IB English B Environment & Sustainability Notes

Focus on Practical Solutions to Global Ecological Problems

1. In this theme, your task is to show how global environmental challenges can be turned into specific, targeted communication.
2. Specifically, you start with a broad concern like climate change, then narrow the frame to one concrete step that a school, company, or individual can actually take.

Exam Relevance

The skill you're being tested on is whether you can handle sustainability as a practical problem with layered consequences.

Paper 1 (Writing)

1. The most common text types are proposals, articles, reports, and formal emails.
2. Tasks will often ask you to adapt a broad issue to a local setting, like how your school can cut waste, or how your city might promote cycling.
3. A strong proposal or report will be measurable and audience-focused.
4. If you’re writing to a school board, talk about costs, timelines, and student benefits.
5. If it’s for a youth magazine, make it engaging, practical, and relatable.

Paper 2 (Reading & Listening)

1. Here, you’ll usually see NGO reports, interviews, or news features.
2. These go beyond content and are usually about stance.
3. For instance, writers may often praise a solution before revealing its limits.
4. A headline might say: “Solar Power: The Future of Energy?” but in the text, the author explains the challenges of storage or cost.
5. The trap is reading too quickly and assuming the author is supportive.
6. What’s actually being tested is your ability to pick up on qualifiers: “to some extent,” “although,” “in the short term.”

Individual Oral (IO)

1. The images you’ll get often show pollution, protests, renewable energy, or endangered animals.
2. The point is to explain what the image reveals about society’s choices.
3. Here are some things you can do:
   1. Start by noticing the obvious detail: a march, a wind turbine, a polluted river.
   2. Then connect it to the theme: “This image reflects the growing influence of youth activism” or “This shows the trade-off between development and conservation.”
   3. Always think in terms of consequences and trade-offs.
   4. For example: “Solar panels reduce emissions, but the high upfront cost prevents widespread use in poorer communities.”

Language & Moves

1. Sustainability texts need a mix of scientific precision and persuasive communication.
   1. Useful verbs: implement, regulate, conserve, mitigate, enforce.
   2. Useful nouns: carbon footprint, ecological impact, renewable energy, waste management.
2. Strong structures:
   1. Concessive clauses → “Although hydroelectric dams provide energy, they can displace communities.”
   2. Conditionals → “If schools install bike racks, car use will decline.”
   3. Comparatives → “Solar power is cleaner than coal but less reliable in northern regions.”

Idea Scaffolds & Evidence Pack

1. Arguments work best when you build them step by step.
2. Scaffold: Problem → Cause → Stakeholders → Solution → Evaluation