ON SOME ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF PEOPLE’S HABITATS

МОУ «Восточно-Европейский лицей»

ON SOME ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF PEOPLE’S HABITATS

К ВОПРОСУ О НЕКОТОРЫХ ПРОБЛЕМАХ СРЕДЫ ОБИТАНИЯ ЧЕЛОВЕКА

Работа выполнена: Ереминой Ниной,

ученицей 10 М класса

Руководитель: Блинова Е. Г.,

учитель английского языка

САРАТОВ

2012 г.

CONTENTS

Introduction                                                                                                       2

Chapter 1. Human creations are in danger                                                       3

Chapter 2. People’s habitats – their homes – must be kept ecologically

clean                                                                                                                  4

Conclusion                                                                                                         7

Bibliography                                                                                                       8

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Introduction

April 22 is a special day around the world. On that day inhabitants of Earth celebrate Earth Day.

Earth Day is a time when many people show the care for our fragile planet. They show concern about the threats the planet faces – destruction of rain forests, holes in the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect, too much garbage, and all forms of air and water pollution. It is a day for people to learn what they can do to preserve the planet Earth.

The first Earth Day was held in the U.S. more than thirty years ago, in April 1970. At that time people were just beginning to learn about the problems facing the planet.

The relationships between man and nature have become one of major problems facing civilization to day. Ecology stands at the crossroads of politics, science and economics. For centuries our humanism has developed in a lop-sided manner, proclaiming a man the lord and the king of nature but not a child.

The amount of problems people have to deal with is great: earth, air, and water pollution, ozone holes, disappearing animals, deforestation, the ways of recycling and others.  

People often forget that Earth is their only home and that they lay a trap for themselves by thoughtlessness and carelessness to the nature.  Man endangers rivers, oceans, forests and animals. The world is not made by a human hand. It has its own right for existence. Now it is obvious that human creations are also under the threat of extinction.  

Very often the problems of indoor pollution remain outside of people’s concern. They consider their homes and offices to be unpolluted. Unfortunately it is a mistake. The causes and the results of indoor pollution are worth being studied as seriously as other ecological problems.

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Chapter 1

Human Creations Are In Danger

At the beginning of the 20th century the scientists, inspired by the scientific progress, believed firmly that it would ensure a new happy era in the history of the mankind. However, it turns out that the development of technology drives us into a corner with a necessity to solve new and unexpected problems, which arose also because of dissipation of natural resources and throwaway attitude.

Let’s look intently at our cities, where the majority of us live. It is high time to include city environment into the question of environmental protection.

Observing a city “landscape” we can see streaming smoke-stacks of factories, endless streams of cars. As a result the level of pollution of the air, water and soil increases every year as well as the number of landfills. The most perfect filters can not prevent releases of toxic substances which do much harm and may of fatal result to the health of citizens. The trees which usually gladden the eye choke from soot and ash and gripped by asphalt.  

Charles Dickens, a famous author of the 19th century, in his novel “Bleak House” described frightening fog which rapped the streets of London: “Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city…”

The state of affairs is even gloomier nowadays. Every day a huge number of factories release sulphuric and hydrochloric acid in the atmosphere of big cities. These acids are the most aggressive ones. They damage buildings and constructions, and we can see it with the naked eye as the facades need to be repainted very often.

To prevent cities from dying physically we must protect them as well as the nature itself. Cities are centres of our spiritual life. The newest scientific achievements and the monuments of millennia are concentrated there. The world of cities is as diverse as the world of nature. We must save both natural values and masterpieces of human hand.

A city is a complex system to which we all belong. We can make it a better place to live by healing its wounds, restoring its health.

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Chapter 2

People’s Habitats – Their Homes – Must Be Kept Ecologically Clean

Most people have the greatest contact with toxic pollutants not outside but inside their homes, offices and cars. People often think that these places are un polluted, but in fact the level of pollutants is sometimes higher indoors than outdoors. In their daily life peo ple have to contact with many harmful substanc es - chemicals that cause cancer. Among them are toxic volatile organic compounds, including benzene which comes   from   cigarette smoke; tetrachloroethylene which is used to dry-clean clothes; chloroform which forms from the chlorine used to treat water supplies. The main sources of other toxic volatile com pounds are ordinary consumer products, such as air fresheners, cleaning compounds and different building materials. Other indoor pollutants are: carbon monoxide, a product of incomplete burning,  that robs the blood of oxygen, very small  particles  - particles smaller than 2.5 mi crons in size - the product of burning, such as smoking, cooking, burning candles or firewood; pesticides and heavy metals; dust mites, mold and animal dander, which course asthma.

   The main sources of indoor pollutants are right under people's noses - most re pellents, pesticides, solvents, deodorizers, cleansers, dry-cleaned clothes, dusty carpets, paint, fumes from cooking and heating and cigarette smoke, to name a few.

Scientists in America came to the conclusion that everyday things, with which people happily share their homes, could be more dangerous than industrial pol lution. For example, benzene in its high concentrations is known to cause leukemia. It is present in gasoline, in some household products and in tobacco smoke. The average   concentration of benzene that peo ple breathe in when they are at home is three times higher than typi cal outdoor levels. Some 45 percent of the total danger of benzene comes from smok ing (or breathing smoke ex haled by others), 36 percent from inhaling gasoline fumes or from using glues, 16 per cent from paints and gasoline, that is in foundations of buildings or attached garages. And only 3 percent comes from the industrial pollution. So living with a smoker is dangerous for one's health.

Cutting all industrial releases of benzene would reduce health risks only a little. Yet even a modest reduction in ciga rette smoking would greatly reduce the level of benzene causing diseases.  Other volatile organic compounds that are quite toxic at

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high concentrations are also more prevalent indoors than out. Health risks grow when people live in buildings with dry-cleaning fa cilities, wear recently dry-cleaned clothes or keep such chemically laden clothes in their wardrobes. Moth-repellent cakes or crystals, toi let disinfectants and deodorizers are the source of another cancer-causing com pound, paradichlorobenzene.

It is clear that less contact with volatile organic compounds is better than more. People can reduce their harmful effect to the people's health by avoiding   products containing such pollutants.  But there are other dangerous vapours  that are difficult to avoid. When people take hot shower, boil water or use clothes wash ers they inhale chloroform - a gas, forming from the chlorine, used to treat water sup plies. The only way to minimize household exposure to chloroform is to drink bottled water or to run it through a good-quality fil ter and to improve ventilation in the bath room and laundry.

Better airflow can also help to reduce the level of carbon mon oxide, which can be very high in doors. This gas is particularly harmful to people with heart problems. Poorly operated gas stoves, grills and furnaces can cause ex tremely unhealthful conditions - even death. Another environmental problem that ap pears more often indoors than out is the danger from fine particles. The danger of these particles during the day is very high. Partly it can be explained by the fact that people do not simply ventilate their flats. They usually stir up "personal clouds" of particle-laden dust from their surrounding as they move about.

Indoor air contains ten or more times higher concentrations of pesticides than outside air. Such poisons can be brought in on people's shoes. Pesticides that break down within days outdoors may last for years in carpets, where they are protected from the degradation caused by sunlight and bac teria. For example, the pesticide DDT, banned from using in 1972, was found in the car pets of the Americans twenty years later.

House dust is the major source of cadmium, lead and other heavy metals, as well as many persistent or ganic pollutants. Carpets are most trou blesome, because they act as deep tanks for these toxic compounds (as well as for dangerous bacteria and asthma-in ducing allergens) even if the rugs are vac uumed regularly. Plush and shag carpets are more of a problem than flat ones; floors covered with wood, tile or linoleum are better for health, because they can be easily cleaned. Wiping one's feet on a doormat reduces the amount of lead in a

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carpet by a factor of six. Removing one's shoes before entering is even more ef fective than just wiping the shoes. These preventive acts are very simple but they help to reduce the levels of contaminants considerably.

Sadly most people and officials as well are rather complacent about indoor pollu tion. The Environmental Laws are focused mainly on outdoor pollution ignoring the fact that people spend 95 percent of their time inside.

Few people know that the pesticides and volatile organic compounds found indoors cause perhaps 3000 cases of cancer a year. So these substances are just as threaten ing to people's health as radon [reidэn] and tobacco smoke for nonsmokers. Toxic house dust can be a particular danger to small chil dren, who play on floors, crawl on carpets and regularly place their hands in their mouths. Children are particularly suscepti ble: their rapidly developing organs are more prone to damage, they have a small fraction of the body weight of an adult and may ingest five times more dust - 100 mil ligrams a day on average. Each day an av erage urban child ingests 110 nanograms of benzopyrene - it is equivalent to smok ing three cigarettes.

A surprising number of uninvited animals and plants survive inside our homes.

Blue mould is a fungus which can feed on our food such as bread, cheese and jam. It grows quickly and produces millions of blue spores which are tiny dust-like particles. These spores can stay in the air in a room for weeks, until one of them is lucky enough to land on a good food supply. Then a new mould growth quickly develops.

House flies are insects having six jointed legs. The adults mate and female lay eggs in any suitable food she can find. This is why it is important to cover food. Since it was discovered that flies can carry the bacteria which cause disease, they have been in danger from humans. These days, their biggest enemy in most homes is not the spider but the person with the fly spray. The fact that it is so difficult to keep flies out of our homes in the summer shows how successful flies must be at surviving.

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Conclusion

As we have seen people must not ignore the problems of ecology of man. People and their environment need protection and care as much as animals and plants do. People’s habitats are their homes, towns and cities. It is very important to keep them ecologically clean. In dirty, polluted, poisoned environment people suffer from serious illnesses and die early.

People do not have to wait for their gov ernment to make changes in the environ mental regulations. Reducing exposure normally demands only modest alterations in one's daily routine. Giving up smoking, taking out carpets, improving ventilation, using water and air filters, avoiding house hold products, containing toxic compounds, will make our houses and offices healthier places to live and work.

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Bibliography

1. Brian Arnold. Environments. Heinemann Educational Books. Book 4.

2. Elena Lamanova. Indoor Pollution. “English” N 1, 2001, p. 6.

3.  Earth day Celebrates the Earth. “English” N 17, 1994.

4. Anna Virrin. “Pesticides”. “English” N 21, 2002.

5. Cities Are Dying Physically. “English” N 3, 1999.