Environmental problems are rapidly increasing across the globe. Riddles can be an engaging way to think about these issues and spark discussion. In this article, we have compiled 63 riddles about key environmental problems like climate change, pollution, deforestation, and more. Each riddle has an answer provided. Read on for thought-provoking puzzles that will get you thinking about our planet’s future.
Riddles about Climate Change
1. What grows bigger with each passing year, affecting weather across the sphere?
Answer:
Climate change.
2. I’m an invisible gas, up in the sky. Though you can’t see me, too much makes Earth fry. What am I?
Answer:
Carbon dioxide.
3. I’m white and cold, melting more and more. Polar bears love walking on my floor. What am I?
Answer:
Arctic ice.
4. I’m a consequence of emissions high, raising the sea levels when I’m nearby. What am I?
Answer:
Rising ocean levels.
5. I’m not a season, though I’m called by a name, heatwaves and droughts are part of my game. What am I?
Answer:
Climate change.
Riddles about Pollution
6. Floating in oceans, I’m made by man, I trap sealife and ruin the land. What am I?
Answer:
Plastic pollution.
7. In visible air, I cause trouble and strife, I come from tailpipes of cars in your life. What am I?
Answer:
Exhaust emissions.
8. On city streets, this litter is rife, candy wrappers cause me strife! What am I?
Answer:
Street rubbish.
9. I’m pumped underground, out of your sight, chemicals leaking bring risks left and right. What am I?
Answer:
Buried toxic waste.
10. Drifting in water, I’m tiny to see, ingesting me kills fish and sea birds, you’ll agree. What am I?
Answer:
Microplastics.
Riddles about Deforestation
11. With leafy arms stretched high in the sun, we clean the air for everyone. What are we?
Answer:
Trees in a forest.
12. Chainsaws buzz, our trunks are hauled away, forests slashed down with each passing day. What are we?
Answer:
Trees being deforested.
13. I’m a silent victim you never see, bulldozed down, no home left for me. What am I?
Answer:
An animal losing its habitat to deforestation.
14. Axemen cut me down, their saws eat my bark, no time for goodbyes when the trucks start. What am I?
Answer:
A tree being logged.
15. Where forests stood, now cattle graze. Their pasture planted in deforestation’s haze. What is this?
Answer:
Land clearing for cattle grazing.
Riddles about Water Pollution
16. Blue and clear, through me fish used to swim, chemicals changed me, no life left within. What am I?
Answer:
A polluted lake.
17. I’m pumped from factories, a chemical brew, killing wildlife when I seep through. What am I?
Answer:
Industrial wastewater.
18. Down sinks I pour, adding to the muck, full of germs and grime from out of luck. What am I?
Answer:
Sewage waste.
19. I’m spread on the soil, but I’m not pure rain. Run off to rivers, I bring acid and pain. What am I?
Answer:
Acid rain.
20. Oil coated my feathers, suffocating wings. Pollution at sea, such terrible things! Who am I?
Answer:
A seabird affected by an oil spill.
Riddles about Air Pollution
21. Billowing upwards, people choke on my smoke. Factories, vehicles – all contribute their spoke. What am I?
Answer:
Air pollution.
22. With tiny particles, the air’s laced. In through your lungs, problems I’ve traced. What am I?
Answer:
Particulate matter in polluted air.
23. See me you may not, when you stop and think. I burn your lungs, more than you’d like to drink. What am I?
Answer:
Ground-level ozone pollution.
24. Up in the sky, humans have sprayed my stuff. A hole in the ozone is dangerous enough! What am I?
Answer:
CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons).
25. My cursed vapors float on the breeze. Invisible killer, bending trees. What am I?
Answer:
Air pollution.
Riddles about Endangered Species
26. With tusks so white and wrinkled gray skin, we lumber slowly, an endangered kin. What are we?
Answer:
Elephants.
27. In rivers I swam as the top predator, now dams block my way, my future’s much darker. Who am I?
Answer:
An endangered salmon.
28. With spotted fur and great speed I dash, forests cut down disrupt habitats I need to last. What am I?
Answer:
A cheetah.
29. Coral was my home in colors so bright, warming oceans now bleach me pure white. What am I?
Answer:
Bleached coral affected by climate change.
30. With shell so light and leathery flippers I swim, marine trash threatens my kind growing slim. Who am I?
Answer:
An endangered sea turtle.
Riddles about Habitat Loss
31. Our homes are being bulldozed one by one, with nowhere to go, our days in the sun are done. What are we?
Answer:
Animals losing habitat to human activity.
32. I’m chopped for tables, my old forest razed, fragmented spaces leave wildlife dazed. What am I?
Answer:
Trees cut down for habitat loss.
33. Where meadows lay, buildings grow tall. Creatures that lived here, now have none at all. What happened?
Answer:
Habitat loss from development.
34. No place left to nest or thrive, this wetland drained, we won’t survive! Who are we?
Answer:
Birds losing wetland habitat to draining.
35. I’m plowed under cement, turned into a street, animals search for homes while on their feet. What am I?
Answer:
Natural habitat turned into urban development.
Riddles about Overfishing
36. Hauled up in great nets, no chance to breed, empty oceans now, human greed we feed. What are we?
Answer:
Overfished populations of fish.
37. With sonar and trawls, you scour the seas, taking more than your share, no sustainability, please! Who are you?
Answer:
Large commercial fishing operations.
38. On coral I depend, for shelter and food, but fishers rip me up, for resources renewed. What am I?
Answer:
Coral reef damaged by trawling.
39. Drifting in currents, my nets sprawl so wide, catching whales and turtles! For sea life no place left to hide. What am I?
Answer:
Ghost fishing gear abandoned in the ocean.
40. I’m chopped up as bait, for hooks by the thousands, with overfishing constant, fish populations can’t rebound. What am I?
Answer:
Small “trash fish” used as baitfish.
Riddles about Waste
41. Piled in landfills, leaching toxins unbound, with useful life left if I’d just be recycled ’round. What am I?
Answer:
Waste that could be recycled.
42. Cans, bottles, paper and more, when recycled, natural resources I help restore! What am I?
Answer:
Recyclable materials.
43. Packaged in plastic, used once then tossed away; better systems needed for less waste each day. What am I?
Answer:
Single-use plastics.
44. Rotting slowly through many decades, releasing methane gas as nature proceeds. What am I?
Answer:
Food waste breaking down in landfills.
45. Overflowing garbage fills my shores. Ocean plastic – where will it go for years and years more? What am I?
Answer:
An ocean littered with plastic pollution.
Riddles about Environmental Justice
46. Polluting factories are built nearby, little funding for parks where our children play. What is this inequality?
Answer:
Environmental injustice.
47. Sewage and trash float where we fish for food, while across the bay development’s renewed. Who are we?
Answer:
A marginalized community facing environmental racism.
48. Oil refineries surrounding our part of town, higher cancer rates but less health care found. What is this?
Answer:
Environmental injustice.
49. Far from green spaces, breathing dirty air, bicycling dangerous with no paths to share. Where is this?
Answer:
A low-income urban neighborhood with environmental inequality.
50. Tribe whose homeland’s exploited for profit’s gain, drinking water polluted that once ran pure and clean. Who are we?
Answer:
An Indigenous community facing environmental injustice.
Riddles about Natural Resources
51. I’m pumped up in barrels and drive your cars around, wars have been fought over the oil that I hold in the ground. What am I?
Answer:
Crude oil.
52. Glittering with value, I’m pried from the earth, but mining scars landscapes and impacts human health. What am I?
Answer:
Gold mined unsustainably.
53. Renew me not and your lights will go dark, harness my power – I’m cleaner than coal. Here is a spark! What am I?
Answer:
Solar energy from the sun.
54. Through the deserts and plains I carved my path, quenching farmlands where my waters flow. But dams change this eons old aftermath. What am I?
Answer:
A river disrupted from over damming.
55. I’m found in the forest, cut into boards, shelter and warmth I provide without words. What am I?
Answer:
Wood from trees used as lumber.
Riddles about Conservation
56. Protecting landscapes where the wild things roam, for future generations to learn and enjoy. What am I?
Answer:
Wildlife conservation.
57. Planting trees where forests have been leveled, reconnecting fragmented spaces that fauna once traveled. What is this act?
Answer:
Reforestation helping connect habitats.
58. Regrowth of marsh where concrete once lay, filtering water and reducing decay. What is this?
Answer:
Restoring wetlands.
59. Riding a bike not driving my car, reducing emissions both near and afar. What am I doing?
Answer:
Choosing sustainable transportation options.
60. With reusable bottle and grocery bag in tow, plastic pollution I hope to slow. What am I doing?
Answer:
Bringing reusable items to avoid waste.
Riddles about Renewable Energy
61. Spinning blades harness winds mighty power, electricity flows in every hour. What am I?
Answer:
A wind turbine generating renewable energy.
62. Shining above, I’m harnessed down below. Panels convert my rays, electricity starts to flow. What am I?
Answer:
Solar energy captured by photovoltaic panels.
63. I bubble up from beneath the ground so hot. Geothermal energy is what I’ve got! What am I?
Answer:
Underground heat harnessed for geothermal power.
Conclusion
Thinking about environmental issues through the lens of riddles can spark new ways of looking at these pressing problems. Share these riddles with friends, family and colleagues to get people thinking and talking about solutions. Small actions on an individual level can add up to massive change when multiplied by 7 billion. Our planet’s future is in our hands – and in our minds. Creative thinking and problem solving will help point the way to overcome the environmental challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.
