Experiment 2: Pollution

Target Audience: Polytechnic Teachers and Students in Tamilnadu
Subject: Life and Employability Skill Practical, M scheme, 4th and 5th Semester
Objectives: To improve the listening and writing skill of the students
Question Pattern in Exam: Listen to the following passage and answer the questions (10 marks)
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 Experiment 2

Listen to the passage read out to you and answer the following questions:

Pollution

Pollution is the process of making land, water, air or other parts of the environment dirty and unsafe or unsuitable to use.

Land can become polluted by household garbage and by industrial waste. In 2010, Americans produced about 250 million tons (226.8 million kilograms) of garbage, consisting of product packaging, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint and batteries. That's about 4.3 pounds (1.95 kg) of waste per person per day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Americans generate 30 billion foam cups, 220 million tires, and 1.8 billion disposable diapers every year, according to the Green Schools Alliance. Food is a big contributor to landfill waste. Up to 40 percent of food produced in the United States is trashed each year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Water pollution happens when chemicals or dangerous foreign substances are introduced to water, including chemicals, sewage, pesticides and fertilizers from agricultural runoff, or metals like lead or mercury. According to the EPA, 44 percent of assessed stream miles, 64 percent of lakes and 30 percent of bay and estuarine areas are not clean enough for fishing and swimming. The EPA also states that the most common contaminants in the United States are bacteria, mercury, phosphorus and nitrogen. According to the United Nations, 783 million people do not have access to clean water and around 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.  Warming water can also be harmful. The artificial warming of water is called thermal pollution. It can happen when a factory or power plant that is using water to cool its operations ends up discharging hot water. This makes the water hold less oxygen, which can kill fish and wildlife.  

The air we breathe has a very exact chemical composition; 99 percent of it is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and inert gases. Air pollution occurs when things that aren’t normally there are added to the air through smoke from vehicles and factories. A common type of air pollution happens when people release particles into the air by burning fuels. Another common type of air pollution is dangerous gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and chemical vapors. These can take part in further chemical reactions once they are in the atmosphere, creating acid rain and smog. According to the WHO, ambient air pollution contributes to 6.7 percent of all deaths worldwide. Air pollution kills more than 2 million people each year, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.  For example, the release of methyl isocyanine gas at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984 killed over 2,000 people, and over 200,000 suffered respiratory problems.

Questions:

       1.    How much of waste is produced by an American a day?

       2.    What is thermal pollution?

       3.   Which country people have suffered a lot in 1984 due to air pollution?

                

      4.     Name any two of the most common contaminants in water found in America?

      5.   What does EPA stand for?

    

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For the better understanding on pollution, the teacher may also play the following videos: