environmentalism in china: waking the green tiger enhanced english for interpreters fujian normal...

Environmentalism in China:Waking the Green Tiger

Enhanced English for Interpreters

Fujian Normal University

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

Video: R-E-C-Y-C-L-E

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Compost

Homework ReviewA Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

(an image can communicate complex ideas more easily than words)

Try to describe TWO of the photos by Canadian photographer, Ed Burtynsky, as fully as possible.

Think about the language you would use to describe:

(1)Objects and people, (2) actions (what is currently happening and what is going to happen), (3) the atmosphere or environment

As the picture you described is displayed, in 2 minutes, share your interpretation with a group of classmates.

Video: Interpretation Exercise

The Hour: Ed Burtynsky

The photographer says,

“There is no simple right or wrong. It needs a whole new way of thinking.”

“ An environmentalist will look at it one way, an industrialist will look at it another way….There’s these readings that people can enter into it (the photo) and that there are multiple readings. It’s not necessarily just to be read one way.”

What are your opinions, ideas or thoughts about these photos?

How do you interpret these photos?

Brainstorm

In 2 minutes,

Name as many different types of pollution as you can think of

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

Types of Pollution• air pollution

• water pollution

• litter/solid waste pollution

• noise pollution

Small Group DiscussionIn groups of 4, answer the following questions and be prepared to present responses.

•Give examples of the type of pollution assigned to you.

•What is your experience with this type of pollution in your home town?

Types of Pollution• air pollution (car exhaust, coal dust, sand, smoking, carbon

emissions)

• water pollution (industrial waste, sewage, acid rain)

• litter/solid waste pollution (plastic bags, styrofoam boxes, disposable chopsticks, landfill)

• noise pollution (traffic, construction)

• greenhouse effect/global warming ( 温室效应 , 全球变暖 )

What is sustainability?

“the capacity and ability to support, maintain or endure”

• "In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... ‘What about the seventh generation? Where are you taking them? What will they have?’”

from the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

What is a sustainable society?

A sustainable society is one which:• can provide for and manage its

population and economy now, while maintaining an environment that will be healthy for future generations.

A sustainable society must…

• provide all of its people with enough good food and shelter, clean water and air.

Shanghai skyline

A sustainable society must…• meet the needs of its people without

destroying the earth’s Natural Capital.

Wu Yi Mountains

Capital?

Natural? Natural

Capital?

Autumn Maple Trees,Toronto

Summer Banyan Trees,Fuzhou

Natural Capital is…

• the resources and ecological services provided by the earth that support and sustain the earth’s life and economies

(from Environmental Science: Working with the Earth, G. Tyler Miller Jr., 2004)

Natural Capital Resources

• Resources are anything obtained from the environment to meet plant, animal and human needs.

• Primary resources are: air, water, soil, energy and minerals.

Resources: Perpetual and Renewable

• Perpetual: renewed continuously on a human scale;

• Example: solar energy, wind

Changjiang Ao Windfarm,Pingtan

Resources: Perpetual and Renewable

• Renewable: can be replenished fairly quickly on a human scale;

• Examples: forests, fresh water, air, soil

Christmas tree farm

Resources: Non-renewable

• Non-renewable: exist in essentially fixed quantities on the earth;

• Examples: fossil fuels, metals such as iron and copper

Open pit mine, Australia

Sustainable living

• Humans are the only species on earth to deplete and waste natural capital (no such thing as “waste” in nature!)

• Sustainable living does not use non-renewable resources.

• Sustainable living uses renewable resources only at the rate at which they can be replaced.

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

Tema, Ghana

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

The Man Who Planted Trees:By: Jean GionoFilm by: Frederic Back

Use “sustainable” or “sustainability” in a sentence

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

China Environmental Protection Foundation http://www.cepf.org.cn

曲 格平 (Qu GePing, Former Environment Protection Minister of China)

Tiger Leaping Gorge: “Waking the Green Tiger”

Small Group Discussion

Answer the following questions in groups of 4:

1.Why is the dam being built?

2.What kind of energy resources is China trying to use?

3.What considerations should we have before creating a sustainable source of energy?

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

FNU Language Enhancement 2012-2013

China’s Energy Sources 2008

Canada’s Energy Sources 2010

Chinese Environmental OrganizationsGlobal Village Beijing: http://www.gvbchina.org.cn/

• Green Earth Volunteers: http://eng.greensos.cn

Green Watershed: http://www.greenwatershed.org/

THE DIRECTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS & ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN CHINA

 http://earthdirectory.net/china

Homework:• Download and read the China Daily article:

"Should Chinese people celebrate Christmas?“

• a) Why do you think Chinese celebrate Christmas? or (b) Do you think Chinese should celebrate Christmas?