NIGHTMARE SCENARIO BY TIM FLANNERY

Language Level: Intermediate

Standard accent: British

Source: Speak Up

WE MEET THE AUTHOR

Nightmare Scenario

The real Tim Flannery was also interviewed by Speak Up. We asked him to describe the worst-case scenario for the future of our planet:

Tim Flannery

(Australian Accent)

No-one can predict the future, but what I think the worst case that might happen is that the North Polar ice cap will melt and then the Greenland ice cap will start to collapse and we will have a very rapid rise in sea level and maybe 500 million people will displaced by the rising sea level and many cities around the world will disappear under the waves and all of our port facilities will cease operating, so we won’t be able to transport food around the world, or goods, and many of our airports will become unfunctional and people will start trying to protect their own little patch and we have a propensity to violence. When we are stressed we tend to react with violence and the world is full of nuclear weapons, so the worst catastrophe I can imagine is where we enter a new dark age, where law and order has broken down internationally. Most people would die in that circumstance (sic), most people living on the world will die and who knows when that might happen. It could be five years, 15 years, 30 years away, you know, but that is my nightmare scenario.

MAKING DIFFERENCE

Nevertheless Flannery believes that we can all do something to avoid this scenario:

Tim Flannery:

My house only has electricity from solar panels, from “photovoltaic,” we call them, I have a little hybrid car, a Toyota car. I offset all of my emissions from travel, my carbon emissions, so that means that I pay a company to invest in wind power or something, every time I travel by aircraft and I generally try to do things like eat local food, instead of food, instead of food that’s been transported halfway around the world, using fossil fuels. So it changes your whole lifestyle after a while, this thing, but changes it for the better.

GLOSSARY

a) The North Polar ice cap will melt: a calota polar ártica derreterá.

b) Greenland: Groelândia

c) Rise: Subida, aqui elevar o nível do mar.

d) Port facilities: Instalações portuárias.

e)To protect their own little patch: Defender seu pequeno espaço de terra

f)Nightmare scenario: Cenário de pesadelo, a hipótese mais pessimista.

g)Offset: Eu compenso (o efeito de)