Guten Tag! Today we’re going to talk about die Umwelt (the environment). Each year on April 22nd, the world celebrates der Tag der Erde (Earth Day). This is a day where events are held and awareness is raised about protecting unser Planet (our planet) and the environment. This post will provide you with plenty of vocabulary on the environment, and related posts from this blog about Germany and the environment.

Earth Day – der Tag der Erde

Earth – die Erde

environment – die Umwelt

environmentally-friendly – umweltfreundlich

pollution – die Umweltverschmutzung (sometimes shortened to die Verschmutzung)

climate change – der Klimawandel

global warming – die globale Erwärmung

greenhouse effect – der Treibhauseffekt

renewable energy – die erneuerbare Energie

solar panel – der Sonnenkollektor (‘sun collector’!)

recycling – das Recycling / die Wiederverwertung

to recycle – recyceln / wieder verwerten

to reduce – reduzieren

to reuse – wieder verwenden

waste – der Abfall / der Müll

to waste – verschwenden

zero waste – null-Abfall / null-Müll

extreme weather – das extremes Wetter (also called ‘das Unwetter’)

eco-system – das Ökosystem

deforestation – die Abholzung

over-fishing – die Überfischung

agriculture – die Landwirtschaft

meat consumption – der Fleischkonsum

plastic – das Plastik / der Kunststoff

straw – der Strohhalm

plastic bag – die Plastiktüte

paper bag – die Papiertüte

sea – das Meer

ocean – der Ozean

lake – der See

forest – der Wald

volcano – der Vulkan

iceberg — der Eisberg

fresh air – die frische Luft

Here is a selection of posts on this blog that talk about environmental topics in Germany:

Rettet die Bienen!
This post discusses attempts in Germany to save the bees.

Diesel-Fahrverbot
The first section of this post talks about the banning of diesel cars in Germany.

Der Blaue Engel
This post talks about a German stamp that signifies a product is environmentally friendly.

Mülltrennung
This post talks about how waste gets separated in Germany.

Bottle deposits (Pfand)
The second part of this post talks about the bottle deposit (Pfand) system in Germany.

Heißzeit
This post talks about the 2018 German ‘Word Of The Year’, which references the extremely hot weather Germany had that year.