Carbon Footprints

BBC Learning¹ EnglishWeekenderCarbon FootprintsJackie:  Do you throw your bottles in the bin², drivea big heavy car, or leave the lightsswitched on when you go out?
　　I’m Jackie Dalton and, as part of National Science Week inBritain, we are going to find out about how we can help theenvironment by changing the way we shop, travel and useenergy in our daily lives: how we can reduce our‘carbon footprints’.
　　A 'carbon footprint' is a measure of how much harm we causeto the environment in our everyday lives. It depends on howmuch ‘greenhouse³ gas emissions⁴’ we each produce.
　　Greenhouse gases are gasses which have a warming effect onthe Earth’s surface, causing what we call the ‘greenhouseeffect’ and climate change – changes in the generalweather conditions.
　　The average carbon footprint per person in the UnitedKingdom each year is ten thousand kilograms! What can we doto reduce this? As we find out, we’ll also practise somehelpful expressions we can use when talking about theenvironment. We’ve heard a few already. Just as areminder, they were:
　　Voice:  greenhouse gas emissions the greenhouse effectclimate changeJackie:  We’re about to hear from environmentexpert, David Reay. Why does he think we need to reduce ourcarbon footprints?
　　David:  At the moment we’re seeing rapid increases ingreenhouse gas. So we’ll seevery rapid climate change and we need more time to adaptand to get more time we need to reduce the rate ofemissions that we’re producing. So, really, each of us canplay a role in giving us a bit more time.
　　Jackie:  Well, he says greenhouse gas emissions havegone up which means the climate will change quickly. And weneed more time to adapt. To change the way we behave.
　　So what are the main things in our daily lives that areharming the environment? John Barrett from the StockholmEnvironment Institute is about to list three. What arethey?
　　John:  Domestic⁵ energy consumption⁶ – that includes bothour gas and electricity.
　　Our transport use - again, combining air travel and our cartravel… car travel at the moment being by far the mostsignificant, although air travel is increasing rapidly.
　　And, also, our food consumption…the distance our food hasto travel, techniques, methods required to provide us withour food.
　　Jackie:  Did you get the answer? The three thingswere domestic energy consumption, which means the energy weuse at home when we do things like watch television. Thesecond was transport. And thirdly, food. Here in the UK, wedrink bottled water from Canada, eat apples flown in fromNew Zealand and beans from Kenya…when we can get all ofthese things here anyway! What a waste of energy!
　　But we can make a difference. Two questions now: by howmuch could each of us cut down our carbon footprints? Andwould we have to make a big change to the way we live ourlives?
　　David:  There’s a lot we can do, lots of these smallthings to bring down our emissionssignificantly, so 60% is the figure which is thepossibility for most people, without changing theirlifestyle radically⁸, the small things - the energy savinglight-bulbs, using more public transport, using trains.
　　These things can really make a big difference.
　　Jackie:  The answers to the questions are Davidthinks we can cut down out emissions by as much as 60%. Wecan do this without radical⁷ changes to our lifestyle – wewould only have to make small changes in the way we live.
　　So how much effort are people making already to reducetheir carbon footprints? Do many ‘recycle’ which meansre-use things instead of wasting them by just throwing themaway? Listen to these people telling us what they do tohelp the environment.
　　Insert(‘What I do to help the environment.’)Jackie:  Well, if you want to measure your owncarbon footprints and find out how you can make adifference, you can always go to the links at the bottom ofour webpage.
　　Meanwhile, don’t forget to turn off your lights when youdon’t need them on, recycle your bottles and next time you’re about to switch on the TV, ask yourself whether youwouldn’t just rather go for a walk instead!

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 greenhouse   

n.花房，温室，玻璃暖房

参考例句：

• Behind the green house was a greenhouse.在那所绿房子后面是一个花房。
• The tomatoes were grown in the greenhouse.这些西红柿是在温室栽培的。

4 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

5 domestic   

adj.家里的，国内的，本国的；n.家仆，佣人

参考例句：

• This is domestic news.这是国内新闻。
• She does the domestic affairs every day.她每天都忙家务。

6 consumption   

n.消费，消耗，消费额，消耗量，结核病

参考例句：

• Consumption of oil has declined in recent years.石油消耗量在最近几年下降了。
• The meat was condemned as unfit for human consumption.这种肉已被宣布不适宜人们食用。

7 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

8 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。