General Discussion on Unit 8 “Environment”

1. 
   Mother Earth has become very vulnerable and her vulnerable condition makes us vulnerable too.
   
2. 
   There are some small actions but what is really required is one huge action on global scale that would include most of the world's population. Small-scaled actions are only good on certain areas and have little or none effect on global situation.
   
3. 
   Many people still lack ecological awareness thinking only how to satisfy their needs, and not the needs of complete mankind.
   
4. 
   Ecology is something that always ends up second best, always behind economy and our need for money and power.
   
5. 
   We know that we are doing so much harm to our planet, and yet that doesn't seem to be bothering us too much. List of ecological problems gets bigger by the day, and the impact of leading ecological problems (climate change and global warming, pollution, endangered animals) is only getting stronger and stronger.
   
6. 
   Politicians are only mentioning the word ecology before their election when they are in need of votes, while after all gets forgotten.
   
7. 
   Global ecological problems require global action, action of the whole world.
   
8. 
   Alternative energy is no longer a secret.
   
9. 
   World prices of fuel don’t show signs of going down to its original level forcing man to search for alternative sources of energy.
   
10. 
    Alternative energy sources can be used free of charge, they’re environment friendly and renewable.
    
11. 
    Many environmental problems are created by inefficient use of energy and resources. Modern culture encourages people to buy consumable items, use them for a short time, then quickly replace the items with another that functions in the same way.
    
12. 
    Large industries including those that make chemicals and plastics dump a large amount of waste into the water.
    
13. 
    Man-made chemicals released into the dirt either by accident or through poor disposal techniques cause soil contamination.
    
14. 
    Rupture of underground storage tanks, acid rain, leaching of hazardous waste from a landfill, pesticides and herbicides, and discharge from industrial chemical wastes all can contaminate the soil in which farmers grow crops or graze livestock that people eventually eat.
    

1. 
   What are the worst environmental problems in your area?
   
2. 
   Which of these environmental projects would you be interested in working on: recycling or smog?
   
3. 
   What are the different sources of noise pollution in your area?
   
4. 
   In what ways can people be educated about the environment?
   
5. 
   In what ways is the environment worse or better than it was a few years ago?
   
6. 
   Do you worry about the environment?
   
7. 
   What stories have you read or heard recently about the environment?
   
8. 
   What are the biggest problems facing our environment?
   
9. 
   What would you do to save our environment?
   
10. 
    What danger does your country pose to the global environment?
    
11. 
    Do you think the American government cares more about its economy or the environment?
    
12. 
    Which countries are leaders in caring about the environment?
    
13. 
    What do you know about the history of how our environment came to be under threat?
    
14. 
    Would you give money to or actively campaign for environmental causes?
    
15. 
    What do you think of environmental groups like Greenpeace?
    
16. 
    What is the quality of the environment in your country?
    
17. 
    What kind of environmental policies does your country have/need?
    
18. 
    How important is the natural environment to you in your daily life?
    
19. 
    Are you environmentally friendly?
    
20. 
    Do you think our environment is beyond repair?
    
21. 
    Do you think international meetings on the environment are useful?
    
22. 
    What do you think our grandkids will think of the way we treated the environment?
    
23. 
    What is your image of an environmentalist?
    
24. 
    If the environment could speak, what would it tell us?
    
25. 
    What is our duty as custodians of the environment?
    

26. 
    Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. Henry David Thoreau
    
27. 
    The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands. Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life, 1923
    
28. 
    There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. Mohandas K. Gandhi
    
29. 
    Modern technology
    

An apology. Alan M. Eddison

30. 
    Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us. Henrik Tikkanen
    
31. 
    I'm not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990
    
32. 
    We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American Proverb
    
33. 
    They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers. James G. Watt, quoted in Newsweek, 8 March 1982
    
34. 
    I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago. Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, 26 August 1973
    
35. 
    The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. Ralph Nader, quoted in Linda Botts, ed., Loose Talk, 1980
    
36. 
    The packaging for a microwavable "microwave" dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries. David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990
    
37. 
    The problem is no longer that with every pair of hands that comes into the world there comes a hungry stomach. Rather it is that, attached to those hands are sharp elbows. Paul A. Samuelson, Newsweek, 12 June 1967
    
38. 
    Take care of the earth and she will take care of you. Author Unknown
    
39. 
    We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved. Author Unknown
    
40. 
    Every day is Earth Day. Author Unknown