This week in the news . . .
With the terrifying news that President Trump has decided to pull the USA out of the Paris Climate Agreement, let’s learn a few phrases about the environment . . . . . .before it’s too late.
Eco friendly, or Environmentally friendly: Policies, services or goods that don’t harm the environment. (Riding your bicycle to work is much more eco-friendly than taking your car.)
Eco bag: A bag that can be used many times and does not harm the environment. (Don’t forget your ecobag at Max-Valu, or you will be charged extra.)
Carbon footprint: How much carbon dioxide (CO2) you produce in your daily life. (I’m doing my best to reduce my carbon footprint, but it’s more difficult than I thought.)
Green: Something that is good for the environment. (The Tokyo Olympics are trying to be a green olympics, do you think they will succeed?)
Renewable energy: Energy that is produced by sun, wind or water etc. (A huge project is starting on the coast of Akita, hundreds of windmills for renewable energy.)
Deforestation: Overlogging that kills forests. (Honduras has the worst deforestation problem in the world. They have lost 37% of their forest cover in only 15 years.)
Desertification: The growth of deserts in usable lands. (The desertification of Northern Africa is a huge problem for all of us.)
Global warming: increase in the surface temperature of the earth. (Trump speaking only adds to global warming!)
Greenhouse effect: the warming of the atmosphere. (All these cars in the world are adding to the greenhouse effect.)
I hope it’s not too late. Will the future for our children and grandchildren, be this,
or this?
Joni Mitchell sang about this way back in 1970:
Big Yellow Taxi (click here to watch on Youtube)
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
And put ’em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half to seem ’em
Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Put away the DDT
I don’t care about spots on my apples
Leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey, now they paved paradise
To put up a parking lot
Why not?