B2 – Upper Intermediate
Lego had a partnership with Shell and made toys that had Shell logo on them. There were over a million people who emailed Lego asking it to end its deal with Shell that brought pressure to finally end its contract with the oil company.
Read the article about Lego ending its tie-up with Shell.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1410/141012-lego.html
Discussion Questions:
- Give your opinion about Greenpeace’s move to pressure Lego from ending their contract with Shell.
- How can companies balance doing business and protecting the environment?
- Do you think that parents have the responsibility of choosing the right toys to educate their children about preserving the environment? Explain.
- Talk about some projects that deal with environmental issues in your country.
6 replies on “Lego Ends Ties with Shell”
1. Give your opinion about Greenpeace’s move to pressure Lego from ending their contract with Shell.
I think the Greenpeace’s move was not a fair play. The environmental group forced Lego to take a position about their environmental campaign. Lego’s final decision seemed that Lego was giving support to Greenpaces’s campaign but, as CEO of Lego cited, they just do not want to take part of this battle.
2. How can companies balance doing business and protecting the environment?
Companies are required to comply with national regulations about environment protections. They can develop their business ensuring all their productions processes do not exceed specific levels of environment contamination to the atmosphere, rivers or soils surrounded the companies production facilities.
3. Do you think that parents have the responsibility of choosing the right toys to educate their children about preserving the environment? Explain.
Yes. I think parents must ensure adequate toys for the children. Not only safety toys for their kids, but also toys which manufacturing preserves the environment. Parents but also all people in the humankind have the responsibility of educating other people to preserve our environment. It is part of our planet. And the earth is the only place where we can keep us alive in the known Universe.
4. Talk about some projects that deal with environmental issues in your country.
The drought in my country has become one the worst environmental issues since the last decades. Since many years ago, there are several campaigns from the country government focused in educating citizens about the consuming and using of water in a logical way, avoiding wasting water reserves.
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Keep writing regularly and don’t be afraid to make mistakes—they are a natural part of learning.
1. Give your opinion about Greenpeace’s move to pressure Lego from ending their contract with Shell.
I think it was a very smart way to put pressure on Lego to end their contract with Shell. By using the toys from Lego, Greenpeace made sure people associated the oil spill in the Artic with the company, and no company would like to be associated with something that damages so greatly the environment.
2. How can companies balance doing business and protecting the environment?
It must be a compromise between obtaining benefits, which is the main goal for most companies, and taking care of the environment. Maybe the initial costs for the company will be higher, but in the end, customers will be taking into account if a company is environment-friendly and the benefits will surpass the costs.
3. Do you think that parents have the responsibility of choosing the right toys to educate their children about preserving the environment? Explain.
Yes, absolutely. If parents don’t choose the right toys to teach children about preserving the environment, children are never going to learn how to do it. It is a matter of responsibility to educate children about environmental care since they are going to be the generation living with the consequences of their parents’ actions regarding environmental preservation.
4. Talk about some projects that deal with environmental issues in your country.
I don’t really know about specific projects, aside from the usual news that reach the public about drought, how the irrigated agriculture should be regulated to avoid lack of water in certain areas or how riverbeds should be allowed to be cleansed periodically to avoid floods.
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Give your opinion about Greenpeace’s move to pressure Lego from ending their contract with Shell.
I don’t agree with the way Greenpeace do things, with aggressive campaign. I believe that there are many people, including myself, than want to protect the planet and obviously with concerns about a petrol company drilling the Artic. They harm third parties. We can question Shell’s projects directly with them, without harming others who do business with Shell for other reasons.
Do you think that parents have a responsibility in choosing the right toys to educate their children about preserving the environment?
Yes, of course, and in my opinion and talking about Lego, is one of the best toy to learn how to fit and stack and stimulates the imagination. It also Of course now a days we have similar toys made with more sustainable materials.
Are there specific projects to tackle environmental issues in your country? Talk about some that you know of.
I really couldn’t give a specific example. Projects that are a global trend come to my mind: Projects about renewables energy or to reduce CO2 emissions in big cities, limiting the access of vehicles to the city center, building more bike lanes, recycle….. .
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