Module 1: Resources

🟢 Level C1: Advanced

Focus: Describing consequences, consumption, and general environmental trends.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C1)

• Run out of

  • Meaning: To use all of something and have no more left.

  • Example: If we don't change our habits, we will run out of potable water in this region within twenty years.

• Choke on

  • Meaning: To have difficulty breathing because of something (often used with smog/pollution).

  • Example: On days with high smog alerts, pedestrians literally choke on the fumes from the traffic.

• Spring up

  • Meaning: To appear or develop quickly and suddenly.

  • Example: Wind farms are springing up all along the coast as investment in green energy grows.

• Chop down

  • Meaning: To fell a tree or trees (similar to cut down but implies more force/volume).

  • Example: It is illegal to chop down trees in this protected zone without a government permit.

• Turn into

  • Meaning: To change or develop into something different.

  • Example: Without irrigation, this fertile valley will quickly turn into a dust bowl.

    
    

2. Idioms (C1)

• Cost the earth

  • Meaning: To be very expensive (can be used literally regarding environmental cost, or figuratively regarding money).

  • Example: Organic produce is better for the planet, but for many families, it costs the earth.

• In deep water

  • Meaning: In a difficult or serious situation.

  • Example: The company is in deep water with the EPA regarding their waste disposal practices.

• A breath of fresh air

  • Meaning: A change that feels good and refreshing (often used for new policies).

  • Example: The new minister’s proposal to protect the wetlands is a breath of fresh air after years of neglect.

• Make a mountain out of a molehill

  • Meaning: To exaggerate the importance of a small problem (often used by skeptics).

  • Example: Climate skeptics often claim scientists are making a mountain out of a molehill regarding minor temperature fluctuations.

• Out of the woods

  • Meaning: Out of danger or difficulty.

  • Example: The endangered panda population has increased, but the species is not out of the woods yet.

    
    

3. Nouns (C1)

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• Ecosystem

  • Meaning: A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

  • Example: Introducing a foreign predator can destroy the delicate balance of the local ecosystem.

• Shortage

  • Meaning: A state or situation in which something cannot be obtained in sufficient amounts.

  • Example: The energy shortage has led to rolling blackouts across the state.

• Consumption

  • Meaning: The using up of a resource.

  • Example: We must reduce our consumption of single-use plastics immediately.

• Atmosphere

  • Meaning: The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.

  • Example: The burning of meteors as they enter the atmosphere is a protective mechanism for the planet.

• Radiation

  • Meaning: The emission of energy as electromagnetic waves (often associated with nuclear energy or the sun).

  • Example: The ozone layer protects living organisms from harmful solar radiation.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C1)

• Harmful

  • Meaning: Causing or likely to cause harm.

  • Example: The factory was fined for releasing harmful chemicals into the groundwater.

• Alternative

  • Meaning: (Of energy) generated in ways that do not deplete natural resources or harm the environment.

  • Example: Solar and wind are the leading sources of alternative energy.

• Vital

  • Meaning: Absolutely necessary or important; essential.

  • Example: The rainforests are vital for regulating the Earth's climate.

• Global

  • Meaning: Relating to the whole world; worldwide.

  • Example: Global cooperation is required to address the issue of ocean plastics.

• Wasteful

  • Meaning: Using or expending something of value carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.

  • Example: Leaving lights on in empty office buildings is incredibly wasteful.

    
    

5. Verbs (C1)

• Devastate

  • Meaning: To destroy or ruin (something).

  • Example: The hurricane devastated the coastline, destroying mangroves and homes alike.

• Generate

  • Meaning: To produce (especially electricity).

  • Example: The new dam will generate enough electricity to power the entire city.

• Survive

  • Meaning: To continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship.

  • Example: Few plants can survive in such highly acidic soil.

• Neglect

  • Meaning: To fail to care for properly.

  • Example: We have neglected the oceans for too long, treating them as infinite dumping grounds.

• Monitor

  • Meaning: To observe and check the progress or quality of (something) over a period of time.

  • Example: Scientists are monitoring the glacier's retreat using satellite imagery.

    
    

🟣 Level C2: Proficiency

Focus: Degradation, scientific specificity, and irreversible processes.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C2)

• Eat away at

  • Meaning: To destroy something slowly (often used for erosion).

  • Example: Rising sea levels and stronger tides are slowly eating away at the coastline.

• Silt up

  • Meaning: To become filled or blocked with silt (sand/mud).

  • Example: Due to deforestation upstream, the river mouth has silted up, making navigation impossible.

• Die back

  • Meaning: (Of a plant) to die from the tips of its leaves or roots backwards, owing to disease or unfavorable conditions.

  • Example: The oak trees are dying back due to the spread of a new fungal pathogen.

• Pump out

  • Meaning: To produce something (usually negative) in large quantities.

  • Example: Despite the treaty, the industrial zone continues to pump out tons of sulfur dioxide daily.

• Tide (someone) over

  • Meaning: To help someone (or a population) through a difficult period by providing what is needed.

  • Example: These emergency grain supplies are just to tide the region over until the next harvest.

    
    

2. Idioms & Collocations (C2)

• Bury one's head in the sand

  • Meaning: To ignore unpleasant realities; to refuse to acknowledge a problem.

  • Example: We cannot bury our heads in the sand; the data on climate change is irrefutable.

• Up in smoke

  • Meaning: Destroyed; wasted (can be literal fire or metaphorical failure).

  • Example: Years of conservation efforts went up in smoke when the forest fires ravaged the park.

• Stem the tide

  • Meaning: To stop something from increasing or continuing.

  • Example: The new regulations attempt to stem the tide of illegal e-waste exports to developing nations.

• The sands of time

  • Meaning: The passage of time (implies time is running out).

  • Example: The sands of time are running out for the polar bear; immediate intervention is required.

• A scorched earth policy

  • Meaning: A policy of destroying everything that might be useful to an enemy (metaphorically: destroying the environment for profit).

  • Example: The mining company was accused of pursuing a scorched earth policy, leaving the land utterly barren.

    
    

3. Nouns (C2)

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• Permafrost

  • Meaning: A thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year, occurring chiefly in polar regions.

  • Example: The thawing of the permafrost is causing infrastructure in the Arctic Circle to collapse.

• Monoculture

  • Meaning: The cultivation of a single crop in a given area.

  • Example: Monoculture depletes soil nutrients rapidly and makes crops more susceptible to disease.

• Biomass

  • Meaning: The total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area or volume; organic matter used as a fuel.

  • Example: The plant generates energy by burning agricultural biomass rather than coal.

• Re-wilding

  • Meaning: The practice of restoring an area of land to its natural uncultivated state (often by reintroducing species).

  • Example: The re-wilding project involves reintroducing wolves to control the deer population naturally.

• Irradiation

  • Meaning: The process or fact of being exposed to radiation.

  • Example: The background irradiation in the area remains slightly above average due to the old uranium mine.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C2)

• Inhospitable

  • Meaning: (Of an environment) harsh and difficult to live in.

  • Example: As desertification spreads, the region is becoming increasingly inhospitable to human settlement.

• Insatiable

  • Meaning: (Of an appetite or desire) impossible to satisfy.

  • Example: Our insatiable demand for rare earth metals is driving the destruction of remote ecosystems.

• Irreparable

  • Meaning: (Of an injury or loss) impossible to rectify or repair.

  • Example: The oil spill caused irreparable damage to the breeding grounds of the local seabirds.

• Ambient

  • Meaning: Relating to the immediate surroundings of something.

  • Example: The rise in ambient temperature is affecting the sex determination of reptile eggs.

• Cataclysmic

  • Meaning: Relating to or denoting a violent natural event.

  • Example: Geologists are studying the rock strata for evidence of past cataclysmic volcanic eruptions.

    
    

5. Verbs (C2)

• Ameliorate

  • Meaning: To make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better.

  • Example: Advanced filtration systems can ameliorate the impact of industrial runoff on local rivers.

• Decimate

  • Meaning: To kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.

  • Example: The introduction of the invasive beetle decimated the elm tree population.

• Proliferate

  • Meaning: To increase rapidly in numbers; multiply.

  • Example: Algae blooms proliferate in warm, nutrient-rich waters, choking out other marine life.

• Ravage

  • Meaning: To cause severe and extensive damage to.

  • Example: The tsunami ravaged the coastal settlements, leaving little standing.

• Curtail

  • Meaning: To reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on.

  • Example: We must curtail our use of single-use plastics if we are to address the landfill crisis.