Youtube Exercise » English Grammar Homework

B2-C1

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

Big Think

881K views 2 years ago

Warm-up Questions

When you hear the title, what do you think “the news won’t tell you” might mean about climate change?
Do you expect this video to be more hopeful or more alarming? Why?
What kinds of “data” do you think a scientist might use to talk about climate change?

Up Next

Interchange 2 (1. What do you miss most?) Innovation Development
READING EXPLORER 1 UNIT 1A THE INCREDIBLE DOLPHIN Royal English Centre
Landline phones are making a comeback WUSA9
Game Night – Pictionary (Guys vs Girls) ~ The Big Bang Theory ~ Wozamil
What the Bilingual Brain Can Teach Us About Code-Switching New York University

Start With: Word Definition

Order: Alphabetical Random

…

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

Feeling doomed vs. looking at data (00:00 – 01:00)

Transcript will load here…

1. What emotion does the speaker say many people feel about the planet today?

Doomed
Bored
Proud
Confused

2. What does the speaker suggest people should do to better understand whether problems are solvable?

Move to the countryside
Read more headlines every day
Switch off the news and look at the data
Wait for politicians to act first

3. What is the speaker’s main claim in this introduction?

Only scientists can solve climate change
Technology will automatically fix everything
The challenges are big and urgent, but solvable
Climate change is not a serious problem

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

Four target areas: energy, transport, food, construction (01:00 – 10:42)

Transcript will load here…

1. Which four areas does the speaker say we need to target to solve climate change?

Education, healthcare, tourism, and banking
Forests, oceans, cities, and space
Sports, music, art, and culture
Energy, transport, food, and construction

2. According to the speaker, about how long does it take (in the UK example) for an electric car to pay off its manufacturing “carbon debt” for the average driver?

It never pays it off
About 2 months
About 10 years
About 2 years

3. In the section about food, what does the speaker say is our biggest land footprint?

Farming
Urban landscapes and roads
Wind farms
Airports

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

Sponsor message and closing invitation (10:42 – 12:43)

Transcript will load here…

1. What is the sponsor that the host promotes?

A car company
A news channel
Skillshare
A climate charity

2. What kind of content does the host say the video was filled with?

Travel tips
Data visualizations
Cooking recipes
Comedy sketches

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

Transcript will load here…

1. What is the speaker’s overall message about climate change solutions?

Only individual lifestyle changes matter
Solutions exist, but we must act and make them affordable and scalable
Only planting trees can work
The problems are too big to solve

2. Why does the speaker emphasize “cost competitive” energy and materials?

Because governments are not allowed to regulate prices
Because cost does not matter in climate policy
Because cheaper options always have higher emissions
Because expensive options will slow adoption and progress

3. What does “urgent optimist” mean in the video?

Someone who is hopeful but believes improvement requires action
Someone who thinks technology is dangerous
Someone who ignores environmental problems
Someone who assumes the future will be better automatically

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

What the news won't tell you about climate change | Hannah Ritchie, PhD

The speaker suggests switching off the news and looking at data. Do you agree that news can make problems feel more “insurmountable”? Why or why not?
Which sector (energy, transport, food, construction) do you think is the hardest to decarbonize in your country? Explain.
How persuasive do you find the argument that renewables and electric vehicles can be “cost competitive”? What evidence would you want to see?
What does “urgent optimism” look like in everyday life (at school, work, or in your community)? Give an example.