Lesson 1: Global warming

Expressions
VocabularyNature
ListeningandSpeaking
The topic
UseofEnglish
ListeningGlobalwarming
Writing
Reading
ClimateChangeDoubters
Readingcomprehensiontest
Grammar
Relativeclauses
A.Definingrelativeclauses
B.Nondefiningrelativeclauses
C.RelativePronouns
D.RelativeAdverbs
Phonetics
Extra information
Culturalfocus
Games
Additionalmaterial









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English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Expressions

Vocabulary Nature

Listen to the following expressions and repeat them:

o Til now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his
own nature, Dennis Gabor.
o Just living is not enough; one must have sunshine, freedom, and a flower, Hans
Christian Anderson.
o In an underdeveloped country, dont drink the water. In a developed country,
dont breathe the air, Jonathan Raban.
o With Laissez faire and price atomic
Ecologys Uneconomic
But with another kind of logic
Economys Unecologic, Kenneth E. Boulding.
o Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees, lakes,
running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk, garbage, slime pits
and debris, Edward Abbey.

The listening is available in the virtual classroom


Choose the correct definition of the previous expressions:

o Til now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his
own nature, Dennis Gabor:
a) From now on Nature will be against mankind.
b) Until now, Nature and man have been enemies.
c) From now on man has to fight against himself.

English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
o Just living is not enough; one must have sunshine, freedom, and a flower, Hans
Christian Anderson:
a) There is nothing better than having a good quality of life.
b) Without a flower, one cannot have a good life.
c) One has to care for Nature.

o In an underdeveloped country, dont drink the water. In a developed country,
dont breathe the air, Jonathan Raban:
a) An underdeveloped country is a place where there is no water.
b) A developed country is a place where there is no air.
c) It is better to be in a developed country than in an underdeveloped country.
d) None of the previous answers is correct.

o With Laissez faire and price atomic
Ecologys Uneconomic
But with another kind of logic
Economys Unecologic, Kenneth E. Boulding:
a) Price atomic has to be understood here as atomic price, thats why its not
logical.
b) The fact ecology is not economics is completely illogical.
c) The fact ecology is not economical is completely illogical.

o Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees, lakes,
running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk, garbage, slime pits
and debris, Edward Abbey:
a) This is a modern version of the famous saying with Mohammed and the
Mountain.
b) Our modern economy ruins our landscapes.
c) If our faith doesnt move the mountain, our industry will.

Check your answers in the Key Booklet


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Listening and Speaking

Listen and repeat the following quote by Bjorn Lomborg: On average,
global warming is not going to harm the developing world.

The listening is available in the virtual classroom


o Who is Bjorn Lomborg? What does he mean? Describe your point of view and
record yourself. The recording must be at least one minute.



English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
The topic

Use of English

Match the following words with their correct definition:

A. To fluctuate 1. To support.
B. To cycle 2. To move up and down.
C. To advocate 3. To send outrays of heat.
D. To drive up 4. To approach by driving a car.
E. To radiate back 5. To ride on a bicycle.

Check your answers in the Key Booklet


Listening Global warming

Listen to the video which explains what global warming is. Listen to the
video once before we start to work with it and write down all the
vocabulary you can understand connected to the environment.


The video is available at:
http://youtu.be/0F3QPY83NZQ


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Listen to each of the following four expressions and then repeat them
again at the same time as the presenter pronounces them.

o The planets temperature has risen unusually fast (minute 0:10).
o even since the industrial revolution began (minute 0:27).
o by the end of the century (minute 2:08).
o Although much remains to be learned about global warming (minute 2:37).


Have a look at the following words, expressions and phrasal verbs that
appear in the video and use the dictionary to look up the meanings.

Vocabulary Expressions Phrasal Verbs
To fluctuate Global warming To drive up
To cycle Greenhouse effect To release into
Fossil fuels To come in second To radiate back
To trap To hit highest levels To reflect back
To intensify By the end of the century To come in (second)
String Around the house
To shrink Ever since
To advocate


To switch

To cut

English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Writing

Answer the following questions using full sentences. Write your answers
and compare them with the suggested ones.

o According to the video, what has happened in the last century?
o What effect do the greenhouse gases have?

Check your answers in the Key Booklet


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Reading

Climate Change Doubters

Al Gore calls BS on Climate Change Doubters
Adapted from: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/08/al-gore-calls-bs-on-climate-
change-doubters/

ABC News' Amy Bingham reports.

The ice caps are still melting, the ozone layer is still disappearing and Al Gore is getting pissed.
In a speech at the Aspen Institute last week the former Vice President hid no emotion when he
disputed claims that global warming was not happening by repeatedly shouting bullsh*t.

They pay pseudo-scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: This climate
thing, its nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesnt trap heat. It may be volcanoes. Bullshit! It may be
sun spots. Bullshit! Its not getting warmer. Bullshit! Gore said, without knowing that his
comments were being streamed online.

One audience member said Gore's speech was a "tour de force of ideas expressed with humor,
passion and insight," according to the conference's coordinator Charlie Firestone, the executive
director of the Aspen Institute's Communication and Society Program.

Gore went on to say that the organized activity of these pseudo-scientists has polluted
public opinion on climate change.

There is no longer a shared reality on an issue like climate even though
our very existence of our civilization is at threat. People have no idea,
Gore said. Its no longer acceptable in mixed company, meaning
bipartisan company, to use the godd*mn word climate. They have polluted
this to the point where we cannot possibly come to an agreement on it.

While the jury may still be out on the publics opinion, President Obama has shown that he, at
least, is on Gores side. The Obama Administration has poured more than $90 billion into clean
energy in the past three years, almost all of which came from stimulus funds in the Recovery
Act.

But in the five years since Gore released his climate change documentary An Inconvenient
Truth, just how much progress has been made toward his goal of reducing carbon emissions?
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Not much, if you look at the big picture of overall greenhouse gas emissions. In fact from 1990 to
2009 emissions increased 7.3 percent, according to a 2011 Environmental Protection Agency
report.

There is a glimmer of progress, though. In both 2008 and 2009 emissions decreased by 2.8
percent and 6.1 percent respectively. The report noted that the decrease was probably due in
large part to the economic recession which caused a decrease in energy consumption, suggesting
that emissions could rise again as the economy picks up.

The two largest contributors of greenhouse gases were the transportation and electricity
generation sectors, which together account for about 60 percent of all emissions.

The president announced today a new set of energy efficiency standards that could help
decrease transportations share of emissions by reducing oil consumption by 530 million barrels
over the lifespan of heavy trucks and buses produced between 2014 and 2018, the
administration claims.

The new standards will require reductions in fuel consumption by 23 percent for semi-trucks, 15
percent for heavy-duty pick-up trucks and vans, and 10 percent for buses, delivery trucks and
garbage trucks.

Obama unveiled new efficiency standards last month requiring cars and light-duty trucks to
achieve 54.5 millions-per-gallon by 2025.

Considering the United States consumes almost 7 billion barrels of oil every year, these new
efficiency standards will be just a drop in the barrel toward the sweeping greenhouse gas
reductions that Gore has been advocating for over the past decade.
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Reading comprehension test

Answer the following questions:

o According to Al Gore what has the effect of these pseudo scientists been?
o How much progress has been made to reduce carbon emissions since Al Gores
documentary An Inconvenient Truth was made?
o What was the reason for the decrease of emissions of 2008 and 2009?

Check your answers in the Key Booklet


This is one of the paragraphs from the article. Which other discourse
markers could be used instead of the one in bold?

There is no longer a shared reality on an issue like climate even though our very existence
of our civilization is at threat. People have no idea, Gore said. Its no longer acceptable in
mixed company, meaning bipartisan company, to use the godd*mn word climate. They have
polluted this to the point where we cannot possibly come to an agreement on it.

Check your answers in the Key Booklet

English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Have a look at the following words, expressions and phrasal verbs that
appear in the text and use the dictionary to look up the meanings:

Vocabulary Expressions Phrasal Verbs
Ice cap Tour de force
To get pissed (USA= to get
angry/UK= to get drunk/UK
to get angry = to get pissed off)
To melt To be at threat To go on to do something
Bullshit To have no idea To put out
To pretend to be
To be on someones
side
To get warmer
Nonsense
To look at the big
picture
To come to (an agreement)
To stream
A drop in the ocean
(here the barrel!!)
To be out (a jury)
Insight To pour into
To pollute To pick up
Goddamn To account for
Glimmer of
hope/progress
To advocate for
Greenhouse gases
Lifespan
A Standard
Garbage truck (US)
To unveil
Light-duty truck
Sweeping
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Grammar

Relative clauses

The boys, who studied English, went to England.
The boys who studied English went to England.

Whats the difference in these sentences?

The first sentence we find between commas is a non-defining relative clause,
which does not define or limit the noun it follows. The sentence implies that
all the boys went to England.
On the contrary, the second sentence is a defining relative clause, which
defines or limits the noun (boys). Only the boys who were studying English
went to England.


A. Defining relative clauses

They qualify a noun, and tell us exactly which person or thing is being referred to. They
add necessary information to identify something or someone.

There is no pause before or after a defining relative clause and no commas when we
write. You could omit the relative when the relative functions as the object not as the
subject.
The man who came was Oscar.
The horse whi ch won the race was black.
The car that runs faster is mine.

If the relative pronoun is the object it can be omitted.
The person (whom) you saw yesterday is Peter.
The dog (whi ch/ that) I saw yesterday was white.


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Prepositions usually come at the end of the relative clause and usually the relative
pronoun is omitted.
This is the man to whom I lent the money.
This is the man I lent the money to.


B. Non-defining relative clauses

They add secondary information to a sentence. Usually, they are written between
commas. Never use that.
Myles, who is a student, lives very far from school.
These glasses, whi ch I found in the bus, are similar to Lauras.
John, who I have never seen studying, will have problems to pass.
My bike, whi ch was broken yesterday, has been repaired today.

As in the defining clauses, prepositions come at the end of the relative clause.
Hotel Ibis, at whi ch we stayed, was a dreadful place
Hotel Ibis we stayed at was a dreadful place


C. Relative Pronouns

Relative
pronoun
Use Example
WHO Subject or object pronoun for people.
I told you about the woman
who lives next door.
WHICH
Subject or object pronoun for animals
and things.
Do you see the cat whi ch is
lying on the roof?
THAT
Subject or object pronoun for people,
animals, and things in defining
relative clauses (who or which are
also possible).
I dont like the table that stands
in the kitchen.
WHOSE
Possession for people, animals and
things.
Do you know the boy whose
mother is a nurse?
WHOM
Object pronoun for people, especially
in non-defining relative clauses (in
defining relative clauses we
colloquially prefer who).
I was invited by the professor
whom I met at the conference.
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1

That preference to whi ch:

After the superlative
Who is the si lli est boy that has
ever been in this school?
After fi r st, second,
all, ever ythi ng, onl y,
etc.
This is the fi r st student that...
All that he said was...
After 2 or more nouns
Isabel tell us about the people
and the countri es that she has
seen


D. Relative Adverbs

A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often
makes the sentence easier to understand.
This is the shop i n whi ch I bought my car.
This is the shop wher e I bought my car.

Relative
adverb
Meaning Use Example
WHEN In/on which
Refers to a time
expression.
The day when we met him.
WHERE In/at which Refers to a place. The place wher e we met him.
WHY For which Refers to a reason. The reason why we met him.


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Exercises

Complete the sentences using the appropriate relative pronoun, where
necessary:

o There's something wrong with the Ipad _____ I bought yesterday.
o Selena, ____ parents live in New York, often travels to see them.
o The button ____ he pressed was the correct one.
o Many gadgets __ have changed our lives produce pollution.
o All the information ____ is kept in the computer can be recovered very quickly.
o Mark , ____ has always been good at History, is looking forward to going to
university.
o Is that the cottage ____ you are thinking of renting?
o King Juan Carlos , ____ reign lasts for over 0 years, was born in 1938.
o This painting, _____ I am very fond of, was painted by my boyfriend.
o I dont want to know anything ___ Brian told you.

Check your answers in the Key Booklet


Join both sentences into one using a relative clause

o Have you found the keys? Did you lose them?
o Martha is wearing a pink skirt. I dont like the skirt.
o The museum in Madrid was being rebuilt. We wanted to visit it.
o She showed me a photograph of her daughters. Her daughters are engineers.
o That man over there is an actor. I dont remember his name.
o Sallys mother goes to the gym every day. Sallys mother is 65.
o I got the job. I applied for the job last month

Check your answers in the Key Booklet

English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Phonetics

Fall (A Falling Tone)

A falling tone is by far the most common used tone of all. It signals a sense of finality,
completion, belief in the content of the utterance, and so on.

A speaker, by choosing a falling tone, also indicates to the addressee that that is all he
has to say, and offers a chance (turn-taking) to the addressee to comment on, agree or
disagree with, or add to his utterance, without soliciting a response.

Nonetheless, it would be polite for the addressee to at least acknowledge in some
manner or form that he is part of the discourse.

Now, let us see the areas in which a falling tone is used. The following is a proclamation
in which a teacher is informing a student of the consequences of his unacceptable
behaviour.

Exclamations: Watch OUT!


Exclamations

When someone expresses strong emotions by yelling, roaring, hollering, etc. this can be
described as an exclamation. Exclamations are usually manifested in high tones, and
can convey a wide range of mental states including joy, outrage, hysteria, excitement,
etc. As far as the intonation, exclamations tend to favour a rise in tone immediately
followed by a steep drop. ( )

English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Listen to the following and practice:

o How ridiculous!
o What great news!
o Youve got to be kidding!
o No way!
o Sounds great!
o Thats awful!

Watch the following video by Victor Borge:

The video is available at:
http://youtu.be/6bpIbdZhrzA



English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Extra information

Cultural focus

Read the following articles about recycling in European countries:

Europe as a Recycling Society - Present recycling levels of Municipal
Waste and Construction & Demolition Waste in the EU
Adapted from: http://scp.eionet.europa.eu/publications/wp2009_2/wp/wp2009_2

Conclusion

All the old EU Member States and Norway and almost all of the new EU Member States have
increased the recycling of municipal waste in the last 10 years; Both in terms of absolute weight
and as a percentage of generation.

There are still significant differences between recycling levels, both within the old EU Member
States and within the new EU Member States. In general the level is higher in old Member
States. However, some of the new EU Member States have relatively high recycling levels.

Some of the old EU Member States with a lower recycling level have had a quite high yearly
growth (> 0.75 percentage point) in the total recycling since 2000. Similarly, some of the new
EU Member States have had a quite high yearly growth (>0.50 percentage point) since 2000.
These changes indicate that even if the starting point is lower some positive changes are going
on in these counties.

Recycling of paper and cardboard and bio waste constitutes a large part of recycling in the
countries with overall high levels of municipal waste recycling. In a few of the old EU Member
States recycling of bulky waste is also significant.

There is a difference between what fraction of packaging waste countries include in their
municipal waste recycling figures. This indicates that some countries would have a higher
recycling level if they reported the recycling of packaging waste as recycling of municipal waste.


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Waste
Adapted from: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm

As European society has grown wealthier it has created more and more rubbish. Each year in
the European Union alone we throw away 3 billion tonnes of waste - some 90 million tonnes of
it hazardous. This amounts to about 6 tonnes of solid waste for every man, woman and child,
according to Eurostat statistics. It is clear that treating and disposing of all this material -
without harming the environment - becomes a major headache.

Between 1990 and 1995, the amount of waste generated in Europe increased by 10%, according
to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Most of what we
throw away is either burnt in incinerators, or dumped into landfill sites (67%). But both these
methods create environmental damage. Landfilling not only takes up more and more valuable
land space, it also causes air, water and soil pollution, discharging carbon dioxide (CO2) and
methane (CH4) into the atmosphere and chemicals and pesticides into the earth and
groundwater. This, in turn, is harmful to human health, as well as to plants and animals.

By 2020, the OECD estimates, we could be generating 45% more waste than we did in 1995.
Obviously we must reverse this trend if we are to avoid being
submerged in rubbish. But the picture is not all gloomy. The EU's
Sixth Environment Action Programme identifies waste prevention
and management as one of four top priorities. Its primary objective is
to decouple waste generation from economic activity, so that EU
growth will no longer lead to more and more rubbish, and there are
signs that this is beginning to happen. In Germany and the
Netherlands, for example, municipal waste generation fell during the 1990s.

The EU is aiming for a significant cut in the amount of rubbish generated, through new waste
prevention initiatives, better use of resources, and encouraging a shift to more sustainable
consumption patterns.

The European Union's approach to waste management is based on three principles:
Waste prevention: This is a key factor in any waste management strategy. If we can reduce
the amount of waste generated in the first place and reduce its hazardousness by reducing the
presence of dangerous substances in products, then disposing of it will automatically become
simpler. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and
influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging.
Recycling and reuse: If waste cannot be prevented, as many of the materials as possible
should be recovered, preferably by recycling. The European Commission has defined several
specific 'waste streams' for priority attention, the aim being to reduce their overall
environmental impact. This includes packaging waste, end-of-life vehicles, batteries, electrical
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
and electronic waste. EU directives now require Member States to introduce legislation on
waste collection, reuse, recycling and disposal of these waste streams. Several EU countries are
already managing to recycle over 50% of packaging waste.
Improving final disposal and monitoring: Where possible, waste that cannot be recycled
or reused should be safely incinerated, with landfill only used as a last resort. Both these
methods need close monitoring because of their potential for causing severe environmental
damage. The EU has recently approved a directive setting strict guidelines for landfill
management. It bans certain types of waste, such as used tyres, and sets targets for reducing
quantities of biodegradable rubbish. Another recent directive lays down tough limits on
emission levels from incinerators. The Union also wants to reduce emissions of dioxins and
acid gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2), and hydrogen chlorides
(HCL), which can be harmful to human health

o Do you recycle? Do you think it is important to recycle? Why? Is it easy to recycle
where you live?

Look at the following vocabulary which appeared in the video:

Vocabulary Expressions Phrasal Verbs
Starting point To become/be a headache To go on
Cardboard To reverse the trend To throw away
Bio waste The picture is (not all) gloomy To discharge into
Overall In the first place To be linked with
Municipal waste Green products To lay down
Bulky waste Waste streams
Packaging waste End-of-life

Hazardous As a last resort

Solid waste

To dump
Landfill sites
Landfilling
Soil
Decouple
A cut
A shift
Hazardousness
Monitoring
English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
A directive
To set guidelines
To ban
To set targets
Biodegradable
rubbish

Tough


Games

Look at the following pictures and describe the similarities and
differences between these two pictures:


English Link for B2
UNIT 4 Lesson 1
Additional material

Listening

Listening version of part of the speech by Al Gore mentioned in the reading:
http://youtu.be/8SfWdDP5v_A
Punctuation class with Dean Martin: http://youtu.be/lQ91SVKryYU
Read and listen to the following text:

Information on coral reefs

Adapted from http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/coral-reefs-will-be-gone-by-end-
of-the-century-2352742.html

The claim is made in a book published tomorrow, which says coral reef ecosystems are very
likely to disappear by the end of this century in what would be "a new first for mankind the
'extinction' of an entire ecosystem". Its author, Professor Peter Sale, studied the Great
Barrier Reef for 20 years at the University of Sydney. He currently leads a team at the United
Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

The predicted decline is mainly down to climate change and ocean acidification, though local
activities such as overfishing, pollution and coastal development have also harmed the reefs.
The book, Our Dying Planet, published by University of California Press, contains further
alarming predictions, such as the prospect that "we risk having no reefs that resemble those
of today in as little as 30 or 40 more years".

Though not all scientists agree with the precise timescales set out by the book, the crisis is
clear. "When you're talking about the destruction of an entire ecosystem within one human
generation, there might be some small differences in the details it is a dramatic image and
a dramatic statement," Professor Rogers says. "But the overall message we agree with. People
are not taking on board the sheer speed of the changes we're seeing."