PART II: The Solutions

What on Earth can we do?

Now that you understand the challenges the Earth faces it is time to focus on the practical things we can do in our daily lives to help protect our planet. In other words, in this section you will learn how to become "greener". Let's start with a controversial debate...

Task 7: Environmental Debate

In two groups, you are now going to have a debate but first we need to prepare. Your teacher will tell you if you are for (affirmative side/proposition) or against (negative side/opposition) the motion:

"This House believes that protecting economic growth in developing countries should take priority over protecting the environment."

The Debating in English handout will give you useful expressions and phrases to help you with your speech. You can also get ideas from this website but write your speech in your own words as much as possible.

Task 8: Recycle City and the Garbage Game

With your partner, try to complete the worksheet as accurately as you can by visiting the different areas of Recycle City. As always, you will find the worksheet under the handouts page. Alternatively, you can try this cool garbage game and see how green you really are: http://www.gothamgazette.com/games/garbage.php 
Finally, you can check out this really cool  powerpoint on recycling and guess what the really images are.

Task 9: Ethical Man
Watch this very entertaining video of one BBC report, Justin Rowlatt, who agrees to the challenge of trying to reduce his carbon footprint by going green for one whole year, much to the annoyance of his wife and young family. Fill in the accompanying worksheet under the handouts page.

Task 10: Lobbying (letter to your mayor)

You are not satisfied with how environmentally-friendly your home town/city is. Write a polite and formal 400 word (approx.) letter to the mayor of your city complaining about the current state of your city and suggesting practical ways to make it more sustainable and "greener". You can include as many ideas from Recycle City as you want. Your letter should include the following details:

a)    Your address on right (fictional/not real!)
b)    The date (below your address)

c)    Mayor’s address on left (fictional)

d)    Opening (e.g. Dear Mayor Wong,)

e)    Introduction (explaining reason for writing)

f)    Body (complaining about the current state of the city and suggesting ideas to make your city more environmentally-friendly; use a new paragraph for each major point)

g)    Conclusion (requesting immediate/urgent action be taken)

h)    Closing (e.g. Yours sincerely,)

Before you begin your letter, you may wish to take a look at this handy table which includes some of the most useful and common expressions that you'll need for letting writing in English. Remember that formal letters have a certain fixed format so take a look at this guide and that guide first. After that, why not try practising using these new words and phrases with this fun letter writing exercise? Finally, there is a worksheet which provides some useful vocabulary for the two different styles of writing. OK, now you are ready to write a really good letter to the mayor. Good luck!

OK, now it's time to see how much you've remembered! Test your knowledge on the basic issues related to environmental protection by filling in this final quick quiz. Your score is out of 25 points. Good luck and don't forget to be greeeeeen!

CONCLUSION

By the end of these 10 tasks, we hope that students will have come to understand the key issues that surround climate change and consider what changes they can make to their lives to try to minimise the impact of their actions on the environment. We believe that the ample range of activities (webquests, videos, debate, composition) will not only facilitate a better overall view of the topic but also allow the students to enjoy themselves in the process.

Still want more??
You can get more information and all the latest news about environmental issues on the websites listed on the Internet Resources page.