Climate change: Are there too many people? (Medium)

Introduction

What do you think is the biggest cause of climate change? We’ll be discussing the controversial link between overpopulation and climate change – and whether the size of your carbon footprint depends on where in the world you were born.

This week’s question

How many people are there in the world today? Is it:

a) seven billion?
b) eight billion?
c) nine billion?

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

carbon footprint
measurement of how much carbon dioxide is produced by someone’s everyday activities

crunch (the) numbers
perform many mathematical calculations involving large amounts of data and numbers

mod cons (= modern conveniences)
technology and machines like cars, washing-machines, air-conditioning and fridges which make life easier and more pleasant

affluence
having lots of money or owning many material possessions

apologetic
showing that you feel sorry for something harmful you have said or done

let your heart rule your head
(idiom) do something based on emotion or personal desires rather than for logical or practical reasons

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Cloze Test

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15,DhaganNeilSamTheactuallyandanother
aroundbiggestbillionbycantconveniencescruncheddioxideemissions
high-incomeitjudgmentallargeletlookingmattersoroverconsumptionpeopleproduceprogrammeshouldsomeonesthethingsthistwoyouyour

Neil

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. Im Neil.

Sam

And Im Sam.

Were talking about the environment in this programme, specifically climate change. Now, Sam, what do you think is the cause of climate change?

Sam

An obvious answer would be that climate change is the result of carbon caused by humans. Its about peoples carbon footprint  � the measurement of how much carbon dioxide is produced by everyday activities.

Neil

That makes sense. But recently some scientists, especially in the west, have been focusing on issue: the increasing number of people in the world, something known as overpopulation. In this programme, well be discussing controversial link between overpopulation and climate change. And as usual well be learning some new vocabulary, as well.

Sounds good, Neil, but first I have a question for you. Over the last 100 years, within one lifetime, worlds population has soared. At the start of the 20th century, it was around one-and-a-half billion, but how many are there in the world today? Is it:

a) seven billion?

b) eight billion? or

c) nine billion?

Neil

Ill say eight billion people live on the planet today.

Sam

OK, Neil, Ill reveal the answer later in the . Since climate change is caused by human activities, it seems common sense that fewer people would mean lower carbon . But in fact the connection isnt so simple. Not everyone emits carbon equally, and people in the western world far more than people in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia.

Neil

Arvind Ravikumar is professor of climate policy at University of Texas. Hes made the surprising calculation that an extra two billion people born in low-consuming countries, would add very little to global carbon emissions. Here, Kate Lamble and Neal Razzell, presenters of BBC World Service programme, Climate Question, discuss Professor Ravikumars findings.

Kate Lamble

What hes saying is kind of astonishing, right? Two billion is, to say the least, a lot. Its the combined population of Europe and Africa.

Neal Razzell

He's the numbers and found that an extra two billion low-income people as defined by the World Bank, these are without cars, without electricity often, would see global emissions rise by just 1.5%.

Kate Lamble

Add two billion earners - that's people with cars and power and all the mod cons, and Arvind reckons emissions would rise more than 60%.

Neal Razzell

So when it comes to climate change and population, where you were born .

Neil

Professor Ravikumar made his discovery after crunching the numbers, an idiom meaning performing many mathematical calculations involving amounts of data.

Sam

He concluded that whereas two billion low-income people would increase carbon levels very little, billion high-income people would increase it a lot. Thats because high-income populations have mod conswhich is short for ‘modern ’: technology and machines like cars, fridges and air-conditioning that make life easier and more pleasant.

Neil

According to view, the real problem is not overpopulation but overconsumption. Affluence  � thats having lots of money and owning many , has become a big factor in climate change, and thats true in poorer countries as well as richer ones.

Sam

Listen to Rajesh Joshi, reporter for BBC World Services’, The Climate Question, interviewing a rich Indian housewife, Priti , in her luxurious home in New Delhi.

Priti Dhagan

I need everything that I buy. You cannot be about anybody's needs, and I derive a lot of happiness out of being very, very drawn towards consumer things, I love it. And I'm not apologetic about it.

Rajesh Joshi

So if I tell you that poor have a smaller carbon footprint as compared to their richer counterparts, do you feel apologetic about it?

Priti

So the brain says yes, we should be apologetic about it, but the heart does not agree. Yes, poor afford lots of stuff so their carbon imprint is small, but here my heart wins over my brain because gives me happiness.

Neil

Priti does not feel apologetic about her shopping  � she doesnt think that she feel sorry. Shopping makes her happy and she lets her heart rule her head  � an idiom meaning that do something based on emotions rather than reason.

Sam

Priti is being very honest. She is consuming and for happiness in a way that people in the west have been doing for decades.

Neil

It seems is a bigger cause of climate change than raw population numbers. Speaking of which… what was the answer to question, Sam?

Sam

Ah yes, I asked about the current global population. You guessed it was around eight people which was… the correct answer! According to the United Nations, the worlds population reached eight billion on November 2022. Right, lets recap the vocabulary weve learned, staring with carbon footprint  � a measurement of how much carbon someones activities produce.

Neil

If you crunch numbers, you perform many mathematical calculations involving large amounts of data.

Sam

Mod cons is short for ‘modern conveniences’ - machines like cars, washing-machines-, and fridges which make life easier more pleasant.

Neil

Affluence means having lots of money or material possessions.

Sam

If you are apologetic, show that you feel sorry for something harmful you have said or done.

Neil

And finally, the idiom your heart rule your head means to do something based on emotion and personal desires rather than for logical practical reasons. For now its goodbye!

Sam

Bye bye!

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created with the online Cloze Test Creator © 2009 Lucy Georges

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