Vegan World?: New Internationalist Easier English

Vegan world?
New Internationalist Easier English

Ready Upper Intermediate Lesson
What can you see? What do you think it is about?
this lesson
Match: a) when there is no rain and it is a
problem
1) vegan b) when being overweight is an illness
2) drought c) used for farming
3) flush d) someone who eats no meat, no fish,
no dairy food (eggs, milk, yoghurt)
4) campaign e) use water to clean the toilet
5) benefit f) a good effect
6) chronic g) illness lasting a long time
7) agricultural h) illness when the body can’t control
the sugar in the body
8) obesity i) planned action by a group to make a
9) diabetes change
10) j) this is how much we use or eat
consumption
What do you think?
1) There are droughts in California. True or false?

2) A pound (440 grams) of beef in a burger uses more water
than a pound of potatoes. True or false?
3) Not flushing the toilet for six months saves more water
than not having a shower for thee months. True or false?
4) Meat and dairy use a lot of water. True or false?
Now read and check:

A billboard campaign by Californian artist Karen Firito, offered
passers-by some interesting choices.
They could help to save 1,300 gallons (4,921 litres) of water in
California with all of its droughts by: not flushing the toilet for six
months; or not showering for three months; or not eating just one
burger today.
Yes, that’s it. One beef burger!
The online campaign shows a pound (450 grams) of potatoes uses
about 24 gallons (90 litres) of water to produce, bread 193 gallons
(730 litres) – and beef a big 5,214 (19,737 litres). All animal
products rank high – cheese is 896 (3,391 litres)
But suppose we all, the whole world, changed to a vegan diet?
What would happen?
What do you think the answers are?
1) If we all became vegan, it would cut carbon emissions by at least two thirds
True/false?
2) Healthy diets might save lives. True/false?
3) A vegetarian diet could save more lives than a vegan diet. True/false?
4) A vegan diet needs less water. True/false?
5) A meat diet and a vegan diet use the same amount of energy. True/false?
6) Most farm land is used to feed animals. True/false?
7) It is possible that we could stop hunger in the world with less food than we
give to animals today. True/false
Now read and check:

In 2016 Marco Springmann looked at the figures at the Oxford Martin Programme on
the Future of Food. He found that if the world suddenly changed to a vegan diet in the
year 2050, in that single year we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-
thirds.
But a 2019 correction to research published in Science by Joseph Poore and T
Temecek has a lower figure. It shows that not using animal products gives a 28-per-
cent reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions in all parts of the economy
(compared to 2010 emissions). Still good, but not nearly as good.
Researchers have looked at other global benefits of veganism. A generally healthier
diet could save five million lives a year, a vegetarian diet seven million. But a vegan
diet would save eight million deaths from chronic diseases, says Springmann.
A vegan future would also give space and resources for growing food. Research in The
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that a meat-eater’s diet needs 17 times
more land, 14 times more water, and 10 times more energy than a vegetarian’s. This
is mainly because we use 68 per cent of the world’s agricultural land for growing food
for animals. Harvard Professor of Medicine Walt Willett says we could stop most
world hunger today with about 40 million tonnes of food. But we feed 760 million
tonnes to farm animals every year.
“But suppose we all, the whole world,
changed to a vegan diet? What would
happen?”
What do you think would happen?

List four ideas.
What do you think the answers are?
1) By 20150 the number of people on the planet will be
(a) 7.5 billion (b) 8.5 billion or (c) 10.5 billion?
2) We already have enough food for everyone in the
world. True/false?
3) Sheep, pigs, and chickens would all be ok if we set
them free. True/false?
4) China has plans to get its people to eat less meat.
True/false?
Now read and check:

World population is rising from 7.5 billion to 10.5 billion by 2050, we need more
resources. But writer and environmentalist Paul Allen says, there is another, more
political problem. He writes in BBC Good Food. ‘Right now, we already produce more
than 1.5 times the food we need for everyone on the planet. It doesn’t get to everyone
in need. Having enough to eat is as much about politics and big business as dietary
choices,’
And the global meat and dairy industries give work to millions of people, often in poor
communities. And what would happen to all the animals we have for humans to eat?
Would cows take over the world? Would we kill them? Or take them to safe places?
Would they return to the wild? Some farm animals like broiler chickens, would not
survive in the wild. Others, like sheep or pigs, would do better.
There has been a big increase in veganism or at least consumption of vegan products.
But the change to vegan food won’t be quick and so farmers can breed fewer animals
as the demand falls. What happens in Asia with its big populations is important.
Because we need to take action on climate change, obesity, and diabetes, in 2016 the
Chinese government gave new guidelines to get the nation’s 1.3 billion people to
reduce their meat consumption by 50 per cent by 2030.
So maybe a vegan world by 2050 is possible…
Grammar
“If we all became vegan, it would cut

carbon emissions.”
1) Is the grammar: If + past simple, + subject +
would + base form ?
2) Is this first, second, or, third conditional?
3) Are we thinking about the past, the present or
the future?
Grammar
If we all became vegan, …
Finish this sentence in 5 different ways.

Vegan or not vegan? Ask your partner.
1) Are you vegan?
2) Do you know any vegans? In your class?
Family?
3) Do you think you could follow a vegan diet?
What would be difficult? What problems would
there be?
4) What would be the best way to become vegan?
Homework
Write an email to a friend explaining why

you do or why you don’t think you could
become vegan.
Use at least one second conditional
sentence.

Vegan World?: New Internationalist Easier English

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Vegan World?: New Internationalist Easier English

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Vegan World?: New Internationalist Easier English

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Vegan world?

New Internationalist Easier English

1) There are droughts in California. True or false?

Now read and check:

Now read and check:

What do you think would happen?

Now read and check:

“If we all became vegan, it would cut

If we all became vegan, …

Finish this sentence in 5 different ways.

Write an email to a friend explaining why

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.