Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Rob.

  • Now Rob, we've talked before on this  programme about our love of coffee.

  • Oh yes, indeed. I couldn't function without it.

  • But have you ever thought about the environmental  consequences of all those disposable coffee cups?

  • Oh yes, indeed. I always carry a reusable cup  with me so I don't have to throw one away.

  • So if a disposable cup is one you throw away,  

  • a reusable one is one that  you can use again and again.

  • Yes, there is a big problem with disposable  cups in that many of them can't be recycled,  

  • so there is a lot of waste for  something we only use for a short time.

  • What are the big coffee shop  chains doing about this problem?  

  • We'll find out a little bit more shortly, but  first, a quiz for you. Which country drinks the  

  • most coffee per capitaso not the total amount  of coffee but the average per person. Is it

  • a) Japan b) Kenya, or 

  • c) Finland What do you think, Rob?

  • Ooh, tricky. I don't think the Japanese are  big coffee drinkers and I know they produce  

  • a lot of coffee in Kenya. I'm surprised the  USA isn't on the list but I'm going to go with  

  • Finland. Just because.

  • Well, we'll see if you're right later in the  programme. On a recent BBC You and Yours radio  

  • programme they discussed the topic of coffee cupsSome of the big chains are now charging customers  

  • more for a disposable cup and giving discounts if  people bring their own reusable. However not all  

  • of the shops actually collect old cups and sort  them for recycling in the shop itself. Here's  

  • Jaz Rabadia from Starbucks, Is the store only  interested in facilities inside their shops?

  • It is something that we are in the process of  rolling out and it will be in all of our stores.  

  • It's also not just our stores in which these  cups end up. So we're doing a lot of work  

  • outside of our store environment to ensure that  paper cups can be recycled on the go. We're  

  • working with our environmental charity partner  Hubbub to increase recycling infrastructure  

  • outside of our stores because that too  is where a lot of our cups will end up.

  • So are they just working in their  stores at improving recycling?

  • Rob Well no, after all most people  

  • take their coffee out of the stores, so they are  working on recycling infrastructure outside as  

  • well. This will be things like bins and collection  points which are clearly marked for coffee cups.

  • And what about enabling recycling cups in store?

  • Well, she said that was something they are  rolling out to all stores. Rolling out here  

  • means introducing over a period of time. So  it's starting to happen but is not finished yet.

  • Let's listen again.

  • It is something that we are in the process of  rolling out and it will be in all of our stores.  

  • It's also not just our stores in which  these cups end up. So we're doing a lot  

  • of work outside of our store environment to  ensure that paper cups can be recycled on  

  • the go. We're working with our environmental  charity partner hubbub to increase recycling  

  • infrastructure outside of our stores because  that too is where a lot of our cups will end up.

  • Not everyone, however, believes that  the coffee chains are doing everything  

  • that they can. This is Mary Creagh,  a member of the British parliament.  

  • She compares the situation to that of the  plastic bag charge. This was a law brought  

  • in to force shops to charge customers for  plastic bags, which previously had been free.

  • If you think you're having to pay extra for  something, as we saw with the plastic bags,  

  • we think a similar psychological  measure is needed, a nudge measure,  

  • to encourage people to remember to  bring their reusable cup with them  

  • and of course this is something that the  coffee shops have been fighting tooth and nail.

  • Neil She  

  • thinks that we consumers need a nudge  to help us remember our reusable cups.

  • Rob Yes, we need a nudge,  

  • which is a little push, a reason. In this caseshe is thinking of a law to make them charge more.  

  • But she says the coffee chains really don't want  this, they are, she says, fighting it tooth and  

  • nail. If you fight something tooth and nail you  are against it completely and try to stop it.

  • Neil Let's hear MP Mary Creagh again.

  • If you think you're having to pay extra for  something, as we saw with the plastic bags,  

  • we think a similar psychological  measure is needed, a nudge measure,  

  • to encourage people to remember to  bring their reusable cup with them  

  • and of course this is something that the  coffee shops have been fighting tooth and nail.

  • Time to review our vocabulary, but first,  

  • let's have the answer to the quiz question. Which  country drinks the most coffee per capita? Is it

  • a) Japan b) Kenya, or 

  • c) Finland What did you think, Rob?

  • I took a bit of a guess at Finland.

  • Well, congratulations, your guess was correct.  

  • The Finns on average get through an amazing 12kg  of coffee a year, each. Now, onto the vocabulary.

  • We had a couple of related but opposite wordsSomething disposable is designed to be used  

  • once or a few times and then thrown away andreusable is designed to be used again and again.

  • We then had 'rolling out' which  in a business sense is the process  

  • of gradually introducing something  new. This could be a new system,  

  • new product, new technology or  even a new way of doing things.

  • New ideas often need new infrastructureThis is usually physical structures that  

  • are needed to make something work, for example,  

  • rail infrastructure includes  tracks, stations and signals.

  • A nudge is a small push,  

  • to encourage us to do something. You don't need  a nudge to carry a reusable coffee cup, do you?

  • Oh, no, I'm all for it. In fact, I'd fight  tooth and nail to keep hold of my reusable.  

  • Which is quite a coincidence as that was  our last expression today. To fight tooth  

  • and nail means to make a strong effort to  try to stop something or achieve something.

  • Well, that's all from us. We look  forward to your company next time.  

  • Until then, you can find us in all  the usual places on social media,  

  • online and on our app. Just search  for 'BBC Learning English'. Goodbye!

  • Goodbye!

  • Hello. This is 6 Minute English  from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Sam. How are you, Neil?

  • I've been as busy as a bee this week, Sam.

  • Oh, don't you sound like the bee's knees!

  • All right, Sam, there's no need  to get a bee in your bonnet!

  • As you can hear, English is  full of idioms involving bees.

  • But the sad truth is that bee  numbers are declining at an  

  • alarming rate and in some  places disappearing altogether.

  • And this has serious consequences for humans.

  • Today, one third of the food we eat depends on  insects to pollinate crops, fruit and vegetables.

  • But bees are in trouble. In some  European countries up to half of  

  • all bee species are facing extinctionplacing our food supply chain at risk.

  • Bees are vital in pollinating hundreds of cropsfrom apples and blackberries to cucumbers.  

  • In fact, almost all plants need insects to  reproducewhich is my quiz questionof  

  • the world's top 50 crops, how many  rely on insect pollination? Is it

  • a) 35 out of 50?, 

  • b) 40 out of 50? or c) 45 out of 50?

  • I reckon those busy bees pollinate b)  40 out of 50 of the most common crops.

  • OK, Sam, we'll find out the answer later. Nowif you think back to your school biology lessons,  

  • you may remember that plants and flowers contain  both male and female reproductive parts inside.

  • But what exactly is going on  when bees pollinate a plant?  

  • Here's Claire Bates from BBC World Service  programme People Fixing the World to remind us:

  • What is pollination? All flowering plants need it  to reproduce. Pollen is moved from the male part  

  • of a flower to the female part of a flower, then  fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.  

  • Some staple crops such as wheat, rice and corn  are pollinated by the wind however many plants  

  • don't release their pollen easily and this is  where insects, and especially bees, come in.  

  • As they collect nectar to eat, pollen sticks to  them and they carry it from flower to flower.

  • Pollination is the process in which  pollen is taken from one plant to another  

  • so that it can reproduce. This is the  important work done by bees and insects.

  • Only after pollination can the next process  occurfertilisation - when the pollen carried  

  • from another plant fertilisesfemale ovule to make new seeds.

  • Fertilisation occurs in all flowering  plants, some of which like wheat,  

  • potatoes and rice are staple crops - food  that is eaten in large amounts as part of  

  • a community's daily diet and provides a large  fraction of their energy and nutrient needs.

  • Fewer bees reduces pollination levels, meaning  fewer new seeds are created and fewer crops grown.

  • But it isn't just the decline in bee numbers  causing a problem. Like us, bees need to rest  

  • and this has led some to come up with creative  new ways of supplementing bee pollination.

  • One such innovator is Keren Mimran, co-founder of  agro-tech company, Edete. Here she is, explaining  

  • how dropping pollen from drones can pollinate  crops, giving a helping hand to hard-working bees.

  • How come our food security is so much dependent  on an insect that we cannot really control? We  

  • can bring the bees to the orchard or to a field  but we cannot control their behaviour. They do  

  • not come out of the hive when it's raining or when  there's heavy wind, they work only during daytime.  

  • There must be a possibility of developingmechanical solution to the pollination challenge.

  • Keren Mimran speaking on the BBC World  Service programme People Fixing The  

  • World. Bees' behaviour can't be controlled  - when it rains they won't leave their hive  

  • the structure where bees live, either built  by people or made by the bees themselves.

  • So Keren's company has developed drones to drop  

  • pollen on her orchardan area of  land on which fruit trees are grown.

  • The need for these high-tech solutions reflects  

  • the seriousness of the pollination problem  for food security -everyone getting enough  

  • affordable and nutritious food to  meet their daily dietary needs.

  • I had no idea bees were so important, NeilMaybe I underestimated how hard they work.

  • Ah, you mean today's quiz question.  I asked you how many of the top 50  

  • world crops rely on insect pollination.

  • And I said b) 40 out of 50 of the top crops.

  • And you are right! They certainly are the bee's  knees when it comes to pollinating plants!

  • So in today's programme we've been  hearing about the important role  

  • bees play in pollinationtransferring  pollen from plant to plant,  

  • necessary for the next stage of fertilisation  – producing new seeds and fruit inside a plant.

  • Bees and insects play a vital role in growing the  world's staple crops - food which, eaten in large  

  • amounts, makes up the majority of a community's  daily diet and meets their nutrient needs.

  • So bee numbers are directly linked to the issue  of food security - everyone getting enough  

  • affordable, nutritious food  to meet their dietary needs.

  • Which explains why, when bees won't leave  their home - or hivesome people have  

  • started using drones to pollinate their  orchardsland growing fruit trees.

  • And that's it for this edition  of 6 Minute English. Bye for now!

  • Goodbye!

  • Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

  • And hello, I'm Rob.

  • Today we're talking about plastic.

  • Yes, it's our addiction to plastic that is  of concern because this material doesn't  

  • decay very quickly, so once we've used  it, it hangs around for a very long time.

  • It is a problemand decay, by the  way, describes the natural process  

  • of something being destroyed or breaking  down into small particles. We hear so much  

  • about the consequences of having too  much waste plastic around, don't we?