Vocabulary:
In the box below, you will find words and phrases that are often used when talking about climate change. Translate these into Norwegian, and then use them to write five sentences about climate change.
fossil fuel
emissions
carbon dioxide
pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide
greenhouse gas
sea level rise
renewable energy
non-renewable resources
Discuss:
Work in a group or together as a class and discuss the following questions. Make sure that you try to argue for your opinions. Do not just state 'yes' or 'no'.
- Do you think Greta Thunberg is right when she says that protesting climate change is more important than getting an education?
- Do you regard Greta Thunberg as a role model?
- Is climate change likely to have a significant impact on the world in our lifetime?
- Why do you think powerful people like Donald Trump feel the need to make fun of Greta Thunberg?
- "I want you to behave as if the house is one fire, because it is." What do you think Thunberg means by this?
Study the poem:
The poem below was published on UNICEF's webpage Voices of Youth. This is a webpage where young people can share their writing with the world. Link to the website voicesofyouth.org
Read the poem first quietly by yourself and then aloud with a partner, before you look at the questions below.
Give me a voice and I’m a thunderstorm
By Ana Karola, 20, Mexico
I look outside and see the growing heat that manifests in forest fires,
Deadly signs,
We don’t have much time,
All while a room full of grown men controlled by self-interests points my way and says:
“the economy comes first, you can wait”
But not today,
not with overcrowding hospitals with overflowing pain,
you're trying to trick us into thinking the world is better even if it’s caving,
We sit upon a garden that is rotting,
for it cannot grow hope on a wasteland filled by wars,
actions justified by “nationalist behavior”,
An interesting way to say you don't care for your neighbor, You pay for the smoke that fills my lungs,
the one I keep trying to exhale along with the belief that I couldn't make a change,
but now I know better,
“a kid is a just a kid”
But give me a voice and I’m a thunderstorm,
Life is not a straight line but a maze of unrequited talks of peace,
bombing and more polluting,
and the ones in power can’t seem to give any solutions,
You show me Yemen, You show me see Syria,
but I'll show you Yousafzai, Greta,
A little kid with the strength to beat your agendas,
The young are crowding the streets,
This is not us asking,
it's us demanding,
I see light tunnels,
I hear the breathing of the earth,
let mother know her children are fighting
a poem for her forest, a song for her oceans,
We are the children you can’t silence,
even if you tried it.
- What references to global warming can you see in the poem?
- What references to the COVID-19 pandemic can you see in the poem?
- What impression do we get of governments and leaders from the poem?
- The poem makes refers to Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg. Why do you think they are included?
- On whose behalf is the poem speaking?
- Do you think the poem says something about the impact Greta Thunberg has had on the world?
- The poet is not a native speaker of English, are there any signs of that in the language used in the poem?
Write:
Choose one of the tasks and write a persuasive text. Make sure you consider the audience you are writing for.
- You want to organise the students at your school for a school strike for the climate. The headmaster has allowed you to give a speech in the school cafeteria to encourage your fellow students to join in. Write the speech.
- The students at your school have had a school strike for the climate every Friday for one month. Now the county administration is considering whether students who participate have been absent from school too much to get grades. On behalf of the strikers you are going to write a letter to the county administration arguing for the students' point of view on the issue.
- A TV station has repeatedly claimed that climate change is a myth, and that any climate change happens because of natural variations. Write them a letter where you point out scientific facts about climate change.
Present:
Pick one of the tasks and make an oral presentation. The presentation may be given before a group or in class, or it may be pre-recorded.
- Many people, some of them very powerful, have tried to belittle Greta Thunberg and her significance as a role model. Make a presentation where you explore why Thunberg has become a controversial figure, and discuss what her dedication to the fight against climate change has accomplished.
- Find out more about School Strike for the Climate and discuss: is School Strike for the Climate a global movement, or is it just Thunberg's individual project?
- Find out how social media is used to spread information about School Strike for the Climate, and discuss whether social media is a more important arena for this protest than the physical venues where it takes place.
Debate:
In this debate you will work in groups. Each person in the group is assigned a role and has to find information based on the role they have been given. People from different groups who share the same role can do their research together.
When you have found enough information, join the others in your group for a climate change debate.
Characters that must be represented:
Greta Thunberg
climate change researcher James Hansen
head of the US fossil fuels lobby.
Characters that can be added:
climate change denier: Professor Ian Plimer
former President of the United States Donald Trump
UN climate change expert.
President of the United States, Joe Biden
a high school physics teacher who is a climate change denier
Charles Koch from Koch Industries
Topics for the debate:
Can climate change be stopped?
Is stopping climate change worth the price?