The environment: problems and solutions

Goal: discuss climate change, pollution and recycling, describe a problem and then suggest a solution, and explain what people should do using 'should', 'ought to' and 'we need to'.

Climate change is one of the biggest problems of our time, and we should all do something about it.

የአየር ንብረት ለውጥ የዘመናችን ትልቅ ችግሮች አንዱ ነው፣ ስለዚህ ሁላችንም ስለሱ የሆነ ነገር ማድረግ አለብን።

Instead of throwing away plastic bottles, we ought to recycle them or use a bottle we can fill again.

የፕላስቲክ ጠርሙሶችን ከመጣል ይልቅ ዳግም ጥቅም ላይ ማዋል ወይም እንደገና ልንሞላው የምንችለውን ጠርሙስ መጠቀም አለብን።

Air pollution in big cities is rising, so people need to use buses and bicycles more often.

በትላልቅ ከተሞች ውስጥ የአየር ብክለት እየጨመረ ነው፣ ስለዚህ ሰዎች አውቶቡሶችንና ብስክሌቶችን ብዙ ጊዜ መጠቀም ያስፈልጋቸዋል።

One simple way to solve this problem is to plant trees, which clean the air and give us shade.

ይህንን ችግር ለመፍታት አንዱ ቀላል መንገድ ዛፎችን መትከል ሲሆን፣ አየሩን ያጸዳሉ ጥላም ይሰጡናል።

slow

Useful environment vocabulary: 'recycle' (to use something again instead of throwing it away), 'pollution' (dirty air, water or land), 'waste' (rubbish, or to use too much of something), 'reduce' (to make smaller or less), and 'climate change' (the slow warming of the Earth).

Dawit lives in Addis Ababa, where the streets are often full of plastic bags and empty bottles. For a long time he believed that the environment was the government's problem, not his, so he threw his rubbish anywhere. One morning, while he was drinking buna with his neighbour Almaz, she explained that climate change and pollution are problems everyone helps to create, and therefore everyone ought to help solve them. Her words made him think. The next week, Dawit started a small project with a few friends from his neighbourhood. They decided that they would collect plastic bottles and cans every Saturday and take them to a recycling centre near the market. At first the work was slow, and some people laughed at them, but soon their neighbours began to join. Dawit learned that we should not wait for someone else to fix these problems. He now says that if each family reduces its waste a little and plants even one tree, a whole city can become cleaner. In his opinion, the most powerful solution is not money or machines, but ordinary people who decide to change their daily habits.

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Instead of throwing away plastic bottles, we ought to recycle them.