The Environment
Senior 2 · English
The Environment
Lesson 1 of 4
22 min
Think about the last day you spent at home. The water you drank fell as rain on the hills. The beans you ate grew in soil. If your family cooked with charcoal, it came from trees. The electricity in many Rwandan homes comes partly from moving water, such as the hydropower stations on our rivers, and partly from methane gas taken from deep under Lake Kivu.
All of these are natural resources. In this unit you will read, speak and write about them, and learn the English you need to argue for protecting them. Environmental passages appear often in comprehension papers, so the vocabulary of this lesson is worth learning well.
This text is adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article Natural resource. Read it once for the general meaning. Then read it again and underline every word that describes a kind of resource.
A natural resource is anything that people can take from the natural environment and use. Air, water, soil, wood, fish, sunlight, wind and minerals are all natural resources. Some of them need work before we can use them: metal ores must be dug out of the ground and processed, and crude oil must be refined before it becomes fuel.
People usually divide natural resources into two groups. A renewable resource can be used again and again, because nature replaces it. Sunlight and wind are renewable, and so, in most places, is water. Trees are renewable too, but only if people plant new ones and give them time to grow. Soil is renewable in theory, but once rain has washed it off a hillside, it takes a very long time to form again.
A non-renewable resource does not come back, or it takes millions of years to form. Coal, oil and natural gas are examples. When we burn coal, there is less coal left afterwards. For this reason, many countries are trying to use more renewable energy, such as sunlight, wind and moving water, to make electricity.
Different places have different resources. When a country does not have a resource that it needs, it can replace it with another resource, or it can buy it from another country through trade. When people cannot get clean water or enough wood, their quality of life falls: they may become ill, and they may cut down forests faster than the trees can grow back. That is why people protect natural resources, so that the next generation can use them too.
Name two renewable resources from the text.
Any two of: sunlight, wind, water, trees (wood), fish.
Why does the writer say soil is renewable only "in theory"?
Because, once rain washes it away, soil takes a very long time to form again, so in practice it is hard to replace.
What two things can a country do when it lacks a resource it needs?
It can replace it with another resource, or buy it from another country through trade.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| natural resource (n) | something from nature that people use | Water is Rwanda's most important natural resource. |
| renewable (adj) | replaced by nature, so it does not run out | Solar power is a renewable source of energy. |
| non-renewable (adj) | will run out, because nature cannot replace it quickly | Petrol is made from oil, a non-renewable resource. |
| fossil fuel (n) | coal, oil or gas formed from plants and animals that died millions of years ago | Burning fossil fuels pollutes the air. |
| conserve (v) | to use carefully so that it lasts | We conserve water by closing the tap while we brush our teeth. |
| deplete (v) | to use up until little is left | Overfishing can deplete the fish in a lake. |
| sustainable (adj) | able to continue for a long time without harming the environment | Planting a tree for every tree we cut is a sustainable habit. |
Word families. Many environmental words change form. Learn them in groups: conserve → conservation, pollute → pollution, renew → renewable, sustain → sustainable, deplete → depletion.
Look at this worked example. A student wants to describe how people use water.
Both sentences are correct. The rule is:
Never mix the two: Wood is used for to build and Wood is used for build are both wrong.
After the verb avoid, the next verb always takes -ing:
Avoid to burn is a very common mistake. Other verbs that work the same way are stop, keep, finish, suggest and enjoy: Please stop throwing plastic in the gutter.
Do not confuse be used to + base verb (purpose) with used to + base verb for past habits (I used to fetch water). You will study the second one in the unit on gender roles.
Write one paragraph of 60–80 words about a natural resource in your district. Say what it is used for, whether it is renewable, and one thing people should avoid doing. Use used for + -ing at least once and avoid + -ing at least once.
Model answer
In Rulindo, the most important natural resource is the soil on our hills. It is used for growing beans, maize and tea, which feed our families and earn money. Soil is renewable in theory, but it forms very slowly, so we must treat it as precious. Farmers should avoid digging straight up and down the slopes, because heavy rain then carries the soil away. Instead, they can build terraces and plant grass along the edges.
Why this works: it names a local resource, gives its uses, answers the renewable question with a reason, and uses both target structures correctly.
Tip
Two patterns, no mixing. Purpose of a thing: used for + -ing OR used to + base verb. After avoid: always -ing.
Memory hook: "Avoid and -ing both have an i: they always travel together."
Work in your exercise book first, then check the worked solution under each item.
Complete: Solar panels are used for ___ (make) electricity.
Solution: making. After used for, the verb takes -ing.
Correct the mistake: Villagers should avoid to wash clothes in the spring.
Solution: Villagers should avoid washing clothes in the spring. Avoid is always followed by -ing, never by to.
Sort these into renewable and non-renewable: coal, wind, fish, natural gas, sunlight.
Solution: Renewable: wind, fish, sunlight. Non-renewable: coal, natural gas. Fish are renewable only if people do not catch them faster than they breed.
Complete with the correct word form: The ___ (conserve) of Nyungwe Forest protects chimpanzees and many other animals.
Solution: conservation. After the we need a noun, and the noun from conserve is conservation.
Rewrite using used to: Wood is used for building houses.
Solution: Wood is used to build houses. After used to, use the base verb.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
