Cantanhede, 2020 Agrupamento de Escolas Lima-de-Faria, Cantanhede
THE FACTS Cidadania e Desenvolvimento Inglês
11.º CT3 E CT4
REVIEW
Ficha técnica Autores: alunos do 11.ºCT4 Orientação: Ana Costa e Silva Edição: Isabel Bernardo, Biblioteca Escolar Clara Póvoa Trabalho produzido em contexto presencial e E@D Cidadania e Desenvolvimento e Inglês PNL Escolas a Ler+ @Ler é um risco! Agrupamento de Escolas Lima-de-Faria, Cantanhede Licença Creative Commons 4.0
To accomplish the objective of the first-term plan concerning the area “Cidadania e Desenvolvimento”, the teacher of English asked her students to write a review on the documentary “The facts” by David Attenborough. The students were shown the documentary in the first term and in the third term. The results are truly good texts and this is something to highlight; however, the most important result is the consciousness the students acquired about the problem, thus becoming real good citizens. Ana Costa e Silva
OUR HOUSE IS GETTING WORSE Ana Rita Carvalhinho Climate change is one of the biggest problems that we have in our world nowadays and, if we want to save our house, we have to do something. This problem is talked in the documentary “The facts”, by BBC, involving several people. Pollution, global warming, industry, renewable and non-renewable energy are the topics that the documentary talks about and all these things are the cause of climate change. Pollution is something introduced into the environment that is dirty, unclean or has a harmful effect and is horrible to our planet, so let’s stop this and care about the future. These problems could cause huge survival difficulties. And it is exactly what they refer to in the documentary “The fact is that if the poor are suffering today, then the rich will also suffer tomorrow.”, Sunita Narain, Director General Center for Science and Environment. Global warming is one of the biggest problems that our world has and one of the biggest causes to climate change. This problem has been bigger and bigger and, if we want to see our grandchildren growing up, we have to work hard to solve this problem. With the information that we have nowadays and paying attention to the world, we can save our planet. The film talks about this topic very clearly, they tell us everything about the principal causes of global warming: overuse of cars, technology and all energy in general together with industrial pollution causes global warming “and the planet gets warmer and warmer”. Global warming is the principal cause of climate change, because it can cause the melting of polar glaciers (and consequently an increase in the level of sea water that swallows many people’s homes), but also causes forest fires and miles and miles of desert. The use of renewable energy is very important to help the world. Our house is getting worse because of the use of fossil fuels (non-renewable energy). The use of solar, wind and water energy could save the planet. Sunita Narain, alerts us using these words “It’s happening. It’s happening in your world. It’s happening in my world”, so let us be conscious and resolve this problem to not cause an “irreversible damage”.
P. 3
GLOBAL WARMING IS THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
REVIEW
PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE DIANA SILVA The climate change is an issue everyone should be worried about because it is our future that it is at a stake but unfortunately some people see this as a joke, as a way of earning money or just don't believe in it. Through the documentary “Climate Change – The Facts” presented by David Attenborough, we can have a better perspective about this problem, its consequences, how our actions cause this and how we can solve it.
Although some people don't believe in the global warming, after seeing this documentary it’s more than obvious that it exists and we will suffer with it, in fact, we are already witnessing its consequences, and since we (humans) were the ones who caused this problem, it is up to us to solve it, and sometimes a simple action can make the difference and create a revolution/demonstration. We have the example of Greta Thunberg, a kid who did a school strike and went to the door of the Swedish parliament, to protest and demand more action to mitigate climate change on the part of her country's politicians. With this action, she mobilized over seven million children across the world to strike, like her, for climate justice. She is the example that one person can make the difference. Thousands of animals killed by the Australia’s fires, the sea level rise caused by melting glaciers, the increasingly frequent floods, tornadoes and storms, the droughts, the climate refugees, are just some of the consequences shown in this documentary and the things will get worse, more catastrophic if the temperature rises 2 degrees Celsius.
So to prevent this from happening, it's urgent that we take actions like: decrease releases of CO2 and greenhouse gases (industries, road traffic), recycle to reduce the waste present on the planet, reduce meat consumption, mainly beef and veal, use renewable resources instead of nonrenewable ones. We need to be aware of the danger of climate change and do something to prevent temperatures from continuing to rise as soon as possible, and this documentary presented clearly by Sir David Attenborough is an excellent knowledge source to this worrying theme, and all the world should see it to gain awareness of the problem that global warming is.
SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE Ângela Cruz Carlota Silva Elisa Rosa Mélanie Catarino
P. 4
“Climate changeThe Facts BBC” is a documentary that addressed the damage caused by extreme climate change and its possible solutions. Sir David Attenborough, after living one of the hottest years on record, tries to analyse and understand solutions to this global threat. After several climate scientists analysed the most recent extreme weather conditions, such as storms and fires, they indicate what this danger could mean for the future of the world. This documentary is very well organized and addresses the most important points in relation to the natural catastrophe we are experiencing. It tells us that the average temperature has increased by one degree, warns that it will continue to rise and alerts us mainly to the evil that we, humans, are doing to ourselves and also to other animals. However, despite alerting to these situations and even "predicting" some future situations, it presents a few solutions to solve this problem. They tell us, for example, about filtering atmospheric carbon dioxide and integrating it into the rocks in depth. It is a fantastic solution, but it is not available to everyone, just for those who belong to the world of science, and it will take a long time to be real, and we need to start taking action now, we could not wait for techniques that will take tens of years to implement. We think it focuses too much on problems, while solutions are what we need most. Despite this, they make us aware of many problems, whose size we probably have no idea of, such as deforestation. In the documentary they talk of a billion hectares of forests being destroyed every year, and we, living in such a small country, think that it is as if every year, all the forests in Portugal are cut down thousands of times. This is scary, but only then can each of us realize the scale of the problem. Moving on to the characteristics of the documentary we think that on a scale of 0 to 10, we will assign it 8, precisely because we think they address solutions that are unattainable for some. Concluding, despite some less good details, we think it is a very good documentary to show to an audience of our age group and we recommend that it should be shown.
REVIEW
WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME, BUT THERE IS STILL HOPE. Hope came with the appearance of this pandemic that, it seems, brought more years of life to the planet. “Climate change: The facts” (2019), starring David Attenborough, talked-about climate change. Some scientists make predictions for what could happen if global warming increases 1.5ºC. It seems like an insignificant number, doesn't it? But the impacts caused will be drastic, especially in animals’ lives and their ecosystems. Despite being a very talked about topic today, there are still many people who are unaware of the impact of human actions. According to David Attenborough “it may not seem obvious, but we are facing a man-made disaster on a global scale”. Some negative impacts caused by human actions are already visible in the world. Through satellite images, some yellowish tones were visible, which were later identified as removed forests, which reduces the percentage of oxygen an increases the levels of carbon dioxide on the planet. The main reason for the cutting of trees in forests is the extraction of palm oil, a constituent of most of the products that man uses daily, such as chocolates... With the increase of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse effect increases, with a rise in global temperature. This effect has consequences in terms of melting glaciers, increasing the average level of sea waters, P. 5
which may affect the biodiversity of coastal areas and in turn the habitat of several species, including the human. One of the evidences of this fact is that in the last 100 years the sea level has risen 20 centimeters, with Antarctica having lost 3 times more ice than 25 years ago. What can we do to reduce the environmental impact? Do you think you should keep buying a new piece of clothes and products rich in palm oil? As a solution, countries must adopt more sustainable measures that replace the burning of fossil fuels with renewable energies. Some countries have already implemented some of these measures, such as the manufacture of electric energy through wind, sun, water, … David said “It may sound frightening, but the scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies. We’re running out of time, but there is still hope.” Beatriz Ribeiro, Diana Estarreja, Maria Dias and Mariana Loureiro
REVIEW
THE SCIENCE BEHIND CLIMATE CHANGE CREATED POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL WARMING Diana Pessoa, Francisco Negrão, Josefa Santos, Mariana Breia and Samuel Crespo
Everyone has already heard about climate change. However, very few people are conscious of how severe the consequences may be in the near future. In fact, the consequences of our acts are being felt right now. The documentary “Climate Change - The Facts”, produced and directed by Serena Davies and presented by David Attenborough, surprised us, because it shows facts, and not only assumptions! This is our opinion. After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looked at the science behind climate change and created potential solutions to global warming. P. 7
He interviews some of the world’s leading climate scientists and activists, such as Greta Thunberg, and explores recent extreme weather conditions such as unprecedented storms and catastrophic wildfires. The scientists reveal what dangerous levels of climate change could mean not only to human populations, but also to the natural world. The point of this recent documentary (2019) is to make us aware of what we are facing. It shows us true facts of everything that has happened and is happening and, based on them, guesses of what will happen (some suppositions listed below). REVIEW
Thousands of scientists all over the world are doing research on this, and they say that by 2040 and 2050 the earth’s temperature will already have increased 1,5ºC and it will continue to rise until humankind is destroyed, unless we do something to stop it.
P. 8
Thousands of scientists all over the world are doing research on this, and they say that by 2040 and 2050 the earth’s temperature will already have increased 1,5ºC and it will continue to rise until humankind is destroyed, unless we do something to stop it. During the film, alarming events are shown sequentially. At the beginning, Prof. Matthew Hansen showed the first image of earth from space and compared it with today, showing its negative evolution. Dr. Katey Walter Anthony reveals how catastrophic the melting of permafrost, in Alaska, may be. We are shown how Greta Thunberg initiated a global series of global protests: “It’s happening in your world; it’s happening in my world”. It’s shown how Justin Bilton and Charles Bilton escaped from a terrifying forest fire in the US. Sunita Narain, Richard Black, Professor Michael Mann and Colette Pichon Battle also contribute to this showcase of events. The scientists in the documentary were excellent at emphasising not only uncertainty where it exists, but confidence where it exists too. They give us ideas on some solutions, such as capture and storage of carbon in the soil, renewable energies, just as wind turbines and water turbines, and electric planes, shown by Sarabapal Bhatia, that may be, in the future, a cost-effective solution! To sum up, it is not difficult to understand that we strongly recommend the viewing of this documentary. We cannot forget that this is a real problem, which will only get worse if we do not change our acts, and the documentary reminds us of that. It is concise, organized and catches our attention! You will not regret watching it!. REVIEW
THERE ARE SMALL THINGS THAT WE CAN DO AND THAT ON A GLOBAL SCALE CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.
GRUPO PRISMA
Mariana L. Reis
As a citizen of the world we live in, I feel the need to speak up about this topic. Since it’s a current issue of the world, I feel like documentaries about this can be a mind-changing for people who are not aware of the seriousness of climate change. The documentary shows real footages of how climate change is destroying not just the animal habitats but also our life, our homes, our normal way of living. People in Louisiana are the first refugees of climate change that are experiencing losing land of the size of a football camp every 45 minutes. This film tries to shock us with scenes that can be heart-breaking for the most sensitive viewers. However, the shock is needed when we’re facing such a dangerous problem, and it’s a wide awake for all of us. The problems are getting bigger, but the film shows us that we still have a chance to turn the table, but that short period of time isn’t going to last for long. As a single citizen of this world, there are small things that we can do and that on a global scale can make a huge difference. The film shows that more than half of the food production of the UK goes directly to the trash. If we reduce this production just for the strictly necessary, the planet would thank us. The burning of fossil fuels needs to be reduced, we need to shift our energy system away from fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases and go towards renewable energies that don’t. As someone who feels the pressure and the fear of inherit this dangerous legacy, I consider that these documentaries are extremely necessary. We still have time, but the time we have won’t last for too long. And it will get worse if we don’t start acting now, if we don’t start changing now. I think that this short movie is a must-see, to learn and to assimilate. We have no idea of the strength we have if we stick together for a purpose.
P. 12
WE NEED TO TAKE ACTIONS TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Ana Rita Martins, Francisca Carriço, Inês Matos, Maria Francisca Seco and Matilde Santos
Climate Change - The Facts is a 2019 documentary directed and written by Serena Davies. This documentary talks about climate changes, one of the most important and spoken topics in our society. However, it seems like many people haven’t understood yet that our future depends on our actions and the consequences that make aim from those. Throughout the documentary, several specialists are interviewed to explain the consequences of rising CO2 levels on the ice caps, on coastal regions, on weather, wildlife and society itself. On the other hand, sundry testimonials from activists are presented, including the one from Greta Thunberg, a well-known seventeen-year-old activist. They introduced to us some little things we can do to make our lives more ecologically friendly and the causes why they are fighting. By watching this, we learn why the oceans are so important to our lives, what the consequences of the increase of the greenhouse effect G Rand U Pwhat O P human R I S M activities A are pollute our atmosphere.
"The moment that touched us the most was the talk between a man and his son through their escape from raging wildfires in California, over the film they took while attempting to drive through a cavern of blazing red trees. In our opinion, this hour-long documentary is very interesting and captivating because it’s a current affair and, despite being wide-ranging, it’s also concise and easy to understand. We think it’s very difficult to watch even five minutes of this and remain somehow neutral or unconvinced. However, viewing this documentary is not enough, we need to take actions to change the world. This change is in our hands, we are the key for a better future, because there is no Planet B. As citizens, we try to include sustainable attitudes in our daily routine, such as recycling at home and school, doing composting, cleaning the beaches, reducing the use of plastic and the consumption of meat that allows the decrease of cattle production, the main factor of the emission of greenhouse gases. Nowadays, we live in a global pandemic that besides all the negative things that it gave us, it has delivered unusual environmental benefits like cleaner air, lower carbon emissions, which allowed the Indian population to see the Himalayas for the first time after long years and the viewing of wild animals in unexpected places due to the quarantine that human beings were forced to go on. In conclusion, Climate Change - The Facts shouldn’t have to change minds, but perhaps it will change them anyway or at least make this seem as pressing as it needs to be.
WE LEARN THAT WE NEED TO THINK MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO EVERY DAY
INÊS GOMES AND FILIPA FONTES
In this review, we will analyse the film “The Facts” by David Attenborough. This is an amazing documentary about climate changes. The climate change is one of the most popular topics in our society. What is in danger, it´s not just us, our lives, our descendants’ lives, but also, animals’ lives, and our planet. The aspects that we are going to evaluate and analyse are the chaining of ideas, the use of visual features, and the way they talk and explain every aspect. First, we would like to speak about the chaining of ideas. Throughout the film, we can see that the ideas are organized. First they spoke about what’s happening; second, they explain the consequences of the problem; and then, they tell us how we can fix all that. We think this is the best chaining of ideas, so it’s a good point about the documentary. The second good point about this documentary that we would like to mention is the visual resources. Although this is a film, in itself a visual feature, they could just show the man speaking at the documentary, but they haven’t done it. They use images, short videos, interviews of people and graphics. This helps us to understand the problem better, its consequences, and how they affect all the things that involve our planet. The last point we want to talk-about is the way they speak, the way the message is transmitted. Because climate change is a regularly talked about subject, on which we are already used to hearing, we could feel bored when watching this documentary. But, with this documentary, we don’t feel like that. We just stay close to the screen, sometimes we keep our mouths open, because we are impressed. Mostly because of these three important points, we have to say that we tell everyone to watch this documentary if it’s possible. In it, we have a lot of lessons to think about. We learn that we need to think more about what we do every day, the products that we pay for, the amount of eletricity we use, the amount of water we use, the type of energy we use, and a lot of things more. Like we heard in the documentary, now, mostly just poor people are suffering because of the climate changes, but if we keep our bad attitude, it will get worse, and rich people, the ones who are at the top today, will suffer too. And this will be not just a poor people’s problem, but it will be OUR problem.