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IELTS Speaking vocabulary: Pollution
Fill in the gap with one word
- Pollution is where we make the environment ______ and ______ to use.
- Plastic and chemicals are two of the worst __________
See answers
- Pollution is where we make the environment dirty, filthy, bad, and unsafe, unhealthy to use.
- Plastic and chemicals are two of the worst pollutants, sources, factors
Pollution (n.) Uncountable
- Damage caused to the environment (water, air or soil) by harmful substances
Air pollution dropped to an all time low during the pandemic
- Environmental pollution
- Air pollution
- Water pollution (lakes, sea, rivers)
- Land pollution (soil)
OR
- The harmful substances that cause the damage (plastics, smoke, radiation)
Plastic pollution is killing our seas and rivers.
- Noise pollution
- Light pollution
- Radioactive pollution
- Plastic pollution
Read the facts about the different types of pollution here.
Pollutant (n.) Countable
The substance that pollutes
Can you name the following pollutants?
See answers
- Plastic
- Smoke / Fumes / chemicals/waste gas
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Pesticides, chemicals
- Exhaust fumes (vehicles), fuel/gas/petrol emissions, CO2
Other pollutants
Sewage (n.) uncountable
= human waste and waste water
Chemicals
- Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
- Mercury
- Lead
Pollute (v.)
- To make something harmful, usually by adding chemicals.
- To contaminate
Plastics are polluting the water supply
Plastics are contaminating the water supply
Different ways of saying ‘Rubbish’ or ‘Waste material’
- litter
- waste
- rubbish (UK)
- garbage (US)
- junk (US)
- refuse
- debris
- leftovers (just for waste food)
- rubble (only from a destroyed building; cement, stones, bricks)
- Household rubbish
- Industrial waste
A dump / a landfill (these are only places)
Waste from the body we can call; excrement, poo, faeces, (solids) pee, wee, urine, (liquids)
Consequences of Pollution
- It can lead to _____ (noun)
- It can provoke _____ (noun)
- It can cause _____ (noun)
- It can trigger _____ (noun)
To trigger = to make something happen
Air pollution can lead to ______
- Respiratory (=breathing) problems
- Lung cancer
- Death
Water pollution can provoke ________
- Contamination of the food chain
- Infant mortality
Soil pollution can cause ________
- The land to become unsuitable for farming
- Chronic health problems
Listening bingo
1) Listen to this person talking about the causes of pollution. What does he say are the 2 main causes of pollution ?
See answers
What are the 2 main causes of pollution?
- Aeroplanes / airplanes
- Traffic, especially cars
2) Listen again and mark a box when you hear the exact words in it.
If you mark 3 in a row, that’s BINGO!
See answers
3) Now watch and note any useful collocations!
Listening Bingo – Full Script
See answers
When it comes to air pollution, to my mind, (= in my opinion) airplanes must be the biggest polluters.
Let’s face it (=let’s be honest), they are causing huge damage,
churning out (=produce something bad) greenhouse gases, like CO2 into the air, contributing to global warming.
This became crystal clear (=very clear) during the pandemic when there was no air travel and we saw air quality around the world shoot up (=to go up a lot)
The other guilty party, as far as I can make out (to make out = to see or understand), is traffic, especially cars.
I know some cities have introduced measures to curb (=to reduce) inner city traffic, but by all accounts (=from all the evidence) they have had limited success.
I reckon this problem is hugely exacerbated (=is made much worse) my more and more families aspiring to own two cars which is clearly not helping matters.
I suppose the gradual uptake (the uptake = the act of taking or accepting something) of electric cars will mitigate (=to reduce) this in the long run (=the long term), but yeah, those are the 2 big ones for me.
Listen to more about the causes of pollution on this WHO podcast.
IELTS Speaking idioms to talk about pollution
To turn a blind eye
= To ignore a problem or something that is wrong
We know flying causes huge air pollution but we all seem to turn a blind eye to it.
Something is a drop in the ocean
= too little, not enough
The action taken by our government to reach net zero carbon emissions is a drop in the ocean.
The tip of the iceberg
= A small part of the problem
The increase in sicknesses we are seeing due to air pollution is just the tip of the iceberg.
Interesting Quotes
- ‘The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.’ Robert Swan
- ‘We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.’ Native American Proverb
IELTS Speaking question part 3: Model answer
- Watch the answer to the following question and note any interesting collocations.
Is there more air pollution now than in the past?
IELTS Speaking question: Useful phrases
Is there more pollution now than in the past?
I guess it depends on the kind of pollution, the country and whether we are talking about urban areas (=city areas) or rural areas (=countryside area)
Statistically speaking (=according to the data), certainly in the USA and most of Europe, then air pollution has certainly gone down.
I think In the last thirty years or so, the air quality in those countries has increased.
The problem is, in many developing countries it is far worse than before (=much worse than before).
Levels of pollution are rising, especially air pollution, as societies are becoming more prosperous (=rich, wealthy), and the demand for cars and maybe international travel goes up, and so does air pollution.
So I guess on a global scale, we still have a long way to go (=we still need to do a lot more).
Statistics on Pollution differences today and in the past
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