An environmental PARadISe?

Salut! Ça va? Les deux mois que j’ai déjà passé à Paris ont été fantastiques. C’est une ville magnifique et il y a beaucoup à faire ici. Je suis toujours très occupée soit en travaillant à l’école ou en explorant la ville, mais je ne changerais pas cela! Le sujet de ce blog est «l’environnement». À Paris il y a plein d’espaces verts et il y a aussi un environnement culturel fantastique. Cependant on ne peut pas oublier que sous la beauté, comme toutes les grandes métropoles de la planète, Paris subit des conséquences environnementales liées à l’échelle de sa population et de son activité économique…

L’environnement à Paris 

Alors, à première vue, en raison du fait que c’est une grande ville, “Paris” et “vert” ça ne vous semble pas l’association la plus évidente. Cependant, Paris est une métropole cosmopolite qui offre un florilège (many) d’espaces verts en tout genre comme des jardins a la française, des parcs contemporains et des écrins de verdure intimistes. Mon parc préféré est le Jardin Luxembourg et j’y vais très souvent l’après-midi et je lis un livre au soleil. Dans certains parcs, il n’est pas possible de s’asseoir sur l’herbe, car les autorités veulent le protéger! Aussi, s’il y a une balade à ne pas manquer à Paris, c’est bien celle qui suit les berges de la Seine. Cette rivière traverse le centre de Paris et est un endroit parfait pour se détendre pendant la journée ou regarder le coucher de soleil. Paris est, en ce cas là, définitivement un paradis environnemental.

Environmental Problems

On the surface, Paris is a beautiful and relaxing environment to be living in. However, it is actually experiencing many different environmental problems as a result of its popularity.

The city is covered by what i’d describe as a think dusty-looking layer of smog. In fact, at the end of 2016, air pollution levels briefly topped the world chart! Extraordinary traffic control measures were implemented, which included some days of free public transport and driving bans for private vehicles on alternate days according to their license plates (odd numbers one day, even numbers another). But the measure became ineffective as most drivers didn’t respect it. There is also water pollution of the Seine.

The cleanliness of Paris is a major issue, and the capital is considered by tourists as dirty. I always find this fact interesting, because I haven’t noticed much litter at all… Either way, the French government is concerned with combatting this stigma, and large fines are imposed for littering and graffiti. They have also placed 30,000 transparent paper baskets on public roads and have employed 382 people to maintain the pavements.

Un Environnement Culturel 

France’s Environment

Living and working in a bustling capital city like Paris, it is always nice to be able to explore other environments. From the uniform line of vineyards and avenues of trees in the countryside, to the breath-taking peaks of the mountains, it cannot be forgotten that France, as a whole, is a beautiful country. During the school holidays in April, I took a trip to the South of France to visit Toulouse and Perpignan. Since I chose to visit cities close to the border of Spain, it was interesting to see a Spanish influence emerging in the environments: lines of palm trees along the pavements, many tropical plants dotted about and houses with shutters. Toulouse was particularly interesting; my first thoughts on arrival were, “hmmm, why does this city look so pink?” “every think is pink…”. After researching, the city is actually called “La vie en rose” (The pink city) because of a certain pinky-coloured stone used on the buildings.

Since I’m a “Pisces”, I could not resist a trip to the sea whilst I was down in the Med. At first the beaches seemed pretty normal, until I was struck by the contrast of the environments- sandy beaches, crystal clear waters….and the dark shadows of the Pyrenees in the background. It was stunning. Side note: yes, the water was freezing and yes, I got a little too excited about a burst of hot weather and came away, as some would describe, “beetroot red”!

That’s all for now, folks! I have some reaaaally exciting things planned for my next two months in Paris, so tune in next time…

Les mots clés

Voici quelques mots importants sur l’environnement que vous pourriez utiliser:

• la terre- earth
• économiser – to save
• la mer- the sea
• la marée- the tide
• réutiliser – to reuse
• s’épanouissent- to flourish/ blossom
• consommer- to consume
• les bâtiments- buildings
• l’effet de serre – the greenhouse effect
• devenir – to become
• un arbre- a tree
• un arbuste- a bush
• gaspiller- to waste
• le paysage- the landscape