Vocabulary
Academic Word List
- greenhouse gas
- biodiversity
- renewable
Other Vocabulary
- land-locked
- Copenhagen
- COP21
- flash flood
- lungs
- mountainous
- Bhutan
- glacier
- rural
- national parks
- remain
- dissipate
- maintaining
- replicate
- nature reserves
- neutral
- exacerbating
- degrees
- alpine
- wildlife sanctuaries
Exercise
Please click the Exercise link to continue and do Exercises 1 and 2.
Pre-Reading
Use the questions to begin a discussion. Try to be sure everyone in your group gives their opinion and explains why they hold that opinion before moving on to the next question.
- What is a carbon footprint? What does it mean to be carbon neutral? How about carbon negative?
- How do education, economy, medicine, and natural resources connect within a cultural ecosystem?
Exercise
Please click the Exercise link to continue and do Exercise 3.
Reading
Describing Tables and Graphic Organizers
Deep in the Himalayas, on the border between China and India, lies the Kingdom of Bhutan, which has pledged to remain carbon neutral for all time. In this illuminating talk, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country's mission to put happiness before economic growth and set a world standard for environmental preservation.
Exercise
Imagine you are the leader of a country. Think about what you would want to do in terms of our global climate. Write down your ideas in Exercise 4.
- What would you do for your country?
- What would you do for your city?
- What would you do in your home?
Exercise
Using what you know, predict what you believe the Reading will talk about and write in in two or more complete sentences in Exercise 5.
You will now have 2 minutes to skim and preview the Reading. It is not enough time to go over all of the information in great detail, so be sure you get to the main parts of the whole text. In Exercise 6, take notes on the main ideas and use your notes to make any changes to your prediction you made before.
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