ECOLOGICAL FACTS

GREY DAY  Meteorologists from the University of Jerusalem have discovered that pollution encourages the formation of clouds but inhibits rain. The reason is that urban and industrial areas contaminate the air with a large number of particles. Water condenses on these particles, to form clouds. However, because there are so many particles the water is widely dispersed, which means that the droplets that form are not big enough to fall as rain.

encourages: stimulates  -  widely: extensively  -  droplet:  very small drop

ECOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION  All negative things have some positive aspects. For decades the Japanese have insisted on eating whale meat despite calls from the rest of the world to protect cetaceans. But recently sales of whalemeat in Japan have plummeted. Has the message finally be understood? No. The fall has been caused by a report from Japanese scientists which suggests that whalemeat contains harmful heavy metals and chemicals. Contaminated whalemeat can cause alterations to hormones and the immune system and even sterility. Japan has been hunting whales for the last 20 years for "scientific purposes" but the contamination was only discovered last year. 50% of the 100 samples taken from Japanese restaurants and shops were found to be contaminated beyond the Japanese and international acceptable levels. Whales and dolphins can accumulate toxins to a point at which they are 70,000 times more contaminated than the water they swim in.

plummeted: fell dramatically  -  hunting: chasing and killing  -  beyond: above, more than

DON'T BLAME US  Swedish researchers who have been studying pollution by analysing the sediment of lakes in Sweden have come to some interesting conclusions. Decaying lead isotopes allow researchers to date lead deposits in the sediment. These suggest that the worst lead pollution was caused in the first half of the 2nd. Millennium, not the second. The smelting industry grew in Europe between 960 and 1530. Thanks to modern laws, the levels of lead pollution are steadily falling.

lead: toxic metallic element (plomo) - decaying lead isotopes: special atoms of lead which are deteriorating  -  smelting: heating rocks to very high temperatures in order to extract metals

HOMER'S PLANT TO BECOME A NATURAL RESERVE  Shocking news for those of us who think that The Simpsons are the pinnacle of late 20th. Century American culture: the nuclear plant were Homer Simpson works is going to be turned into a nature reserve. Simpson experts (there should a university course in the Simpsons, right?) say that the Trojan nuclear power station in Portland, Oregon is the inspiration for Homer's workplace. Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, grew up in Portland. Portland General Electric is considering  the creation of a wildlife reserve on 250 acres of the plant's land.

EURO-WIND  In 1999 Europe generated 30% more wind-power than ever before. There have been major expansions in the capacity for generating electricity from wind turbines in Germany, Spain, Denmark, Holland and Italy. The objective is to generate around 10% (100,000 megawatts) of Europe's energy requirements from wind-power by 2020. That's just as well because there's worrying new evidence about long-term global warming. Research from the University of Michigan suggests that the Earth's temperature has risen 1°C in the last 500 years. That doesn't sound too bad until you break the figure down. Half the rise happened in the 20th Century and nearly a third occurred in the 19th. Century. The temperature increase in the previous 300 years was just 0.2%.

break the figure down: analyse a statistic (into smaller parts)

A HEALTHY VOICE  Researchers from the Marie Curie University, Paris, have discovered that there is a direct correlation between the variety of a songbird's repertoire and the quality of their immune system. Basically, the more songs a bird knew, the larger its spleen. It is already known that female songbirds are attracted to males with the widest repertoire. There is also a correlation between the survival rate of chicks and the number of songs that the father knows.

spleen: organ close to the stomach (bazo)  -  males: masculine birds  -  chicks: baby birds

BRAINSTORMING  You'd think that people had better things to do with their time - but then again, I'm just a linguistic imperialist. People have become irritated about the names of tropical storms. Apparently all those storms called Greg, Andrew, Bret, Cindy or Floyd reflected imperialist English first names. It has now been decided that as of June, Asian typhoons will have local names of animals and gods like Damrey, Longwang and Kriogill. This is not the first time that storm names have caused controversy. Until the 19th Century hurricanes were called after the Christian saint on whose day they started. Then they were given women's names - but this was considered sexist and men's names were added after 1978. Friends Of The Earth want hurricanes to be named after companies they blame for global warming such as oil companies and car manufacturers. Excellent idea!

as of June: starting in June  -  Damrey: Cambodian name for "elephant"  - Longwang: Chinese god of rain  -  Kriogi: A North Korean wild goose  -  blame for: accuse of being responsible of

WARMING WARNING  The Swedish Academy of Science warns that the Earth is now hotter than at any time in human history. The extensive study used 15 different indicators from four continents. This supports the argument that pollution is causing the world to heat up and that temperature change is not just the result of natural fluctuations. The United States National Weather Service has issued a warning that the grain-producing States of the US Midwest are facing a drought for the first time ever. These States feed over 100 countries.

warns: alerts, notifies  -  grain-producing: which produce corn  -  drought: period of time with no rain
feed: provide food for