Q1. a. Read the following passage and
make notes. (5)
b. Write a summary for the given passage
in about 60-80 words. (5)
Effects of Plastic Bags on the Environment
The effects of plastic bags on the environment are really quite
devastating. While there are many objections to the banning of plastic
bags based solely on their convenience, the damage to the
environment needs to be assessed too.
There is no way to strictly limit the effects of plastic bags on the
environment because there is no disposal method, that will really help
to eliminate the problem. While reusing them is the first step, most
people don't do that. These bags are not durable enough to survive
numerous trips to the store. The best a citizen can do is to reuse
them.
The biggest problem with this is that once they have been soiled they
end up in the trash, which then ends up in the landfill or is burned.
Either of these solutions is not good for the environment. Burning
emits toxic gases that harm the atmosphere and increase the level of
VOCs in the air while landfills hold them indefinitely as a part of the
plastic waste problem throughout the globe.
One of the greatest problems is that an estimated 300 million plastic
bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean alone. These bags are very
dangerous for the sea life, especially for those of the mammal variety.
Any hunting mammal can easily mistake the size, shape and texture of
the plastic bag for a meal and find its airway cut off. Needless deaths
from plastic bags are increasing every year.
The environmental balance of the waterways is being thrown off by the
rate of plastic bags finding their way into the mouths and intestinal
tracts of sea mammals. As one species begins to die off at an
abnormal rate, every other living organism in the waterways is also
impacted.
The indefinite period of time that it takes for the average plastic bag to
break down can be literally hundreds of years. Every bag that ends up
in the woodlands of the country threatens the natural progression of
wildlife. Because the breakdown rate is so slow the chances that the
bag will harmlessly go away are extremely slim. Throughout the world
plastic bags are responsible for the suffocation deaths of woodland
animals as well as for inhibiting soil nutrients. The land litter that is
made up of plastic bags has the potential to kill over and over again. It
has been estimated that one bag has the potential to unintentionally
kill one animal every three months due to unintentional digestion or
inhalation.