Week 7 Let s go green! Reading 3 Leggi il testo e completa la griglia. Climate change The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international environmental organization based in Switzerland. Their mascot is the Giant Panda. With over 5 million supporters, WWF is the world s largest conservation institution: its work focuses on endangered species, pollution and climate change. Regarding climate change, WWF underlines how the increase in global temperature is seriously altering our planet s climate. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), are the main cause: these gases exist naturally, but humans add more of them by burning fossil fuels for energy (like coal, oil and natural gas). The destruction of forests also favours the release of CO2 into the air: plants would normally absorb a large quantity of it, but the clearing of land for agriculture and livestock has stopped this process. As a result, these gases act like a blanket around our planet which is becoming increasingly warmer. At the same time, oceans are absorbing the extra carbon dioxide, making them more acidic and unsuitable for sea life. The consequence is extreme and unpredictable weather: more frequent heat waves and droughts or storms and intense rainfall; rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans harm animals, destroying the places where they live and putting the life of people everywhere in danger. According to WWF, we must not only reduce carbon dioxide pollution as soon as possible but also prepare for the consequences of global warming. On one hand, the organization combats deforestation working by directly with the countries involved and using satellite images to discover illegal logging of the forests. On the other hand, WWF tries to influence the policies of the different governments to tackle the climate crisis, supporting clean energy technologies. Finally, WWF works with local communities to help people and nature adapt to a changing climate: for example, to face periods of droughts, they help farmers to collect rain water and to replace their crops with those more resistant to heat and lack of water. They also promote me­asures to improve air quality in cities, to protect water supplies and reduce flooding. Summing up, climate change poses a fundamental threat to places, species and people s lives. WWF works to stop and reverse the destruction of our natural environment: a target that the future generations cannot fail to achieve. CAUSES CONSEQUENCES WHAT WWF IS DOING greenhouse gases increase in global temperature they combat deforestation USEFUL WORDS blanket = coltre, cappa; clearing = dissodamento; coal = carbone; crop = coltura; drought = siccità; endangered = in pericolo; fuel = carburante; flooding = inondazione; to focus = focalizzarsi; greenhouse gas = gas effetto serra; to harm = far del male, nuocere; heat wave = ondata di calore; increase = aumento; lack = mancanza; logging = taglio e trasporto di alberi; To melt = sciogliere; release = rilascio; supply = fornitura; to tackle = affrontare; target = obiettivo; unsuitable = inadatto. 66