Keynote Page | 1 A country with no water, Fahad Al-Attiya B1 – C2 Discussion 1 Work in groups. Discuss the questions. 1 Do you think water should be considered a natural resource? How important is it relative to other natural resources in your country? 2 What are the most important things countries need water for? 3 What water resources do you have in your country? Can you think of any other sources of water that could be used? 4 What kinds of water-related issues do you have in your country (e.g. flooding, droughts, contaminated drinking water, etc.)? Keywords 2 Read this summary of Fahad Al- Attiya’s TED Talk, A country with no water . Match the words and phrases in bold with their definitions (1 – 9). In the 1940s, Qatar had a population of 11,000. There was no water or any energy resources. Most of the people lived in coastal fishing villages, or they were nomads and roamed around the desert looking for water. But in 1939, they discovered oil resources , realized its commercial value and after World War II, fully exploited it. This helped urbanize the country and develop cities, transforming it into a country with abundant power and money. But it is still missing one key essential element for life – water. Infrastructure engineer Fahad Al-Attiya talks about how desalination produces Qatar’s water supply and how it plans to use renewable energy in the future to produce an even greater amount of water for its rapidly-growing population, which is already consuming more water than any other country in the world. 1 an important aspect of something ____________________ 2 to transform a rural or unoccupied area into a town or city ____________________ 3 travelled around an area without any definite direction ____________________ 4 used something for advantage or profit ____________________ 5 the basic organizational elements of a system ____________________ 6 large quantities of energy ____________________ 7 using up ____________________ 8 supplies of a liquid fossil fuel ____________________ 9 a process that eliminates salt and minerals to produce fresh water ____________________ Energy & Utilities A country with no water Page | 2 Energy & Utilities Comprehension 3 Watch Fahad Al-Att iya’s talk on TED.com. Tick the topics the speaker refers to. 1 Making sure food is available in Qatar for the next two years. _____ 2 Searching for water. _____ 3 The discovery of water. _____ 4 The development of towns and cities. _____ 5 The amount of oil consumed. _____ 6 Economic growth without water. _____ 7 The method used to produce fresh water. _____ 8 Using solar power to create energy to produce fresh water. _____ 9 Farmers will give water to the animals so they can supply us with food. _____ 10 Legislation is th e key to making Qatar’s future sustainability possible _____ The big idea 4 Work in groups. Discuss the questions. 1 Because Qatar has no water, do you think they will be able to maintain their current way of life for the next ten years? 2 Fahad Al- Attiya believes the solution to the risks attached to Qatar’s future sustainability is through solar energy. Do you believe solar energy is an effective form of renewable energy? Why? / Why not? 3 It would require a huge number of solar systems to desalinate enough water to feed the population of Qatar. Do you think this is possible? 4 Were you persuaded by Fahad Al- Attiya’s talk? Why? / Why not? Language focus – turning oil into water 5 Complete the sentences with these words. Then watch the TED Talk again from 0.11 – 5.05 and check your answers. consumption growth implement lack litres master plan precipitation pumps rate resources tonnes 1 Fahad Al-Attiya ’s job for the next t wo years is to design an entire _______________ to make the country food secure; and for the following ten years he will _______________ it. 2 The problem wasn’t that they were unable to develop cities. It was because the _____ __________ didn’t exist. 3 Today, Qatar is a fully developed country with a 1.7 million population and an economy that has an average _______________ of around 15%. 4 Water _______________ in Qatar has risen to 430 _______________ and is now one of the highest in the world. Fahad Al-Attiya thinks this response may be because of Qatar’s history as a country with a _______________ of water. 5 In terms of _______________ of rain, Brazil has 1,782 millimetres per year; Qatar has 74, and still has a growth _______________ of 15%. 6 Qatar _______________ oil out of the ground and burns _______________ of it to create energy to power a desalination plant. A country with no water Page | 3 Energy & Utilities 6 Watch a part (5.12 – 8.25) of the TED Talk again. Complete the sentences. Use one word in each space. 1 The risks for Qatar are that the world has a growing _______________ for food and declining _______________ , which means Qatar needs to be aware of when the _______________ is going to happen. 2 They also need to consider that diets are changing. Because of rises in socio-economic _______________ , people will be consuming more meat, etc. 3 Qatar has only two days of water _______________ , imports 90% of its food and _______________ under 1% of its land. 4 Due to _______________ market policy, farmers have been forced out of their farming practices. 5 Fahad Al-Attiya believes there is a _______________ solution and shows the audience information from thousands of pages of _______________ documents. The solution may not be in using _______________ energy or _______________ fuels, but in using _______________ energy to produce the water required. 6 Qatar will install 1,800 megawatts of ______________ systems to create 3.5 million _______________ metres of water. Speaking 7 Work in pairs. Fahad Al- Attiya said that the sustainable solution to Qatar’s problems is in using solar energy to power the desalination machine. Look at this fact sheet about solar energy. Discuss why points 1 – 4 are advantages and why points 5 – 8 are disadvantages. Solar energy is clean because it doesn’t create waste products. Solar energy fact sheet 1 Solar energy is clean and renewable. 2 Solar energy will last forever. 3 Solar energy is silent and creates no noise pollution. 4 Solar panels require very little maintenance. 5 Solar energy collectors are expensive to manufacture. 6 Solar energy is inconsistent , for example it doesn’t work at night 7 Location and availability of sunlight are extremely important for its success. 8 Solar panels are inefficient : currently only 22% of the sun’s energy is converted into electricity 8 Work in groups. Based on your knowledge of the industry, think of a possible alternative master plan for Qatar ’ s sustainability. Present your ideas to the class.