Text 4 Ecology and Computers

We are good at recycling old soda cans, but when it comes to old PCs - this work is cut out for us. Over the next three years, 250 million computers are expected to become obsolete, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That is good news for PC manufacturers but bad news for the environment. The problem is that old computers can quickly become harmful. A typical computer monitor, for example, contains between 2 and 4 pounds of lead, which can leach into the groundwater in the landfill.

The technology to recycle PCs exists. Facilities in different countries can reprocess the lead-laden glass in old computer monitors into glass for new ones. Metal extracted from old chips and plastics can be reused too.

However, there is little incentive to do it. Consumers balk at the cost of shipping junked systems to recycling facilities. Manufacturers do not want to take responsibility for disposing of obsolete equipment they sold years ago. It is not surprising then that 85 percent of computers taken out of service last year will be in landfills.

The challenge is not so much how to recycle PCs but how to make PC recycling economically viable. The team of researchers has developed mathematical models that can evaluate recycling facilities, including collection centres, glass-reprocessing plants and smelting facilities. Such models can determine the most efficient way of how to help engineers to figure out the right combination of fees, tax breaks and additional reprocessing facilities.

Mathematical models have long been used to simulate different systems, but the difficulty in simulating PCs recycling is that the data is extremely uncertain. Nevertheless, scientists hope to show some recycling options and to encourage authorities to the opening of local glass-reprocessing facilities. The ultimate goal is to make the system available for any country interested in setting up a recycling program. We hope that such systems will start working in Russia in the near future.

Answer the questions

1. Why do we have to recycle old computers?

2. How many computers are expected to become obsolete?

3. Why are old computers harmful for the environment?

4.Why do consumers and manufacturers oppose to recycling?

5. What have scientists developed to evaluate recycling facilities?

6. Why is it difficult to simulate PCs recycling?

7.What has the team of researchers developed?

8. What can encourage authorities to the opening of local glass-reprocessing facilities

9. What is the ultimate goal of the scientists?

10.What can start working in Russia?

 

Module VI: International Organisations

Text 1: International Organisations

An international organisation is an organisation with an international membership, scope or presence. International organisations are classified into two main categories:

· Non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These may be:

- international non-profit organisations, for example: the World Wide Fund for Nature, the International Committee of the Red Cross, MBAs without borders, the World Youth Alliance;

- international corporations, referred to as multinational corporations, for example: The Coca-Cola Company, Toyota, Microsoft, Adidas, Siemens.

11. Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs). These are organisations that are made up primarily of sovereign states (or member states). Examples include: the European Union (EU), the World Trade Organisation, NATO, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Interpol, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Group of Eight (G-8).

The formation of international organisation was a 20-th century phenomenon. Nowadays there are more than 2, 500 international organisations. Among them there are more than 130 intergovernmental unions. The United Nations Organisation is the most notable. Other important organisations are the European Economic Community, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Interpol, Greenpeace and UNESCO. The creation of international organisation on a world-wide scale in the 20-th century was the result of the progress in the technology of communication, transportation, warfare, and the spread of industrialization. These processes gave rise to a sense of independence among the nations of the world, and made people recognise the importance of international cooperation to avoid danger, solve problems, and use the opportunities which face the society of nations on a world-wide scale. Some organisations are concerned only with single and relatively narrow problems while others such as the UN and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), deal with a great variety of matters.

Let’s take, for example, the United Nations. It’s an organisation to which nearly all the countries of the world belong. Its headquarters are situated in New York. Its central aim is to maintain peace and security in the world and to develop friendly relations among nations.

Greenpeace is an international organisation, which deals with ecological and environmental problems. It was formed in 1971. Now it is a powerful organisation, which works all over the world. There are many serious actions in the list of Greenpeace activities. The national offices exist in 27 countries of the world. In Russia Greenpeace was formed in 1992. It works here in three directions: Wood Campaign, Anti-nuclear Campaign and Campaign for preservation of Lake Baikal. Greenpeace tries to attract public attention to different problems in the world and to find the way out. It is financed by personal voluntarily donations of its supporters.

The results of activity of international organisations are significant. The UN General Assembly passed a number of resolutions and declarations. They are the Nuremberg Principles dealing with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the right of people and nations to self-determination; denuclearization, and non-intervention. The most important of them is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This general agreement, which stresses that all human beings are titled to some basic liberties, marked the birth of the international and universal recognition of human rights.

*Appendix: № 8

 

Questions for discussion:

1. Could you give the definition of an international organisation?

2. What types of international organisations do you know?

3. How many international organisations are there nowadays?

4. Why did people create international organisations?

5. What are the most important international organisations that you know?

6. Could you name the most famous ecological and political international organisations?

7. Can you dwell on one of the international organisations?

8. When was Greenpeace created?

9. What problems does Greenpeace deal with?

10. What are the results of activity of international organisations?

Text 2: The European Union

The EU is the largest political and economic entity on the European continent. The EU is a supranational and intergovernmental union of democratic member states which are located primarily in Europe.

The European Union was set up to end frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which had culminated into World War II. It was important to rebuild Europe eliminating the possibility of another World War.

Thus, West European nations created the Council of Europe in 1949. It was the first step towards cooperation among countries. In 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community united European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC), or the ‘Common Market’. Later it was transformed into to the European Community. As for the European Union, it was established in 1993 by the Treaty of Maastricht. Thus, the EU managed to evolve from a trade body into an economic and governmental partnership.

The Union has a single market consisting of a Customs union with a single currency called the euro - the official currency of the Eurozone. It has a common agricultural, trade and fisheries policy, a common external customs tariff, a common position in international trade negotiations, a Common Foreign and Security Policy, a common policy on asylum and immigration and a common funding of research and technological development.

The Schengen Agreement has abolished passport control for the EU member states. Customs checks have been abolished at many of the EU's internal borders, creating a single area of free movement for the EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.

The EU's decision-making process in general and the co-decision procedure in particular involve three main institutions.

12. the European Parliament (EP), which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them

13. the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states

14. the European Commission, which seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole.

This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new laws, but it is Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Commission and the member states then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly taken on board. There are two other institutions that have a vital part to play: the Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law, and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the Union’s activities.

The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities: Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Frankfurt.

1. Brussels is the seat of the European Commission (staff of about 18, 000) and the Council of Ministers. It is also the venue of the European Parliament's committee meetings and mini-sessions. Since 2004 it has become the host city for all European Council summits.
2. Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament (785 members) and the venue of its twelve week-long plenary sessions each year. Strasbourg is also the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, which are not the bodies of the EU.
3. Luxembourg City is the seat of the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, the Secretariat of the European Parliament and the European Investment Bank.
4. Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank.

The European Union law is the first and the only example of a supranational legal framework. Becoming EU members, sovereign nation states pool their authority for the mutual social and economic benefit of their peoples.

The EU has significant religious diversity, mirroring its diverse history and culture. A nominal majority of the population professes Christianity, (predominantly Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy), Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.

The European Union has the largest economy in the world considered as a single entity. The EU has 23 official languages and three official alphabets: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. There are only three internal working languages in the European Commission: English, French and German.

 

 

Questions for discussion:

1. What kind of entity is the EU?

2. What is the primary goal of the EU?

3. What does the term “Common market” mean?

4. What is the official currency of the Eurozone?

5. What opportunities does the Schengen Agreement give to the EU member states?

6. What are the main Institutions of the EU?

7. What is the Court of Justice responsible for?

8. What is the Court of Auditorsresponsible for?

9. What can be said about the European Union law?

10. What are the internal working languages in the European Commission?

 

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