The words to be studied in 1.5:
global warming глобальное потепление
temperature температура
climate change изменение климата
greenhouse gases парниковые газы
external наружный; внешний
internal внутренний
efficient результативный; эффективный
safe безопасный
population growth рост населения
transportation перевозка; транспортные средства
consumption потребление
to consume потреблять
to reverse менять; изменять на прямо противоположное
to vary изменять; варьировать
to reduce понижать; снижать
to make a difference положительно повлиять; сделать доброе дело; принести пользу
to eliminate уничтожать; ликвидировать
to cut (down) сокращать
to cut down trees вырубать деревья
to unplug выдернуть вилку из розетки; отключить
to power питать (электро)энергией
to recycle повторно использовать; возвращать в оборот (отходы производства)
Exercise 1. Have you ever heard about global warming and climate changing? What do you think they are? What or who is responsible for climate changing? Is it a man-made phenomenon or not? Write down your answers.
When answering you can use:
I think global warming is … .
I guess climate changing is … .
… is/are responsible for global warming/climate changing.
Exercise 2. Read the article about climate changing. Compare your answers with the given information. Were you right?
Climate Change: Who is to Blame?
The phrase global warming refers to the documented historical warming of the Earth's surface based upon worldwide temperature records that have been maintained by humans since the 1880s. The term global warming is often used synonymously with the term climate change, but the two terms have distinct meanings. Global warming is the combined result of anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions of greenhouse gases and changes in solar irradiance. Climate change refers to any change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the average and/or the variability of its properties (e.g., temperature, precipitation), and that persists for a long period, typically decades or longer.
Actually, a lot of people consider climate changing as a modern and new man-made phenomenon. Partly it is. Scientific research methods show that the Earth's average temperature has varied many times as much as 10°C together with changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
Nowadays there are three types of factors influencing the climate and its changing. They are called forcing factors. Forcing factors are environmental processes that influence the Earth's climate. They may be external to Earth and its atmosphere or may be internal to the planet and its atmosphere. Also there is a human factor.
External forcing factors are processes external to the Earth and its atmosphere that influence Earth's climate. They include galactic variations, orbital variations, and sunspots.
Factors internal to the Earth and its atmosphere that influence climate include: plate tectonic movements, volcanism, albedo, atmospheric composition, ocean circulation, and climate anomalies spread over long distances.
But human factors such as population growth, consumption per person, and values have become a major influence on Earth's climate.
Exercise 3. Read the following sentences. Correct the mistakes:
1) People started to keep the temperature records since the 11th century.
2) There are two factors that influence the Earth’s climate: external and internal ones.
3) The Earth's average temperature has never changed before.
4) The galaxy and the sun are not influencing the Earth at all.
5) Ocean, atmosphere and volcanoes can affect only the temperature.
Exercise 4. Read some solutions of global warming problem. While reading, complete the table. Use a dictionary:
What You Can Do About Global Warming
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Actions taken by politicians, governments, countries |
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Actions taken by companies |
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Actions taken by you and your friends. |
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