TASK 3: Answer the questions using Text B.

1. What kind of sustainable landscape can there be?

2. Why is it good setting up a smoothly functioning ecosystem?

3. What system is nature?

4. What examples of living systems do you know?

5. When will your landscape operate like nature?

6. How is the balance of forces in a living system called?

7. What kind of gardens does superficial design create?

TASK 4: Retell Text A in short using the new words. Begin your sentences with one of the given phrases:

1. The text is devoted to …

2. First the author states that …

3. Then he gives the description of …

4. Further he explains that …

5. It should be emphasized that …

6. In the end it is concluded that …

7. In my opinion …

 

TASK 5: Fill in the gaps in Text C using the words from the box:

Land, environment, physical, world, gardening, money, gardener, experience, place

Text C

FOOLISH ASSUMPTIONS

✓ You own a single-family home or hope to. It has some … around it, a little or a lot, and you’re wondering what the heck to do with it. You’re intrigued by the idea of messing around with land but don’t have a lot of background in … or landscaping.

✓ You care a lot about the …, and you realize that this is your chance to do something really good — or to really mess things up. You realize that your yard is part of the real … and that what you do there isn’t just about your needs and your family’s needs. You take your responsibilities seriously.

✓ You like tackling do-it-yourself projects, not just to save … but because they’re fun. You’re no all-star landscaper, but you can dig a hole without ending up in traction, and you like … work.

✓ You may have some gardening …, but you’re facing a project that’s bigger than anything you’ve tackled before. You need a friend in the business.

✓ Then again, you may be a pro — a landscape contractor, …, or builder who’s looking for cutting-edge information on sustainable landscaping.

You’ve come to the right …! Pull up a wheelbarrow and have a seat.

 

TASK 6. Match the beginnings and the endings of the sentences and arrange them in the logical order to make a story “Foolish Assumptions”:

8. You’re intrigued by the idea 9. You’re facing a project 10. This is your chance 11. You’re no all-star landscaper 12. You like do-it-yourself projects

g) to do something really good. h) because they’re fun. i) of messing around with land. j) that’s bigger than anything you’ve tackled before. k) but you can dig a hole without ending up in traction.

 

Unit 3. CYCLICAL DESIGN

TASK 1. Read Text A paying attention to the words in bold type. Look up their meaning in the Glossary:

Text A

CYCLICAL DESIGN

Nature recycles everything. As the Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh once said, “When I look at a rose I see compost; when I look at compost I see a rose.” Conventional manmade systems are linear. Consider the process:

1. Get a virgin material from nature (usually with disastrous effects at the source).

2. Use toxic and energy-intensive processes to alter it so much that it can never go back to nature.

3. Use it one time.

4. When the material’s too-short useful life comes to an end, dispose of it in a landfill, where it plugs up the works of yet another formerly living system.

Nature has been very patient with us, but this linear game is just about up. Mother Nature hates it, and besides, she’s running out of merchandise. Going back to the infinite and ancient cyclical way of life makes your garden one with nature, less troublesome, and more enduring.

✓ Harmony with the local environment: There are no nonlocal conditions. Your property is unique, with a particular soil type, microclimate, exposure, vegetation, and other factors. By choosing plants and other elements that are well suited to these particulars, you set up a robust ecosystem that will be happy with its lot in life. (Conventional gardens rely on ill-adapted plants and other elements and then depend on continual input of resources to keep from failing.)

✓ Careful management of inputs and outputs: The sustainable landscape thrives on what nature offers. It makes efficient use of resources such as building materials, water, and fertilizer. What goes in and out of the landscape is minimized, so as many effects as possible are beneficial.

✓ Consideration of on-site effects: What happens on-site is carefully considered at the design stage. Natural features such as soil, native plants, and animal habitat are preserved. All improvements must meet the test of being good players. Each element of the newly formed ecosystem must play a beneficial role: making oxygen, sequestering carbon, providing food, improving the climate inside dwellings, preventing erosion, or protecting against wildfire, to name a few. To minimize negative effects, toxic materials aren’t used; neither are energy-intensive processes, noise-generating machinery, or thirsty plantings.

✓ Consideration of off-site effects: What happens off-site is important too. By that, I mean that there should be no damage at the source of materials. Your landscape won’t be truly sustainable unless it leaves forests intact, mountains unmined, oil unburned, and workers safe and happy.

 

TASK 2. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following words and word combinations and write them down:

1. Пагубный эффект

2. Избавляться

3. Определенный тип почвы

4. Здоровая экосистема

5. Внутри помещений

6. Нетронутые леса

7. Улучшение

TASK 3. Answer the questions in writing:

1. What does nature recycle?

2. What is Mother Nature running out of?

3. What makes your garden less troublesome and more enduring?

4. How can you set up a robustecosystem?

5. What do conventional gardens rely on?

6. What does the sustainable landscape thriveon?

7. What role must each element of the newly formed ecosystem play?

TASK 4. Match the columns to complete the sentences:

1. Conventional manmade 2. Natural features such as soil, native plants, 3. The sustainable landscape 4. Going back to ancient cyclical way of life 5. Conventional gardens rely 6. Your property is unique, 7. By choosing plants and other elements that are well suited to these particulars,

a) with a particular soil type, microclimate, vegetation, and other factors. b) makes your garden less troublesome, and more enduring. c) you set up a robust ecosystem. d) and animal habitat are preserved. e) systems are linear. f) thrives on what nature offers. g) on ill-adapted plants.

 

TASK 5: Fill in the gaps in Text B using the words from the box:

Traditional, canyons, natural, herbicides, devastate, destroys, negative, warming, damage

 

Text B

WHY SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING

MATTERS TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Where do I start? The … landscape is an environmental train wreck:

✓ It fragments and … native habitat.

✓ It consumes … resources.

✓ It causes strip mining, clear cutting of forests, and other … effects at the source of materials.

✓ It introduces nonnative plants that invade and … wild ecosystems.

✓ It wrecks waterways and groundwater through the leaching of pesticides, … and fertilizers. (Of the nitrogen applied to lawns, 40 percent to 60 percent ends up in the water.)

✓ It increases runoff, which results in urban flooding and further … to waterways.

✓ It fills … and landfills with waste.

✓ It increases global … through the use of fossil fuels.

TASK 6. Match the questions and the answers to make up a dialogue about the bad effects of traditional landscaping:

Text C

1. Why does it waste precious water? 2. What does outdoor power equipment create? 3. How many birds do pesticides kill each year? 4. How many accidents and fatalities are caused just from lawn mowing? 5. What does air pollution caused by pesticides and fossil-fuel use damage?

a) Pesticides kill 60 million to 70 million birds each year. b) Each year, 60,000 to 70,000 severe accidents and fatalities are caused just from lawn mowing. c) Air pollution caused by pesticides and fossil-fuel use damages everyone’s health. d) to keep useless ornamental plants and lawns alive. e) noise in every neighborhood.

 

Unit 4. DEVELOPING A DESIGN

TASK 1. Read Text A paying attention to the words in bold type. Look up their meaning in the Glossary:

Text A

DEVELOPING A DESIGN

1. Design deserves your best thinking because it determines the outcome of the project and how it will function over time. The design phase is a time to slow down and pay attention. Design goes from the general (“I think I want a vegetable garden”) to the specific (“I want four 4 x 10 raised stone beds in the northeast corner of the back yard with six kohlrabi plants, a dozen rutabagas, and five Bad Boy tomatoes”).

2. Designing a sustainable landscape is rigorous, but anyone can do it. For now, here’s an overview of the process: When you understand the site and your own needs, you’re ready to take a first stab at putting everything together. This draft is called the conceptual design. You create it in steps, starting with a bubble diagram and moving through field measuring, a base sheet, and ending with a concept plan.

3.When you have a good understanding of how the elements fit together, you can begin to work on all the little details. What will that patio be made of, and precisely what will its shape and location be? Which tree will go on the east side of the house, and what size will it be at planting time? What species of perennials will go in the front border, how many of each kind, and what container size? You can even develop a series of individual plans that detail the construction, planting, irrigation, and other phases of the work. These plans will help you refine your ideas and guide you through the long process of constructing the landscape, and they’ll help you share your vision with a contractor if you decide to hire a pro.

4. A landscaping project really is many projects rolled into one. Depending on the scope of your project, you may be doing demolition, moving and grading soil, installing irrigation and drainage systems, building all sorts of structures, planting plants, mulching, and doing a lot more. Some tools, such as shovels and rakes, are common to many of these tasks, and you’ll get to know them quite well indeed. Other jobs — particularly hardscape construction — require special and sometimes costly tools. You probably already have the basic tools; others can be rented or borrowed. (Buying tools that you only use once or twice isn’t very sustainable, is it?)

5. The right tools make the job easier and safer, and the outcome will be more like what a pro would do. As for materials, you’ll be getting these from a variety of sources: lumberyards, concrete plants, nurseries, landscape supply stores, stone and masonry dealers, irrigation supply stores, and others. Try to buy locally, but if a more sustainable material is available elsewhere, it may be a better choice environmentally. Sustainable means buying as little as possible.

 

TASK 2. Read Text A and choose an appropriate title for each part of it:

a) Creating the Conceptual Design

b) Your Best Thinking

c) Many Projects Rolled Into One

d) Buying As Little As Possible

e) Refining Your Design

 

TASK 3. Match the columns to complete the sentences:

1. Design deserves your best thinking 2. The design phase is a time 3. Designing a sustainable landscape is rigorous, 4. You create it in steps, 5. What species of perennials 6. You can even develop a series of individual plans

a) but anyone can do it. b) will go in the front border? c) because it determines the outcome of the project. d) to slow down and pay attention. e) that detail the construction, planting, irrigation, and other phases of the work. f) starting with a bubble diagram.