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Home , Earth Overshoot Day, Renewable resource, Resource consumption

English Language Inbox 1

Weekly Advanced English Lesson, Sunday 11 August, 2019

Topic: Day

Sources: CNN Article, “As of today, humans have used more than Planet Earth can regenerate in a year”; Video from France 24 English, ": Planet’s 2019 resources ‘budget’ already spent”; Video from SABC Digital News, “Making Earth Overshoot Day: Dr, Jako Volschenk”

For answers, topic links, vocabulary focus and addition materials, go to: https://www.englishlanguageinbox.com/eli-advanced-members-weekly-lessons ______

Discussion questions #1 • What is the difference between a renewable and non-renewable ? Think of some examples for each. • Is your country forward-thinking when it comes to using renewable sources of ? Why / why not? • What barriers stand in the way of more countries, businesses and individuals embracing renewable resources? • What are the most effective ways that individuals can reduce their own ? Think in terms of both small and major choices people can make. • How do you think your country compares to others in terms of its overall use of resources per capita? Which countries do you think would be in the top ten of the biggest global resource consumers? (Check your guesses online.) ______Vocabulary #1: Words associated with the topic / affixes What do the following words mean? Use a dictionary to look up definitions if necessary.

DESTRUCTIVE REGENERATE OVERSPEND

RENEWABLE RENEW OVERUSE

SUSTAINABLE CONSUME ENDANGER

• Which of these words begins with a prefix? What does the prefix mean? • Which of these words can be changed to the opposite meaning by adding a prefix? • What word class does each word belong to? (Noun, verb, etc.) Can you change the word class by adding suffixes to the end of the words, or by removing suffixes? ______

Prediction: Consider the title of the article we are going to read: As of today, humans have used more resources than Planet Earth can regenerate in a year

The article was written on 29 July, 2019, just over a week ago. What ideas do you think will be mentioned? ______

Reading #1:Now read the article and check your predictions.

Weekly Advanced English Lesson Sunday 11 August, 2019 English Language Inbox 2

Reading #2: Now read the article again and complete the notes below:

29 July 2019 = (1)______USA - (12)______—> if everyone lived

• Humanity has (2)______like US citizens, (13)______would be

more (3)______than needed. (4)______by end of year. (Compared to (14)______<3

• Current rate of = needed) (5)______Poorer countries- (15)______but Destructive consequences:

• (6)______(16)______

• (7)______UN report (months ago)

• (8)______• Humanity’s pace of destruction

• (9)______(17)______

Situation getting worse! Global health emergency:

In past 20 yrs, date (10)______• 18)______

July 29 = (11)______• 19)______Vocabulary #2: Collocations Match words from the first and second columns to form common collocations:

MARK ECOLOGICAL EVER RELEASE OUR DEMANDS A REPORT AFFECT THE DATE

DESTRUCTIVE MEET DRASTICALLY CONSEQUENCES RESOURCES INCREASING

Now complete the summary of the text using the collocations.

Thanks to our (1)______consumption, the earth cannot provide enough natural resources to (2)______. July 29, 2019 (3)______when we have officially used up all the (4)______that the earth can renew within the year. The

United Nations recently (5)______that warned that our overuse of resources will

(6)______the earth and have (7)______for all of humanity, particularly the world’s poorest people.

Weekly Advanced English Lesson Sunday 11 August, 2019 English Language Inbox 3

Language Focus #1: Present tenses The following sentences are taken from the text. Complete each with the correct present tense verb form: present simple, present continuous (is/am/are + -ing) or present perfect (have/has + past participle). In some cases, more than one option is correct. The underlined adverbs also need to be included.

• As of July 29, humanity (1)______(officially + use up) more ecological resources this year

than the Earth can regenerate by the end of the year.

• The , a organization which (2)______(calculate) the

day, says humanity (3)______(currently + consume) nature 1.75 times faster than the planet

can regenerate.

• And more dioxide (4)______(bring) ever increasing , the network says.

It (5)______(get) worse, too.

• The date (6)______(move up) two months over the past 20 years, and July 29

(7)______(mark) the earliest the date (8)______(ever + ).

• The (9)______(be) one of the worst culprits.

• And, even though poorer countries aren't the ones (10)______(overuse) resources, they are

the ones typically (11)______(pay) the costs.

______Language Focus #2: Conditionals Consider the conditional sentences from the text.

If Earth's resources were a bank account, today would mark the date we'd officially be in the red.

If the entire world's lived like Americans, the organization said, we would need five Earths to meet our demands.

1. Do you know what the name of this conditional form is? 2. What is the meaning of this type of conditional? 3. What is the form? ______Language Focus #3: Parallel structures Now consider these two sentences from the text, which include lists. What can you notice about the grammatical form of the items in the list?

That means we're overspending our , compromising resources in the future as a result and leading to things like and buildup in the atmosphere.

Continuing at the current pace, the report said, would create a global health emergency -- potentially leading to millions of deaths from in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and creating antimicrobial-resistant infections from freshwater pollution.

Weekly Advanced English Lesson Sunday 11 August, 2019 English Language Inbox 4

Listening #1: Watch the France 24 English clip, “Earth Overshoot Day: Planet’s 2019 resources ‘budget’ already spent” and answer the following questions:

1. How long has it taken us to consume everything the earth can replenish in a year?

2. What are three examples of resources we have overused?

3. When was earth overshoot day happen in 1971?

4. When did these countries use up all their resources? 1. Qatar: 2. USA: 3. France: 4. Indonesia: 5. What can we do to reduce emissions?

6. Complete this sentence: We can only push back earth overshoot day by ______if we ______

7. What happened in the week before earth overshoot day?

8. Why is this concerning people?

______Vocabulary #3: Match the words below with their definitions.

1. Extravagance A. To give a religious speech, or to talk in a way that aims to persuade others to 2. Evident believe a particular belief or follow a particular way of B. Done, made or given willingly, without being forced or paid to do it 3. To overrun C. To say again, repeat 4. To diminish D. To reduce or be reduced in size or importance 5. To preach E. Using new methods or ideas 6. On the contrary F. Used to state that the opposite of what was said before is true G. A situation in which something no longer exists 7. H. The situation in which there is more than enough of something 8. Innovative I. Behaviour in which you spend more money than you need to, or expensive 9. Voluntary items that are not necessary 10. Inevitability J. To continue past an intended limit K. Something that is certain to happen 11. Abundance L. Easily seen or understood 12. To reiterate sth

* Which of these words use affixes (suffixes or prefixes)? What do they mean?

Weekly Advanced English Lesson Sunday 11 August, 2019 English Language Inbox 5

Vocabulary #4: Use the words in the following sentences. You may have to change the form of the word to suit the sentence.

1. Many people think that climate change is now an ______rather than just a possibility, and

that the ______of humanity may happen as a result.

2. You should not ______about taking more environmentally friendly actions unless you are

responsible for your own ecological footprint.

3. In developed countries, it’s not difficult for most people to name an ______that they could

live without. However, people are used to having such an ______of possessions that they

might find it difficult to live in a more simple way. Therefore, people need to take steps not to

______their consumption.

4. Right now there are many ______technologies that could help lesson our consumption,

but it is up to businesses and individuals to adopt these solutions.

5. Some people refuse to believe that our planet’s resources will continue to ______.

______, they act as though the earth’s resources are infinite.

6. At the beginning of the article, the author said that it is ______that humans are

responsible for the current environmental crisis. At the end of the article, she ______this

same point by saying that people need to take responsibility for their own actions.

7. Some people think that for changes to work, they have to be enforced by law or policy because people,

companies and governments are unlikely to take ______steps.

*Check the answers in the Members’ Resource Library ______Vocabulary #5: Consider the following idioms and expressions. How do you think they relate to the topic?

TO SEE THE LIGHT THE BOTTOM LINE TO EAT INTO STH TO TURN BACK THE CLOCK IN THE SAME BOAT TO TAKE/BEAR THE BRUNT OF STH TO GET YOUR HEAD AROUND STH

1. I’m struggling to ______Earth Overshoot Day and what it means. 2. We can’t ______but we can try to minimise the damage of our actions. 3. ______is that we all need to take responsibility for our own consumption. 4. Though developed countries consume and pollute the most, developing countries ______of the climate crisis. 5. When it comes to climate change, every citizen of the world is ______. 6. It’s taking some people a long time to ______and realise they need to change their habits. 7. Earth overshoot is like when you have spent your interest and now you are ______your savings.

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Listening #2: Note-taking practice Read the heading and subheading of the news interview you are going to watch. What ideas do you think will be included? Making Earth Overshoot Day: Dr, Jako Volschenk Evidence of humanity’s activities

Calculation of our resource ‘allowance’

Reasons for the date moving forward

The easiest thing we can do

Population control

Addressing inequality between developing and developed nations

The future of business and economic growth

A message to ordinary citizens

Now watch the clip “Making Earth Overshoot Day: Dr, Jako Volschenk” and take notes under the headings.

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Post-Listening Discussion:

• Did anything in these clips surprise you? Explain. • In the second clip, the expert said that there was a chance that these actions could be reversed to an extent. What do you think is the likelihood of Earth Overshoot Day being pushed back in the future? Why? • What did the speaker mean when he said “The world can support everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed”? If this is the case, then why is there such an imbalance in need and consumption now? ______Vocabulary review

The key language from this lesson, as well as other words and expressions from the texts, have been included in a Quizlet list for you to review and practise them.

Go back through the texts and identify new or interesting vocabulary. Then find the link to the list in the in the Members’ Resource Library, or by following us on your Quizlet app. ______Exam-style speaking task: IELTS Part 2

Speak for 1-2 minutes on the following topic. Spend a minute making notes to guide your answer. Make sure you address all parts of the task clearly.

Talk about something you have done to reduce your ecological footprint. You should mention:

- What it was - When you started doing it - Why you started doing it

And explain whether this was an easy or difficult change to make. ______General writing tasks

1. Write a summary of either of the clips or the article (50-100 words) and then your personal opinion and thoughts about the main issues raised (50-100 words). Try to use new vocabulary from this lesson.

2. “The Earth can support everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed” To what extent to you agree or disagree with this statement. ______Exam-style writing task

Some people believe that having fewer children, or not having children at all, is the key to humanity’s survival. Others think that this is the wrong approach.

Discuss both points of view and give your own opinion.

Answer using your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words. ______

Do you want feedback on your speaking or writing? Weekly feedback is included with the Platinum memberships, but you can also ‘buy’ on-off feedback off the website: https:// www.englishlanguageinbox.com/about-our-feedback-and-marking/

Weekly Advanced English Lesson Sunday 11 August, 2019