Chapter 2
Reading
IC3 Section
IC3 | IT | TOEFL | Best Answer
Vietnamese translation of IC3
Persian translation of IC3
Appendix: Glossary for Watershed Terms
Language Lessons
Assessment
Water Ecology / Sinh thái học về nước
بوم شناسیِ (اکولوژیِ) آبGuiding Question: What are your sources of clean water? |
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn: Bạn hãy cho biết đâu là nguồn nước sạch? |
سوال راهنما: منابع آب آشامیدنی شما کدامند؟ |
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Skills:
In this chapter you will do these things:
English Language Skills:
- Understanding Watershed
- Watershed Vocabulary
- How to Read Paragraphs in English
- How is a Paragraph Organized in Student L1?
- Identifying Topic Sentences and Supportive Sentences in Reading
- Following Instructions
Vietnamese Language Skills:
- Reading Passage: Guessing Words in Context
- New Vocabulary
- Reading with New Vocabulary
Persian Language: The Persian Language Lesson is found in the Listening and Speaking Chapter. Online it is found on the IC3 website under Learning Platform, Level I, Integrated Skills (far right).
IC3 Skills: Water Stress
Taking It Further: TIF Explanation
TOEFL
Intercultural Communicative Competence
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Water Stress
http://www.globalissues.org/video/739/maude-barlow-water-stress
“Imagine a world in twenty years, in which no substantive progress has been made to provide basic wastewater service in the Third World, or to force industry and industrial agriculture production to stop polluting water systems, or to curb the mass movement of water by pipeline, tanker and other diversion, which will have created huge new swaths of desert."
“Desalination plants will ring the world’s oceans, many of them run by nuclear power; corporate nanotechnology will clean up sewage water and sell it to private utilities who will sell it back to us at a huge profit; the rich will drink only bottled water found in the few remote parts of the world left or sucked from the clouds by machines, while the poor die in increasing numbers. This is not science fiction. This is where the world is headed unless we change course.”— Maude Barlow
(from her book, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water, ISBN: 978-1-59558-186-0, 2007)
Find below the transcript of an interview of Maude Barlow in the video, “Water Stress” released in May 2007. The video of this interview can be viewed at Big Picture TV http://www.bigpicture.tv/videos/watch/c3e878e27
In the following interview, Maude Barlow shares her insights into the looming water crisis having recently finished a new book. She discusses the hydrological damage caused by pollution and by the displacement and diversion of water. As water becomes increasingly scarce the issue is moving up the political agenda—in the United States, China and parts of Europe particularly. Governments are backing new technologies to reuse or desalinate water, but Barlow believes these may dis-incentivize better resource management.
Maude Barlow is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest citizen’s advocacy organization, and the founder of the Blue Planet Project which works to stop commodification of the world’s water. She is the recipient of numerous educational awards and has received honorary doctorates from four Canadian universities for her social justice work.
Transcript:
I’ve just finished a new book on water and so I know a lot more than I did when I started writing this book. People always think that you write a book because it is all in your head—no (laughs)—you are always learning as you go along and the three things that I learn that are terribly important—for me there were anyway—and that is just the severity of the ecological crisis.
That we are literally now creating massive desserts, where we’re taking water from aquifers or watersheds either by virtual trade in water or by pipeline, by mass irrigation, or just one way or another we are taking water from where nature put it, and we are destroying it or channelling it into the oceans and we are actually losing water from the hydrologic cycle, and I don’t think people understand that the global freshwater crisis is the ground level equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from the top.
Climate change is not just greenhouse gas emissions—as important as those are; please don’t think I am negating them—but we’re not paying attention to what we are doing to the displacement, to the diversion and the pollution, the mass pollution of water. So that’s the first thing.
The second thing is that the global corporate cartel that I worried about when I wrote my first book, Blue Gold has come to pass, and water is being more and more corporately controlled. Now we all know about the delivery of water by these big utilities, Suez, Vivendi, or Veolia, and that continues apace and of course bottled water which is an enormous industry.
But the one that kind of was newer to me was the creation of a massive new water reuse technology which is being heavily funded by governments, particularly by US and European governments, which I think is going to be a disincentive to enact water protection laws or to enforce water protection laws because we’re building a massive international industry to clean water up and there is going to be trade and environmental services so-called, through the WTO and GATS (General Agreement on Trade and Services) around water technology cleanup. And I envisage a world in 20 years when we’ve dried out so much of the planet and all of the oceans are ringed by massive desalination plants, run by nuclear power. That’s not in my head. That’s coming. That’s for sure. Those plans are there. Which is terribly polluting, a horrible, polluting, energy intensive industry. And that people—rich people—will buy bottled water from the few remote, clean places left on earth or take it from the corporations from clouds—literally that technology is being developed—while millions and millions more die. This is just the future that I can see unless we start to change course so that the ecological crisis, the human rights crisis, and the corporate control are just absolutely so clear to me.
Also what has become clear is how water has moved up the national security agenda of the United States in particular, of Europe and China, those three centers —of course every country is worried about it. But in terms of the world’s policeman (the United States) they’re both noting that water is becoming a source of crisis around the world, is going to disrupt their power in some places, they’re going to be global refugees from water—there already are—there’s going to be conflicts over water. So they’re beginning to really take note of this. They are also already running out of water—36 states are water-distressed in the United States, and this is not a cyclical drought. So the United States is also looking for sources of water for itself, as is China which is now planning to move massive amounts of water from the Tibetan plains which will affect the five major rivers that feed all of Asia.
So this new constellation of seeing water not just as a crisis for those who don’t have it—and that is the starting point for the most important work—but it is suddenly becoming a geopolitical issue and suddenly being recognized by the powers that be in a way that I don’t think it was before, even five years ago.
So what does that mean for all of us in terms of this work? Well I think we have to really start understanding the true corporate reach of water and really have to challenge it. And we have to, we are working very hard to get water declared a human right both at the United Nations and within nation state conventions—or constitutions—so that water is understood by one and all to be this fundamental right. We need to have a movement that puts together the human rights, development, community groups, indigenous groups, people working on the ground for, literally, the right to clean water, and ecologists, scientists, environmentalists on the other side—and right now I see them working not in tandem, kind of on two roads. And in fact sometimes the environmentalists are saying “just price it; doesn’t matter if it is corporately controlled, we’ve got to get it under control; lets let the corporations come in and sell it and only those who can afford it will be able to buy it and that will take care of the water crisis.” Well I guess so, a billion people die I guess that will help the water crisis but that is sure not the way to do it, right? So I see a need for a movement that pulls these trends together and that is something.
And for those who are worrying about the geopolitical issues, around energy for instance, they better open their analysis to water. The Americans, I am convinced, are looking at the Guaraní aquifer in South America, they are sure looking at Northern Canada where we have many rivers but they’re running north, and it would take huge engineering feats to reverse their flow and put them through pipes and send them down to the mid-west, but I think we need to start understanding that these big power blocs are going to be going for water as a survival tool.
China is up against the water wall, unless it finds some new way to deal with this its economic miracle is going to slam closed, so its suddenly become, in my opinion, the most important human right and ecological issue in the world.
View the Video, A World Without Water for more detailed insight on the issue.
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3930199780455728313&hl=en&fs=true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed>
Discussion:
Before you begin answering these questions, drink a glass of water.
- Where does the water you drink come from?
- Does this water cost you or your family money or labor?
- Who sees to it that your household has water in it?
- Should everyone have a right to water?
- What are the geopolitical issues that involve water?
- Do you think that water is becoming the most important geopolitical issue of our time?
- Do you see or feel the stresses of water-related areas in your region?
- Who do you think should manage water?
- Should people have to pay for water? If yes, then what should be done about those who cannot pay? If no, then who should carry the costs of providing safe water for the world’s population?
The Trans
IC3 Persian Translation:
Taking It Further Explanation
Near the end of each IC3 chapter, professors or instructors are asked to plan "applied learning" events, interviews, research, or service projects on- or off-campus. "Taking It Further" means that our on-campus, classroom learning are just a first step in broader learning that affects our vocations, professions, and community service.
For instance, throughout our completion of chapter 1, all participating campuses and partners to this IC3 exchange are completing "web profiles" that will be used extensively by members of each pod. This "takes further" the relationship building of pod members. Another example, at the end of chapter 2 (Food and Water Security), a language class using IC3 could link with a biology department to examine "best practices" in protecting a clean watershed. In Vietnam, this could involve the students' applied learning of water security in terms of the health of the Mekong River, upstream and downstream inter-state concerns, and the long-term viability of industries alongside fish and rice farming. Here in Virginia (USA), our students will examine our watershed, which flows into the Shenandoah River and the Chesapeake Bay, and from there the Atlantic Ocean. Or at the end of chapters 6, 7 and 10 (Domestic Economics, Regional Trade, Globalization), a class could interview merchants and vendors of one's village or city to discern their wisdom in making a living in an age of globalization.
There is no single set of learning objectives for the Taking It Further exercises. Hopefully, each participating campus and partner to IC3 can share through pod dialogues your lessons learning through this exercise. There may even be collaborative study, research, or service for certain Taking It Further ventures among IC3 partners.
These exercises draw upon an article by Bill McKibben
“Tilting at Windmills”-
Http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16
Directions: In this section, you will read two passages. Each one is followed by a number of questions about the passage. You are to choose the one best answer, A, B, C, or D, to each question. Answer all questions about the information in a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage.
Example:
Curiosity about the Vietnam War draws many Americans, especially vets. But they may be surprised to see that Vietnam, like the United States, has moved on.
Which statement is closest in meaning to the second sentence?
- A. Vietnam’s boundaries have been moved.
- B. Vietnam is more progressive than the United States.
- C. Vietnam has continued to progress after the war.
- D. Many Vietnamese moved to the United States.
The answer should be C. Vietnam has continued to progress after the war.
Questions 1-10
Complete the following sentences.
1. Sentence one is closest in meaning to: Global warming is
- A. one of many environmental challenges
- B. not important to the overall problem of environmental challenges
- C. the most serious problem leading to environmental challenges
- D. a problem that is easy to control
2. Indications are that the possible consequences of global warming are
- A. not as problematic as previously thought
- B. more devastating than previously thought
- C. of little concern
- D. something politicians use as a scare tactic
3. The word “endless” in line 8 is closest in meaning to
- A. with end in sight
- B. without end
- C. less than the end
- D. near the end
4. The word “scant” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to
- A. wind driven
- B. applicable
- C. negligible
- D. laughable
5. Which statement about the use of wind power is true?
- A. America is leading in the technology of the use of wind power.
- B. Germans, Spanish and British are ahead of the Danes in their use of wind power.
- C. Danes are less aggressive in their use of wind power than the other countries.
- D. America is the least aggressive in the use of wind power.
6. The word “component” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
- A. factor
- B. fastest growing
- C. answer
- D. input
7. The fastest growing source of electric generation around the world
- A. water power
- B. coal power
- C. nuclear power
- D. wind power
8. The phrase “come to terms with” in the last sentence means
- A. Eastern technology
- B. bite the bullet
- C. accepted
- D. the ending of time
9. This passage tells us that
- A. global warming is not a problem
- B. natural resources are unlimited.
- C. wind power is not ecologically sound.
- D. everything possible should be done to slow the pace of global warming.
10. The word “environmentalists” in the last sentence is closest in meaning to
- A. Green party members
- B. persons from the East
- C. conservationists
- D. inexperienced
Questions 11-20
11. The phrase “on the drawing board” in paragraph two line 11 means
- A. being planned
- B. drawn on wood
- C. not being considered
- D. drawn with precision
12. The phrase “continue business as usual” in paragraph two lines 22-23 means
- A. to make this a business transaction
- B. to do as we have always done
- C. to make a new plan
- D. to plan for change
13. The pronoun “they” in paragraph 2, sentence 3 refers to
- A. wind generated power plants
- B. drawing board
- C. fossil fuels
- D. coal fired power plants
14. What is the main subject of this passage?
- A. more efficient turbines are enormous
- B. the best of all possible worlds is to burn fossil fuel
- C. computer modeling in New Hampshire is worth paying for
- D. the time to change to renewable power is now
15. According to this passage, all of the following, except one, could happen if we continue spewing carbon into the air?
- A. Low lying lands will be swamped by rising water.
- B. Residents homes will be flooded.
- C. Wind power is a limited natural resource that would be exhausted.
- D. Trees will not survive the sudden change in temperature.
16. The words “birch, beech and maple in paragraph 2 refer to
- A. kinds of birds
- B. kinds of trees
- C. kinds of animals
- D. names of communities
17. “Renewable energy is a type of energy that
- A. is not used up
- B. is consumed when used
- C. is mined from a newly found source underground
- D. is most cost efficient
18. Around the world wind power is the fastest growing source of electric generation, mostly because
- A. it is more readily available than solar power
- B. it spews carbon into the air
- C. the technology is not as advanced as it is for solar power
- D. it is cost effective
19. The word “environmentalists” in the last paragraph means
- A. people involved in issues relating to the protection of the natural world
- B. people from the East
- C. people who oppose progress
- D. people who are inexperienced is issues concerning the environment
20 It can be inferred from this reading that the use of wind power
- A. is a hopeful sign for the future
- B. has no hope for the future
- C. is a step back from the future
- D. is impossible for the future
Best Answers to Guiding Question:
After you have completed the Reading, Listening/Speaking, and Writing chapters 2, how would you answer the following question?
Guiding Question: What are your sources of clean water? |
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn: Bạn hãy cho biết đâu là nguồn nước sạch? |
سوال راهنما: منابع آب آشامیدنی شما کدامند؟ |
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