Environmental English (1)
Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
And I'm Rob.
Now Rob, we've talked before on this programme about our love of coffee.
Oh yes, indeed. I couldn't function without it.
But have you ever thought about the environmental consequences of all those disposable coffee cups?
Oh yes, indeed. I always carry a reusable cup with me so I don't have to throw one away.
So if a disposable cup is one you throw away,
a reusable one is one that you can use again and again.
Yes, there is a big problem with disposable cups in that many of them can't be recycled,
so there is a lot of waste for something we only use for a short time.
What are the big coffee shop chains doing about this problem?
We'll find out a little bit more shortly, but first, a quiz for you.
Which country drinks the most coffee per capita – so not the total amount of coffee but the average per person. Is it:
a) Japan b) Kenya, or
c) Finland What do you think, Rob?
Ooh, tricky. I don't think the Japanese are big coffee drinkers and I know they produce a lot of coffee in Kenya.
I'm surprised the USA isn't on the list but I'm going to go for Finland. wrong?→(with)
Just because.
Well, we'll see if you're right later in the programme. On a recent BBC You and Yours radio
programme they discussed the topic of coffee cups. Some of the big chains are now charging customers more for a disposable cup and giving discounts if people bring their own reusable.
However not all of the shops actually collect old cups and sort them for recycling in the shop itself.
Here's Jaz Rabadia from Starbucks, Is the store only interested in facilities inside their shops?
It's also not just our stores in which these cups end up. So we're doing a lot of work outside of our store environment to ensure that paper cups can be recycled on the go.
We're working with our environmental charity partner Hubbub to increase recycling infrastructure outside of our stores because that too is where a lot of our cups will end up.
So are they just working in their stores at improving recycling?
take their coffee out of the stores, so they are working on recycling infrastructure outside as
Rob Well no, after all most people take their coffee out of the stores, so they are working on recycling infrastructure outside as well.
And what about enabling recycling cups in store?
This will be things like bins and collection points which are clearly marked for coffee cups.
means introducing over a period of time. So it's starting to happen but is not finished yet.
Let's listen again.
It is something that we are in the process of rolling out and it will be in all of our stores.
It's also not just our stores in which these cups end up. So we're doing a lot
of work outside of our store environment to ensure that paper cups can be recycled on
the go. We're working with our environmental charity partner hubbub to increase recycling
infrastructure outside of our stores because that too is where a lot of our cups will end up.
Not everyone, however, believes that the coffee chains are doing everything
that they can. This is Mary Creagh, a member of the British parliament.
She compares the situation to that of the plastic bag charge. This was a law brought
in to force shops to charge customers for plastic bags, which previously had been free.
If you think you're having to pay extra for something, as we saw with the plastic bags,
we think a similar psychological measure is needed, a nudge measure,
to encourage people to remember to bring their reusable cup with them
and of course this is something that the coffee shops have been fighting tooth and nail.
Neil She
thinks that we consumers need a nudge to help us remember our reusable cups.
Rob Yes, we need a nudge,
which is a little push, a reason. In this case, she is thinking of a law to make them charge more.
But she says the coffee chains really don't want this, they are, she says, fighting it tooth and
nail. If you fight something tooth and nail you are against it completely and try to stop it.
Neil Let's hear MP Mary Creagh again.
If you think you're having to pay extra for something, as we saw with the plastic bags,
we think a similar psychological measure is needed, a nudge measure,
to encourage people to remember to bring their reusable cup with them
and of course this is something that the coffee shops have been fighting tooth and nail.
Time to review our vocabulary, but first,
let's have the answer to the quiz question. Which country drinks the most coffee per capita? Is it:
a) Japan b) Kenya, or
c) Finland What did you think, Rob?
I took a bit of a guess at Finland.
Well, congratulations, your guess was correct.
The Finns on average get through an amazing 12kg of coffee a year, each. Now, onto the vocabulary.
We had a couple of related but opposite words. Something disposable is designed to be used
once or a few times and then thrown away and a reusable is designed to be used again and again.
We then had 'rolling out' which in a business sense is the process
of gradually introducing something new. This could be a new system,
new product, new technology or even a new way of doing things.
New ideas often need new infrastructure. This is usually physical structures that
are needed to make something work, for example,
rail infrastructure includes tracks, stations and signals.
A nudge is a small push,
to encourage us to do something. You don't need a nudge to carry a reusable coffee cup, do you?
Oh, no, I'm all for it. In fact, I'd fight tooth and nail to keep hold of my reusable.
Which is quite a coincidence as that was our last expression today. To fight tooth
and nail means to make a strong effort to try to stop something or achieve something.
Well, that's all from us. We look forward to your company next time.
Until then, you can find us in all the usual places on social media,
online and on our app. Just search for 'BBC Learning English'. Goodbye!
Goodbye!
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.
And I'm Sam. How are you, Neil?
I've been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.
Oh, don't you sound like the bee's knees!
All right, Sam, there's no need to get a bee in your bonnet!
As you can hear, English is full of idioms involving bees.
But the sad truth is that bee numbers are declining at an
alarming rate and in some places disappearing altogether.
And this has serious consequences for humans.
Today, one third of the food we eat depends on insects to pollinate crops, fruit and vegetables.
But bees are in trouble. In some European countries up to half of
all bee species are facing extinction, placing our food supply chain at risk.
Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of crops, from apples and blackberries to cucumbers.
In fact, almost all plants need insects to reproduce – which is my quiz question – of
the world's top 50 crops, how many rely on insect pollination? Is it:
a) 35 out of 50?,
b) 40 out of 50? or c) 45 out of 50?
I reckon those busy bees pollinate b) 40 out of 50 of the most common crops.
OK, Sam, we'll find out the answer later. Now, if you think back to your school biology lessons,
you may remember that plants and flowers contain both male and female reproductive parts inside.
But what exactly is going on when bees pollinate a plant?
Here's Claire Bates from BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World to remind us:
What is pollination? All flowering plants need it to reproduce. Pollen is moved from the male part
of a flower to the female part of a flower, then fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
Some staple crops such as wheat, rice and corn are pollinated by the wind however many plants
don't release their pollen easily and this is where insects, and especially bees, come in.
As they collect nectar to eat, pollen sticks to them and they carry it from flower to flower.
Pollination is the process in which pollen is taken from one plant to another
so that it can reproduce. This is the important work done by bees and insects.
Only after pollination can the next process occur – fertilisation - when the pollen carried
from another plant fertilises a female ovule to make new seeds.
Fertilisation occurs in all flowering plants, some of which like wheat,
potatoes and rice are staple crops - food that is eaten in large amounts as part of
a community's daily diet and provides a large fraction of their energy and nutrient needs.
Fewer bees reduces pollination levels, meaning fewer new seeds are created and fewer crops grown.
But it isn't just the decline in bee numbers causing a problem. Like us, bees need to rest
and this has led some to come up with creative new ways of supplementing bee pollination.
One such innovator is Keren Mimran, co-founder of agro-tech company, Edete. Here she is, explaining
how dropping pollen from drones can pollinate crops, giving a helping hand to hard-working bees.
How come our food security is so much dependent on an insect that we cannot really control? We
can bring the bees to the orchard or to a field but we cannot control their behaviour. They do
not come out of the hive when it's raining or when there's heavy wind, they work only during daytime.
There must be a possibility of developing a mechanical solution to the pollination challenge.
Keren Mimran speaking on the BBC World Service programme People Fixing The
World. Bees' behaviour can't be controlled - when it rains they won't leave their hive
– the structure where bees live, either built by people or made by the bees themselves.
So Keren's company has developed drones to drop
pollen on her orchard – an area of land on which fruit trees are grown.
The need for these high-tech solutions reflects
the seriousness of the pollination problem for food security -everyone getting enough
affordable and nutritious food to meet their daily dietary needs.
I had no idea bees were so important, Neil. Maybe I underestimated how hard they work.
Ah, you mean today's quiz question. I asked you how many of the top 50
world crops rely on insect pollination.
And I said b) 40 out of 50 of the top crops.
And you are right! They certainly are the bee's knees when it comes to pollinating plants!
So in today's programme we've been hearing about the important role
bees play in pollination – transferring pollen from plant to plant,
necessary for the next stage of fertilisation – producing new seeds and fruit inside a plant.
Bees and insects play a vital role in growing the world's staple crops - food which, eaten in large
amounts, makes up the majority of a community's daily diet and meets their nutrient needs.
So bee numbers are directly linked to the issue of food security - everyone getting enough
affordable, nutritious food to meet their dietary needs.
Which explains why, when bees won't leave their home - or hive – some people have
started using drones to pollinate their orchards – land growing fruit trees.
And that's it for this edition of 6 Minute English. Bye for now!
Goodbye!
Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
And hello, I'm Rob.
Today we're talking about plastic.
