Shadowing Practice: How to Save Our Planet - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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How do we create a future in which both people and nature can thrive.
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This is the biggest question of our times.
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In the next few decades, We need to do something unprecedented.
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achieve a sustainable existence on Earth you But how do we do it?
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We can start by understanding how we got to this point.
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20 ,000 years ago, Humankind consisted of less than a million hunter -gatherers across the globe.
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We lived within the resources on offer.
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in balance with nature.
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A strategy that could theoretically last forever.
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But it wasn't an easy life.
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Nature determined our survival.
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We used our unique minds to challenge that reality.
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We learnt how to tame the wild, get more from the environment.
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Our population boomed, as did our demands.
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Every time a new problem arose, we solved it, altering Earth's entire surface in the process.
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And now we have changed the world so profoundly, scientists have decided that Earth has entered a new phase of its existence.
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Welcome to the Anthropocene, the age of humans.
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The tables have turned.
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We now determine nature's survival.
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The planet is ours.
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That's one problem.
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We're now totally out of balance with nature you And unless we get our balance back,
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this age of humans is due to be short -lived.
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So how do we deal with this problem?
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you When you boil it down, there is one underlying big issue.
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Our planet is becoming less wild.
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Our species has cleared three trillion trees cultivated half its fertile land and now fishes across most of the ocean.
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In the last 50 years, the populations of wild animals have reduced by 60%.
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We've replaced them with ourselves and our domesticated animals and plants.
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Today, We and the animals we raise account for 96 % of the mass of mammals, and 70 % of the birds on Earth.
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there's very little wild left.
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This biodiversity loss is not just a tragedy.
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It's the single biggest problem we face.
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Without biodiversity, The world as we know it doesn't work.
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Our planet needs its wild spaces.
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Everyone is a component in the global machine.
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Only if they are all healthy can the planet run smoothly.
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A less wild world is less able to provide for our needs.
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Less able to maintain dependable weather and seasons.
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Less able to absorb our impact.
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Biodiversity equals stability.
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Can we turn this situation around?
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Can we rewild the world?
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Well, maybe due to one key change.
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As societies develop, something is happening that has never happened before.
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People are having fewer children.
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Globally, since the year 2000, the number of people under 16 years old has hardly changed.
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The main reason our population is still rising is because people are living longer.
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Oh If this continues, our population may finally stop growing by the turn of the century.
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- - By investing in education and women's rights and raising people out of poverty,
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we could bring about peak human even sooner.
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This changes everything.
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It gives us the opportunity we need to regain our balance.
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you Bye.
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Bye.
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The plan for our planet is remarkably simple.
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Reduce our impact by making sure that everything we do, we can do forever.
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For the biggest gains, we could concentrate our efforts on four goals.
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Phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewables.
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This will not only slow the warming of the planet, and the acidification of the ocean, but it will lead to clean air for all of us.
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Upgrading to efficient food production and reducing our consumption of meat.
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we'll require far less space to provide for ourselves, leaving more for grasslands, reducing deforestation,
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and our demand for fresh water and feeding more people with healthier, more affordable food.
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Working together to properly manage our ocean.
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A global network of no -fish zones.
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and a treaty on the use of international waters would restore the health of the ocean, so it actually produces more fish for us all to eat.
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Working hard to keep hold of the wild populations we still have.
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Encouraging nature wherever we can.
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In the ocean, on land we no longer need, and even in our cities.
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If we make these changes, we'll be a long way to becoming a species in balance with nature once again.
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we will have taken a remarkable journey.
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From a million people struggling to survive, to several billion living long,
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healthy lives, on a stable planet able to provide for all our needs.
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Only at that point, will the Anthropocene the age of humans be truly underway.
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At that point, We will be proud to call it our planet.
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How do we create a future in which both people and nature can thrive?
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We open our eyes to this moment in history.
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Think on a planetary scale.
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Embrace the challenge we face.
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And do something we humans are very good at: change the world.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 81 sentences and 811 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:11. The speaker talks slowly, about 99 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| survival noun | /sɚˈvaɪ.vəl/ | The fact or act of surviving; continued existence or life. |
| thrive verb | /θɹajv/ | To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish. |
| stable noun | /ˈsteɪ.bəl/ | A building, wing or dependency set apart and adapted for lodging and feeding (and training) ungulates, especially horses. |
| poverty noun | /ˈpɑːvɚti/ | The quality or state of being poor; lack of money |
| encourage verb | /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ | To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| solve verb | /sɒlv/ | To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out. |
| resource noun | /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ | Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel. |
| hunter noun | /ˈhʌntɚ/ | One who hunts game for sport or for food; a huntsman or huntswoman. |
| consumption noun | /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/ | The act of eating, drinking or using. |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| component noun | /kəmˈpoʊ.nənt/ | A smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity. Often refers to a manufactured object that is part of a larger device. |
| invest verb | /ɪnˈvɛst/ | To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. |
| fewer | /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ | Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer |
| stability noun | /stəˈbɪlɪti/ | The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as we'll, doesn't, wasn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thrive /θɹajv/, smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, acidification /əˌsɪdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, deforestation /dɪˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: stability /stəˈbɪlɪti/, affordable /əˈfɔɹ.də.bəl/, sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/, unprecedented /ʌnˈpɹɛsɪdɛntɪd/, remarkably /ɹɪˈmɑɹkəbli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like survival, thrive, stable.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.