Problem Solution, Cause and Effect (Based on Making Connections, K.J. Pakenham) A. Introduction to problem-solution organization of the text Writers often use a problem-solution type of organization for their texts. The ability to identify the problem-solution method of text organization can help the reader to read more effectively. To be able to indicate the problem in the text, the writer may use vocabulary that will help the reader recognize the problem-solution markers. 1. Look at the pictures and try to describe them using some of the problem- solution markers such as: difficulty - crisis - obstacle - complication danger - threat - concern - problem 2. See the collocations of some of these words. Then write a few sentences about the problem. 3. Cause and Effect - word sets One way to remember your growing vocabulary is to group the new words into sets according to their meaning. All of the words below share the idea of causing something to happen. reduce worsen raise aggravate increase double create cut restrict halve lower set off Group the verbs above into the following sets: cause + START cause + MORE cause + LESS cause + HARM B. The Aral Sea Crisis 1. Today’s topic deals with the Aral Sea Crisis, which poses a big problem. Are you familiar with that crisis? 2. Match the words with their definitions. irrigation, reclaim, cultivation, benefit, salinization, exploitation, drainage, leach, desiccate, salinity the action of supplying land with water by means of channels or streams, or by sprinkling water over the surface of the ground to make an area of desert, wet land etc suitable for farming or building the preparation and use of land for growing crops an advantage, improvement, or help that you get from something accumulation of salts in the soil the development and use of minerals, forests, oil etc the process or system by which water or waste liquid flows away to remove a chemical or mineral from something such as soil as a result of water passing through it, or be removed by this process the concentration of dissolved salts in water to remove the moisture from, to dry up 3. Reading comprehension Reading strategy: Ø identify problem markers and solution markers Ø use problem markers to identify passages containing problems Ø use solution markers to identify passages containing solutions Ø look for causes of problems Ø look for the logical connection between the problem’s cause(s) and the suggested solutions(s) a. Read Paragraph 1 of the text. In what part of an introduction are you likely to find the most help about the topic of the passage? Pay special attention to that part. b. Read Paragraphs 2-3 of the text and write the main points. before description of the region: after description of the region: c. Look at the pictures and identify the major changes in the Aral Sea area. You may find the following words helpful: expand drop fall increase decrease reduce shrink d. Paragraphs 4-9: identify the environmental damage and the poorly planned human economic activity. Formulate the key ideas in a nominalized way (i.e. using noun forms in place of verbs, using the passive and avoiding personal pronouns. See the table). the number of population has increased increase of population has decided decision are becoming aware awareness increasingly aware increasing awareness have suddenly emerged the sudden emergence e. Match paragraphs with the main ideas. · As a result of the chemical contamination of drinking water, there has been an increase in human health problems. · The basic cause of the deterioration in the Aral Sea was the use of irrigation to expand agriculture. · Short-sighted agricultural practices have increased levels of salt, pesticides, and other damaging substances in the environment. · This paragraph gives physical details of the Aral Sea in 1950. · The reduced flow of water into the Aral Sea has had disastrous consequences both for the sea and its basin. · The story of the Aral Sea is one example of the global problem of desertification through human activities. · This paragraph gives details of how the Aral Sea changed between 1950 and 1990. · In 1990, a scientific conference decided that the Aral Sea region was an ecological disaster area in need of urgent action to prevent its complete destruction. · The Aral Sea illustrates the massive ecological damage that can be caused by the careless economic development of a region. f. Design a diagram representing the process of environmental degradation in the region surrounding the Aral Sea. Stick the strips of paper on a poster, connect the ideas with arrows (flow chart). Sources: Pakenham, J. Making Connections, CUP, 1998 www.grida.no/db/maps/ water/30-aral%20sea.jpg http://www.dfd.dlr.de/app/land/aralsee/monitor.html Article: The Aral Sea Crisis 1. For many decades, environmental scientists have been warning us that immense damage can be caused to the ecology of a given region by pressure for economic development and by apparently reasonable, but in reality short-sighted, responses to this pressure. The damage will not only negate any economic progress the region might have experienced but also has the potential to make the region unlivable. The story of the Aral Sea, described in an article in Environment magazine by V. M. Kotlyakov, a Soviet geographer, is a clear example of the damage that poorly planned human economic activity can have on the environment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. The Aral Sea is located in a semi-arid region of south-central Asia, close to the former Soviet republics of Karakalpakia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenia, and Tajikistan (see Figure 1). As recently as the 1950s, the sea covered an area of sixty-six thousand square kilometers, with a mean depth of sixteen meters. Its waters were fresh, with a mean salinity (salt content) of 1 percent to 1.1 percent. Two large rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, flow into the sea. The water from the two rivers, plus the annual rainfall, maintained the volume and level of water in the sea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. By 1990, however, the Aral Sea had shrunk to about 55 percent of its original area and had become two separate lakes; its total water volume had dropped to less than one-third of its 1950s volume. The salt content of the sea, on the other hand, had in-creased by almost 300 percent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. The root cause of these massive changes in the physical character of the Aral Sea was the decision, made in the late 1950s, to develop agriculture by using water from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya rivers for irrigation. Since the early 1960s, the area of irrigated agricultural land has expanded rapidly, an expansion that has reduced the flow of water into the Aral Sea to approx-imately 13 percent of its pre-1960 total. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. The consequences of this reduction in water flow have been catastrophic for the area surrounding the Aral Sea. Whole species of fish have died out, and commercial fishing, which used to be a productive economic activity, has practically stopped. Without the moderating influence of the vast expanse of the original sea, the climate of the territory within one hundred to two hundred kilometers of the sea has become more extreme. Rainfall has decreased, while summers have become shorter and warmer. As a result, there are no longer enough frost-free days in the year for growing cotton, once the main crop of the Amu Darya delta. In addition, as the water level has dropped, the forests on either side of the Amu Darya river have dried up, causing the loss of about half of the region's bird and mammal species. Another problem is that salt from the exposed sea bed is spread by storms on the surrounding land, increasing its salt content and reducing its fertility. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. The impact of recent attempts at economic development on the ecology of the region, however, is not restricted to the consequences of the falling water levels in the Aral Sea and its two main rivers. Inefficient methods of irrigation allow much of the water to evaporate, causing crop-damaging salts to accumu-late in the soil. Then farmers use more water to wash these salts out of the soil; the salts enter into the rivers where they ultimately increase the salinization of areas downstream and the Aral Sea itself. Other agricultural practices in the irrigated land include the extensive use of artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides to support production of the two main crops, rice and cotton. As a result, the water that ultimately drains back into the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya from the fields also carries high concentrations of phosphates and nitrates, as well as chemical pesticides. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. The accumulation of these toxic chemicals in the rivers is now contaminating local supplies of drinking water. As a result, in the years since 1975, people living in the area have begun to suffer increasingly from a number of serious health problems. As is often the case with environmentally linked illness, infants and children are the most vulnerable. In the city of Karalpakia, for example, the 1989 mortality rate for children was among the highest in the world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8. In 1990, a conference of international scientists met to consider "the Aral crisis." The scientists concluded that the Aral region was already an ecological disaster area and that massive changes in agricultural policy and practices were urgently needed to reverse the process of environmental destruction. If such measures were not taken without delay, the Aral basin would become a wasteland, incapable of supporting the human settlements and activities it once supported. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9. The case of the Aral Sea and its basin is not unique; it is so merely one example of the process of anthropogenic desertification, the conversion of agricultural land to desert by environmentally destructive human activities. This is a global problem. Indeed the United Nations Environment Program estimates that about 60 percent of all agricultural land in drier regions may be affected to some degree by desertification. Salinization, for example, threatens 20 percent of all irrigated land in the United States. The Aral crisis, therefore, offers a clear warning of the dangers of poorly planned economic development. It also offers an opportunity to gather information needed in the search for solutions and alternative models of economic development. Source: K.J. Pakenham: Making Connections, CUP NOMINALIZATION irrigation has been greatly intensified. the irrigated area in the Aral sea region increased the water demand for agricultural use increased The discharge to the Aral sea by the two rivers dropped from originally 60 km/a^3 to almost 0 km/a^3. salt has accumulated due to evaporation solonchaks have developed the water evaporates completely unused. increased salinity the sea level has decreased the salinity increased to 46 g/l the eastern water body has declined to 12 m The desiccation process has been monitored since 1984. Since 1960 the two rivers have been heavily exploited for the irrigation the Aral sea has lost more than 50% of its former area PROBLEM - SOLUTION COLLOCATIONS source: Longman on-line Problem have a problem big/serious/major problem cause a problem deal with/sort out a problem solve/fix/overcome a problem address/tackle a problem pose/present a problem a problem arises/occurs/comes up (=it happens) economic/financial problems Issue subject/problem [countable] a subject or problem that is often discussed or argued about, especially a social or political matter that affects the interests of a lot of people the issue of something raise an issue (=say that an issue should be discussed) address an issue (=discuss or deal with an issue) resolve an issue avoid/dodge/duck/evade an issue (=avoid discussing an issue) confuse/cloud an issue (=make an issue more difficult by talking about things not related to it) important/key/major/big issue thorny/vexed issue (=difficult issue) complex issue sensitive issue political/social/economic/environmental issues something is not the issue spoken (=used to say that something is not the important part of what you are discussing) Abortion is a highly controversial issue. We should raise the issue of discrimination with the council. Dillon addressed the issue of child abuse in his speech. How the issue is resolved is crucial. When asked about the bill, the senator tried to duck the issue. They're clouding the issue with uninformed judgements. The key issue is whether workers should be classified as 'employees'. the thorny issue of creating a single European currency Economic issues should get more attention. Unemployment is not the issue - the real problem is the decline in public morality. Crisis economic/financial/political crisis deal with/handle a crisis energy/oil/housing crisis debt/budget crisis a crisis erupts/arises a major/severe crisis resolve/solve/defuse a crisis avert a crisis in/during a crisis be in crisis crisis management (=dealing with a crisis) Threat The fighting is a major threat to stability in the region. present/pose a threat (to somebody/something) Pollution poses a threat to fish. Concern – (worry) [uncountable] a feeling of worry about something important: The recent rise in crime is a matter of considerable public concern. concern for our concern for human rights concern about/over/with the rise of concern about the environment the growing concern over inflation concern with worsening law and order concern that increased concern that the war could continue for a long time be a cause for concern/cause concern