VOCABULARY Practice - Climate Change and Global Warming

Hey there! 
On our Instagram @englishlearningtherapy, we've been talking about climate change and environmental issues. Today I've posted some words related to it and here is some exercise about them. For further practice, read the text below.

1) Choose the best word from the following to complete the sentences below:

carbon dioxide -  greenhouse - weather - fossil fuels - climate - renewable energy - global warming

 

a. The _________ has resulted in ice melting and sea levels rise.

b. Examples of _________ sources include wind power, solar power and bio energy.

c. The main gases responsible for _________ effect include methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor and _________ .

d. My parents like the warm, dry _________  of Arizona.

e. The _________  in the mountains can change very quickly.

Check your answer on the comments.

KEY TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO UNDERSTAND CLIMATE CHANGE

1. CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)

The chemical compound carbon dioxide (also known by its shorthand CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas and driver of climate change. It’s an integral part of life cycles on earth, produced through animal respiration (including human respiration) and absorbed by plants to fuel their growth, to name just two ways. Human activities are drastically altering the carbon cycle in many ways. Two of the most impactful are: one, by burning fossil fuels and adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; and two, by affecting the ability of natural sinks (like forests) to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

2. GREENHOUSE GAS

A greenhouse gas is a chemical compound found in the Earth’s atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other human-made gases. These gases allow much of the solar radiation to enter the atmosphere, where the energy strikes the Earth and warms the surface. Some of this energy is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation. A portion of this outgoing radiation bounces off the greenhouse gases, trapping the radiation in the atmosphere in the form of heat. The more greenhouse gas molecules there are in the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped, and the warmer it will become.

3. EMISSIONS

In the climate change space, emissions refer to greenhouse gases released into the air that are produced by numerous activities, including burning fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and melting permafrost, to name a few. These gases cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, slowly increasing the Earth’s temperature over time.

4. WEATHER VS CLIMATE

It’s all about timing when it comes to differentiating weather and climate. Weather refers to atmospheric conditions in the short term, including changes in temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, brightness, wind, and visibility.

While the weather is always changing, especially over the short term, climate is the average of weather patterns over a longer period of time (usually 30 or more years). So the next time you hear someone question climate change by saying, “You know it’s freezing outside, right?”, you can gladly explain the difference between weather and climate.

 

5. GLOBAL WARMING VS CLIMATE CHANGE

Many people use these two terms interchangeably, but we think it’s important to acknowledge their differences. Global warming is an increase in the Earth’s average surface temperature from human-made greenhouse gas emissions.

On the other hand, climate change refers to the long-term changes in the Earth’s climate, or a region on Earth, and includes more than just the average surface temperature. For example, variations in the amount of snow,  sea levels, and sea ice can all be consequences of climate change.

 

6. FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels are sources of non-renewable energy, formed from the remains of living organisms that were buried millions of years ago. Burning fossil fuels like coal and oil to produce energy is where the majority of greenhouse gases originate. As the world has developed and demand for energy has grown, we’ve burned more fossil fuels, causing more greenhouse gases to be trapped in the atmosphere and air temperatures to rise.

 

7. RENEWABLE ENERGY

Renewable energy is energy that comes from naturally replenished resources, such as sunlight, wind, waves, and geothermal heat. By the end of 2014, renewables were estimated to make up almost 28% of the world’s power generating capacity, enough to supply almost 23% of global electricity. Because renewables don’t produce the greenhouse gases driving climate change, shifting away from fossil fuels to renewables to power our lives will put us on the path to a safe, sustainable planet for future generations.

(Adapted from https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/key-terms-you-need-understand-climate-change)