Read Source 1, the online newspaper article called Wind farms could blight one in six beauty
spots by Ben Leach.
1 What do you learn from Ben Leach’s article about the issues and concerns regarding
the building of wind farms? (8 marks)
From Ben Leach’s article concerning the issues and concerns of building wind farms I learnt that at out of a total of 89 sites ‘given special protection due to the quality of their landscape’, 14 sites have had planning permission or are awaiting planing permission for wind turbines to be built. These sites, including Cornwall, the Lake District, The outer Hebrides and the Shetland Islands, will have will have turbines between 335 ft and 415 ft upon them.
Environmentalists and conservationists have both called for the wind turbines not to be built for reasons such as the destruction of the “iconic landscape” “behind a barrage of rotating turbines” and the death of ‘more than one million birds a year’, in particularly dozens of golden plover, a protected species.
On the other hand, Charles Aglin (from the British Wind Energy Association)believes that wind turbines are for the better; ‘the biggest threat to the UK’s and the world’s habitats and wild life is catastrophic climate change’ and so supports the wind turbine construction. He tells the protesters that decisions should be made on a ‘case by case’ basis.
Now read Source 2, the article and the picture which goes with it called, Up, up and away – the
day that armchair travel really took off by Valentine Low.
2 Explain how the headline and picture are effective and how they link to the text.(8 marks)
The headline to the article ‘Up, up and away’ is particularly effective, as it is a well-known saying that catches the readers’ attention. It is also very relevant to the content of the text, which is about a man crossing the English channel on a chair suspended by helium balloons, due to the helium balloons taking him upwards, and then ‘away’. The font used in the title is much larger than that used in the rest of the text, meaning that it stands out. The rest of the title ‘the day that armchair travel really took off’ also entices the reader to read on, as it is an unusual thing to be happening.
The image used is also extremely effective; the bright colours of the man on a chair suspended by colourful balloons in front of the white cliffs of Dover really stand out, making the reader interested in the article and want to read more. It is also relevant to the to the article, which compares the armchair to the film Up. It references Up as the image strongly resembles the house suspended by balloons in the film. Finally, within the image there is a feeling of serenity, which is used to describe this method of transport by Mr Trappe.
React!