans are currently under strain like never before. Pollution has caused the acidity levels to increase dramatically (by 30% and rising), which means that plankton and shellfish are dying. This is changing the ecosystem of the sea in a way not seen for millions of years. The oceans are also suffering from extreme overfishing, with some experts predicting that by 2050, there will be no fish left. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the oceans are also being clogged up with plastic, with 12.7 million tonnes per year ending up in the sea.

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Pollution of air, soil and water is having a real impact on the environment. Carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases all contribute to this pollution. Cars, planes, power plants and animal agriculture are all key causes of pollution that have been caused by human activity. To make this even worse, deforestation (cutting down trees) is happening at an alarming rate of 18 million acres per year. This means that there aren’t enough trees to absorb the carbon dioxide being produced.

So what can I do to play my part in looking after the environment?

There are clearly lots of problems facing the environment, and there are lots of things that you can do to help. Here are some suggestions: 1. Recycle It’s really important to reduce the amount of waste that you create. By recycling, you save money, energy and resources. Rubbish that is not recycled goes to landfill. This is bad for the environment because it releases harmful chemicals, which can damage plants and pollute water. We are also running out of landfill sites, so recycling is even more important than ever.

2. Reduce your use of plastic Plastic is really bad for the environment. It pollutes oceans and is eaten by sea creatures, causing them great harm and also poisoning the food chain. We currently use more plastic than we can recycle, with one million plastic bottles being bought every minute around the world. You can make lots of little changes in your daily life: use bags made from cloth; don’t accept plastic straws for your drinks; switch your bathroom products to things that don’t come in plastic bottles.

3. Cut down on plane and car travel It’s easier said than done, but it is possible to cut down on your reliance on car travel. If you are able, try using your bike. Alternatively, public transport is better for the environment than using your own car. You can organise car shares so that people travel together rather than in separate cars. Avoid using planes too often; consider taking trains or ferries instead.

When you’re shopping, buy things that have been made or grown locally.

4. Eat less meat and dairy The meat and dairy industries are responsible for a lot of damage to the environment.

Feeding animals, killing them, and transporting them is extremely demanding in terms of energy and resources. Furthermore, forests are cut down in order to create land for animals to be raised. A report published by the Worldwatch Institute estimated that at least 51% of 3

greenhouse gas emissions are a result of animal agriculture. You can help by choosing meatfree options more regularly at meal times.

Questions

Challenging (aiming for 3-4) 1. Name FOUR FACTS which you learn about the environment from the first page of the information sheets.

2. Name ONE reason why people are worried about the environment.

3. Why are plankton and shellfish dying?

4. Highlight all the adjectives in this information sheet.

More Challenging (aiming for 5-6) 1. Describe TWO ways we can help protect the environment from the information sheet.

2. Use the information to create a short paragraph using the rule of three.

3. List THREE features of this text that prove that its purpose is to inform the reader.

4. Highlight all the verbs in this article.

Mega Challenging (aiming for 7+) 1. Name FOUR things that you have inferred about the urgency of looking after the environment from this information sheet.

2. Create your own paragraph about protecting the environment using three linguistic devices.

3. Analyse whether the structure of this information sheet is effective and what could be done to improve it.

4. Highlight all the abstract nouns in this information sheet.

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TOPIC 2 – PLASTICS

Plastic Pollution What’s the problem with plastic?

It is an unfortunate fact that plastic can’t be digested easily by the Earth. Our reliance on disposable plastic packaging for a great many things we buy has led to serious environmental problems. For example, experts predict that, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish. With 8 million pieces of plastic entering the oceans every day, we are creating a problem for future generations as well as a problem today.

The increasing amount of plastic in the oceans is creating real problems for the creatures who live in the sea. Wildlife such as dolphins, seals and seabirds often eat plastic, mistaking it for food. Studies carried out on dead sea creatures has revealed 5

plastic bags caught up in the intestines and stomachs of sea creatures, which would have caused them pain when alive and may have caused or contributed to their deaths.

The plastic problem isn’t just limited to sea life: it’s a problem for people too. Latest statistics show that 1 in 3 of all fish consumed by humans contains plastic. The chemicals absorbed by plastic in the ocean have been linked to cancer and other serious illnesses. Added to this, marine life play a key role in producing the oxygen that we breathe, so we should all be very concerned about maintaining healthy oceans.

Is plastic pollution only found in the oceans?

The sad fact is that this would be devastating enough, but it is also only part of the problem. As well as affecting oceans, plastic causes harm to land. The majority of single-use plastics are not recycled, and 79% of all plastics end up as waste in landfill sites. Chlorinated plastic leaks harmful chemicals into the soil, which can then get into water systems and cause harm to the species which drink the water. The breakdown of biodegradable plastics also releases methane, a greenhouse gas which is a major contributor to global warming.

In 2017, a study of tap water around the world found that 83% of tap water contained pollutants from plastic. One of these is the chemical BPA, which can cause fertility problems as well as preventing sexual maturation in humans.

What is being done about the harm caused by plastics?

There has been an effort to reduce and control the amount of plastic being used. For example, many supermarkets are now charging their customers for plastic bags; many coffee shops and restaurants are banning plastic straws; many campaigns have been launched to replace plastic with reusable or biodegradable materials. Recycling has become a common practice, although out of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic that have been produced since the 1950s, only 9% has been recycled.

As well as this, there is a lot of important research into developing biodegradable plastic, such as plastic made from seaweed, corn or sugarcane. Seaweed is especially promising as an alternative to traditional plastics, as seaweed absorbs carbon dioxide and helps to regulate the acidity levels in the ocean.

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What is the next step?

The next step is to put pressure on the large corporations to change their behaviour.

For example, drinks companies like Coca Cola and Starbucks produce over 500 billion single-use plastic cups, bottles and straws every year. This is not a sustainable amount of plastic to be sending into landfill and ultimately the oceans. However, corporations will only change if there is an incentive to change; in other words, they will only change if they are forced to by either law or if they think it will be better for their business.

Another important next step is to continue the development of sustainable plastics and alternatives to plastic. It is especially important to find solutions to the plastic problem which don’t contribute to carbon emission, chemical pollution or other environmentally harmful practices.

Yet another incredibly important next step is to increase the amount and effectiveness of recycling programmes and investing in the infrastructure of recycling.

Since only 9% of plastics have been recycled since 1950, it’s important to find a way of ensuring that more plastic gets recycled rather than ending up in the oceans.

All of the above are important steps that need to be taken in order to secure a safer and cleaner future for the planet and everyone living on it.

You can play your part by not buying single-use plastics wherever possible. For example, you can buy a reusable cup to use at restaurants and coffee shops, and you can contact your favourite brands on social media to tell them that you want them to reduce their plastic production.

The challenge presented by plastics is complex, but we can all play a part in tackling it.

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Comprehension Questions

Challenging (3-4) 1. Define pollution in a sentence.

2. Name TWO reasons why plastic pollution is a problem 3. Describe two examples of the harm done by humans.

4. Highlight all the adjectives which have been used in the article.

More Challenging (5-6) 1. Write out TWO sentences from this article which show the writer’s opinion.

2. Describe the next steps in tacking pollution, in your own words.

3. Find all the adverbs being used within this article. How do they affect the way this article is read? Why? 4. Write out a sentence which contains adjectives. What effect do these adjectives create on the reader? Why?

Mega Challenging (7+) 1. Evaluating the entire article, what are the writer’s opinions on the state of the oceans? How do you know?

2. Is this article completely unbiased? How can you tell?

3. What kind of tone does the writer establish in the article and why? Provide examples.

4.. Write a sentence which summarizes your own opinion on plastic pollution.

Your sentence should include a semi-colon.

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TOPIC 3 – FRACKING What is fracking?

When you hear the words 'the environment', what do you think of? Do you picture colourful laminated pictures of the Earth that used to festoon the walls of a display in your primary school? Do you think about some emaciated-looking polar bear balancing for dear life on an ever-shrinking iceberg? Do you think of litter picking in the park? Turtles swimming in a sea of plastic bags? A nice picnic somewhere green? The hassle of sorting out the recycling?

The truth is, most of us are rubbish when it comes to understanding the environment and our own impact on it. We tend to think of the environment as some far-off, notional thing that mostly exists elsewhere and is only of interest if you're a) old or b) not into washing. Yet in reality, the environment is our Earth; it's everywhere around us. It's what sustains us and keeps us alive; it's the air that we breathe; it's the water that we drink; it's the food that we eat.

And we're killing it.

I'm not exaggerating when I say we're killing the Earth; we humans have caused the extinction of 60% of animal populations since 1970. Half of the Great Barrier Reef, a lifesustaining ecosystem and one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world, has now been bleached to death thanks to human-caused climate change. Scientists are predicting that intense over-farming methods have left us with only 60 more years of fertile soil at the current rate of degradation.

If this sounds like doom and gloom: it is. We need to wake up to the reality of the harm 9

we're doing to the environment, before it's too late. We're already on course to see the Earth's temperature rise by 2 degrees, which itself will cause food shortages, water shortages, and may destroy cities.

You may be thinking, it's the government's responsibility to sort this out. And you'd be right.

But the government can't be relied upon to take the action necessary for the long-term benefit of the planet, especially when there's short-term profit to be made. Take fracking, for example; the environmental harms of this practice are well documented, but the government has ignored the protests of anti-fracking demonstrators and councils who did not want fracking in their area. “Shale gas has the potential to power economic growth,� the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, was reported as saying at the time. Quite where we're supposed to put all this money when the planet's dead he didn't mention.

The same myopic approach can be seen in the approach of governments towards industries and corporations responsible for mass pollution. The meat and dairy industries are on track to surpass the oil industry as the world's biggest polluters in 2018. The transport industry is responsible for 15% of global CO2 emissions. Do you trust the governments of the world's countries to stand up to these corporate colossi? Putting pressure on our leaders to preserve the planet for future generations may well be the difference between life and death.

We can protect our environment for future generations, or we can sit back and claim we didn't know what's going on. The choice is ours.

And future generations will judge us by it.

Challenging 1. Name FOUR facts you learn about the environment in this text.

2. How many rhetorical questions are used in this text? How do they help to make the text effective?

3. Find THREE examples of opinion stated as fact. How do they help to make the text effective?

4. How has the writer structured the text to interest you? Hint: Look at the beginning and the end of the text.

More Challenging 1. Name FOUR facts and ONE thing you infer about the environment from this text.

2. Name FIVE techniques used by the writer in this text. For each technique, give a quote from the text and explain its effectiveness.

3. Name THREE structural features used in this text. For each structural feature, explain how this adds to the effectiveness of the text.

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Mega Challenging 1. Name FOUR facts about the environment and THREE things you infer from this text.

2. Name EIGHT techniques used by the writer in this text. List them in order of effectiveness. For each technique, give a quote from the text and explain why you have placed it in that order.

3. Name FIVE structural features used in this text. List them in order of effectiveness.

Feach structural feature, explain how this adds to the effectiveness of the text.

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