Part One: Warm Up

Discuss the following questions with a partner or group:

  • What are some easy and free ways to save power?
  • What does it mean to be "environmentally-conscious"?
  • Do you need to separate the things in your recycling container for when it gets picked up?
  • How do hybrid cars work? Why do they use less gasoline than other cars?

Part Two: Listening

Exercise

Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document. The recording is from ELLLO.

Transcript

So, you are pretty in-tune with global warming, you are pretty in-tune with the environment, environmentally conscious, what do you do to do your part for help protecting the environment?

I think I do quite a bit, I grew up in an area that's really environmentally conscious, Oregon is pretty environmentally conscious, so I recycle, it's pretty easy to recycle in Oregon, they just pick it right up at your house, you don't have to separate it, they separate it for you, so I recycle as much as I possibly can.

Person 1: But maybe those are traditional things, do you do anything sort of more advanced or more modern than just recycling, is there anything in your life that's more modern?

Person 2: Well, one thing, I recently bought a hybrid car.

Person 1: A hybrid car?

Person 2: Yeah.

Person 1: What's a hybrid car?

Person 2: So, it's a car that basically gets better gas mileage, because what my car does, is I have to put gas in it, I have to put gas in it, but when I brake, it takes the energy created by the heat from the braking, and it charges a battery, and then the battery can help power the car. So, it's half gasoline, half just electric energy from a battery.

Person 1: Really, electric and gas?

Person 2: Yeah.

Person 1: Really interesting. So, do you have to charge the car at night? Do you have to plug it in or anything like that?

Person 2: No, my car, just by the braking, it charges the battery completely. Occasionally, I've heard of some people that if they leave their car for like a year or something, they'll have to go back and they'll have to plug in the battery and it'll charge up, but for the most part, I don't do very much at all.

Person 1: So, that's a fancy watch you're wearing as well, is that environmentally friendly at all?

Person 2: Yeah, this watch actually doesn't take batteries. It's solar powered, and so it just gets energy from the sun.

Person 1: Wow, so you're a pretty environmentally conscious dude.

Person 2: I try.

Exercise

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