CLIMATE CHALLENGES
Keywords: Health And Wellbeing, Environment And Pollution Zero Conditional First Conditional Vocabulary And Grammar
In this classe you’ll define vocabulary related to the issue of climate change before listening to a podcast about this subject. Zero and first conditionals are introduced.
Instructions
- Listening the audio
- Listening again
- Listening and reading the transcription at the same time
- Make the exercice.
Transcript
Presenter: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode in our mini-podcast series, For Beginners. Today’s topic is climate change for beginners. Here to explain is Dr Nathan Wilde from the Climate Challenge Foundation. Hi Nathan! Let’s start with a really basic question. What do we mean by climate change?
Dr Wilde: Hi. Well, basically, we’re talking about the earth getting warmer as a result of human activity. We can also use the term global warming.
Presenter: What kind of human activity?
Dr Wilde: We’re talking about burning fossil fuels like oil and coal. We use these fuels for all sorts of activities, like producing food, making clean water available, heating and cooling our homes, transport and making things in factories.
Presenter: Well, what’s the problem? We need to do those things.
Dr Wilde: That’s true but when we cut down trees and burn oil and coal, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise. And when there are high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, temperatures increase.
Presenter: Why is that so bad? Nobody likes cold weather, right?
Dr Wilde: The increase in temperatures has some very serious results. When temperatures increase, there are more storms and extreme weather events. And as the earth gets hotter, the ice caps at the poles melt and sea levels rise.
Presenter: That doesn’t sound good.
Dr Wilde: It really isn’t. If we continue to cut down forests and burn oil and coal, temperatures will rise by 3 to 5 degrees before the end of this century. Scientists predict that if the world’s temperature increases by more than 1.5 degrees, many people will die in extreme weather events and lots of big cities will be underwater.
Presenter: So, what’s the solution?
Dr Wilde: It’s simple. We have to stop using fossil fuels. If we stop burning oil and coal, these problems won’t get worse. And if we plant more trees, they will take up some of the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Presenter: OK, but lots of people will want to know what we can use to produce energy instead of fossil fuels. That’s what we’re going to discuss in our next podcast. Thanks, Nathan!
EXERCISES + ANSWERS KEY
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