English word Checker

acknowledge (verb): to accept that something is real, or to admit that

something is true - How can you refuse to acknowledge scientifically proven
facts?

business as usual (phrase): we can say a situation is business as usual if it's

happening normally, esp. after a time when it couldn't happen normally - Even
though the country's at war, it's business as usual in our village.

chain reaction (noun): a series of events in which each event causes the

next one to happen, such as in a chemical reaction - It's the sort of chain
reaction that's impossible to stop after it's been triggered.

civil disobedience (noun): a peaceful method of political protest in which

protesters refuse to comply with a law or they disobey police orders or
soldiers - Gandhi's campaign of civil disobedience led to India's escape from
British control.

climate change (noun): global changes in temperature, wind patterns,

rainfall, etc mainly caused by the emission of heat-trapping gases when fossil
fuels like coal and oil are burned - Oil companies knew about man-made
climate change way back in the 1970s.

crisis (noun): a very difficult or dangerous time - It's always poor people who
suffer the most during an economic crisis.

disaster (noun): a natural event like an earthquake or a flood that kills many

people, or a man-made accident like an oil spill that causes massive
destruction - It's the country's worst natural disaster since the 1968
earthquake.

do your best (verb): to do all you can, or to try your hardest, to achieve a goal
- If you train hard and do your best during the game, you'll have a good
chance of winning.

emission (noun): something like a gas or radiation that's released into the air
- You can help to reduce these emissions by driving and flying less.

grassroots (noun/adjective): if something like a political movement is

called grassroots, it means ordinary people started it themselves, without
being led by politicians or other powerful people - If a movement for political
change has lots of grassroots support, it's difficult to stop.

greenhouse gas (noun): any gas that stops heat from escaping from the
atmosphere and causes the greenhouse effect and global warming, such as
carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons - We're cutting our greenhouse gas
emissions by building more solar and wind farms.

grey area (noun): a situation in which it is unclear whether something is right

or wrong, correct or incorrect, true or false, legal or illegal, etc - Tax laws are
full of grey areas that companies use to avoid paying tax.

movement (noun): a group of people who work together to advance their

shared political, social, or artistic ideas and goals - The Black Lives Matter
movement wants justice for black people.

rebel (verb): to oppose or act against powerful people or systems, esp those

causing problems you want to solve or prevent - They cut our wages, so we
rebelled by protesting instead of working.

rebel (noun): someone who tries to remove a leader or bring down a

government by using force or joining an armed group - It took just a few
thousand well-trained rebels to defeat Cuba's US-backed army.

stand a chance (verb): to be likely to achieve something like success or

survival - You won't stand a chance of passing your exam if you don't study.

transformational (adjective): causing or involving very significant change

- We need transformational change in our social and economic systems.

under control (phrase): if a danger or emergency (like a fire or a disease)

is under control, it means people have stopped it from getting worse or
spreading - It took about an hour for the firefighters to bring the fire under
control.
 Transcript
We are right now in the beginning of a climate and ecological crisis, and we
need to call it what it is - an emergency. We must acknowledge that we do
not have the situation under control, and that we don't have all the solutions
yet - unless those solutions mean that we simply stop doing certain things. We
must admit that we are losing this battle. We have to acknowledge that the
older generations have failed. All political movements in their present form
have failed, but Homo sapiens have not yet failed. Yes, we are failing, but
there is still time to turn everything around. We can still fix this. We still have
everything in our own hands. But unless we recognise the overall failures of
our current systems, we most probably don't stand a chance.

We  are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of

people, and now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we
can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly. Solving the climate crisis
is the greatest and most complex challenge that Homo sapiens have ever
faced. The main solution, however, is so simple that even a small child can
understand it. We have to stop our emissions of greenhouse gases, and
either we do that, or we don't. You say that nothing in life is black or white, but
that is a lie - a very dangerous lie. Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming,
or we don't. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond
human control, or we don't. Either we choose to go on as a civilisation, or we
don't. That is as black or white as it gets, because there are no grey
areas when it comes to survival.

Now  we all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will

safeguard the living conditions for future generations, or we can continue with
our business as usual and fail. That is up to you and me. And yes, we need
a system change rather than individual change, but you cannot have one
without the other. If you look through history, all the big changes in society
have been started by people at the grassroots level - people like you and me.
So, I ask you to please wake up and make the changes required possible.
To do your best is no longer good enough. We must all do the seemingly
impossible. Today, we use about 100 million barrels of oil, every single day.
There are no politics to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the
ground. So, we can no longer save the world by playing by the rules, because
the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change, and it has to start
today. So, everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time
to rebel.
Greta Thunberg on Climate Change

level: intermediate

Did you know that environmental activist Greta Thunberg features in one of

the music videos that British rock band The 1975 made for their 2020
album Notes On A Conditional Form? She speaks about climate
change while stock footage and graphics from companies like Shutterstock
and Getty Images are shown, implying that in the future images like these
could be the only way people can see what our planet looked like before it
suffered the effects of global warming. Before watching the video and reading
the transcript, learn the vocabulary in the Wordchecker below. Then check
your understanding by doing the quiz.