Name: Earth ‘pushed beyond its limit’ UN warns: BBC Learning English from the News
Uploaded: 2026-03-25T23:02:00.000Z
Duration: 8 min 5 s
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From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme, planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits.

In this podcast, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and the headlines from this episode, as well as a free worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

2015 to 2025 were the hottest 11 years ever recorded, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

However, the heat that we feel is actually only 1% of the increase of heat energy that has happened.

91% of this heat energy is stored in the ocean, the impact of which is not fully understood.

However, sea levels are at a record high, and sea ice is at its third lowest level ever.

The level of greenhouse gases means that far more energy comes into the atmosphere from the Sun than can leave it.

This headline is from RTE, an Irish news broadcaster.

That headline again, from RTE, an Irish news broadcaster.

This headline is saying that the climate is showing that too much heat energy is trapped in the Earth's atmosphere.

Much more energy comes in from the Sun than is able to leave.

We're going to learn the word imbalance, which is used to talk about this.

To make this word, we use the word balance with the prefix im at the front to make it the opposite.

The prefix im is often used in front of words that begin with M, P, or B, making words like immature or impossible.

An imbalance is a situation where two things are not equal to each other.

Usually, these are things that we would want to be equal or that would normally be equal.

This story is about the imbalance of energy and how it's causing changes to the Earth's climate.

But there are many other contexts where we can use the word imbalance.

If there's an imbalance of power in a relationship, whether that's personal, political, or in business, then there can be problems.

An example of this could be a trade imbalance where one country buys more than it sells to another country, making them economically weaker.

We've had imbalance, where two things are not equal to each other.

For example, top universities are encouraging girls to study science to address the gender imbalance in the subject.

This is Learning English from the News, from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about the World Meteorological Organisation's report saying that the world's climate is more out of balance than at any time in recorded history.

The report lists a number of ways that the climate is showing the impact of warming.

This includes the energy imbalance that we've just mentioned.

Also, current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are the highest for two million years,

and the amount of methane and nitrous oxide are at their highest levels for 800, 000 years.

The amount of warming in the oceans is equivalent to 18 times the energy used by all humans in the world in a year.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said every climate indicator is flashing red.

And this is what our next headline is about.

This headline is from US News, a news organisation from the United States.

World Meteorological Day sees key climate indicators flashing red.

That headline again from US News, a news source from the United States.

We're looking at the phrase flashing red.

Think about a set of instruments, something like a car dashboard.

There are lots of different indicators giving you different information: your speed, how much petrol you've got, etc.

When they start flashing red, it means you've got a problem.

In this story, flashing red refers to the climate data we've just mentioned.

Guterres's statement is saying that these indicators are showing problems.

You might hear flashing red in any news story where statistics are important.

If the economic indicators in a country are all flashing red, there are a lot of problems.

Stop signs and traffic lights are red, and warning lights showing a problem are usually red.

We've had flashing red warning about a negative situation.

For example, I've just seen a breakdown of our accounts.

We're talking about the World Meteorological Organisation describing the effect of an energy imbalance on the climate.

The report from the World Meteorological Organisation highlights that these changes have been largest in the last few decades.

The rate of ocean warming in the 20 years between 2005 and 2025 is twice that of the previous 45 years.

And this is from a press release from the World Meteorological Organisation.

Earth's climate swings increasingly out of balance.

And that again from the World Meteorological Organisation.

Now, the word we're focusing on here is swing.

So swing literally means move from one side to another.

Imagine putting something heavy on a piece of rope and moving it from side to side.

Children might play on a thing called a swing.

And the swing swings forwards and backwards.

We're using the word to talk about numbers.

And when we talk about numbers, swing means move dramatically and rapidly.

Here, we're talking about climate data and how it has dramatically got worse over recent decades.

A swing, that's the noun, is also used to talk about a sudden change from one direction to the other.

So in politics, a swing is when support moves from one party to the other.

One set of numbers goes down while the other goes up.

Note that the verb swing is an irregular verb.

The past simple and past participle are swung.

For example, the opinion polls have swung away from the president.

There's no way she can win the next election.

And that's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

Try the free worksheet on our website to test what you've learnt at bbclearningenglish.com.

And you can also follow us on social media.

Just search for us at BBC Learning English.