The purpose of this study is to investigate Foreign Language (FL) learners’ ability in writing an essay by using an environmental topic in terms of how they writethe introduction,thebody ofthe piece, andconclusionthroughcontent analysis design.Twenty-nine students,whotook an academic writing class in the academic year 2019-2020 in a private College of Teachers Training and Education (STKIP PGRI) in Pasuruan, Indonesia, become the sample of the study. The result shows that to write the introductory paragraph, the majority of the students (69%) uses general way to open the essay, while the rest prefers questions (24%) and anecdote (7%). The result also showsthat almost all the students can statetheir thesisstatement (97%). The body of the essay is organized by using a cause-effect relationship (17%), reasoning (38%), problem-solution (10%), and the combination of those (35%). Moreover, almost all the paragraphsin the body ofthe essay have theirtopic sentences(90%). In terms of the concluding section, allstudents can provide proper conclusions fortheiressaysbyusingrecommendationor advice(48%),summary(48%),and hope (4%). In sum, using an environmental topic can help the students to write better because the issue is close and personal. Furthermore, the issue triggers students’ self-awareness to protect their environment.