environment vocab for leanning english

Dominic Cole’s IELTS Blog
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Environment Vocabulary
The natural world
word/phrase

notes/explanations

the natural world

includes both animal and plant life

the Earth

note the capital letter and “the”

the planet

a synonym for the Earth

a habitat

the natural habitat of an animal is where it lives

biodiversity

variety of plant and animal life in a region

(endangered) species

examples include the Giant Panda

an ecosystem

the system where plants and animals support one
another

rainforests

a useful example when discussing environmental
problems

deforestation

cutting down forests

Energy
word/phrase

notes/explanation

conserve energy

another way ot saying “to save energy”

sources of energy

a good collocation

renewable sources

sources of energy such as wind power and solar
energy

natural resources

for example water, coal and gas

fossil fuels

a collective term for coal, petrol and gas

solar energy

energy from the sun

solar panels

the implement used to create solar energy

wind turbines

modern windmills used to create power from the wind

clean energy

energy that does not create pollution


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Pollution

word/phrase

notes/explanation

pollution

remember “air and water pollution”: other forms of the
word include “pollute” and “pollutants”

smog

an extreme form of air pollution almost like fog

air/water quality

this can be affected by pollution

(industrial) waste

we also talk about waste products

chemicals and fertilisers

useful examples of products that cause water
pollution

fumes/emissions

these are the gases that are produced by cars and
factories that cause pollution

carbon monoxide and
carbon dioxide

names of two gases useful for discussing acid rain
and the green house effect

factories and power
stations

two examples of sources of pollution

acid rain

rain that is “poisonous” because of the poor air quality

dump waste

if factories dump waste, they illegally deposit
(normally dangerous) waste

Global warming
word/phrase

notes/explanation

green (issues)

a very common synonym for “environmental”

global warming

an example of man’s effect on the environment

the greenhouse effect

connected to global warming


Dominic Cole’s IELTS Blog
www.dcielts.com
Useful verbs

word/phrase

notes/explanation

harm

cause or do harm to/ harmful

endanger

the verb of “danger”/endangered species

impact

“have an impact on”

contaminate

almost the same meaning as poison: another form of the
word is “contaminated”

threat

a threat to/be under threat/ to threaten/to be threatened by

exercises and examples on how to use this vocabulary