Ejercicio B.3 · Inglés PAU Madrid Extraordinaria 2024

TEXTO B

What Air Pollution Does to our Lungs

The World Health Organization is on a mission to make politicians understand that the climate crisis is a health crisis. Dr. María Neira (Director of the Department of Public Health and Environment) used the Cop28 summit last December to wake people up to the tremendous human cost of a global economy based on coal, oil and gas, and to make every politician take action immediately. “Are you ready to cope with the consequences of your inaction?” she said. “You have to live with that weight on your shoulders. You are not saving those lives – I don’t want to say killing – but you are definitely not protecting the lives of those people.”

That brings us back to our lungs. Burning fossil fuels leads to air pollution, which kills millions of people due to lung illnesses each year. Only blood pressure, smoking and diet play a bigger role in early deaths in the world. Nevertheless, the difference is that we have direct control over those three; we can decide how much exercise we do, whether we smoke, and what we eat.

Air pollution is a far bigger killer than extreme climate, which dominates discussions nowadays. But fortunately, stopping climate change and cutting air pollution go hand in hand. The shift to clean energy implies burning fewer fuels that emit toxic particles.

Doctors see “co-benefits” like this everywhere. Cleaning up transport implies fewer vehicles, cleaner cars, and more walking and cycling, all of which can save 5 million lives a year. Cleaning up agriculture implies a shift to healthier diets that can save millions more. Taken together, these health benefits strongly support a fast climate action. And Neira is confident she can make policymakers see this too.

Adapted from “What air pollution does to our lungs,” The Guardian, November 9, 2023. <https://deal.town/the-guardian/what-air-pollution-does-to-our-lungs-the-guardian-P3ZZNLS45E>

B.3.- Find the words in the text that mean: (Puntuación máxima: 1 punto)

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