Endangered Right Whale Population is Growing

From Teaching Kids the News

North Atlantic Right Whales are one of the most endangered whale species in the world.d

Q. Are there many Right Whales in the world?

But now their numbers are growing again, thanks to a plan to keep large ships away from the whales’ nursery and feeding grounds.

Q. What do you think "nursery and feeding grounds" are?

Whale hunting in the year 1850 (approximate date)

For many years the whales were hunted for their oil. Hunting was banned in 1937, but by the 1990s there were only a few hundred North Atlantic Right Whales left.

Q. Why were Right Whales hunted? What was this product used for?

The whales live in the Atlantic Ocean, off the eastern coast of Canada and the United States. They spend the winters in warm southern waters, where most calves are born, then migrate north in the spring.

Many Right Whales spend each summer and fall in the Bay of Fundy, a large inlet of the Atlantic Ocean between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The water there has large amounts of plankton – tiny organisms that are an important part of the whales’ diet.

Q. Why is the Bay of Fundy important for the whales?

However, the Bay of Fundy is also a very busy shipping area. About 1,700 ships travel through there each year, heading to and from ports in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or the United States.
Between 1986 and 2005, more than a third of all Right Whale deaths were caused by collisions with ships.

Q. What is the problem with the Bay of Fundy?

Right Whales spend a lot of time near the surface of the water – resting, feeding or nursing their young. Because they are low, black and slow moving, it’s hard for the crew of a large, fast ship to see them in time to stop.

About 15 years ago, scientists from the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts, and employees of Irving Oil, a company that uses ships to transport oil from its refinery in Saint John, N.B., began looking for a way to prevent collisions.

In 2002, they asked the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to move the shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy away from the whales’ feeding grounds. Shipping lanes are the official routes all large ships are supposed to follow.

The new routes, adopted in 2003, are about six kilometres away from the whales’ feeding grounds. It was the first time shipping lanes have been moved to protect an endangered species.

Atlantic (East Coast) Canada

  Q. What was done to help whales in the Bay of Fundy?

There have been no recorded collisions between ships and Right Whales in the Bay of Fundy since then.

In addition, more calves are being born. In the past 10 years, the total number of right whales in the region has grown from about 350 to 450.

Q. What has been the result?

Should Koreans work less?

From the Korea Herald

It’s no secret that Koreans work the longest hours of any developed nation. In 2010, each worker put in an average of 2,111 hours. Workers in Korea also take some of the fewest holidays. Just 53 percent take all of their holiday time, compared to 89 percent of the French, according to a 2010 poll by IPSO. On the back of this work ethic, Korea has risen from poverty to become the world’s 13th-largest economy. But after decades of strong economic growth and rising prosperity, employees and policymakers are paying increasing attention to quality of life.

Q. What is this story about? We know it is about working, but what is the main point or idea?
Q. What about holiday (vacation) time? Do all workers take all of their vacation time?

In a recent survey of Seoul workers by online information provider PayOpen and Korea Research, 41.1 percent of respondents choose leisure time as a factor in deciding whether to accept a job, closely following the proportion that chose salary, 45.8 percent. According to Statistics Korea, 65.8 percent of Koreans used leisure facilities in the year between July 2010 and July 2011, while 58.6 percent saw cultural, artistic or sports events on at least one occasion. At the same time, just 32.1 percent of Koreans were satisfied with their leisure.

Q. What makes some Seoul workers decide to take a job (accept a job offer)?

Even though Koreans still work the most hours compared to other advanced countries, Koreans’ work hours are lower than they used to be, having fallen steadily since the introduction of a five-day, 40-hour work week in 2004.

“The force, you may call it a cultural force, is increasing to enjoy leisure because of the family, because of the children, because of the school kids, so probably the resistance (to working shorter hours) at the moment in the long run will be reduced,” Kim Yong-hak , a sociology professor at Yonsei University, told the Korea Herald.

Q. Why are many workers deciding to work shorter (fewer) hours?

Changing attitudes
Different work and leisure expectations among the younger generation in particular have driven this trend, he said.

“At 5 o’clock or 6 o’clock they want to go home even though there is some leftover work. Previously, maybe 10 years ago, it was unimaginable in Korean companies, but the younger generations refuse to … overwork,” Kim said.

“They all claim this 15-day law-protected vacation period. But previously they did not go on vacation but now they are enjoying this vacation more and more. So, statistics show that the leisure industry is growing rapidly.”

Other factors, such as the abolition of school on Saturdays, has further contributed to a greater focus on time away from work, he added.

Q. Are younger people working the same number of hours as their parents? Why or why not?

Offices remain lit up into the night in Yeoido, Seoul’s finacial district. The nation’s demanding work culture means that many employees work way beyond regular office hours.

President Lee Myung-bak and some labor experts believe that shorter working hours could have a positive effect on productivity and unemployment ― as well as people’s quality of life. Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil claimed in January that 5,200 jobs were created through a government crackdown on workplaces that violated working hours restrictions.

Unemployment
If employees work fewer hours, according to the ministry’s logic, companies are compelled to hire more workers to make up the loss. Similar rationale was put forward by the French government when it introduced a 35-hour working week in 2000, though its effects remain contentious.

 Q. Why do some people think that shorter hours will help create jobs?


But despite the seemingly obvious attraction of fewer hours in the office, not all employees are keen to cut down. The Labor Ministry last month stepped back from a plan to include weekend work in the calculation of overtime, currently capped by law at 12 hours a week. Resistance came from both employers and employees, the former worried about increased labor costs, the latter reluctant to give up lucrative overtime pay. Minister Lee conceded that more time was needed for “study and discussion” of the issue, but insisted there was consensus among economy-related ministers on reducing work hours. Any such consensus is not present among economists.

Pyo, for one, believes the emphasis on a shorter work week is misplaced.

“Cutting Korea’s work hours would not be a solution because it reflects (the) social and corporate culture of work habit and standards of office work. Many factory workers are working overtime to secure extra compensation for their family budget needs.

“Their employers may find it better than trying to recruit new part-time or full-time workers because they can cut over-time work but cannot reduce extra workforce when business conditions deteriorate. In other words, the long working hours might have been (a) rational work practice by both employers and employees.”

Pyo is also skeptical of fewer work hours translating into more jobs.

“It would not be an effective way of boosting employment because most employers are afraid of increasing part-time and full-time employees since once they hire them, it is very difficult for them to lay-off some of them (because of) labor law and strong union activity. And factory automation and information and communications technology use in offices make employers save their labor costs rather than boosting the employment level.”

Inevitable trend

Nevertheless, the recent trend has been decisively one-way: away from the work-is-all mentality of the past. Kim sees the shift as inevitable, whether it should be welcomed or not.

“I cannot judge morally … but empirically speaking, that is an inevitable trend, it occurs everywhere in the world, in every country. As the economy grows rapidly and people have some wealth, then they begin to enjoy leisure. But Korean people … are still maybe the most hardworking (in the world).”

By John Power (john.power@heraldm.com)

Plastic Bags - What Are The Alternatives?

An average European uses almost 200 throwaway plastic bags a year. Almost a million tons of plastic bags are produced in the European Union, but only 6 % of them are recycled. Europe’s lawmakers are looking for alternatives to using plastic and reducing the waste and litter that comes with them.

Q. What is the main idea of this article?

Many countries around the world have been fighting against the use of plastic bags. In some countries, for example China or South Africa, very thin plastic bags are banned. In Bangladesh they clog up the sewers. Last year Italy banned plastic bags that are not made out of organic substances. Some countries have prohibited the use of plastic bags altogether. In the United States, however, there is no real regulation and some supermarkets offer them while others don’t.

Q.  Give two examples of what some countries are doing to reduce plastic bag use. What about the United States? What has Korea done to cut down on plastic bag use?

In Ireland the government introduced a 15 cent surcharge on plastic bags in 2002. Within a year 90% shoppers of all shoppers started reusing their bags. Millions of Euros earned by the tax have been used on looking for new ways of recycling. In Wales, shop assistants are threatened with a fine if they hand out plastic bags free of charge.

Q. Some countries have introduced a surcharge on plastic bags. What is a surcharge and do you think it is a good idea? In Korea, do stores have a surcharge for plastic bags?

However, some experts argue that if shoppers use cloth bags, they must use them very often in order to compensate for more pollution produced in production and transport. A cotton bag, for example, must be used over a hundred times to really be environmentally friendly.

Food researchers see another danger. They claim that reusing bags could be a problem because harmful bacteria may be left behind in grocery bags .

Q. Why don't some people agree that reusable cloth bags are a good idea? Give two reasons.

The European Union is looking at ways to cut down pollution from plastic bags. Bags made of corn are biodegradable (which is good) but produce methane gas (which is bad). Paper bags have been widely used in the United States. While being biodegradable they have a stronger carbon footprint than normal shopping bags. In Europe many shops are going back to paper bags, although environmental experts say they are as bad as plastic ones.

Q. Does this article give us a definite solution to the problem of plastic bags?


 Words

• average = normal
• bacteria = small living things; some of them are dangerous and cause diseases
• ban = forbid
• biodegradable = material that is changed into bacteria in a natural way and does not harm the environment
• carbon = chemical substance that exists in coal , oil etc..
• carbon footprint = the greenhouse gases that you produce when you do something
• claim = say that something is true
• clog up = block
• compensate = balance
• cut down = reduce
• earn = get, receive
• environment = the world around us 
• European Union = a group of countries in Europe, including England, France, Germany
• fine = money that you must pay as a punishment
• free of charge = without cost
• grocery = food
• harmful = dangerous
• however = but
• in contrast = on the other side
• lawmaker = people who make laws
• litter = waste that you throw away on the ground
• methane gas = gas that you cannot see but which burns and gives heat
• organic = produced by living things
• prohibit = ban, forbid
• recycle = use again
• reduce = decrease, lessen, go down
• regulation = law
• researcher = a person who studies something and wants to find out more about it
• sewer = pipe or passage under the ground that carries waste and water away from houses and factories
• substance = material
• surcharge = extra cost
• tax = money you pay to the government which is used for public services
• threaten = warn
• throwaway = something you use only once and then throw away
• waste = unwanted materials that that are left over after use
• widely = very much