Describe a Serious Environmental Problem in Your Country – IELTS Cue Card

In the IELTS Speaking section, one of the most common question types is the Cue Card Speaking prompt. The IELTS Cue Card topics will prompt you to formulate a response and speak on the given topic. To attempt this question, you must narrow down the essential questions on the given topic to answer within the given time. Consider the sample Cue Card below. Study the types of questions that have been formulated based on the cue card and how to go about with your response:

Sample Answer 1

My country, India, is facing hazardous conditions due to various environmental issues. Every living organism is facing problems due to the destruction of the natural environment. Today, I want to discuss one of the harmful problems, which is air pollution.

Air pollution is one of the dangerous issues in the world by which global warming is created. We, humans, are responsible for it. Every day, crores of people are losing their lives because of various germs in the air. Air pollution is caused by industries, IT sectors, factories, dust and smoke of vehicles, cigarette smoking, and population increase. Newborn babies, kids, and older adults are impacted most and face breathing problems. The depletion of the ozone layer causes difficulty in breathing. Many people burn fossil fuels. Rotten garbage mixes in the air and causes deadly diseases in human beings. 2 million to 8.9 million people have heart problems and severe chronic disorders. In Delhi, the sky is dark with smog during summer days. It is due to massive pollutants created by cars, buses, trains, and different vehicles. We always feel selfish and work according to our choices.

Different types of detrimental air pollutants are created in the air like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and different chemical reactions are formed in the air, which creates aerosols. Therefore, we can save our planet only through our circumspection.

Vocabulary

• Hazardous: risky; dangerous
  Eg: Air pollutants are hazardous to health.
• Detrimental: harmful
  Eg: Drugs are detrimental to health.
• Fossil fuels: a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms
  Eg: The burning of fossil fuels causes black smoke.

Sample Answer 2

After the havoc created by air pollution in our environment, water pollution is the next issue that people in my country face. Different water bodies are becoming prey to this detrimental problem which results mainly from unregulated human activities.

India is a country with diverse physical features and water bodies are one of them. From the Dal Lake in Kashmir to the Punnamada Lake in Kerala and from the Umngot river in Meghalaya to the Sabarmati river in Gujarat, each represents the ever-changing beauty of the country. Unfortunately, most of these lakes and rivers have become victims of water pollution as factories dump their chemical waste illegally and tourists or locals are dumping garbage in the waters. Additionally, due to the overuse of chemicals for better agricultural produce, the groundwater is also contaminated, leading to various microbial growth, oxygen depletion problems, nutrient pollution, etc.

There are three main types of water pollution; namely, Chemical pollution, which is the result of dumping of garbage and chemical waste into the main waters, Groundwater pollution, which is caused by fertilizers or pesticides run-off, and Microbiological pollution, which takes place as the chemicals increase the growth of micro-organisms like algae and harmful bacteria that destroys aquatic life.

It is very important to us to remember that these water bodies, mainly the rivers, lakes and ponds, are the sources of drinking water. If they are polluted, it will not only affect the aquatic animals and plants, but a time will come when we will die of poisoning and thirst. So, it is not too late to curb our drastic methods and take meaningful steps to save the environment.

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