Unit 29

UNIT 29 WORD LIST conversion Conversion is the act of changing something into a different state or form. The city discussed the conversion of the parking lot into a skateboard park. cram To cram things means to put them into a place that can barely contain them. He crammed all of his shirts into the top drawer of the dresser. defer To defer means to arrange for an action to happen at a later time. The girl was very sleepy, so she chose to defer her bath until morning. export To export products means to sell them to other countries. The United States exports many cereals and grains. fume Fumes are unhealthy smoke and gases that are made by fires or chemicals. The engine put unpleasant, black fumes into the air. habitual When something is habitual, it is a behavior that a person usually does or has. The man was a habitual liar who was incapable of being honest with anyone. justify To justify something means to show or prove that it is necessary. The government tried to justify its decision to bring the country into a war. notwithstanding We use notwithstanding when we want to show that, although something has been done, it is not enough. A similar term is in spite of. Notwithstanding your objections, we have decided to move forward with the project. output Output is the amount of something that a person or thing produces. The boss hired more workers to increase the factory's output of products. overpopulation Overpopulation is the state of having too many people in an area. The organization is concerned with the overpopulation of the world.

patent A patent is a right to be the only person allowed to make or sell a new product. He quickly established a patent for his brilliant invention. penalize To penalize someone means to punish him or her. The team was penalized when they broke the rules. petroleum Petroleum is a liquid natural resource from which many fuels are made. The petroleum at that factory is used to make gasoline. region A region is a large area of land usually based on some common feature. This is the wheat-growing region of the country. scrap A scrap of something is a small amount of it. Chris liked to use many scraps of paper when thinking up ideas. sector A sector is a part of a country's economy in a specific type of industry. We learned about just a few of the factories within the manufacturing sector. subscribe To subscribe to something is to agree with it. She subscribed to the view that musical education should be kept in schools. subsist To subsist means to have the food, water, and money needed to stay alive. Some people are forced to subsist on only a few dollars a month. suspend To suspend something means to delay or stop it from happening for a while. The oil company suspended production until it was sure the factory was safe. synthesis A synthesis is a combination of different ideas or styles. The band's music was a synthesis of many different musical genres.

Preparing for Future Overpopulation is a big problem in every region of the world today. Too many people are crammed into cities and towns around the globe. Earth's population is about 6.5 billion people. This number is growing every day. Notwithstanding improvements in birth control, in just 50 years, the population will be almost 9 billion. Many people worry that the Earth won't have enough resources to support so many people. One major reason for this is that wasting resources and polluting have become habitual behaviors. Industrial output results in polluting the air with dangerous fumes. Also, cars and machines waste important natural resources like oil and water. It's possible that the Earth may become so damaged that it cannot support a large population of humans. Another issue is the lack of useful land for cultivating crops. Even today, many people subsist on mere scraps of food and little water. In 50 years, many experts worry that huge numbers of people will starve to death. So, what is being done to prepare for the future? People are realizing they can no longer justify their wasteful behavior or defer action to fix it. Many car companies already have patents for very efficient cars. Such cars waste no resources and produce no pollution, A conversion to clean cars means that petroleum can be saved for the future. In addition, the environmental sectors of many governments are setting strict rules for industries that pollute too much. If companies do not keep to these standards, they are penalized with higher taxes. In some cases, their operations might be suspended altogether. Food is also an issue that is being tackled. Many countries are now subscribing to the point of view that immediate action is needed. They are determining ways to export goods to people in need, so that no one goes hungry. Experts will continue to come up with ideas for the future, and a synthesis of these ideas will help to support the growing population.