VIP Notes (Joe)

Practice using ‘have been’ and ‘was/were coming from’ to talk about different aspects of time. Remember that ‘were coming from’ indicates a continuous time when someone was moving from one place to another. For example ‘I saw you on the elevator. Where were you coming from?’. When you use ‘have been’ you talk about life experience or experience since a time. For example ‘Where have you been in your life’ or ‘Where have you been since high school?’.

Grammar

It was typhoon in Shanghai
There was a typhoon in Shanghai

We stayed in home
We stayed home

We don’t have some storage food
We don’t have any food in storage
We don’t have any stored food
We don’t have any food at home / in the cupboard (this is the most natural)

In the morning I read the news
In the morning I read some news
In the morning I read the news about Chernobyl

They claim it’s free to radioactivity
They claim it’s free of radioactivity

It’s not good for the products
It’s not good for the workers on the production line

We are in dangerous cycle
We are in a dangerous cycle

We should try to eat meat as less as we can
We should try to eat meat as little meat as we can
We should try to eat less meat

Vocabulary

egg fried rice
We made egg fried rice during the typhoon

Instant noodles
the cupboard (the place where we usually keep food at home)
There were no instant noodles in the cupboard

product (the thing that gets made)
The product was launched on the 27th of August.

workers on the production line (the people who make the product)
The workers on the production line were exposed to radioactivity.

Pronunciation

inefficient (in-ee-fish-int)

unsustainable (un-sus-tay-ni-bil)

https://www.theskimm.com/news/daily-skimm/2019-08-09

EARTH TO HUMANS

The Story

The UN is ringing the alarm on how humans are damaging Earth’s land.

That’s one way to start the weekend.

Better to rip it off like a Band-Aid. Over the past year, there’ve been a series of reports on how climate change is bringing humans face-to-face with a variety of crises. We get into some of those here. But to sum it up: we’re on a dangerous trajectory and Mother Earth needs our help…yesterday. Now, the UN is warning about the impact on our food supply.

Go on.

It points out a dangerous cycle: our land management practices are contributing to climate change. And in turn, climate change is threatening our food supply. According to the report, almost a quarter of the greenhouse gases made by humans in recent years came from agriculture, forestry, and other land use. Problem, because the effects of climate change (like more heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires) have the potential to disrupt food supply chains. This could affect food security for millions. Also, the increase of carbon dioxide in the air from climate change can make crops we rely on like wheat less nutritious.

Yikes. What can we do?

The report has a few ideas for countries to help avoid worst case scenarios. A few examples: We can change how we grow food with sustainable farming. There’s reforestation, which can help suck carbon dioxide out of the air. We could focus on better soil management to prevent it from drying up. And on a personal level, we can change how we eat by eating less meat and wasting less food.