TPO11 Lecture 3 Environmental science
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.
Professor
When land gets develop for human use, the landscape changes. We don’t see
as many types of vegetation, trees, grasses and so forth. This in turn leads to
other losses: the loss of animal that once lived there. Err…but these are the
obvious changes, but there are also less obvious changes like the climate.
One interesting case of this…of…of changes in the local land use causing
changes in climate, specifically the temperature is in Florida. Now what comes
to mind when you think of the state of Florida?
Student A
Sunshine, beaches.
Student B
Warm weather, oranges…
Professor
Yes, exactly. Florida has long had a great citric industry; large growth of
oranges, lemons and the like. Florida’s winter is very mild; the temperature
doesn’t often get below freezing. But there are some areas in Florida that do
freeze. So in the early 1900s, farmers moved even further south in Florida, to
areas that were even less likely to freeze. Obviously, freezing temperatures
are danger to the crops. A bad barrier of cold weather, a long spell of frosts
could ruin a farm and the entire crop, anyway, before these citric growers
moved south, much of the land in south Florida, was what we called wetlands.
Wetlands are areas of marshy, swampy land, areas where water covers the
soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil for large part of the
year. Wetlands have their own unique ecosystem, with plants and animals with
special an interesting adaptation. Very exciting, but it’s not what we are talking
about today. Emm…where was I?
Student A
Farmers moved south?
Professor
Oh, yes. Farmers moved south. But the land was not suitable for farming. You
can’t grow orange in wetland, so farmers had to transform the wetlands into
lands suitable for farming. To do that, you have to drain the water from the land,
move the water elsewhere, and divert to the water sources such as rivers.
Hundreds of miles of drainage canals were built in the wetlands. Now these
areas, the new areas the farmers moved to, used to be warm and unlikely to
freeze, however, recently the area has become susceptible to freezes. And we
are trying to understand why.
Student B
Is it some global temperature change or weather pattern like El Ni?o or
something?
Professor
Well, there are two theories. One idea is as you suggested that major weather
patterns, something like El Ni?o, are responsible. But the other idea and this is
the one that I personally subscribe to, is of the changes in the temperature
pattern had been brought about by the loss of wetlands.
Student A
Well, how would the loss of wetlands make a difference?
Professor
Well, think about what we’ve been studying so far. We discussed the impact of
landscapes on temperature, right? What affects does the body of water have
on an area?
Student A
Oh, yeah. Bodies of water tend to absorb the heat during the day, and then
they release the heat at night.
Professor
Yes, exactly. What you just said is what I want you all to understand. Bodies of
water release heat and moisture back into the environment. So places near
large bodies of water are generally milder, err...slightly warmer than those
without water. And what I, another think is that the loss of the wetlands has
created the situation where the local temperatures in the area are not slightly
different, slightly colder than they were 100 years ago, before the wetland were
drained.
Student B
Emm…do we know what the temperature was like back then?
Professor
Well, we were able to estimate this. We have data about South Florida’s
current landscape, emm…the plant cover. And we were able to reconstruct
data about the landscape prior to 1900. Then we enter those data, information
about what the landscape look like before and after the wetlands were drained.
We enter the data into a computer weather model. This model can predict
temperatures. And when all the data were entered, an overall cooling trend
was predicted by the model.
Student B
How much colder does it get now?
Professor
Well, actually the model shows a drop of only a few degrees Celsius. But this is
enough to cause dramatic damage to crops. If temperatures over night are
already very close to the freezing point, then this drop of just a few degrees
can take the temperature below freezing. And freezing causes frosts, which kill
crops. These damaging frosts wouldn’t happen if the wetlands were still in
existence, just as the tiny temperature difference can have major
consequences.
TPO11 Lecture 4 Business
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a Business Class.
Professor
Let's get started. Um, last time we were talking about the need for advertising.
Now, let's look at how you can successfully call attention to the service or
product you want to sell. To succeed, you’ve got to develop a systematic
approach. If you don't come up with a system, um, a plan, you risk **
decisions that waste money, or even drive away potential customers. But what
does a systematic advertising plan look like? Well, it covers what we call -- the
‘Four Ms’. The ‘Four Ms’: Market, Media, Money, Message. All are important
areas to focus on when creating your advertising plan. We will look at them
one by one.
The First step is to look at your Market, that’s the people who might become
customers, buyers of your service or product. You need to know all about your
possible customers： Who are they? What age group are they? What do they
like, or dislike? How do they shop? So, you got that? A market is a group of
potential customers.
Next, Media… Obviously the major media are television, radio, newspapers,
magazines, um, billboards, and so forth. There are all avenues of
communication. And you need to figure out: Which media you should advertise
through? Which media will reach your intended audience -- your market? So,
you do research, trying to determine which media will reach the most potential
customers for the lowest cost. For instance, if you have a product, that we'll
say teachers would like, then teachers are your market. So you ask yourself:
What magazines do the majority of teachers read? What TV programs do
teachers watch? Do teachers listen to much radio? At what times of the day?
Say, now your research turns up two magazines that teachers read. And it also
shows that the majority of teachers - say ages twenty to thirty - read the
magazine about classroom activities. While most teachers older than that read
the other magazine, the one about, oh, let’s say—‘Educational Psychology’.
You think your product will appeal most to teachers aged twenty to thirty, so
you decide to put your advertisement in their favor magazine, the one about
classroom activities. You don't waste money advertising in the ‘Educational
Psychology’ magazine, you know the one that the younger teachers generally
don't read. And since you’re reaching the majority of the teachers in your target
age group, you’re probably spending your money well, which bring us to the
third M -- Money.
You have an advertising budget to spend, but how do you to spend it wisely.
Again, research is the key. Good research gives you facts, facts that can help
you decide, well, as we already mentioned, decide the right market to target,
and the best media to use. But also: When to advertise? or…or how to get the
best rates? Like, may be you’re advertising Sport equipment, and you have
been spending most of your budget during the holiday season when people
buy gifts for each other. Now, in theory, that would seem a great time to
advertise, but may be a research shows you’re wrong, that the customers who
buy sports equipment tend not to give it as a holiday gift, but want to use it
themselves. In that case, advertising during a different season of the year
might give you better results. And, um, may be it even lower, non-holiday rates,
so you actually save money. But you need to get the facts; facts that come
from good research to be certain and know for sure that you’re getting your
money’s worth.
OK, finally, there is your message: What you want to say about your product?
Why buying it will make the customer’s life easier, or safer or better somehow.
Whatever the message is, make sure you get it right. Let me give you an
example of not getting it right, Ha...ha...ha... you are going to love this one:
There was this Soup Shop, the soup was really tasty, but there weren't a lot of
customers. The owner thought that may be if they give something away for
free with each purchase, then more people would come buy soup. So they got
some cheap socks, and they advertise to give a pair away with each bowl of
soup. But, then even fewer people came to the restaurant. Well, you can
imagine why. People started to associate the soup with feet; they began to
imagine the soup smelled like feet. The advertising massage, soup means free
socks, was a bad choice; it was a waste of money. And worse, it caused the
loss of customers.
Now, I want everyone to get into small groups and come up with some
examples, not of good advertising messages, but of truly disastrous ones.
Think of real examples and make them up, and talk about the reasons those
messages are unsuccessful. And then we’ll get back together and share.
