English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 58: Climate change

Word List
  • create
  • act [do sth]
  • climate change
  • destroy
  • drought
  • effect
  • efficient
  • energy
  • environment
  • excessive
  • exist
  • existence
  • flood
  • fossil fuel
  • global warming
  • greenhouse effect
  • greenhouse gases
  • oil [fuel]
  • on record
  • plant v
  • reduce
  • result [consequence]
  • save [keep]
  • solution
  • suffer
  • switch sth off
  • take action
  • tap
  • throw sth away
  • waste
Exercises

58.1 ‣ How do you pronounce the underlined letters? Use the index to help you.

  1. global    Is it like go or got?
  2. flood    Is it like foot or fun? _____
  3. fuel    Is it like food or few? _____
  4. drought    Is it like no or now? _____
  5. suffer    Is it like son or soon? _____
  6. climate    Is it like educate or comfortable? _____

58.2 ‣ Match the words on the left with the words on the right.

  1. the greenhouse
  2. global _____
  3. fossil _____
  4. greenhouse _____
  5. climate _____
  1. a) warming
  2. b) change
  3. c) effect
  4. d) fuels
  5. e) gases

58.3 ‣ How can we help with global warming? Cover the opposite page and complete the text.

• Don’t 1 paper, glass and plastic; 2_____ it.
• Don’t 3_____ water: turn off the 4_____ when you brush your teeth.
• 5_____ energy by 6_____ off lights when you leave a room.
• 7_____ trees in order to 8_____ the amount of carbon dioxide.
• 9_____ action now, before it’s too late.

58.4 ‣ Complete the explanations.

  1. We don’t have to create greenhouse gases; they naturally.
  2. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere _____ the greenhouse effect.
  3. Global warming is the _____ of an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases.
  4. Two _____ of climate change have been hotter summers and wetter winters.
  5. A _____ is often the result of too much rain when the rivers are full.
  6. A _____ is a long period without rain, and they are _____ more frequently now.
  7. The _____ is the air, land and water around us.
  8. If you _____ something, it is so badly damaged, it cannot be used again.
  9. If something is _____, it works well and doesn’t waste energy.
  10. _____ is the power that comes from gas, electricity, etc.

58.5 ‣ Complete the tables. Use a dictionary to help you.

verbnoun
recycle
waste_____
destroy_____
exist_____
_____solution
reduce_____
support_____
suffer_____

58.6 ‣

Over to you

Answer the questions. If possible, talk to someone else about the problems.

  1. Can you see the effects of global warming and climate change in your country? What do you see?
    _____
  2. What things do people recycle every week?
    _____
  3. Do you think you often waste water and energy? How?
    _____
  4. What more could you do to solve the problem? Does it worry you?
    _____
Answer Key
A ‣ The problem

WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT?

Many greenhouse gases, e.g. carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, exist1 naturally and are needed to create2 the greenhouse effect that keeps the Earth warm enough to support3 human life. However, the use of fossil fuels, e.g. oil, natural gas and coal, has produced excessive4 amounts of greenhouse gases, and the result5 is global warming: an increase in the average temperature on Earth. Of the 15 warmest years on record6, 14 have occurred7 since 2000.

The effects8 of climate change can already be seen in our everyday lives. Summers are getting hotter and winters are getting wetter, so drought9 and floods10 are becoming more common. With it, animal and plant life is suffering11 – some species will disappear altogether – and certain illnesses, e.g. hay fever, asthma and skin cancer, are becoming more common.

To stop global warming from destroying12 our environment13, we need to act now.

1 are real or present
2 make something happen or exist
3 help (human life) to continue
4 more than you want or need
5 something that happens because of something else that has happened
6 If information is on record, it has been written down or kept on a computer.
7 happened; fml
8 a change or result that is caused by something
9 a long time without rain when people do not have enough water
10 when water covers an area that is usually dry, often from too much rain
11 experiencing something which is unpleasant
12 damaging something so badly that it does not exist or cannot be used
13 the air, land and water around us

B ‣ The solution* – or part of it

To reduce global warming [make it less], the nations of the world will have to act together [do something to solve a problem; syn take action]. In the meantime, individuals can also help.

SIX WAYS TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING:

  1. Don’t throw things away – recycle paper, glass, plastic, etc. so that it can be used again.
  2. Save1 energy2 e.g. switch off lights when you leave a room.
  3. Don’t waste3 water, e.g. turn off the tap when you are brushing your teeth.
  4. Change light bulbs for more energy-efficient4 ones.
  5. Drive less and walk more.
  6. Plant trees5 because trees reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and so reduce greenhouse gases.

* the answer to a problem
1 don’t waste
2gas and electricity
3 use it badly
4 working well and not wasting energy
5 put a new tree in the ground

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