BBC Learnings · Section 9

How can I help the environment

Now, tell me about your teeth cleaning routine. OK. Well, it's pretty good, I think.

Level: B2 · 122 sentences

Transcript

Now, tell me about your teeth cleaning routine.
OK. Well, it's pretty good, I think.
I brush twice a day and change
my brush every couple of months.
And what kind of brush do you use?
Nothing fancy, just a regular... cheap plastic one.
Oh dear. What do you mean?
Well, imagine all the toothbrushes you've used in your life,
from your first brush as a child
to the one you currently have.
You do realise that probably they all
still exist in the environment somewhere.
We use them for a couple of months,
yet they will last for hundreds of years.
Oh dear, and I thought I was actually quite environmentally aware.
But that's quite shocking.
I hadn't thought of that. Well,
it's just one of the problems
we're facing with our use of plastics –
a marvellous invention that has given us so much,
but we are beginning to realise
it's causing many long-lasting environmental problems.
More on this topic shortly, but first a question.
Plastic has many natural variations,
but where was the first artificial plastic developed?
Was it a England, b Germany or c Switzerland?
What do you think, Sam?
I'm going to have a guess at Switzerland.
OK, we'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme.
Environmental issues are of course a big story at the moment.
The topic was featured on the BBC Woman's Hour radio programme recently.
Madeleine Murray is from an Irish organisation
that gives advice to businesses and communities
on how to operate in an environmentally responsible way.
She was asked about what she does in her daily life...
that other people could do too.
What food items does she mention?
My personal pet peeve is multi-packs and mini-packs.
I buy in bulk now.
I buy the biggest yoghurt I can buy.
I buy big cereal boxes. I buy big shampoo bottles.
We can decant stuff into lunch
boxes and we can, you know,
refill our pasta and our rice.
So what food does she mention, Sam?
She talked about yoghurt, cereal, pasta and rice.
And what was she saying about those foods?
She was saying that she buys the biggest containers
for those that she can and not just
food, things like shampoo as well.
And what's the benefit of that?
Well, she says that her pet
peeve is small packs of things.
A pet peeve is something that you find particularly annoying.
She doesn't like small packs because they use a lot
of packaging for a small amount of product.
So she buys in bulk.
Buying in bulk means buying a lot of something.
And if you have a lot
of something, like rice or pasta,
you can always transfer it to different smaller reusable containers.
She uses the word decant for this.
So that's one area where we can all
be a bit more environmentally friendly.
Another area is reusing things that are perfectly
good but which we don't need anymore.
Dr Tara Shine is a colleague of Madeline Murray
and she talked about how new parents often buy a lot
of new things for their babies
which they then throw away when the child
gets too big or too old.
She suggests that it's better to pass these things on,
to give them to other people.
Pass things on. The hand me down,
pass things on culture is really,
really important in the world of kids
and there are lots of things that can be passed down.
Whether it's toys or the equipment or the high chair,
whatever it is, all of that can be passed on,
and that's really important.
It's saving someone else money.
Most of these things are in good nick
when we need to pass them on.
She used another expression for passing things on, didn't she?
Yes, she talked about the hand me down culture.
When I was growing up, I had a lot of hand-me-downs.
These were toys and clothes from my older cousins,
which saved us a lot of money
and they were then passed on to someone else.
And the thing is, children grow up quickly,
so often everything is in good condition.
Dr Shine used an interesting expression for that, didn't she?
She said most of these things are in good nick.
That expression means in good condition.
Now, before we recycle today's vocabulary...
Very good. See what you did there.
It's time for the answer to today's question.
Where was the first artificial plastic developed?
Was it a England, b Germany or c Switzerland?
What did you think, Sam? I guess Switzerland.
Well, I'm afraid you are wrong.
The correct answer is actually England.
Well done if you got that right.
Extra bonus points if you knew that in 1856 Alexander Parks
patented parkasine, the first artificial plastic.
Now let's recap today's words and expressions.
Yes. A pet peeve is something that someone finds particularly annoying.
Buying in bulk means buying many of the same things
or a large quantity of something.
Buying in bulk is usually cheaper and can be better environmentally.
And if you have a lot of something,
you can decant it to smaller containers.
That is, you can transfer it
to those other containers to make it easier to use.
For example, I buy huge bottles of liquid soap
and decant it into smaller dispensers for the kitchen and bathrooms.
You can pass on clothes, toys
and other kid stuff to family and friends.
This means giving them to other people to use,
and those things can be described as hand-me-downs.
But of course you'd only want to pass on things
in good nick – that is, in good condition.