Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the
environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very
topic:
The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most
people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I
spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and
his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.
Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether
Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his
8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.
I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to
find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these
calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual
pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to
the government about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this
article.
Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to
push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they
must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!!
So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million
calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16,500 lbs each — or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.
We now need to consider that during the global trip
the reindeer are “l(fā)etting out” some of that corn in the form of methane (甲烷，沼氣). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing
that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip
emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly
car would release on the same trip!
Bad Santa.
1. Which
aspect does the writer NOT include in her analyses about reindeer’s influence
on environment?
A. Distance covered. B.
Calories consumed.
C. Tons of waste let out. D.
Money spent on food.
2.
According to Paragraph 6, how many acres of corn would Santa need to feed 10
reindeer?
A. 1.6. B.
16. C.
12.8. D.
128.
3. Which
of the following statements would the writer most probably agree with?
A. Christmas celebrations are really a waste of money.
B. Vegetarians are more likely to survive than meat-eaters.
C. Raising animals has a negative influence on
environment.
D. The car industry does less harm to environment than
farming.
4. Which
of the following words best describes the language style of the passage?
A. Humourous and concerned. B.
Cheerful and friendly.
C. Academic and formal. D.
Serious and boring.
5. Which
of the following is the best title for this passage?
A. Is Santa driving clean and green?
B. Santa, watch where you’re going!
C. Santa Claus is coming to town!
D. Let’s reduce waste on Christmas celebrations!
