Learn English With News: Climate Change

Today, I’ll be sharing some of the advanced vocabulary and idioms featured in an interview earlier this year.

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Video Transcript:

 

Hi! I’m Rachel from Rachel’s English and today I’m going to teach you some of the more advanced vocabulary and idioms that were used in an interview early this year. Anderson Cooper interviewing Bill Gates on innovation and global warming. Some pretty interesting phrases came up. As a non-native speaker, learning these words, phrases and idioms will help you sound more sophisticated in your everyday English. We’ll help you express yourself better. So helpful in English conversations but also preparing to take the IELTS or TOEFL exam. Let’s learn these vocabulary words and phrases together today.

To start, Bill Gates is talking about what needs to happen to stop global warming. You’ll see on-screen texts like this:
This will highlight words or phrases that we’ll learn about at the end of this 13-second clip.
And it needs a level of cooperation that would be unprecedented.
That doesn’t sound feasible.
No, it’s not easy but hey,
That sounds impossible.
In 30 years, we have more educated people than ever, we have a generation that is speaking out on this topic.

Unprecedented is a great vocabulary word. It’s an adjective and it means never done before, never known before. Gates thinks to stop global warming it’s about cooperation. And a level of cooperation around the world that we’ve never seen before that’s never happen before. Unprecedented. Cooperation.
And it needs a level of cooperation that would be unprecedented.
That doesn’t sound feasible.
No, that’s not easy.
That doesn’t sound feasible. What do you think this word means? It’s another adjective and it means possible to do easily or conveniently, likely or probable.
Anderson Cooper doesn’t think this kind of cooperation will be easy and he’s right. I mean we just heard Bill Gates describe it as unprecedented. But not feasible doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t happen. It just means very hard to make happen. Will we be able to do it?
That doesn’t sound feasible.
No, it’s not easy.
We’ll, Gates points out that we have a generation that’s speaking out on this topic. Speaking out is a phrasal verb and it means to express your feelings or opinion usually publicly. If you don’t like to policies of government, speak out. This is similar to speak up. Speak up has 2 different definitions and one of them is this one. Just like speak out. To express one’s opinions frankly and openly. But more frequently, we use speak up to mean speak louder. Speak up. I can’t hear you. The opposite of that is not speak down, it’s quiet down. Quiet down, you being way too loud. Gates said a generation is speaking out, is voicing their opinions that we need to do more to address global warming.
We have more educated people than ever, we have a generation that is speaking out on this topic.
Let’s keep going.

You know I got to participate in the miracle of the personal computer and the internet.

Participate in the miracle. I love this way of describing his life. He’s not taking credit. He’s saying he participated in what happened. He’s saying he got to take part in it. In the amazing creation. The miracle of personal computers and the internet. 2 things that absolutely changed, transformed human life.
You know I got to participate in the miracle of the personal computer and the internet and so I have a bias to believe innovation can do these things.
Bias has a couple of different definitions. Here it means prejudiced. In favor of or against something usually considered to be unfair. For example, as a parent I have a bias to think of my kids are the cutest kids on Earth. I’m not neutral. I have a bias. Bill Gates has a bias to believe that innovation is the answer because of his background.
So I have a bias to believe innovation can do these things.
Now we’ll skip ahead in the interview. To see the whole interview, see the link in the video description.
This next clip we’ll study is 15 seconds long.
He supports President Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris climate agreement but is asking the administration to massively increase the budget for climate and clean energy research to 35 billion dollars a year.
You’ve said that government need to do the hard stuff but not just go after the low-hanging fruit. Massively is an adverb and it means on a vast scale, a very great extent extremely. Massively increase the budget. This means you can’t just add a little bit more money to this project. It has to be greatly, extremely increased.
He supports President Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris climate agreement but is asking the administration to massively increase the budget for climate and clean energy research.
Low-hanging fruit. This idiom has nothing to do with fruit or food. See if its definition becomes clearer as they discuss it further.
You’ve said that the government need to do the hard stuff but not just go after the low hanging fruit. What’s the low-hanging fruit?

Passenger cars, ah part of the electric generation renewables. The things that everybody knows about that’s getting almost all the money not the hard parts which is the industrial piece including the steel and cement. Those pieces we’ve hardly started to work on.

Low-hanging fruit. The things that are the easiest to do first. The things you’ll be able to get with little effort. Gates says we have to go beyond that. Not just do the easy things but tackle the big difficult parts of carbon emissions as well. We’ll skip ahead again as they discuss the research Gates is funding.
It kind of blows my mind, you know what’s the cost of making that stuff?
Gates regularly consults with a funds team of top scientists and entrepreneurs which so far invested in 50 companies with cutting edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.
Blows my mind. Ouch! Do you know this phrase? It basically means to amaze someone. If you blow someone’s mind, it’s like wow! They never thought of that. They had no idea that was possible. It’s usually a good thing.

It kind of blows my mind, you know what’s the cost of making that stuff?
We also heard Gates regularly consults. To consult is a verb. It means to ask the opinion of advice of someone usually an expert. I’m going to consult a lawyer before I sign this contract. For example.
Gates regularly consults with a funds team of top scientists and entrepreneurs which so far invested in 50 companies with cutting edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.
In the clip, we also heard the phrase “cutting edge ideas.” Cutting edge means the most advanced. Cutting edge ideas, notice that flap T in cutting. Cutting, cutting edge. These are ideas that are at the forefront, ahead of everything else, the most advanced ideas on how to solve this problem.
Gates regularly consults with a funds team of top scientists and entrepreneurs which so far invested in 50 companies with cutting edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.
Cutting edge ideas. Sometimes, they are far flung.
What’s like to most far-flung idea you’ve backed?
Far-flung means distant or remote. He’s moving to some far-flung town and I’ll never see him again. A far-flung idea is one that seems so crazy. We’re just not sure it could work. You could also say far-fetched. A far-fetched idea or an outlandish idea. Let’s see how they talk about it.
What’s like to most far-flung idea you’ve backed?
There’s one that’s so crazy it’s even hard to describe.
(laughing) Wait a minute. It’s so crazy it’s hard to describe.
Yeah.
How do you pitch that to investors?
How do you pitch that to investors? Pitch is a word with a lot of meanings but the one that’s most known is the US is probably the verb. Pitching a baseball to a batter. But we also use it to pitch an idea. To introduce an idea that we hope someone will like. Let’s say you’re renovating your house. The contractor ran into a problem. There was a pipe where it wasn’t expected and you’re trying to figure out what to do. You’ve looked at a couple of options and your designer could say “Let me pitch another option to you.” If you pitch investors that means you’re telling them about a business you hope they want to invest in. Have you ever seen the show “Shark tank”? In each episode, several small business owners pitch their businesses to a panel of investors hoping that someone will think their business is good enough to invest in. When you invest in something, you’re backing it. Listen to how that verb, to back a company is used.

But forming the vegetables used to make many meat alternatives emits gases as well. So Gates is also backing a company that’s created an entirely new food source.
If you back a company, you’re investing in that company. You’re giving it money to help it grow and you hope to make money from that investment.
is also backing a company that’s created an entirely new food source.
So how does Gates decide what companies to back, what companies to pitch to other investors.
So 15 years ago, Gates started educating himself on climate change bringing scientists and engineers to his office in Seattle for what he calls learning sessions. He also reads voraciously. Books and binders full of scientific research.

He knows by educating himself by reading voraciously. Voracious is an adjective that means having a huge appetite. A kid going through a growth spurt might eat voraciously. But we also use it for books. He’s a voracious reader, always in a middle of several books.
He also reads voraciously. Books and binders full of scientific research.
He describes new technologies that he’s helping fund. Here, he’s talking about a new kind of nuclear powerplant.
Nuclear power can be done in a way that none of those failures of the past would recur because just the physics of how it’s built.
Recur is a verb that means to come up again, to occur again in an interval of time. For example, my online school, Rachel’s English Academy is a subscription. That means every month you pay. Unless you cancel of course. It’s a recurring payment. Gates says problems of the past would not recur, would not happen again.
none of those failures of the past would recur…
In the meantime, how is Gates solving the problem of his own gigantic carbon footprint?
And so I’m offsetting my personal emissions.
Those are called carbon offset.
Right. You know, so it’s causing $400 a ton, it’s like seven million dollars.
So you’re paying seven million dollars a year to offset your carbon footprint?
Yup.
Offsetting and offset. Offset has a couple of different meanings. Here it means a counterbalance. To counteract something with an opposing force or effect. He puts all those carbon into the atmosphere by for example, flying in a plane and he offsets that by doing things that reduce carbon in the atmosphere by planting trees. Offset can also mean to bring something out of line. For example, this mark is offset.
So you’re paying seven million dollars a year to offset your carbon footprint?
Yup.
Of course, most people can afford to offset their carbon footprint. Where does that leave us?
It just seems overwhelming if every aspect of our daily life has to change
It can seem overwhelming.
But you were optimistic.
Yeah. There are days when it looks very hard. If people think it’s easy, they’re wrong. If people think it’s impossible, they’re wrong.
It’s possible.
It’s possible but it’ll be the most amazing thing mankind has ever done.
If something is overwhelming, that means there’s so much of something, you can’t really deal with it. There’s an overwhelming amount of sick people needing care. The hospitals are overwhelmed. That happens driving Covid-19. Many hospitals where overwhelmed. There were more patients than the hospitals could really handle. It’s used a lot with your emotions too or state of mind. I have so much work to do, I am overwhelmed. I’m having problems starting any of my projects. In this case, it can be overwhelming. Thinking about all the things we needed to do to change, to reduce carbon emissions. There are so many things to change, it can be hard taking it all in and figuring out what specifically to do.
It just seems overwhelming if every aspect of our daily life has to change
It can seem overwhelming.
But you were optimistic.
Yeah.
If you’re optimistic, you’re hopeful and confident about the future. In this case, Bill Gates does think that we can do, what we need to do to stop global warming.
It’s possible but it’ll be the most amazing thing mankind has ever done.
That’s what it has to be.

Yeah, it’s an all-out effort. You know, like a world war but it’s us against greenhouse gases. All-out means using all of one’s strength or resources. In an all-out effort, you use everything you have, every resource, you don’t hold anything back. You don’t save anything or reserve anything.
It’s an all-out effort, like a world war but it’s us against greenhouse gases.
I appreciate the optimism that Bill Gates has and the investment he’s making by researching and backing companies who are looking into far-flung ideas that may transform our future. I hope you learn some new vocabulary and enjoyed this lesson learning English through interviews, through news. This is from the news show “60 minutes” and you can find the link to the whole interview in the video description.

I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday, please subscribe and keep your learning right now with this video, I love having you as my student. That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

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