The United Kingdom（Period 2 Reading）
the british isles is a term frequently used to refer to the archipelago which includes the mainland of great britain, the mainland of ireland, and the smaller islands associated with these two, such as the channel islands, the hebrides, the isle of man, the isle of wight, orkney, the shetland islands, etc.the term is, however, often avoided, especially in ireland, by those who are conscious that it is sometimes misunderstood internationally to mean “the islands belonging to britain (i.e. the united kingdom)”, a description out of date in the irish case since 1922.an alternative, the islands of the north atlantic(iona) has been proposed, but is little used outside diplomatic circles.geographylocation:western europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of ireland between the north atlantic ocean and the north sea, northwest of francegeographic coordinates:5400 n, 200 wmap references:europearea:total: 244 820 sq kmwater: 3 230 sq kmnote: includes rockall and shetland islandsland: 241 590 sq kmarea-comparative:slightly smaller than oregonland boundaries:total: 360 kmborder countries: ireland 360 kmcoastline:12 429 kmmaritime claims:continental shelf: as defined in continental shelf orders or in accordance with agreed upon boundariesexclusive fishing zone: 200 nmterritorial sea: 12 nmclimate:temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the north atlantic current; more than one-half of the days are overcastterrain:mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains in east and southeastelevation extremes:lowest point: fenland -4 m highest point: ben nevis 1343 mnatural resources:coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable landland use:arable land: 26.41%permanent crops: 0.18%other: 73.41% (1998 est.)irrigated land:1080 sq km (1998 est.)natural hazards:winter windstorms; floods
environment - current issues:continues to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (has met kyoto protocol target of a 12.5% reduction from 1990 levels and intends to meet the legally binding target and move towards a domestic goal of a 20% cut in emissions by ); by the government aims to reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste disposed of in landfill sites to 85% of 1998 levels and to recycle or compost at least 25% of household waste, increasing to 33% by ; between 1998-1999 and 1999-, household recycling increased from 8.8% to 10.3%environment-international agreements: