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Look at the story of a Norwegian man who started out a humble fisherman.
Now he’s the billionaire owner of an oil company.
He believes he owes his fortune to the ocean, so now wants to clean up the oceans and give away most of his money.

Oil Billionaire’s Plan To Clean The Ocean

Kjell Inge Roekke is a man of contradictions. The billionaire owner of an oil company sounds like an unlikely environmentalist, but he is determined to clean up the oceans.

As a young man, Roekke was a high school dropout who moved to the US to become a humble fisherman. Now he is the tenth-richest man in Norway. Worth two billion dollars, he plans to give much of his money away and is starting with cleaning up our oceans.

The Earth is called the blue planet for a good reason. The oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. Over 50 percent of all life exists beneath the waves. Humans are destroying it with plastic and pollution. Ironically, Roekke, a man who has made part of his fortune through petroleum, wants to clean the ocean of plastic garbage.

In the Pacific Ocean, there is an island called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of the continental United States. It consists of nothing but small pieces of plastic and the rotting corpses of sea life and birds.

Our marine life is drowning in a soup of plastic triggered by our disposable culture. Kjell is taking direct action.

The billionaire is buying a state-of-the-art ship, which will remove five tons of plastic from our oceans daily.

Kjell started his business empire building industrial fishing boats. He believes he owes his fortune to the ocean and wants to pay the debt back.

The seafaring man said, “I want to give back to society the bulk of what I’ve earned. This ship is a part of it.”

Managed by the conservation organization WWF, the ship’s mission is to detox the oceans.

It couldn’t come at a better time. Earlier this year a killer whale washed up on a UK shore that was poisoned by man-made chemicals.

The whale called Lulu was the most contaminated on record.

Lulu was 20 years old and had never reproduced because her body had become so toxic.

Kjell has granted WWF complete control of the boat. The conservation organization is not comfortable with the practices of the Norwegian’s oil business. Yet in the struggle to save the environment, unlikely partners must work together.

Without the world’s oceans, life on Earth wouldn’t exist. They are over four billion years old. Man-made plastic has existed for less than two centuries. The damage it has caused has been immense, but not fatal. The tide can and must turn.

Vocabulary

contradictions
opposites
dropout
someone who leaves school without graduating
humble
not arrogant; living simply
trigger
an action that starts something to happen
disposable
items that can be used once or for a short time and are they thrown out
state-of-the art
expensive and very current; using new technology
conservation
a project to protect a vulnerable species or area
contaminate
infect something; pollute

Weather Conversation Questions

Warm-up Task:
In turn, list weather-related words (snowy, cold, typhoon, etc). Collect them on the whiteboard or on a piece of paper.

ESL Conversation Questions:

    Describe your favorite type of weather.
    Do you trust the weather forecast? Which weather forecast is the most accurate? How often do they get it right?
    Do you feel different because of weather? How do different types of weather affect your emotions?
    How do you deal with rain? Do you use an umbrella or raincoat? Or just ignore it?
    Have you ever been caught with the wrong clothing for the weather conditions? What happened?
    Do you worry about global warming? How serious are the earth’s environmental problems?
    Which region of your country has the best weather? What is it like there?
    The sun can be dangerous. Do you burn easily? Have you ever been seriously sunburned?
    What occupations are most affected by weather? Do you know anyone doing any of these jobs?
    In English, the expression ‘it’s raining cats and dogs‘ means it is raining very heavily. Try to imagine the origin of this strange expression and share your ideas.
    Do you remember the first time you saw snow? How did you react? If snow is common where you live, how do you feel about it?
    Has your region or country ever experienced a weather-related disaster like a serious storm? What happened and how much damage was caused?
    What does it mean to say, ‘I feel under the weather‘? When did you last feel this way?
    Would you rather live somewhere that is dry and hot all year round or a place which has clearly different seasons? Or in some other kind of climate?
    Does anyone you know predict weather changes by sensing them in their body or by observing the environment? How accurate are their predictions?
    Do weather conditions affect any of your hobbies? What can’t you do if the weather isn’t suitable?
    Is the weather a good topic for small talk? If not, what topics do you prefer?
    Some weather phenomena, like tornadoes or lightning, look spectacular. Can you understand why some people try to get closer to storms?

Let us enjoy reading this one of Modern Stories of A Little Friend .

That was a bad day for our Mr. Lion King. During his chase to catch a rabbit he sprang into a small bush from where he came out not with the rabbit but with a large thorn in his palm.

He cried for help. He tried his best to pull out the thorn. He shook his hand, tried to pull out the thorn with his mouth etc. but all his efforts was in vain. The thorn began to smile at Mr. Lion.

Then he asked other animals for help. But they all feared the lion. So no animals came to help him.

At last the lion approached the clever fox. The king asked, “Can you pull out the thorn please. I am suffering very much with pain."

The fox said, “I am not very expert in this task. But I have a little friend who is very expert in this work. I will surely ask him to help you. But I have some demands."

“What are your demands?" asked the king.

“It is not just food or money Your Majesty! You should allow me to give you five kicks on your back!" the fox said.

The lion king asked with surprise and anger “Do you want to kick me? Don’t you know who I am?"

“I know! I know! But it is not my need to remove thorn from your palm. If you don’t want I am going. Good Bye" said the fox.

“Hey! Wait! Wait!" said the lion and he began to think for a moment “I am suffering with the pain of the thorn. It has to be pulled out. Let him kick me five times. I just want to remove the thorn. After taking the thorn I will eat up his little friend."

The fox then began to kick the Lion King with his permission. One, two, three… like that. The fox called his little friend.

There comes a little porcupine. He pulled out the thorn with great ease. The pain in the palm of the lion was reduced. But his mind became filled with anger, grief and disappointment. What to say! He was very much disappointed in thinking how he can take revenge for the five kicks he got from the fox. How can he eat the porcupine with thousands of quills? At last he had to bow down before the great intelligence of the clever fox.