A little environmental French lesson

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Hier soir we had a somewhat dificil French exam. The reading comprehensions (two) were okay, but still left room for guessing. The first was about Paris pollution - the main form of environmental 'degradation' being dog owners not picking up their dogs' droppings. The second reading was about the Cannes Film Festival.

The listening comprehensions (two of them) were très dificils. Thankfully they were both mainly multiple choice. I guessed my way through them as the speakers rattled away incomprehensibly at top speed about an author and her books (in the first one) and carbon dioxide emissions, reforestation, bamboo, etc. (in the second one).

For the written part we were asked to write a short speech on the subject of the environment in Trinidad and Tobago - and solutions for the problems. Luckily the vocabulary I had been learning off and remembered most clearly came from the chapters on the environment and recycling. So as soon as I saw the subject, I quickly wrote down all the words I could remember and used them in my speech.

Here are just a few. Some of them I'll link to images, so you can click on them to see what they mean. If you're like me, you remember things better when you see them visually.

Veiller à - to take care of (i.e. people in Trinidad & Tobago ne veillent pas à l'environnement).

Le sac-poubelle - Trinis need to learn the meaning of this word and use it, literally (or rather litter-ally)!

La plage - where much rubbish is left le long de l'eau (along the water's edge) - e.g. des boîtes de conserve, des bouteilles en verre (which sometimes are brisées), des bouteilles en plastique, de la nourriture ...

Le recyclage (what we definitely need to be doing here on a large scale!)

Les déchets (N.B. The photo linked to here is not a TT image. It reminds me of some scenes in Slumdog Millionaire).

The solutions I offered were:
(i) Plus d'education dans les écoles et sur la télévision, la radio, etc.
(ii) Le recyclage
(iii) The people need to become more consciencieux in general (and not just be interested in les fêtes)
(iv) TT a besoin d'un miracle.