Reducing our ecological footprint

                                             Reducing our ecological footprint

Life skills objectives

- To learn about carbon footprints and water footprints

- To consider positive action we can take to reduce our ecological footprints.

- To make an action plan to reduce our impact on the environment.

I. Warm up

1. Key concepts. Find out the meaning of the words.

climate change [n]: People are worried about climate change. We are having hotter summers and colder winters.

carbon dioxide emissions [phrase]: The carbon dioxide emissions from old cars are worse than from new cars.

greenhouse gases [phrase]: If we burn fossil fuels, the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase.

fuel-efficient [adj]: Modern cars are more fuel-efficient and use less petrol than before.

charge/recharge (a mobile phone) [v]: My mobile phone has no power, I need to charge it.

2. Work with a partner. Look at these things. Are they bad for the environment? Why / Why not?

II. Main part

1 Reading Work with a partner. Student A: Read text A. Student B: Read text B. Answer the 4 questions about your text. Make notes with your answers.

Text A: Questions

1. What is a carbon footprint?

2. What is the difference between the primary and secondary footprint? Give examples.

3. Does the text mention any of the things in 1? Does it say that each one is good or bad?

4. What does the text say people can do to reduce their carbon footprint?

Text B: Questions

1. What is a water footprint?

2. What is the difference between the primary and secondary footprint? Give examples.

3. Does the text mention any of the things in 1? Does it say that each one is good or bad?

4. What does the text say people can do to reduce their water footprint?

A Carbon footprint.

   Everyone leaves a carbon footprint. It is the impact each person has on the environment through the emission of greenhouse gases.

  Your carbon footprint has two parts: the primary footprint and the secondary footprint The primary footprint shows the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that you are directly responsible for. Examples are the emissions produced by travelling and using electricity. The secondary footprint shows the emissions that you are indirectly responsible for. These include things like the emissions produced when factories make the things that you buy. All of these carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming. The size of your carbon footprint depends on many things. How you spend your free time is one of the most important. Do you watch TV

and play video games or do you read or do sport outdoors? Do you fly when you go on holiday? If you do, your footprint will be much larger than if you go by train. Rail travel is three times more fuel-efficient than air travel. Where your food comes from will also affect your secondary footprint. Processed and packaged meat has a bigger impact on the environment.

   You may think that you are not responsible for any emissioins because your parents do all the shopping and decide a lot of things at home. And it’s true that your school is responsible for the things you do there.

   But you can suggest ways to change their habits. You can also watch less TV, switch off the light when leaving a room and unplug a mobile phone when it has finished charging. Each small action will help make your footprint smaller.

B Water footprint 

    Water is essential in our daily lives. But sometimes the size of our water footprint is shocking. It shows the amount of water a person uses, directly or indirectly, every day.

All day we use water directly. This is our primary footprint. This includes the water we drink, the water we need for a shower or the water we use to wash the dishes. But what about the water that we use indirectly; the water used to produce, grow or make the things we buy? This is our secondary footprint, and sometimes it is much bigger than we think. After all, 70% of the world’s fresh water is used for agriculture so the things we eat can make a big difference. And, to make almost anything, from a computer to a T-shirt, you need water. Here are some facts that may make you think about how much water we use in a day.

• Brushing your teeth uses about seven and a half litres of water.
• It takes approximately 1,286 litres of water to produce a loaf of bread. But it takes about 2,310 litres to produce a 150g steak!
• An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 40 litres of water. Washing dishes by hand can use up to 75 litres.
• A typical individual in the United States uses 500 litres of water each day. But over 1 billion people in the world use less than 6 litres of water per day.
• The average toilet uses 8 litres of clean water each time you use it

2 Speaking  Use your notes in 2 to explain to your partner what carbon and water footprints are.

3 Work in a small group. Make a list of ideas about how your school could reduce its carbon and water footprints.

reduce the paper we use – recycle it

4 Listen to students talking about their ideas for reducing carbon and water footprints at their school. Do they mention any of your ideas in 4?

5 Complete each sentence with one or two words. Listen again if necessary.

1. At the school they have abox for ..................................... and one for reusing all their old paper.

2. You need ....................... litres of water to make a sheet of paper.

3. They also recycle ......................... and ............................... at the school now.

4. People were wasting water and ............................ towels in the washrooms.

5. They wrote ‘Every ......................... thing helps!’ on their posters.

6. In the past, everybody ......................... to switch the lights off at the end of the day.

7. You need 10,000 litres of water to make a light bulb shine for ............ hours.

The key to Ex. 5

1 recycling                                     4 paper                       7  12

2 11                                                5 little

3 cans and plastic bottles               6 forgot

6 How many of the things in 5 and 6 do you already do at your school?

III. Summing up.

Homework - You want to let other teenagers know about ecological footprints and what changes they can make to reduce their footprint at school. In groups prepare a poster or video with ideas about how to do this.

Follow this plan:

1 Make a list of ideas for things you can do in your school life to reduce your footprints. Use the ideas in the texts and in the video. Add your own ideas and search for others on the Internet.

2 Decide if you are going to make a video or a poster.

3 Organise your ideas in a logical way. Think about how you are going to persuade other students to make changes.

4 Make your video / poster.

5 Show it to the class.