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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

DOUBTING
CLIMATE
CHANGE
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1C1D-B3NB-EX23

1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Do you think climate scientists agree on the causes of climate change? Why/why not?
2. What are the advantages of using fossil fuels?
3. What are the disadvantages of using fossil fuels?

2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

1. biased (adj.) a. being in favour of one side of an argument in a way that is

not balanced or fair
2. devastate (v) b. a very careful and detailed examination of something

3. dissolve (v) c. a person who studies living things, such as plants, animals
and birds
4. lobby (v) d. a chemical used to kill animals or insects which cause
problems
5. naturalist (n) e. end a business officially

6. pesticide (n) f. a person who does not believe something is true even
though most people do
7. sceptic (n) g. completely destroy something

8. scrutiny (n) h. try and get the government to change or keep laws that help
a company or group of people

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Part B: Complete the following sentences with different parts of speech or forms from the same word
family as the Part A word in brackets.

1. News organisations need to do more to remove from their articles when discussing
political events. (biased)

2. The hurricane caused widespread across most of the region. (devastate) v.

3. Having faced financial problems for some time, the of the company was certain.
(dissolve) v.

4. After leaving his job as a senator in Washington DC, he worked as a for an

environmental organisation. (lobby)

5. I’m allergic to man-made materials, so I have to wear clothes made from materials
like cotton and wool. (naturalist)

6. I’ve had a problem with eating my vegetables in the garden. I think it’s probably
mice or insects. I’m not sure what to do about it. (pesticide)

7. All of my friends love social media, but I’m very about it. I think it does more harm
than good. (sceptic)

8. When you’ve finished your writing, you need to your work looking for grammar
and spelling mistakes, as well as errors in punctuation. (scrutiny)

Now complete the gaps in the article on page four with vocabulary from Part A. You may have to
change the form of the word.

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3 Collocations
Complete the gaps in the following sentences with an appropriate preposition which collocates with
the verb in bold.

1. When there is an increase in industry, it often leads an increase in pollution and

harm to the environment.

2. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II regularly feature lists of the best films
of the 20th Century.

3. It’s difficult to know what to say climate change. It’s a very complicated problem.

4. As a result of pollution in the water, many people in the area suffer severe health
problems.

5. Rather than seeing mistakes as a failure, it’s important to learn them and improve.

6. The organisation’s work was aimed reducing the number of lives lost to disease
and hunger.

7. I will arrange someone to meet you at the airport and take you to the hotel.

8. Representatives for the company argued a pay increase, saying that the salary
was already higher than average.

Now quickly read through the article on page four and underline examples of your answers.

4 Reading comprehension
Read the following statements and decide if they are true (T), false (F), Or not given (NG).

1. Silent Spring was written after the Environmental Protection Agency was created.

2. E. Bruce Harrison didn’t agree with the claims made by Rachel Carson.

3. Before he worked for the chemical companies, Harrison worked in politics.

4. Harrison’s attacks on Carson changed the public opinion about her work.

5. The Global Climate Coalition was created to increase environmental protections.

6. The problem with environmental regulations was that they would have increased unemployment.

7. At the time, the number of climate scientists who believed climate change was created by humans
were in the minority.

8. The result of Harrison’s work was that it is still much harder to protect the environment from
industries which pollute it.

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Creating doubt
The work of E Bruce Harrison

A. On September 27th, 1962, a book called Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published. It detailed the negative
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results that the use of were having on the environment and the human population. Nowadays,
this information sounds obvious, but it’s important to remember that at the time there was very little focus on
protecting nature. It was a key part of the rise of environmentalism and led to the creation of the Environmental
Protection Agency in the United States. The book is regularly featured in lists of the best books of the 20th
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Century, and David Attenborough, the famous broadcaster and , said that it was probably the
book which had had the most effect on the scientific world since Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

B. Not everyone had good things to say about the book though. Companies dealing with chemicals, such as Monsanto
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and Shell, were suddenly under greater public and political . It was around this time that E. Bruce
Harrison, a Public Relations officer was given the first ever job of Environmental Information Manager. Harrison
had recently left a job as press secretary in Washington DC to work for the chemical industry. His connections
in business and politics proved useful as his first job was to manage the bad publicity caused by Rachel Carson’s
book. They attacked her for being a woman; for not being a scientist (the need to earn money to support family
members had cut her degree in Biology short); and said that because she suffered from cancer, her work was
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. It didn’t work and the scientific community still has a great deal of respect for the book. But
Harrison learnt lessons from the experience.

C. He went on to successfully secure a PR contract for the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). This was a group formed
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to for the fossil fuel industry, as, just like the chemical industry, they were coming up against
environmental regulations and an increasingly poor public image. Harrison and his team framed the impact of
climate policies in the context of how it would affect employment, prices of basic needs and trade. They also did
considerable work to convince the public that the science behind regulations aimed at protecting the environment
wasn’t fully decided. The majority of climate scientists were in agreement that humans were the cause of climate
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change, but not all. These in the minority were paid $1,500 per article to give their views and
had tours of local TV and radio stations were arranged for them. The media, always hungry to hear both sides of
an argument, were happy to give them the opportunity to have their say.

D. The effect of this work caused severe difficulty for people pushing for controls on industry to benefit the climate.
Despite the climate scientists who argued against the need for reform being a much smaller percentage, the public
saw scientists as divided over the issue. That, together with the threat of higher prices and loss of jobs made it
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much more difficult to get public support. The GCC has since and Harrison died in 2021. Yet in
the years since their work, it continues to divide people as the world grows increasingly warmer and the effects
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of climate change lives across the globe.

Sources: BBC News, The Nation, O’Dwyer’s, Wikipedia

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5 Listening for gist

Listen to the following speakers talk about climate change. Match the speakers to the questions they
are answering. Not all of the questions are used.

1. Speaker 1 a. Do you think climate change will always be a problem?

2. Speaker 2 b. Do you think climate change is caused by humans?

3. Speaker 3 c. What do you do to help the environment?

4. Not used d. What do you think we can do about climate change?

5. Not used e. What can the government do to fight climate change?

6 Listening comprehension
Complete the table by ticking the correct box to answer the questions.

Who ... Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3

a. disagreed with
friends about the
environment?

b. isn’t able to travel

locally using public
transport?

c. is married?

d. actively tries to
reduce their use of
plastic?

e. is optimistic about
the future?

f. knows people who

work in the fossil fuel
industry?

g. enjoys visiting
foreign countries?

h. doesn’t trust
scientific opinion?

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7 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Which of the speakers from the listening exercise do you agree with most? Why?
2. Who do you think can have the biggest effect on climate change: individuals, governments, or
industry? Why?
3. What is your view on the causes of climate change? Why do you think this?
4. What is your view about the work of E. Bruce Harrison? Why do you think this?

8 Extended activity/Homework

Read the question.

The damage caused by fossil fuels to the climate and our environment shows that we must
end their use as quickly as possible for humans to be able to survive. Renewable energy is
the only way forward.

To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

You should:
• Write at least 250 words
• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation

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