The Rough Guide to Climate Change
The publishers Rough Guides produce guides to many countries and topics
This is an interview between Duncan Clark, a publishing editor (and also the author of The Rough Guide to Ethical Living) and Mark Ellingham, the founder of the publishing company Rough Guides. They are talking about climate change and about what Mark Ellingham has been doing to improve awareness of the issues amongst British MPs.
Listen to the interview and see if you can answer the questions below, before going on for some more detailed practice after that.
1 How regularly are these interviews with authors of books recorded, and where?
2 To whom did Mark Ellingham, the founder of the publishing company, Rough Guides send a copy of the book?
3 What else did he send to these people?
4 Did all of the party leaders answer?
5 Who is Frank Field?
6 What has Frank Field set up?
7 Where in the book will readers find tips (advice) on what steps individuals can take?
1 How does Mark Ellingham describe Robert (Bob) Henson’s book on climate change?
2 What does Mark Ellingham say about climate change?
3 Can you add the missing verbs from what Mark Ellingham says about Robert Henson? NB This is not an exact transcription of what is said.
Bob Henson doesn’t ……………. the science, ………….. through the obscurity, doesn’t ……………… about it, doesn’t ………………….. away from …………………………….. difficult matters, and (what ………… most extraordinary) ……………….. sense of what ……………… said at Kyoto and what the consequences of that ……………….
4 What was his reaction to these replies?
5 What number of replies did he receive?
6 What does he perceive as the overall message of these answers?
7 What phrase indicates that all political parties agree on their view?
8 How many responses did he receive from the Liberal Democrats, the political party which sent him the highest number of replies?
9 Did their response surprise him?
10 Did Tony Blair consider the UK had succeeded in meeting the targets set by Kyoto?
Mark Ellingham says we should not be complacent about the progress we are making. The two next questions explain why.
11 When were Great Britain’s coal power stations phased out?
12 Has this contributed to a decrease in Great Britain’s carbon emissions?
13 How does Mark Ellingham describe Frank Field’s reply?
14 What does Frank Field maintain is the most important and effective step to do internationally?
15 What connection is there between Coolearth and the governments of the countries where the rainforests are?
16 Do they sell land to people?
17 What is stated about the carbon emissions from the illegal logging and burning of the rainforest each year?
18 How many tons of carbon emissions is produced annually by this destruction of the Amazon rainforest?
19 What will be the effect of protecting the Amazon rainforest from illegal logging?
20 Who is Johan Eliasch?
21 What action are a lot of MPs taking in their constituencies?
22 What has Alan Simpson (a Labour MP in 2007) designed and built?
23 The SNP politician Alex Salmond (in 2007 the leader of the Scottish National Party) considers it contradictory that the Rough Guides publishers should be producing a book about climate change. Why is this?
24 What does Mark Ellingham say to this contradiction?
25 What are Mark Ellingham’s personal views about how to reduce UK’s carbon emissions?
26 Can you give any details about the ‘voucher system’ he suggests?
27 Does Mark Ellingham think men should go Budapest or Prague for their stag nights?
Lifestyle changes for listeners
28 Can you name any 3 areas where we listeners could make changes in our lifestyles?
29 What percentage of the world’s carbon emissions are we responsible for?
30 Are we responsible for any other carbon emissions?