07/10/2014

Plastics Blamed for Harm to Sea Environment

By Steve Ember
A new report says plastics are responsible for $13 billion in
damage to the oceans and the undersea environment. The
findings were announced recently at a United Nations
conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The report tells about harm to
sea life -- and what might be done to improve the situation.
Plastic thrown away carelessly makes its way into rivers and
other waterways. The plastic eventually reaches coastal areas
and ocean waters. After a while, it collects in the sea. And
plastic never goes away.
Nancy Wallace heads the Marine Debris Program at NOAA, Americas National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. She says plastic is not biodegradable destroyed by bacteria or
natural processes. Instead, it just breaks up into smaller pieces over time.
Nancy Wallace says the oceans contain a lot of chemicals and other pollutants. She notes that
chemicals like DDT are illegal now. But she says the remains of such products may find their way
to plastics floating in seawater. Then, fish may eat the plastics.
That means harmful material
make a big difference. She
plastics away correctly. She
plastics are collected, broken

may get into our food supply. But the NOAA expert says people can
suggests using fewer single use product containers and throwing
also likes plastic recycling programs where old bottles and other
down and used to make new products.

Nancy Wallace says people should really care about the environment. She says human beings
cause pollution and they can take steps to stop it.
Richard Mattison leads Trucost, the company that presented a report at the U.N. Environment
Assembly in Nairobi. He says the findings suggest another way: a business plan that opens new
markets for plastic products that last. Mr. Mattison spoke to VOA on Skype.
You could reduce the energy intensity of plastics production by using renewable energy
resources. You could reuse bottles in our households
many times if you wish to, rather than ending it after
the first use. We could, when we get rid of that plastic,
recycle it and reuse it, which replaces the need for
virgin raw materials.
Andrew Russell directs the Plastics Disclosure Project,
which released another report at the U.N. conference.
He says it calls on companies to improve methods for
using plastics. The report asks for them to better
measure and direct plastic use. And he said it calls for
information about the way plastic is thrown out or removed from use.
Mr. Russell spoke to VOA over SKYPE. He said industry could save money.
We also see them to be much more aware, much more cognizant of risks they face in the
environment from a reputation perspective or from a regulatory perspective. And if they think
about plastic the way they do other things, then I think these opportunities will present
themselves.

Mr. Russell says that by putting a new value on plastic, industry has a special reason to clean up
the environment. But he also says all of society must join to deal with the problem.
Retrieved from: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/plastics-sea-ocean-environment/1954023.html
Adapted by: Alejandra Jimnez Quintero (March, 2016) (For educational purposes)

Academic Reading Workshop

A. SKIMMING: Skimming is reading a text to get the gist, the basic overall idea, rather than
concentrating on absorbing all the details.
Task:
Skim
for
general
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idea:

B. SCANNING: Scanning a text is a reading technique where the reader looks for specific
information rather than trying to absorb all the information.
Tasks: Read questions and scan for answers.
What is the problem described in the text?
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According to the text, what are the causes of this problem?
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According to the text, what are the effects of this problem?
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According to the text, what are the solutions to this problem?
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C. RECOGNITION OF TOPICS: Recognition of topics is the ability of a reader to recognize
key words in the text to have a better understanding of it.
Task: Read the text again and write the key words of the paper.
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D. ANALYSIS OF CONTEXT, PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE OF TEXTS:
To recognize the context of a text you should ask questions such as:
Who wrote the text?
When was the text written?
Where was the text written?
Where was the text published?
To recognize the purpose of the text you should consider the following intentions:
Does the text intend to Inform, narrate, recount, describe or illustrate a fact?
To recognize the audience of a text you should ask the following questions?

According to the level of difficulty of the language used, the topics or ideas complexity,
the organization of the text, or the level of formality, is the text written for... (children,
adults, students, researchers, etc.)