Building Fluency: Is it too late to save the Planet?

These materials will help you to build your fluency on the topic: The environment and Climate Change.

Instructions for the materials: Work through the whole post, looking at the guiding questions, the different articles, videos and other sources. Focus on understanding the materials, but don't worry if you don't understand everything. Any new vocabulary that you find can be learnt most effectively using Anki flashcards. If you find a lot of new vocabulary, set a limit to how much you want to learn and only learn what you think is most relevant for yourself. When you have looked at all (or at least some of) the materials then you are ready to talk about the topic in a lesson with myself.

A link to all other Fluency Building topics (and other General English Materials) can be found here. For Business English materials look here.

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Is it too late to save the Planet?

Since the Industrial Revolution humans have been expelling enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This has triggered an unnatural warming that has seen the Earth's temperature rise dramatically over a short period of time. To avoid destroying the planet, this global warming needs to be stopped as soon as possible, but is it already too late? This is what we will think about in these materials.

Let's take a couple of questions to guide the topic;

1. Is it too late to save the planet?

2. Whose responsibility is it to save the planet, and to what extent do you agree with certain climate activists tactics such as damaging famous artwork or blocking roads.

3. Assuming no progress is made, how will the world look within the next 10,20,30 50 or 100 years?

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The Materials

To paint a picture of where we are heading, the article a worst case scenario for the climate in 2050 imagines what the world will look at by 2050 assuming no further efforts are made to control C02 emissions.

This video below gives a brilliant overview of the situation, as well as being good listening practice!

Lastly, George Monibot offers some quite profound suggestions for what we need to do to save the planet - what do you think?

Second lastly, I've been looking for an opportunity to get The Room Next Door into these materials, and finally...here it is...

Okay, if you have thought about the questions, looked at the materials and thought about your ideas on the topic, then you are ready to talk about it!