How to talk about CLIMATE CHANGE in English

- How do you talk about climate change in English

and with confidence?

Let's find out.

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Hello, this is Keith from English Speaking Success.

And also, if you didn't know,

I run the website Keith Speaking Academy.

Nice to see you here.

Hoping to, well, help you speak better English,

give better answers and get a higher score

on IELTS Speaking.

So today I'm going to take you on a rather quick tour

of the key language you need to speak about climate change.

We're gonna look at five things.

You're going to learn key terminology,

some advance collocations,

some useful verbs, some nice phrasal verbs

and five, some idiomatic expressions.

It doesn't get any better.

Let's do it.

Right, let's dig in first with some terminology.

First one, of course, climate change.

Of course.

This is the longterm change to the weather

and the temperature in the world.

We're getting more extreme weather.

Storms and flooding and so on.

And of course, global warming,

as the planet gets warmer or hotter.

Number two, CO2.

Not CEO.

CO2 is carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide is one of the gasses,

it's one of the greenhouse gasses

that contributes to global warming and climate change.

It's kind of seen as the baddy.

The not good gas.

That is part of the problem.

The next one, carbon emissions.

Difficult to say.

Carbon emissions.

Can you say it?

Great.

So carbon emissions is how much carbon we put

into the atmosphere.

So when we burn fossil fuels like oil, gas, coal,

then what happens is we're putting CO2 into the air.

This is the damage we do.

Of course there are also natural carbon emissions.

For example, from breathing or decomposition as well.

Next one, carbon footprint.

You know when you walk on the sand, you leave a footprint

in the sand and you can see where you've been?

Carbon footprint is the same idea.

It's how much CO2 you put into the atmosphere.

And from your activities, like using electricity,

maybe taking a plane somewhere, or driving your car,

we can see how much CO2 you're putting out.

That's your carbon footprint.

It can apply to a person, to a company,

to an event.

The carbon footprint.

Next, carbon neutral.

The idea here is that when the CO2 we put

into the environment is the same as the CO2

we take out of the environment

that it's carbon neutral, it's level.

So for example, if you're driving your car

to your friend's house,

you're putting CO2 into the atmosphere from your car,

the fuel from the car.

However, if when you get to your friend's house

you plant a tree,

the tree will be taking in CO2 and that can balance out,

so you're carbon neutral.

Clever, hey?

Although, your friend's gonna end up with a lot of trees

in his garden.

Next, net zero emissions.

To be honest, it's the same as carbon neutral.

So all of the big governments around the world

are now striving to have net zero emissions.

So that at the end of the day what they put out

and bring in is gonna be the same.

So there's no extra CO2 causing climate change.

So you'll hear governments talking

about net zero commitments.

They have a net zero commitment to be carbon neutral

in the near future.

So we all have to reduce our carbon footprints.

Well, there's things that governments could do,

there's things individuals can do.

That's the topic for another video.

Finally, renewable energy.

So we've got energy that comes from things like coal,

gas, these fossil fuels,

that once we've used them, boom, they're gone.

We can't renew them, we can't use them again.

However, things like the sun, water and the wind,

we can get energy from these sources

and they are renewable because we could use them again.

Renewable energy.

So, energy from the sun we call solar energy.

Energy from water we call hydro energy.

And energy from the wind we call wind energy.

There are others like geothermal,

but without getting too complex, that's the main thing.

Renewable energies, that's what we're all talking about.

That's what we're all striving for.

Well, most of us.

Great, terminology done.

Let's move on.

Okay, let's look now at advanced collocations.

So when you listen to governments and activists

and organizations talk about climate change,

you're gonna hear these kind of collocations.

They're used a lot.

Very, very important.

First of all, let's look at some words and collocations

that use the idea of big.

Something is big.

Now, people don't say it's a big challenge.

Because well, you go, okay, well,

passing IELTS is a big challenge.

So in order to make people wake up

and to capture their attention,

often politicians and journalists use different words.

They will say,

"Climate change is an unsurmountable challenge."

Unsurmountable, means you cannot get over it.

It's an unsurmountable challenge.

Can you say that?

An unsurmountable challenge.

Right.

People could say, well it has a big impact, right.

Deforestation, that's cutting down trees,

have a big impact.

Okay.

Or, it has a serious impact.

Much more powerful.

Deforestation has a serious impact.

We could also say there's a big need to do that.

Well, yes, I mean there's a big need to go running

in the evening and get fit.

But, talking about climate change, there's an urgent need.

You hear this all the time.

There's an urgent need for us

to reduce our carbon footprint.

Can you say that?

There's an urgent need for us

to reduce our carbon footprint.

Lovely.

Good.

Another one for big is, well, a big change, right.

We need to make a big change.

Well, that's not very exciting.

No, we need to make a drastic change.

This sense of it's more than big, it has to be radical.

We need to make a drastic change.

Lovely, great.

So we looked at big, what about easy?

Now often we see other words for easy.

I'm just gonna throw one at you.

And instead of saying, there is no easy solution,

you often hear, "There is no straightforward solution."

Straightforward solution.

Can you say?

Great.

So there is no straightforward solution to climate change.

Okay.

There are some nice nifty collocations.

Let's move on.

Okay, let's look now at four useful verbs

to talk about climate change, with confidence.

I'm going to test you first to see what you say

and then we'll look at the answer.

There are different possibilities so let's have a look.

The first one is, to blank a target.

What would you say?

Right.

So the most common is probably, "To reach a target."

Here's your target and you reach the target.

If you listen to people talking at CoP26,

the big climate change conference,

they're talking about the urgent need

to reach the 1.5 target.

That is to limit global warming, the planet's surface

to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

So to reach a target, you could say to hit a target,

to attain a target or to achieve a target.

All of those are fine.

Number two, to blank solutions.

Okay, now you may talk about to find solutions.

But I'm thinking not only to find,

but to implement solutions, right.

So, we talk about implementing solutions.

You could also say, to put into place solutions.

Okay.

So it's not only finding but it's making it happen.

That's the key thing.

Next one, number three.

To blank sustainable.

Yeah, this one is a straightforward answer.

To become sustainable, right.

So we need our industries to become sustainable.

We need our lifestyle to become sustainable.

Something that can carry on for a long time

without causing harm or damage.

Okay, last but not least.

To blank emissions.

There are different possibilities

but if we're talking about climate change,

then we're probably talking about to reduce emissions.

You could say to lower emissions, to cut back on emissions.

The other interesting one is to offset emissions.

Do you remember the friend with all the trees in his garden?

Right?

What's happening there is, you're driving the car,

you're doing something that's having a negative impact.

You're planting the tree as a positive impact.

So when you balance a negative and a positive,

then you offset the negative with the positive.

So there are lots of carbon offset schemes now

where you can offset emissions by doing something positive

for the environment, I mean.

Okay, great.

Nice, useful verbs.

Let's move on.

Right, next up, phrasal verbs.

I've got four phrasal verbs for you.

A phrasal verb, by the way, is a verb plus a particle

or an adverbial particle or a preposition.

Like in, on, out, under, away, from.

And often the phrasal verb is a bit idiomatic.

So the words don't mean exactly the same.

For example, to cut down a tree, right

is to cut down a tree.

It's very clear what it means.

But to cut down on smoking,

doesn't mean you're cutting your cigarettes.

It's more idiomatic.

It means to reduce how much you smoke.

So that's the first one, right.

To cut down on coal.

We need to cut down on coal means to reduce.

Cut down on how much coal we use.

We need to cut down on our use of fossil fuels, for example.

Cut down on.

Number two, very similar meaning, right, to reduce.

Cut back on.

We need to cut back on coal.

We need to cut back on coal production.

Nice.

Number three also means to reduce but to do it slowly.

Phase out.

There's an urgent need to phase out our use of carbon,

for example.

Lastly, we've got to give up something.

Meaning to stop doing it or having it.

We need to give up our way of life.

Give up.

Give up.

We need to give up our way of life.

We need to give up our excessive use of coal,

water and fossil fuels, for example.

Okay, I said this was a whirlwind tour.

A very quick tour.

Let's move on next to some idiomatic expressions.

So let's look at some idiomatic expressions.

First of all, do your bit.

To do your bit, means to make your contribution.

To do something that is expected of you, right.

So when it comes to climate change,

you can do your bit by eating less meat,

by driving less frequently,

by taking the bicycle instead.

A similar expression is to play your part.

You could play your part by turning off the lights

when you leave the room.

Next one, kick the can down the road.

Now a can, maybe a can like this, is a can of a drink.

When you kick the can down the road,

it means you're delaying making a difficult decision.

When Greta Thunberg went into the UN Climate Change Meeting

and she said, "How dare you?"

Because she knew that governments around the world

were kicking the can down the road.

They were delaying the decision to act on climate change.

Kick the can down the road.

Can you say that?

Lovely.

Next one, to grapple with an issue.

We are grappling with this issue,

but it's difficult to solve.

So to grapple with an issue or a problem

or a difficulty is to try hard to solve it.

But it's very difficult.

So governments around the world are grappling

with the issue of climate change.

Nice.

Next one.

Face a problem head on.

Head on.

Here's the problem.

So instead of looking kind of to the side,

head on, face the problem head on,

means to directly try to handle or deal with a problem.

So you may find with problems that we often try

to avoid them or ignore them.

What we should do is face the problem head on

and solve it.

Implement solutions.

Next one, to put our heads in the sand

or to put your head in the sand.

Or if it's me, I'm putting my head in the sand.

It comes from the famous bird, the ostrich,

who, we think, puts its head in the sand

and it means to ignore a situation.

I think you have this expression in several other languages.

So, sometimes governments are accused

of putting their head in the sand

when they refuse to talk about climate change.

Don't put your head in the sand.

Look up, face the problem head on.

The last expression is to make a dent in a problem.

To make a dent in a problem means

to have a small impact, not enough.

We often say, "We can't even make a dent in this problem."

We can't even make a dent in this problem.

It means we can't have any impact,

we can't reduce it.

Again, let me take my can, thank you Guinness.

Not sponsoring.

But if I take a hammer and my can,

then I dent the can.

Can you see that?

But that doesn't solve the problem.

It's just a very small impact.

So, I can't make a dent in the problem.

I can't even have a small impact.

I can't reduce it.

If we don't do something.

If we don't take drastic action to make drastic change,

then we're not even gonna make a dent in the problem

of climate change.

That's it.

Lots of expressions, verbs, collocations

and things like that to help you speak with more confidence

on the topic of climate change.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

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about viewing upcoming videos in the near future.

In the meantime, go check out my website,

Keith Speaking Academy.

If you're preparing for IELTS,

it's a goldmine full of interesting stuff.

See you soon, my friends.

Take care, bye bye.

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