Basic Vocabulary: The Environment

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Some of the key takeaways are that human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation are damaging the environment by increasing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. This is causing problems like rising sea levels, more extreme weather, and species extinction.

Human activities like burning fossil fuels for transportation and electricity, industrial pollution, intensive agriculture, and deforestation damage the environment through increased greenhouse gas emissions and pollution of air, water and soil. This harms ecosystems and human health.

Potential long term consequences of climate change include rising sea levels which could flood coastal cities, more extreme weather like droughts and floods, species extinction, shifting climate zones forcing people from their homes, and increased spread of diseases.

THE ENVIRONMENT

1. Basic Vocabulary
Use these words to complete the sentences:
waste pollution recycled
protect factory damage
environmentalists emissions

1. During the last hundred years we have done great ___________ to the environment.
2. There’s a large chemical ___________ in our town which has polluted the river twice
in the last year.
3. The government is very worried about the ___________ of our rivers and beaches.
4. A lot of household ___________ like bottles and newspapers can be ___________
and used again.
5. ___________ are furious with the American government for delaying measures
which will reduce greenhouse gas ___________.
6. There are lots of things we can all do to ___________ the environment.

2. What Causes The Damage


Use these words to complete the sentences:
exhaust fumes toxic waste pesticides
emissions deforestation crops

1. The government is introducing strict new rules on the dumping of ___________ by


industry.
2. Farmers contribute to environmental damage by spraying ___________ with
___________ which stay in the soil for years.
3. ___________ from factories in northern Germany affect the environment in large
parts of Scandinavia.
4. Tropical rainforests have always helped to keep the environment in balance but
recent ___________ means they no longer absorb as much carbon dioxide as the
used to.
5. ___________ from cars and other vehicles cause a great deal of damage to the
environment.
Which verbs cannot be used with environment?

damage harm injure destroy hurt pollute

3. Consequences
Match a word on the left with a word on the right to make common expressions:
1. global a. rain
2. greenhouse b. warming
3. ozone c. effect
4. acid d. layer

Now use the phrases in the following sentences:


1. The gradual rise in the Earth’s temperature is known as ___________.
2. When heat gets trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere, it is known as the ___________.
3. Scientists have found holes in the ___________, particularly over Antarctica.
4. Rain mixed with toxic chemicals from factories is known as ___________.

4. Global Warming
Use these words to complete the text:

floods radiation sea level climate


deserts ice caps oceans gases

Scientists have shown that the temperature on Earth is increasing by 0.1 0C every ten
years. That’s one degree every country. The (1) ___________ that are produced by
factories and cars are allowing more (2) ___________ from the sun to reach Earth. In
the future this will have a very serious consequences for humanity.

As the Earth gets hotter, the Arctic and Antarctic (3) ___________ will slowly melt and
the level of the (4) ___________ will rise. A recent report says that the (5) ___________
will rise by 70 meters over the next hundred years, causing (6) ___________ in many
low-lying parts of the world.

There will be (7) ___________ changes, too. Some areas will become wetter while
others will become much drier. Some areas which today are green and fertile will
eventually turn into (8) ___________. Tropical diseases like malaria will become
common in areas where today they are unknown.

5. Environmental Problems
Use these expressions to complete the text:

natural habitats in danger of extinction

long-term natural resources

way of life indigenous people

destruction future generations

The (1) ___________ of the rainforest is very worrying. Thousands of acres of forest are
being cut down every year and the (2) ___________ of many animals are being
destroyed. As a result, many species are (3) ___________.

This, in turn, threatens the traditional (4) ___________ of many of the (5) ___________
who live in some of the most remote areas of our planet. As with most environmental
issues, we need to think more (6) ___________ and realize that everything we do has
implications for (7) ___________. If we want to hand our world to our grandchildren, we
simply can’t continue to misuse the world’s (8) ___________ as we are at the moment.

Do the same with this text:

heavily polluted cloud of pollution

uninhabitable air quality

The (9) ___________ in many of the world’s largest cities is so poor that we have seen
as enormous increase in chest and lung illnesses such as asthma. These cities are (10)
___________ and some are permanently covered by a (11) ___________. Unless we
begin to take the problems more seriously and start to do something about them, many
of our biggest cities, particularly in the developing world, will become (12) ___________.
6. Protecting the Environment
Match a word on the left with a word on the right to make common expressions:

1. unleaded a. bank

2. public b. friendly

3. recycling c. energy

4. bottle d. point

5. environmentally e. transport

6. renewable f. petrol

If you want to protect the environment, here are some things you should do. Use
the expressions above.

1. Make sure your car runs on ___________ and your home uses sources of
___________.

2. Use ___________ instead of taking your car.

3. Take glass, paper and plastic to a ___________ and your empty bottles to a
___________.

4. Buy ___________ products whenever possible.

7. Green Politics
Use a dictionary to fill the gaps below:

Noun adjective Person

Environment __________________ __________________

Ecology __________________ __________________

Conservationists campaign to protect the environment. In most countries there are


political parties which aim to protect the environment – the Green Party or the Ecology
Party, for example. Greenpeace is an international group that protests against anything
which is a threat to the environment, like dumping nuclear waste and, more recently,
growing genetically modified crops.

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