Learn English with the News – Madrid Building Urban Forest To Fight Climate Change

Climate change is devastating cities and countries all over the world. What is Spain’s capital, Madrid doing about it? A green wall! With this immersion of nature in a concrete metropolis, Madrid hopes to boost oxygen and fight pollution in a positive way.

Watch the video and then do the accompanying English language exercises.

The news is a consistent source of entertainment, knowledge and discovery that never ceases to exist and always comes out with more and more material each day. Because it plays such a vital part in our lives and is so important to keep up with, it is without a doubt a piece of your everyday routine that can’t go ignored.

Whether it is to understand the ramifications of recent legislation passed, to hear about recent events and grasp the potential consequences to your country, or simply hear about what is happening in other countries in order to compare them to what’s happening in yours, the news is certainly a staple in our lives and the most consistent way to get information.

This is why Scrambled Eggs has decided to unite two of your biggest worlds: learning English and keeping up with what is happening in the world. We hope our challenging daily exercises, composed of listening, vocabulary and comprehension exercises in English, will satisfy both of those above worlds in a satisfactory and also entertaining way.

So enough about introductions, let’s get to today’s Learn English with the News topic:

Adapted from this article.

Now that you’ve had a listen, let’s put your knowledge to the test with some of our vocabulary and comprehension exercises:

Full Text:

“Madrid is currently building a green wall around the city in order to help fight against climate change and pollution. The wall is set to cover roughly 75-kilometres and include half a million new trees.
Madrid’s councillor for environment and urban development, with this project, is attempting to improve the air quality of the entire city. He wants to fight the “heat island” effect that is happening inside the city which occurs when structures within a city absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat.
Desertification is slowly approaching southern Europe. The urban forest in Madrid intends to be both a mitigation and adaptation measure in the face of climate change.
This project will utilize derelict areas that are in-between roads and buildings and is estimated to absorb 175,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year. It will make use of indigenous trees which absorb CO2 and heat generated by human activity. In the shade of these trees, temperatures are 2 degrees lower.
Part of Madrid’s goal is reducing car use, increasing pedestrianisation and promoting a new green culture, all of which will be necessary for a sustainable future.
Around the world, cities consume approximately two-thirds of the global energy supply while generating about three-quarters of its greenhouse emissions.
Restricting traffic, promoting cycling and public transport, and planting trees are simple ways to reduce the energy consumption that contributes to the heat island effect. Cities will be the most affected by climate change, but they are also an essential part of the solution.”