Hello. I'm Gill at engVid. And, today, we have a lesson on some
vocabulary, and it's all connected with climate change.
So, if you... you probably know a lot about this subject
already, but if English isn't your first language, then this
might be useful for you to teach you some of the main terms which
are used in English to do with climate change, which is also
called "global warming", because the problem is that the
temperature is rising gradually, but... but definitely. So,
"climate change" is to do with global warming; the temperature
rising. Okay. And one of the main reasons for it is that for
many years now, we've been using what are called "fossil fuels",
which are things like oil and gas, and coal. And I think
caught... coal goes back a very long time, more than 100 years,
and causes a lot of air pollution. Okay. So, the "fossil
fuels" are the things we... we need to try to stop using, and
to stop... especially mining for coal; no more digging coal out
of the ground, and burning it for... for power. Okay? Because
all of those produce CO2, which is the chemical formula for
carbon dioxide, which goes into the atmosphere, and it just
makes things warm up even more, what are called "greenhouse
gases". If you think of a greenhouse, which is a sort of
glasshouse that you grow things in — things like tomatoes,
fruit, other plants that like a warm atmosphere — so in a
greenhouse, which is made of glass, that... the glass, and
the light, and the sunlight coming through the glass helps
to keep it warm inside. So, that's why we have this kind of
metaphor: "greenhouse" to describe the kind of gases, such
as CO2, which contribute to global warming. Okay?
So, all of this is described as a "threat to human life",
meaning human life is in danger because of all this climate
change which is going on. And not just to human life, but also
the last of species, which can either be plants, or animals, or
things like the coral reefs under the sea. A lot of those
different species are becoming extinct; coral reefs are sort of
disappearing. So, all these things that we're losing — it's
not a good thing for the environment. Okay. So, and one
term that's used — a result of climate change — is "extreme
weather", which can be all sorts of extremes. It can either be
too wet or too dry... so... too hot. I think too cold — I don't
think that's one of the extremes so much, but definitely things
getting too hot. "Heatwaves" — when you have a very high
temperature, more than 40 degrees temperature. Some
countries are going into 50 degrees, so that's called a
"heatwave" when it's so hot, you can hardly go outside; you can't
walk, you might feel faint, you might collapse because it's so
hot. So, "heatwaves". This word is pronounced: "drought". It's a
strange spelling, but a "drought" is when there is no
water; there's no rainfall., so everything dries up, and you
can't grow crops, things like that. So "drought", but then the
opposite: "storms" where you have heavy rainfall. So, those
are the extremes — very dry or very wet. Storms, "hurricanes",
when you have a very strong wind coming. And then because... if
it's very dry and hot, it... you're more likely to get
"wildfires", which are fires that might just start for no
reason. Or it may be somebody has thrown a match on the ground
and the grass has started to burn, and the fire spreads. But
sometimes a fire can just start almost on its own, and then they
spread in an area with a lot of trees. The trees are very dry.
In places like Australia, California — there are very
often wildfires, and the fires just spread and spread. If the
trees are there, the fires will just spread. And people with
houses in those areas, they often lose their homes; their
homes burn down as well. Okay, so that's "wildfires". If it
does rain very heavily, you get "floods". So, people go out and
they... they... they're having... they've got water
coming up to their knees or even higher, or they can't go out at
all because the water is so high. So, "floods".
And scientists think that even "volcanic eruptions"... if you
think there are a lot more "volcanic eruptions" nowadays;
if you think: "Oh, there seems to be another volcanic eruption
every... every few months. Is it more than usual?" Scientists
think that even volcanic eruptions could be a result of
global warming. It's a theory, I think at the moment, but it's
partly to do with the... if there were glaciers on the
mountain, the... the ice, the glazier — a big sheet of ice —
if that melts, and they do melt, the weight of the glacier
pressing on the volcanoes possibly helps to stop the
volcano erupting. But if the weight of the glacier has gone,
there is less weight pressing down, and that may be part of
the, you know... likelihood of an eruption. So, that's another
thing. So, "rising sea levels" — the sea rising, partly with ice
melt... melting. And then, if you have smaller islands, in
places like the Pacific Ocean, there are a lot of little, small
islands — they could disappear completely if the sea level
comes up high enough; islands will be just lost. So, the
melting ice is... a lot of it is in the North Pole, the Arctic,
and the South Pole, the Antarctic. And it's the melting
ice, and very big pieces of ice break off and float around in
the sea, and gradually melt. And they're helping to raise the
level of the sea, which is another danger. Okay. And then
the other way is, again... so, if... if there's... if it's very
dry, what used to be farmland where people grow crops for
food, the farmland could go very dry and turn into a desert. So,
it... it may have looked very green at one time, and then you
see it looks sort of yellow or brown, and you can't grow
anything there unless you have water to water it with
regularly. So, farmland becoming desert, then you can't grow
crops, so that will then lead to food shortage; not enough food
for everybody. Okay.
So, you may wonder: "Well, what can we do about it? What...?
What are the contributing factors?" Well, two of them are
to do with transport and things that we do at home. So,
transport, traveling by plane, by car adds a lot to the global
warming because of the fuel that's being used. If, you
know... the planes have fossil fuels to... to power them. And
cars have either diesel or petrol, which is fossil fuel
again. And there's a trend now to make a lot more electric
cars, where that will be less harmful to the environment.
Okay. But then if... if you avoid planes and cars, and go
use public transport instead, or walk, if you don't have too far
to go, then that's one thing that... that can be done. Okay.
And then at home, household appliances, electrical
equipment, heating, the heating in your house. If it's... if
it's gas, then it's... it's a fossil fuel. And then, if your
house doesn't have... or your home doesn't have insulation, if
the... if the heat that you have in the house can escape through
cracks in the window, or in the door — if it's drafty, so you
have to turn the heating up to keep warm — then that's a bad
thing. So, another good thing that we can do is insulation,
for example, double glazing for windows; two sheets of glass in
the window, rather than one, and... and things like that.
Okay, so... so that's just a very short summary, really, of
climate change, global warming, and some of the vocabulary
connected with it. So, I hope that's been helpful for you. And
there will be a quiz on this, so please go to www.engvid.com and
try the quiz. And see you again soon. Okay. Bye for now.