full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Cameron Webb: How to design mosquitoes out of cities

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So what does a green city look like for a mosquito? So first of all, there are trees that provide shade, protection from wind and sun ... It provides these kind of protected, humid little areas, where mosquitoes can take refuge. The longer mosquitoes live, the more people they bite, the more eggs they lay. But it’s not so much the plants but the water they need, which is really ccairitl for mosquitoes. So in a geren city, we have wetar tanks, we bliud wetlands. We’ve got green walls and frog ponds. We’ve got bioretention basins. We’ve got rain gardens. All of these structures that might be designed to srote and recycle water in and around our cetiis and suburbs could be used by mosquitoes. rmebmeer, mueooqstis love this water that's available to them. So how can we design our cities so that mosquitoes aren't quick to adapt to these types of environments? Wherever there's water, mosquitoes will lay eggs, and we have to be mindful about that as we try to respond and green our cities, create the structures that will help us. It'll make a city gteaerr. I want to live in a green city. I would love to live in a green city; it's probably great for my pashyicl and mental hleath and well-being. I just don't want to share that with too many mosquitoes. And mosquitoes are so adaptive that I'm sure that they're going to create oripptteiouns in these stureutrcs that we're building, and so I'm really worried that we're going to see more and more mosquitoes into the future.

Open Cloze


So what does a green city look like for a mosquito? So first of all, there are trees that provide shade, protection from wind and sun ... It provides these kind of protected, humid little areas, where mosquitoes can take refuge. The longer mosquitoes live, the more people they bite, the more eggs they lay. But it’s not so much the plants but the water they need, which is really ________ for mosquitoes. So in a _____ city, we have _____ tanks, we _____ wetlands. We’ve got green walls and frog ponds. We’ve got bioretention basins. We’ve got rain gardens. All of these structures that might be designed to _____ and recycle water in and around our ______ and suburbs could be used by mosquitoes. ________, __________ love this water that's available to them. So how can we design our cities so that mosquitoes aren't quick to adapt to these types of environments? Wherever there's water, mosquitoes will lay eggs, and we have to be mindful about that as we try to respond and green our cities, create the structures that will help us. It'll make a city _______. I want to live in a green city. I would love to live in a green city; it's probably great for my ________ and mental ______ and well-being. I just don't want to share that with too many mosquitoes. And mosquitoes are so adaptive that I'm sure that they're going to create _____________ in these __________ that we're building, and so I'm really worried that we're going to see more and more mosquitoes into the future.

Solution


  1. remember
  2. build
  3. store
  4. opportunities
  5. critical
  6. health
  7. cities
  8. structures
  9. greater
  10. mosquitoes
  11. green
  12. physical
  13. water

Original Text


So what does a green city look like for a mosquito? So first of all, there are trees that provide shade, protection from wind and sun ... It provides these kind of protected, humid little areas, where mosquitoes can take refuge. The longer mosquitoes live, the more people they bite, the more eggs they lay. But it’s not so much the plants but the water they need, which is really critical for mosquitoes. So in a green city, we have water tanks, we build wetlands. We’ve got green walls and frog ponds. We’ve got bioretention basins. We’ve got rain gardens. All of these structures that might be designed to store and recycle water in and around our cities and suburbs could be used by mosquitoes. Remember, mosquitoes love this water that's available to them. So how can we design our cities so that mosquitoes aren't quick to adapt to these types of environments? Wherever there's water, mosquitoes will lay eggs, and we have to be mindful about that as we try to respond and green our cities, create the structures that will help us. It'll make a city greater. I want to live in a green city. I would love to live in a green city; it's probably great for my physical and mental health and well-being. I just don't want to share that with too many mosquitoes. And mosquitoes are so adaptive that I'm sure that they're going to create opportunities in these structures that we're building, and so I'm really worried that we're going to see more and more mosquitoes into the future.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
rainwater tanks 6
create opportunities 3
mosquito bites 3
ross river 2
creating opportunities 2
pot plant 2
green city 2
mosquitoes love 2
mosquito populations 2
yellow fever 2


Important Words


  1. adapt
  2. adaptive
  3. areas
  4. basins
  5. bioretention
  6. bite
  7. build
  8. building
  9. cities
  10. city
  11. create
  12. critical
  13. design
  14. designed
  15. eggs
  16. environments
  17. frog
  18. future
  19. gardens
  20. great
  21. greater
  22. green
  23. health
  24. humid
  25. kind
  26. lay
  27. live
  28. longer
  29. love
  30. mental
  31. mindful
  32. mosquito
  33. mosquitoes
  34. opportunities
  35. people
  36. physical
  37. plants
  38. ponds
  39. protected
  40. protection
  41. provide
  42. quick
  43. rain
  44. recycle
  45. refuge
  46. remember
  47. respond
  48. shade
  49. share
  50. store
  51. structures
  52. suburbs
  53. sun
  54. tanks
  55. trees
  56. types
  57. walls
  58. water
  59. wetlands
  60. wind
  61. worried