IELTS Energy 1464: Modern Environmental Issues to Stand Out on IELTS
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1464, Modern Environmental Issues to Stand Out on IELTS.

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com

forward slash my score you have likely heard that the environment is one of the most common topics on both ielts speaking and writing but you may be using outdated resources today we share updated vocabulary and ideas for these ever-changing issues

On this podcast, we are all about your IELTS score. What the examiner is looking for in speaking and writing. What tricks to watch out for in listening and reading. And what strategies you need for all four sections. We want you to get the score you need on IELTS and be done with this exam. But before we get started, I want you to know that IELTS is a program that's going to help you get the score you need for all four sections.

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alexandra.mcgallearsenglish.com/myscore Aubrey, would you say that a lot of IELTS students are worried about the environment topic? That's a good question. I don't know if you guys are worried about it and not that you should be worried, but you should definitely be prepared. This is such a common question on IELTS, both writing and speaking. Examiners love to ask you about the environment.

I think the danger here, guys, is that the environment is such a known topic. It's like it's always on the IELTS Hot Topics list and it should be. It does come up on IELTS a lot. But the danger here is that there are so many resources. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see me doing air quotes. There are so many resources about IELTS environment topics.

These resources are all the same and they're all outdated. They're all giving you the same boring list, right? And today, guys, we want to encourage you to stand out on these questions, to not use those lists, to think more about the modern problems associated with the environment.

Yeah. And these questions will be updated as well as the world changes, as you know, you might be asked how are humans affecting the environment, right? Something that you might not think about as much. So it's important that first of all, you're staying update, you're listening to the news and podcasts so that you're hearing a lot of this vocab. But also I love what you said here, Jessica, you want to make sure you're not just listening to like outdated sample answers because things are changing.

I mean, if you have, you know, a seemingly simple question on IELTS, like, you know, what are the environmental problems where you live? So many students are going to give exactly the same answer. If they give answers at all, if they've practiced, you know, some students might not have a good answer for that. But if students do have answers for that, they're all going to sound the same, like,

Well, the air pollution is very bad and you you have to wear a mask because the air pollution can cause, you know, breathing problems like everybody's going to say the same thing. Right.

And if it's the vocabulary the examiner is hearing again and again and again, even if it seems high level to you because it's a new word, if the examiner has heard it 30 times today, it's low scoring because it's very common. That's such a good point. That's such a good point. Yeah, another reason not to use those lists. Anyway, let's dive in here. So we have five modern environmental problems for you guys to think about today.

And as you're hearing us talk about these and give examples, I really want you guys to think about how they apply to where you live. All right. How would you use this idea? So this first suggestion for an environmental problem would not traditionally be called an environmental problem, I think.

Yeah, but definitely could be argued, right? So this is homelessness, which more and more we're calling them unhoused, the unhoused population. So the examiner might feel very passionate about that. So I definitely recommend that you use that terminology, right? Yeah.

And it is about the environment, the urban environment, right? Is it causing an issue with litter or maybe water pollution? I know there's a large unhoused population in Portland and here in Phoenix as well.

Oh gosh, yeah, I bet. So in part three or writing task two, right, you would use this modern terminology, the unhoused or the unhoused population instead of saying homelessness. And then you have to give an example. So I live in Portland. That's not hard. An interesting example though, is we literally have like homeless pirates. There are a lot of rivers around Portland.

If you go to downtown Portland, you can see homeless houseboats. It sounds weird, homeless houseboats. But it does look like a little pirate junker. And they have like stolen bicycles piled up on there that like fall into the river. And it's just a pile of trash on this boat. And you know that people are relieving themselves there.

you know, going to the bathroom in the river. They're using the river to wash their clothes and wash themselves and throwing things they don't want into the river. And that's water pollution, right? But what an interesting example of water pollution. Yeah. And it is interesting to think about because anyone who feels like they don't have options to

is not going to obey like civic laws as much as someone who does feel like they have options and they're part of the system, right? So it does make sense that there would end up being a lot of environmental issues.

For sure. Yeah, I could speak for so long about this topic, right? But we're not here to talk about the unhoused population. We are here to talk about the environment. Maybe in an upcoming episode, we'll talk more about that. But the next very common topic that I hear students talk about with the environment is air pollution. However, there are more modern takes on this, right, Aubrey?

Right. If you think about wildfires, they are rampant in the U.S. lately. So talking about the smoke, the smog generated by wildfires, you know, every summer there's wildfires here in Arizona and also in California. And we see, we can visibly see it. We can smell it up where you are as well, right? Yeah.

Oh my gosh, every summer. I mean, this is happening all over the world now, right? So unfortunately, you guys should be able to use this. So the example I would give would be like, yeah, every summer for at least a week, Portland residents are

advised to wear masks anytime they leave the house because the AQI or air quality index is so unhealthy and the air is so dangerous that we have to wear masks just to be outside because of the wildfire smoke.

And though this is a rampant problem, we will hear students much more often talk about city smog from factories. Yes, that also is a problem, but we do hear that answer a lot. This doesn't come up that often, which is sort of surprising for what a big problem it is. So if instead you talk about the wildfires that you experience where you live or that you hear about all over the world, that will be more unique to the examiner.

Yeah, I mean, it to end today's world, most industrialized countries have rules about their factories. And so that is honestly not as much of a problem anymore, as it used to be. Thank goodness, fires, wildfires are a problem. And then that leads you to this whole other environmental issue of why wildfires are rampant today, when they weren't in the past, right? What is causing this, this new phenomenon?

Right, which is going to give you an opportunity to share so many more details and interesting vocabulary. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.

All right. So another issue we hear about often is deforestation, which is a great word. I still want you to talk about it because it is still a problem. But what is a more interesting take on talking about deforestation?

One thing I can think of is landslides. In California, there was a landslide where a lot of the cliff just swept away and I was reading about it and it was due to deforestation that destabilized the whole foundation. So a lot of that is, you know, human activity, wanting to build houses there, but then we end up causing earthquakes.

all this ripple effect of problems. Exactly, exactly. So yeah, deforestation, guys, in case you're not sure what that means. Like Aubrey said, humans want to keep building and expanding where we live, which is linked to our last issue we'll talk about today. But we destroy the forests, right? So humans have more area to live. So another interesting environmental issue related to this is animal displacement. That

That's when we ruin their habitats because we're cutting down the forest. And an example here, which is interesting, I went to Ashland, Oregon, not that long ago, a city about four hours from Portland, and there are deer everywhere in the town, like everywhere in people's front yards, on downtown city streets.

Like it is an insane problem. And these deer are not afraid of humans anymore. They will chase people like because they've lost their habitat and they are claiming a new one, which is where people live. And it's a very interesting problem related to deforestation.

Right? So then you have to think about how does that city deal with that problem? Do they have to displace them? Does there have to be animal control? And then we're decreasing populations unnaturally. So there are all kinds of negative effects. A lot of people would be, would have a hard time knowing how to handle that situation.

completely new. We've never learned how to deal with aggressive deer in our front yards. All right. So another problem is invasive species. There are a number of causes for this, which we won't go into now, but it's worth researching because not only is it interesting, but it'd be good to talk about on IELTS. So what are invasive species? Yeah. So this is a species that is

causing some kind of problem. It might be ruining local flora and fauna. This is an expression that means the plants and animals in a place. A good example, when we were in Hawaii, we were seeing mongoose everywhere. And a tour guide was saying that they're actually not native to Hawaii. They were brought from India by the sugar industry to control the rat population.

But it really backfired because mongoose are active during the day and rats are only active at night. So they didn't affect each other, but they became a huge threat to the native species in Hawaii. And now they were everywhere. They're really invasive there. Wow.

That is so interesting. Oh my gosh, guys, literally just like Google invasive species and you're going to get so many really fascinating stories like that. And the thing about, about these stories, like what Aubrey just says is like this cool little window into history as well. You know, like it's always linked to, um, immigration business. Like, yeah, exactly. Like how, so invasive species, it's a, um, plant or animal that should

not be, it's not native to the place, which means it's invasive. It came from somewhere else and it's ruining the local flora and fauna.

Yeah. And finally, we have urban sprawl. This is all related here. So as populations, human populations increase, there are all kinds of ripple effects, right? We're using too much water. This is a huge issue in Phoenix, which is a desert. Probably humans shouldn't be living here at all. And they definitely should not be building golf courses. Should not be building golf courses that are then needing all of this water. It's crazy. Yeah.

So, Aubrey, when I lived in Arizona decades ago, I remember that the urban sprawl of the Phoenix area was so rapid, was so huge. It was it appeared to be growing by the day. Is that still the case?

Absolutely. Yes. Where I live in the suburbs, just recently, a lot of this land was farmland and developments are popping up so quickly that there are all kinds of problems. There are a lot of scorpions in everyone's backyard because very recently they were citrus orchards. And so the scorpions were happy living there. They love citrus, but now people live here. Oh.

And again, these scorpions are being displaced by homes that are being built. So then they're pushed to homes that were here longer and everyone's dealing with it. Oh my gosh, that's fascinating. Guys, I love...

I really, really hope that you are using today's episode as a homework assignment because, you know, at least one, if not all of these environmental issues, these modern environmental issues are happening where you live and you need to be able to talk about this in English on IELTS. So do a little research guys, learn about what's happening.

Yes, and we are going to have a two-part series here. So tune in next time. We are going to share some Band 9 sample answers.

answering recent IELTS questions about the environment so that you can see how these might sound and definitely practice answering them on your own. So come back next time. Nice, nice. Make sure to hit follow, guys, so you don't miss any of these amazing two-part series. And fantastic. Aubrey, great job today. I'll see you next time. See you next time. Bye. Bye.

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