Circular Economy
REPORT 02 by Katlen Allganer
Circular economy is an economic system in which
products and services are traded in 'cycles'
following the example of an ecosystem. It focuses
on a smarter use of raw materials and aims at
reducing the negative impacts of the Linear
Economy. In contrast, Linear Economy targets
economic growth which is measured by the
increase of GDP – Gross Domestic Product.
However, what GDP does not measure is how
degenerative and unsustainable our current
production systems are. A major challenge for
circular systems is to maintain a thriving economy
by trading goods and services without extra costs
for manufacturers, thus not compromising
business revenues. A product or service will be
considered circular if it follows the 3-R approach:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; the idea is to minimize
the use of resources (inputs) and the creation of
waste (outputs) along production chains.
 WEEKLY REPORT PRACTICE 02 – Circular Economy
Try to do each task on different days.

1) Listening and Pronunciation Practice: listen to the report; choose 5 words and focus on their pronunciation;
write them down in your notebook and underline the stressed syllables.

1 Circular economy is an economic system in which products and services are traded in 'cycles' following the example of
2 an ecosystem. It focuses on a smarter use of raw materials and aims at reducing the negative impacts of the Linear
3 Economy. In contrast, Linear Economy targets economic growth which is measured by the increase of GDP – Gross
4 Domestic Product. However, what GDP does not measure is how degenerative and unsustainable our current
5 production systems are. A major challenge for circular systems is to maintain a thriving economy by trading goods and
6 services without extra costs for manufacturers, thus not compromising business revenues. A product or service will be
7 considered circular if it follows the 3-R approach: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; the idea is to minimize the use of
8 resources (inputs) and the creation of waste (outputs) along production chains.

2) Vocabulary and Writing Practice: choose one noun above and write down its definition with an example
sentence (copy from the dictionary https://www.wordreference.com/enpt/) .
Listen to the pronunciation and pay attention to the phonetics.
Noun: _______________
Definition: __________________________________________________________
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Example: __________________________________________________________
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3) Listening and Pronunciation Practice: listen to the report and read it out loud practicing connected speech.

1 Circular economy is an economic system in which products and services are traded in 'cycles' following the example of
2 an ecosystem. It focuses on a smarter use of raw materials and aims at reducing the negative impacts of the Linear
3 Economy. In contrast, Linear Economy targets economic growth which is measured by the increase of GDP – Gross
4 Domestic Product. However, what GDP does not measure is how degenerative and unsustainable our current
5 production systems are. A major challenge for circular systems is to maintain a thriving economy by trading goods and
6 services without extra costs for manufacturers, thus not compromising business revenues. A product or service will be
7 considered circular if it follows the 3-R approach: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; the idea is to minimize the use of
8 resources (inputs) and the creation of waste (outputs) along production chains.

4) Vocabulary and Writing Practice: choose one verb above (action word) and write down its definition with
an example sentence (copy from the dictionary https://www.wordreference.com/enpt/) .
Listen to the pronunciation and pay attention to the phonetics.
Verb: _______________
Definition: __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Example: __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

5) Grammar Practice: go to the Grammar Module on English.intolifework.com platform and do one grammar
lesson and/or quiz available.
 PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION
Listening time: 1:54 minutes [from 0:00 to 1:54].

Kate Raworth: How Can We Create A Thriving Economy For

Ourselves And The Planet?

1 “GUY RAZ, HOST: It's the TED Radio Hour from NPR. I'm Guy Raz. So we've all been told that if the economy is
2 growing and if we keep producing and consuming, that's a good thing.

3 BARACK OBAMA: We are at a moment when our economy is growing.

4 BILL CLINTON: This is good news for America and more evidence that our economy continues to surge ahead...

5 GEORGE W BUSH: So long as we ______ pro-growth policies that put faith in the American people, our
6 economy will ______, and it will continue to be the marvel of the world.

7 RAZ: But what if we're wrong? What if growth isn't the answer to a better world?

8 PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Moments ago, the numbers for America's economic growth, or GDP, were just
9 released.

10 The economy grew by 7.4 percent. It's just 1.2 percent. ...Grew 4.1 percent. ...Grew half a percent. ...8.2 percent
11 in the April to June quarter. ...Up 2.2. That's a one-tenth lower number than we were originally...

12 RAZ: Generally, how do we measure - like, how do we know weather an economy is doing well or not? Like,
13 how do most economists measure that?

14 KATE RAWORTH: Well, that's an excellent question. And you know what? It never actually gets asked in an
15 economics degree. I mine, wouldn't you think, when students were studying economics, that the first thing
16 you'd ask is, well, what is an economy for, and what does success look like? But that never actually comes up.
17 It's just skipped right over.
18 And so how you measure how well an economy is doing just becomes a deeply assumed turning towards GDP
19 growth. Throughout my education and far too much throughout the education of students today, the
20 assumption that, well, if this policy and that policy will ______ to growth, job done.

21 RAZ: This is Kate Raworth.

22 RAWORTH: I am a renegade economist. I'm passionate about rewriting economics so that it's actually fit for
23 this century that we are in..

Listen to the full episode clicking on the title of this transcript.

NPR – National Public Radio.
 PODCAST PRACTICE
Watch the video classes available on the platform IntoLifework, they will help you understand the practices and the podcasts.

6) Listening and Writing Practice: before reading the transcript, write down some key words you identify from
the audio. Repeat the task in order to “refine“ your notes. Present here what you think the episode is about.
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7) Listening and Reading Practice: fill in the gaps while you listen and read the podcast.
Gap 1: ___________________ line: _____
Gap 2: ___________________ line: _____
Gap 3: ___________________ line: _____

8) Listening and Reading Practice:: Find 2 inaccuracies in the transcript while you listen and read the podcast.
Inaccuracy 1: ___________________ line: _____ correction: ___________________
Inaccuracy 2: ___________________ line: _____ correction: ___________________

9) Writing Practice: Present at least one example that uses the 3-R approach, it can be on a household or
business level. You can check some examples on this website in the section business examples. Use some of
the vocabulary and phrases that you have recently learned. Submit it for correction.
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10) Speaking Practice: Review your writing exercise above and make a speaking presentation. You can make
a voice or a video recording. Include the vocabulary and phrases from this workbook in your speaking. TIP:
Include ideas, words and phrases from this assignment in your end-of-semester presentation project.