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 write the introduction, the body of the piece, and conclusion through content analysis design. Twenty-nine students, who took 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 shows that almost all the students can state their thesis statement (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 paragraphs in the body of the essay have their topic sentences (90%). In terms of the concluding section, all students can provide proper conclusions for their essays by using recommendation or 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.