Shadowing Practice: Can cycling reduce global warming? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We all know that bikes are good for our planet, right?
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But how good are they really?
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In order to better understand this topic, I'm going to explain what is a carbon footprint.
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You see, a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide
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and methane that are generated by our actions.
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Globally, the average yearly carbon footprint per person is around 4 tons, though in United States is closer to 16 tons.
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That's quite a lot.
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To have the best chance of avoiding a 2 degrees celsius rise in global temperatures, the average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop under 2 tons by 2050.
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But transport emissions aren't falling fast enough, which is why I wanted to see if using a bike could help us.
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So, you may think that cycling does not have any emissions or just a few from manufacturing.
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However, the real emissions will be shown and compared against other types of transport.
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We all know that most of the bikes are made from some kind of metal, right?
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Carbon emissions may differ from the types of metal you are using, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll take the steel bike that weighs around 20 kg.
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To manufacture that bike, 96 kg of CO2 is released into the air.
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That's this not the end though.
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We need to consider all of the calories you burned
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which need to be brought back by food unless you're on a diet.
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For better understanding, imagine Bob.
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He weighs around 70 kg and he's cycling a 30-speed at 16 km per hour.
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He is burning 11 kcal per km more while cycling than if he was laying around.
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This number might seem small though, but if Bob cycles for 1 hour every day, he burns around 1200 extra calories per week.
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He gets that energy back by consuming two extra burgers.
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In order to produce those two burgers, some of CO2 gets released into the air, mainly by food production and transport.
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If we add 96 kg of bike manufacturing emissions,
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average of 1.5 g per calorie in food emissions and that average lifespan of a bike is 90,000 km,
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cycling releases about 21 grams of CO2 each kilometer.
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Uhhh...
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And of course you need to talk about e-bikes.
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We know that manufacturing k-bikes releases more CO2 in the air, right?
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But less calories are burned, so carbon footprint is quite smaller.
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Look, emissions fall to 15 grams of CO2 per kilometer.
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Results may differ depending on the source of electricity, but I was still very surprised about that.
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With that said, buying an e-bike still defeats the purpose of a bike, You won't get nicer legs and you may become fat.
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But the ultimate green way of transport should be walking, right?
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Well, not really.
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Because walking is less efficient, more calories are being burned.
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All things consider that walking releases 56 grams of CO2, about twice as much as cycling.
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Despite that, walking is still very healthy and certainly a lot better than a car.
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You see, they may be useful, but cars are big polluters.
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Internal combustion cars are very inefficient, especially when useful for journeys.
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Everything is a lot more polluting, from manufacturing, driving and later recycling.
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Look, carbon footprint of an average car is around 200 grams of CO2 per kilometer.
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That adds up to be 11 times more than a regular bike.
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That is not even mentioning the room that needs to be made for car infrastructure.
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are cutting down forests in order to build more roads and parking spaces, right?
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Hundreds of tons of CO2 are released out of those processes.
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Roads also require maintenance, which is even more polluting and costly.
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On the other hand, bicycle lanes are much smaller and require a lot less maintenance.
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Look, that's why electric cars won't fix anything.
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They still waste space and destroy roads.
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Yes, they have carbon footprint of 90 grams of CO2 per kilometer, which is a lot smaller than a regular car, but they aren't the right solution.
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Last, but not least, let's take a look at the bus.
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Lots of people are being carried, and their lifespan is quite long.
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However, they suffer from high fuel consumption, making their carbon footprint around 100 grams of CO2 per kilometer, slightly more than an e-car.
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As we saw, cycling really is the eco-friendliest way of transport, right?
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If we only used bikes, what would be the impact on the environment?
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In 1940s British cycled 6 times more than in 2020s.
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If they would cycle today as much as in 40s, carbon emissions would be reduced for 7.7 million tons of CO2 per year.
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That is equivalent to 13 million flights from London to New York.
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That is not even considering other countries.
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Look, if we replaced most of the short trips with bike everywhere, carbon emissions would be lower significantly.
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Let's not forget that noise pollution is also a problem which bikes would be able to solve.
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To conclude, cycling is the cleanest mode of transport, right?
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They also offer tons of other benefits such as stress reduction, better health and affordability.
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If you are more interested in this topic, make sure to check out the links in the description.
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Thank you guys so much for watching and remember that even small actions can have a big impact.
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Perfect.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Este vídeo tiene 67 frases y 884 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 5:13. El hablante habla a un ritmo natural de unas 170 palabras por minuto, cercano a una conversación cotidiana. El 82 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
15 palabras menos comunes del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
- emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ (sustantivo) — emisión. Something which is emitted or sent out; issue.
- footprint /ˈfʊtpɹɪnt/ (sustantivo) — pisada, huella. The impression of the foot in a soft substance such as sand or snow.
- ton /tʌn/ (sustantivo) — tonelada. The short ton of 2000 pounds (about 907 kg), 20 hundredweights of 100 pounds avoirdupois each.
- gram /ˈɡɹæm/ (sustantivo) — gramo. A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol: g.
- calorie /ˈkæləɹi/ (sustantivo) — caloría. A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally…
- topic /ˈtɑpɪk/ (sustantivo) — tema, tópico. A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
- burger /ˈbɝ.ɡɚ/ (sustantivo) — búrguer, burger. A hamburger.
- differ /ˈdɪfɚ/ (verbo) — diferir, diferecer. Not to have the same traits or characteristics; to be unalike or distinct.
- weigh /weɪ/ (verbo) — pesar. To determine the weight of an object.
- infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ (sustantivo) — infraestructura. An underlying base or foundation for a building, organization, or system.
- compare /kəmˈpɛɚ/ (verbo) — comparar, parangonar. To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
- suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (verbo) — sufrir, penar. To undergo hardship.
- efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ (adjetivo) — eficiente, eficaz. Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy.
- solve /sɒlv/ (verbo) — resolver, solucionar. To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out.
- sake /ˈseɪ̯k/ (sustantivo) — causa, gracia. Cause, interest or account.
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
- check out (verbo) — investigar, chequear. To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
- cut down (verbo) — talar. To cut downward.
- look at (verbo) — mirar, funar. To observe or watch.
- talk about (verbo) — hablar de, hablar sobre. Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 7 contracciones y formas reducidas, como aren't, won't, I'm. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, reduction /ɹɪˈdʌk.ʃən/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, simplicity /sɪmˈplɪsɪti/, kilometre /kɪˈlɑmɪtəɹ/, inefficient /ˌɪn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como emission, footprint, ton.
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | are generated · will be shown · are made |
| Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa | enough, which is · maintenance, which is · kilometer, which is |
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.