Pronunciation ChallengeCNN10: Biden / Kelp / SpaceX

Transcript

Biden Hits the Road

It's traditional that after giving a state of the union speech, a US president hits the road. The leader spends time at rallies and events to meet with supporters and try to drum up support for the proposals outlined in the speech. President Joe Biden is doing that now. He's released two major economic plans: One is titled the American Families Plan and the other is the American Jobs Plan. The first plan would include more childcare programs, free preschool, free community college. Sounds tempting! And the second would include spending on roads, bridges, and new climate-centered programs. Together, the two plans would cost almost 4 trillion dollars, and they'd have to get through Congress first, which is the branch of the U.S. Government that controls the spendings, yes, money!

And even though the President's fellow Democrats have the majority of votes in both chambers, it's a slim majority, especially in the Senate, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. However, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, would be the tie-breaking vote if there's a 50-50 Senate split. One thing lawmakers might do is break up the President's large proposals to pass smaller chunks that can get support from both parties, and the process is expected to take at least a few months.


CO2 can Kelp!

Fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil are used to produce electricity, heat our homes, and power gasoline engines. But when they're burned to create energy, they release carbon dioxide into the air and up to the atmosphere. Oh no, what can we do to help? Let’s pause for a second, we’ll get back to saving planet Earth.

There are concerns that ropes of kelp could harm marine life or passing ships, and it's not known yet what kind of impact these masses could have on the ocean floor when they're sunk down there. But they are believed to be a way to capture CO2 from the air and bury it for centuries in the deep blue sea. Kelp is seaweed, also called macroalgae. And kelp is also one of the fastest-growing things in the world. It pulls carbon in at the fastest rate of any species in the world. A climate solutions company called Running Tide is trying to use kelp as a natural way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere and sink it into the deep ocean.

After the kelp grows, the biodegradable buoy will dissolve and lose its buoyancy, and by then, the kelp is so heavy that it sinks to the ocean bottom, therefore isolating the carbon for 1,000 plus years. Pretty cool, but isn’t that gonna raise other issues? I mean, that’s what humans do best, don’t we?



SpaceX Astronauts


To infinity and beyond! 4 travelers aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule arrived in the Gulf of Mexico after spending 5 months on the international space station. For over a week, the 11 stellar roommates bunked together in a place that NASA says is the size of a six-room house. Check out today’s CNN10 video to find out more.


Sentence of the day:

One thing lawmakers might do is break up the President's large proposals to pass smaller chunks that can get support from both parties.

Vocabulary:

1. lawmaker
someone, such as a politician, who is responsible for making and changing laws

Ex: The lawmakers promised to secure more funding for African American community.

2. proposal
a suggestion, sometimes in a written form

Ex: Have you read Steve's proposals for the new project? It’s surprisingly good.

3. chunk
A very large part of something

Ex: All I had for dinner last night was only a chunk of meat.


Alright and that’s all the time we have for today.
I think what’s more important than CO2 pollution right now is the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wouldn’t you agree?
There have been multiple cases occurring recently in Taiwan.
Folks, please be careful and stay healthy.
Refrain from attending public gatherings as much as possible.

One thing lawmakers might do is break up the President's large proposals to pass smaller chunks that can get support from both parties.