NOTES: 1. To Drain - Remove liquid 2. To Cling - Stick or Hold something tightly 3. Kickstart something - Start more quickly 4. To manipulate - skillfully use something 5. Down the line - Some time in the future 6. Time will tell - Truth can be known in the future Thanks!
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Beth. We all know how horrible it feels to be thirsty. Human bodies need around three litres of water a day, and thankfully, most of us can just turn on the kitchen tap to get clean drinking water. But globally, over two billion people, around a quarter of the world's population, live in water-stressed countries where access to water for drinking, cooking and washing is not guaranteed. What's more, water is also needed to grow food, and that's getting harder due to droughts, which are increasing with climate change. In this programme, we'll visit farmers in one of the driest places on earth, Yuma in the USA, where a new technology involving liquid clay is helping farmers grow fruit and vegetables in the desert. And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too. But first, I have a question for you, Neil. Everyone knows that plants need sunlight and water to grow, but soil is just as important. One of the most useful soils is clay, a dense, smooth soil which is very fertile but sticky. Clay has been used in agriculture for thousands of years, but what is its more modern use? Is clay good for: a) curing headaches, b) digesting food or c) smoothing face skin? Well, I think clay can be used to smooth the skin on people's faces. OK, Neil. We'll find out if that's the correct answer later. Lack of water and farming are closely connected. Agriculture uses a massive 70% of the world's fresh water supply, so ways to use water more efficiently are much needed. Ole Sivertson's company, Desert Control, works with date farmers in Yuma, an area on the border of California and Mexico. One of the hottest places on Earth, Yuma has been experiencing its worst drought in 500 years forcing farmers to pump water from rivers to grow their date palm trees. Fortunately, Ole's team have created a liquid that they say can turn the sandy desert soil into a sponge which holds water and nutrients. Here, he explains his invention to Anthony Wallace, reporter for BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World. To understand how it works we need to look at the difference between sandy soil and clay soil. Sandy desert soil has a lot of gaps in it so water drains through it quickly, making it hard for plants to establish a root system in the ground. But clay soil is made up of much smaller particles that cling together and naturally stop water from escaping. It creates the habitat for the soil microbiology to also start to develop and evolve. So it's kind of a kickstart as well to nature's natural processes. The problem with sandy soil is that it drains water. If you drain something, you remove the liquid from it. Clay soil, on the other hand, is made of smaller particles which cling or stick together tightly, and hold water, helping plants grow. Ole makes a liquid by mixing clay and water which changes the soil composition and kickstarts the growth of his trees. The liquid makes the trees start growing more quickly. Liquid clay technology is still new and costing around $2000 an acre, it's not cheap. But Ole claims his technique halves the amount of water needed to grow fruit trees and that most farmers will make back their investment within two years. Ole's claims sound too good to be true, but are there downsides to interfering with nature in this way? Presenters Myra Anubi and Anthony Wallace discuss this question for BBC World Service's People Fixing the World. Anthony, I'm still left wondering, right, when you manipulate soil like this, could you be causing problems down the line? Yeah. I think any time that there's a new technology where you are, like you said, manipulating nature, only time will tell what the long term effects of that will be. But Ole did stress that their liquid clay does not use any chemicals, only clay, air and water. Ole's liquid clay involves manipulating soil, using and controlling it skillfully to achieve some result. Myra worries that when people do this, they could create problems down the line at some unspecified point in the future. In fact, only time will tell if liquid clay is a long-term solution to the problem of water scarcity. The phrase 'only time will tell' means that the result of something happening now will not be known until the future. Something we can know though is the answer to my question, Neil. Yes. You asked about a modern use for clay, and I guessed it was for smoothing facial skin. Which was... the correct answer! A clay mask, also called a mud pack, is used to smooth the skin on your face. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learnt in this programme, starting with the verb 'to drain', which means to remove liquid. 'To cling' means to stick or hold tightly onto something. If you kickstart something, you make it start or develop more quickly. 'To manipulate' means to skillfully use or control something. The phrase 'down the line' means some time in the future. And finally, the idiom 'only time will tell' means that the truth about something happening now will only be known in the future. Once again, our six minutes are up, but remember to join us again next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now. Bye!
I'm Behnam from Denmark. Thank you for BBC learning English all the time after watching 6 minutes English every day. new I can understand English. This was very interesting and this new invention that is liquid clay is very important in the agricultural industry and it prevents excessive water consumption for agriculture .Thank you.
I would say many many thanks after listening most videos on BBC Learning English channel everyday. I just got my band 8.5 score in IELTS listening. Your contents help me a lot, please keep doing this. Cheers!
@@luv-m9u Sure thing! I stared changing my behavior I think 80% of my habits have to relate to English. For example, I read some news in BBC website every morning just one or two article is enough. That helped me a lot in reading skill. Next, I listened many English podcasts and videos, my suggest is you have to listen both interesting topics and boring topics because sometimes you will never face the story that you familiar with. Lastly, the crucial point is the dedication, you have to spend time lots of your daily life and be patient. On the other hand, you have to relax but having consistency may be two hours per day is OK. So, to be honest, I’m an asian student who is not a native person. I spent two months to achieve this one. And, I hope you can do it. Good luck man!
I did a Woofing program in a lovely farm in the Western Australia for around a year. I leant self-sustainability while dealing with the environment. In that place, the soil issue was the opposite of the drain tendency mentioned in the video. It's actually hydrophobic, the water struggles to reach the roots and dries up from the heavy sun that rise most of the year. During cyclone or heavy rain, flood disaster can have a significant bad impact on flat area where agriculture are performed. Instead of using hard chemicals, we used mulch, which is the current natural solution that can trick this soil characteristic. It's composed of wood chips cling to each other and that you spread around the trees and plants. It keeps the roots isolated from the heat and keeps the soil moist and let the water having time to get deep inside the ground before evaporating. Moreover, it also prevent from soil loss, control weeds and enrich the soil. In my opinion, manipulating the nature against the natural process of the earth won't help to solve any problems. Our technology is not mature enough to use it. Down the line, the soil of the Western Australia will become less and less fertile leading to an agriculture loss. Unless an environment kick-start, only time will tell us what is really waiting for us.
Very interesting lesson of the most important liquid in the world. You're right, those of us who are able to drink water from the tap, take a shower and so on, are very lucky. Let's try not to waste water if we can. Thanks Beth and Neil.
Hi, there.😊 It's awesome that 'most of us have only to turn on the kitchen tap to get clean drinking water'. Not only that, we can have as much water as we want to at cafes and restaurants for free in our country, to which we should be grateful. As always, thank you for your outstanding lesson❗🚰💧⛲
After the Sith made all the water in the pool drain into a huge hole in the ground, Jeremy had to cling to the pool's edges to avoid falling into the hole. This happened when Jeremy was a child, and it gave him a kick-start to become a Jedi because he wanted revenge for what the Sith did to him. However, Jeremy was not supposed to exact revenge, as it was not the Jedi way, but the Sith were manipulating him. Even though his Jedi colleagues warned him about it, he was still going to exact revenge down the line. Will he succeed in taking revenge? Only time will tell...
Thanks, BBC Learning English, for this wonderful video. Your effort is always valuable. I'm looking forward to more informative and learning language videos.
Nice and informative. Liquid Natural Clay is going to drain too, though it has yet to be seen by what rate. A similar effect could have been obtained by fine-milling the existing sand. Being a question of milling it there vs transporting it from elsewhere, it seems to be a question of costs vs gains in terms of energy. Vase, clay, hydroponics, mixed ... but we are here to improve our English, and not our agricultural engineering analytic abilities.
It seems like that one of the solutions to the issues that people are globally facing these days, like food shortage and water scarcity that are only getting worse and worse every day due to climate change and global warming, is manipulating the nature. For example, genetic modification can provide this growing population worldwide with enough food or as we heard in this podcast through manipulating the soil, people who live in the driest parts of the world where clean drinking water is not available and accessible to individuals, such methods can be beneficial to combat food shortage or water scarcity. However, only time will tell what long-term effects these manipulations might have on not only our lives but also the life of flora and fauna.
Sorry, we don't have any translations of 6 Minute English, but you can find the transcript of this episode on our website: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2024/ep-240919
2:30 what does hold mean here? And do you have a trick to not forget the so many meanings some words have in english? I try to learn them but after some days i forget them and like in this case with hold it's quite confusing and stressing for me to try to guess what it means.
It just means that the soil contains water and nutrients. Check out this short video for advice on recording new vocabulary 👇! ruclips.net/video/5rDKiJoTlOQ/видео.html
If you enjoyed that, you may find this playlist with videos all about climate change useful 👇
ruclips.net/p/PLcetZ6gSk968HT-s-4i_95oWY2RAmsWJ4
@@bbclearningenglish it’s great topic ✨
NOTES:
1. To Drain - Remove liquid
2. To Cling - Stick or Hold something tightly
3. Kickstart something - Start more quickly
4. To manipulate - skillfully use something
5. Down the line - Some time in the future
6. Time will tell - Truth can be known in the future
Thanks!
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.
We all know how horrible it feels to be thirsty.
Human bodies need around three litres of water a day, and thankfully, most of us can just turn on the kitchen tap to get clean drinking water.
But globally, over two billion people, around a quarter of the world's population, live in water-stressed countries where access to water for drinking, cooking and washing is not guaranteed.
What's more, water is also needed to grow food, and that's getting harder due to droughts, which are increasing with climate change.
In this programme, we'll visit farmers in one of the driest places on earth, Yuma in the USA, where a new technology involving liquid clay is helping farmers grow fruit and vegetables in the desert.
And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.
But first, I have a question for you, Neil.
Everyone knows that plants need sunlight and water to grow, but soil is just as important.
One of the most useful soils is clay, a dense, smooth soil which is very fertile but sticky.
Clay has been used in agriculture for thousands of years, but what is its more modern use?
Is clay good for: a) curing headaches, b) digesting food or c) smoothing face skin?
Well, I think clay can be used to smooth the skin on people's faces.
OK, Neil. We'll find out if that's the correct answer later.
Lack of water and farming are closely connected.
Agriculture uses a massive 70% of the world's fresh water supply, so ways to use water more efficiently are much needed.
Ole Sivertson's company, Desert Control, works with date farmers in Yuma, an area on the border of California and Mexico.
One of the hottest places on Earth, Yuma has been experiencing its worst drought in 500 years forcing farmers to pump water from rivers to grow their date palm trees.
Fortunately, Ole's team have created a liquid that they say can turn the sandy desert soil into a sponge which holds water and nutrients.
Here, he explains his invention to Anthony Wallace, reporter for BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World.
To understand how it works we need to look at the difference between sandy soil and clay soil.
Sandy desert soil has a lot of gaps in it so water drains through it quickly, making it hard for plants to establish a root system in the ground.
But clay soil is made up of much smaller particles that cling together and naturally stop water from escaping.
It creates the habitat for the soil microbiology to also start to develop and evolve.
So it's kind of a kickstart as well to nature's natural processes.
The problem with sandy soil is that it drains water.
If you drain something, you remove the liquid from it.
Clay soil, on the other hand, is made of smaller particles which cling or stick together tightly, and hold water, helping plants grow.
Ole makes a liquid by mixing clay and water which changes the soil composition and kickstarts the growth of his trees.
The liquid makes the trees start growing more quickly.
Liquid clay technology is still new and costing around $2000 an acre, it's not cheap. But Ole claims his technique halves the amount of water needed to grow fruit trees and that most farmers will make back their investment within two years.
Ole's claims sound too good to be true, but are there downsides to interfering with nature in this way?
Presenters Myra Anubi and Anthony Wallace discuss this question for BBC World Service's People Fixing the World.
Anthony, I'm still left wondering, right, when you manipulate soil like this, could you be causing problems down the line?
Yeah. I think any time that there's a new technology where you are, like you said, manipulating nature, only time will tell what the long term effects of that will be.
But Ole did stress that their liquid clay does not use any chemicals, only clay, air and water.
Ole's liquid clay involves manipulating soil, using and controlling it skillfully to achieve some result.
Myra worries that when people do this, they could create problems down the line at some unspecified point in the future.
In fact, only time will tell if liquid clay is a long-term solution to the problem of water scarcity.
The phrase 'only time will tell' means that the result of something happening now will not be known until the future.
Something we can know though is the answer to my question, Neil.
Yes. You asked about a modern use for clay, and I guessed it was for smoothing facial skin.
Which was... the correct answer!
A clay mask, also called a mud pack, is used to smooth the skin on your face.
OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learnt in this programme, starting with the verb 'to drain', which means to remove liquid.
'To cling' means to stick or hold tightly onto something.
If you kickstart something, you make it start or develop more quickly.
'To manipulate' means to skillfully use or control something.
The phrase 'down the line' means some time in the future.
And finally, the idiom 'only time will tell' means that the truth about something happening now will only be known in the future.
Once again, our six minutes are up, but remember to join us again next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now. Bye!
I'm Behnam from Denmark. Thank you for BBC learning English all the time after watching 6 minutes English every day. new I can understand English.
This was very interesting and this new invention that is liquid clay is very important in the agricultural industry and it prevents excessive water consumption for agriculture .Thank you.
Thanks from Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 ❤
Thank you for BBC learning English all the time. After watching 6minute English everyday, now I can understand UK English a little bit more🤍
It does work effectively, it does make my comprehensive listening skill much better now
No need to write does it works .. it makes
@@xuansangen1322
I would say many many thanks after listening most videos on BBC Learning English channel everyday. I just got my band 8.5 score in IELTS listening. Your contents help me a lot, please keep doing this. Cheers!
pleaseeeee, can you tell me your start point and how long you can achieve that score?
👏 Congratulations on your excellent IELTS score! You must be over the moon.
@@luv-m9u Sure thing! I stared changing my behavior I think 80% of my habits have to relate to English. For example, I read some news in BBC website every morning just one or two article is enough. That helped me a lot in reading skill. Next, I listened many English podcasts and videos, my suggest is you have to listen both interesting topics and boring topics because sometimes you will never face the story that you familiar with. Lastly, the crucial point is the dedication, you have to spend time lots of your daily life and be patient. On the other hand, you have to relax but having consistency may be two hours per day is OK. So, to be honest, I’m an asian student who is not a native person. I spent two months to achieve this one. And, I hope you can do it. Good luck man!
@@bbclearningenglish Your channel helps me so much, can’t thank enough!
I’m from Iraq and I learning english from your 6 mins video I addict this video please don’t stop 💜💜
I did a Woofing program in a lovely farm in the Western Australia for around a year. I leant self-sustainability while dealing with the environment.
In that place, the soil issue was the opposite of the drain tendency mentioned in the video. It's actually hydrophobic, the water struggles to reach the roots and dries up from the heavy sun that rise most of the year. During cyclone or heavy rain, flood disaster can have a significant bad impact on flat area where agriculture are performed.
Instead of using hard chemicals, we used mulch, which is the current natural solution that can trick this soil characteristic. It's composed of wood chips cling to each other and that you spread around the trees and plants. It keeps the roots isolated from the heat and keeps the soil moist and let the water having time to get deep inside the ground before evaporating.
Moreover, it also prevent from soil loss, control weeds and enrich the soil.
In my opinion, manipulating the nature against the natural process of the earth won't help to solve any problems. Our technology is not mature enough to use it. Down the line, the soil of the Western Australia will become less and less fertile leading to an agriculture loss. Unless an environment kick-start, only time will tell us what is really waiting for us.
Thank you so much ❤️ I'm from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
Thank you BBC learning english this is so useful for people and me 😊 please don't stop ❤❤
Lots more to come!
From uzbekistan watch this podcast😅
Thanks BBC learning English 🎉
From Uzbekistan 🇺🇿. Listenings are very good.
Me too
Thank you for 6 minute English for very useful videos. I' ve been learning a lot of things from your information 😊😊😊
Thanks BBC learning English 🤩
🥰 We're glad to hear that! 🤔 Can you use any of the vocabulary and expressions from this episode in a comment?
Thanks for useful information.These podcast improve my skills
This podcast is truly wonderful, interesting...
This report is very helpful for me learning vocabulary ❤
thanks neil
Very interesting lesson of the most important liquid in the world. You're right, those of us who
are able to drink water from the tap, take a shower and so on, are very lucky. Let's try not to waste water if we can. Thanks Beth and Neil.
phenomenal opportunity to learn Vocabulary in a pragmatic way, since it is a live conversation. Thank you ..
Really I enjoyed ur programme very much and learnt more from it
From MOROCCO... Best of luck
Thank you BBC these lessons helping me to enhance my vocabulary
Now I understand most of words
Thanks
I was waiting to listen a new podcast and thank you from Egypt ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Love it! 🥰 from Algeria
Loved your Save Water from Earth in English Lesson ❤❤❤❤❤
Awesome ❤❤❤
Hi, there.😊 It's awesome that 'most of us have only to turn on the kitchen tap to get clean drinking water'. Not only that, we can have as much water as we want to at cafes and restaurants for free in our country, to which we should be grateful.
As always, thank you for your outstanding lesson❗🚰💧⛲
Only time will tell whether I will be well enough to go on any trip in a few years. By the way, I need to say Thank you for this newest podcast.😊🎉
After the Sith made all the water in the pool drain into a huge hole in the ground, Jeremy had to cling to the pool's edges to avoid falling into the hole. This happened when Jeremy was a child, and it gave him a kick-start to become a Jedi because he wanted revenge for what the Sith did to him. However, Jeremy was not supposed to exact revenge, as it was not the Jedi way, but the Sith were manipulating him. Even though his Jedi colleagues warned him about it, he was still going to exact revenge down the line. Will he succeed in taking revenge? Only time will tell...
Thank you for this lesson! See you !
From Bangladesh, saw the video.
Thanks, BBC Learning English, for this wonderful video. Your effort is always valuable. I'm looking forward to more informative and learning language videos.
Don't worry! More to come :)
Thank you so much 💐
Thanks BBC
Climate Change is very important topic❤
Thanks bbc some groundbreaking ideas might be effective, the time will tell them
احببت ذلك
Thanks for your comment, but please try to write in English so we can all understand :)
I'am listening 🎧 this channel from 3rd
From Brasil
great content
Nice and informative. Liquid Natural Clay is going to drain too, though it has yet to be seen by what rate. A similar effect could have been obtained by fine-milling the existing sand. Being a question of milling it there vs transporting it from elsewhere, it seems to be a question of costs vs gains in terms of energy.
Vase, clay, hydroponics, mixed ...
but we are here to improve our English, and not our agricultural engineering analytic abilities.
We're doing both at the same time today :-)
❤
The answer to this week's question is (c. smoothing face skin)🤩🤩
Nice
First person and watch and like and comment❤❤❤❤😂😊😊
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
It would be better if you'd shown vocabulary with visuals and they explained vocabulary too fast.
There are vocabulary notes to go with this episode on our website: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/6-minute-english_2024/ep-240919
I agree totally with you, we can learn vocabulary with no visuals but it would better if it had those ones.
0:45
Bangladesh 🇧🇩
Saving water in the driest place on earth 👍
Saving water, saving lives
C
1
From 🇸🇩 and half 🇺🇦
I'm the second one who is watch this contetn.
Take
I thought that you were in Atacama desert in Chile 🇨🇱
ه هه مرحبا مليون مره 😅😅😅😅😅😅😊
Sandy soil and clay soil
It seems like that one of the solutions to the issues that people are globally facing these days, like food shortage and water scarcity that are only getting worse and worse every day due to climate change and global warming, is manipulating the nature. For example, genetic modification can provide this growing population worldwide with enough food or as we heard in this podcast through manipulating the soil, people who live in the driest parts of the world where clean drinking water is not available and accessible to individuals, such methods can be beneficial to combat food shortage or water scarcity. However, only time will tell what long-term effects these manipulations might have on not only our lives but also the life of flora and fauna.
Why is there no translation in to Arabic to make sure l understand the text
Sorry, we don't have any translations of 6 Minute English, but you can find the transcript of this episode on our website: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2024/ep-240919
Third person ❤😂
Mom somia
Oœpđ
2:30 what does hold mean here? And do you have a trick to not forget the so many meanings some words have in english? I try to learn them but after some days i forget them and like in this case with hold it's quite confusing and stressing for me to try to guess what it means.
It just means that the soil contains water and nutrients. Check out this short video for advice on recording new vocabulary 👇!
ruclips.net/video/5rDKiJoTlOQ/видео.html