Тексты по теме "Экологические проблемы"
материал по английскому языку (10 класс) по теме

Air Pollution

     In the world around us, there are two things that do not belong to any country: air and ocean water. In both the air and the water, there is much pollution.

     In many towns and cities the concentration of harmful substances in the air is over ten times the admissible level. Large cities with thousands of smoky enterprises appear all over the world today. The by-products of their activity pollute he air we breathe. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burn in fires. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. The railway transport is also the source of pollution, especially locomotives. They emit as much harmful waste into the air as 40 or 50 cars. People have to breathe this polluted air which causes numerous diseases, allergies, poor health.

Acid rains

     One of the forms of air pollution is acid rains. Acid rains result from the release into the atmosphere of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide. It is caused by factories that burn coal or oil or gas. These factories send smoke high into the air. The wind often carries the smoke far from the factories. Some of the harmful substances in the smoke may come down with the rain hundreds of miles away.

     The rain in many places isn’t natural and clean any more. It’s full of acid chemicals. When it falls in lakes, it changes them too. Acid water is like vinegar or lemon juice. It hurts when it gets into your eyes. It also kills the plants and animals that usually live in lake water. That is why fish dies in lakes.

     Scientists find other effects of acid rain. Acid rains kill vast stretches of forests in Canada, the USA, central and northern Europe. In some large areas trees are dying. Not just one tree here and there, but whole forests. Scientists think that the rain is the reason. It makes the earth more acidic in these areas, and some kinds of trees cannot live in the soil that is very acidic.

     Now scientists begin to study the effects of acid rain on larger animals. For example, they believe that some deer in Poland are less healthy because of acid rain. And  what about people? No one knows the answer yet. But it is an important question for us all.

Destroying of ozone layer

     There is a layer of gas in the atmosphere called ozone. It protects the Earth from the dangerous rays of the sun. But if ozone comes close to the Earth, in acid rains, for example, it is also very dangerous itself and causes diseases. There are now holes in the ozone layer because there too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This protective layer is being damaged by chemicals which are released into the atmosphere by daily use of industrial and household products. These gases hold heat. Trees and plants help to take gases from the atmosphere, but people have destroyed too many trees. There are not enough trees and plants to do their job. Especially dangerous are CFCs gases which are used in refrigerators and spray cans. They are known to do the damage to the ozone layer. It can no longer protect us from dangerous sun rays. Dangerous ultraviolet rays penetrate to the Earth and can increase the risk of skin cancer, weaken the immune system. Not only people are at risk, so are animals, plants, and the environment in general.

Deforestation

     Forests cover 30 % of the Earth’s land surface. Trees are among the biggest and long-living things on the Earth, but as well as being nice to look at, trees also play an important role in improving the quality of our lives.

     On a worldwide scale, forests help to slow down the effect of global warming by using up the gas known as carbon dioxide and giving out the oxygen we need to breathe. At local level, trees also bring important environmental benefits. They offer shade and shelter, which in turn, reduces the amount of energy needed to heat and cool nearby buildings; at the same time, they also remove other harmful substances from the air we breathe.

     Trees which grow in cities are especially important because for many people they provide the only daily contact with the natural world. Trees also provide a home for birds, small animals and butterflies. But now trees in cities are coming under threat. There is a limit to the level of pollution they can stand, and their roots are being seriously damaged by the digging needed to make way for modern telephone, television and other cables.

     The tropical forests in Amazonia, Southern Asia, West and Central Africa are being destroyed at an alarming rate of 42 million acres a year. This destruction is caused by slash-and-burn agriculture, cattle ranching, building of dams and highways, mining. Burning these forests releases carbon and decreases oxygen in the atmosphere causing the global warming.

     The tropical rainforest is natural recycler, provider and protector for our planet, it supports the ecosystem in the world. Deforestation is endangering this ecosystem and could cause vanishing one-fourth of all species on the Earth in the next 25 years. That is why protecting all forests is the key to our survival on the planet.

Water Pollution

     Oceans cover more than 70 % of the Earth’s surface. Despite the vastness of this area we know little about it. Life began in the ocean more than 3.5 billion years ago. Today the ocean supports a wealth of simple and complex sea life from phyto-plankton to marine mammals. But people seem to misunderstand the importance of the ocean.

     The oceans do not belong to a single nation, but are free, open territory to be enjoyed and shared. However, too often nations are very aggressive in taking the resources of the world ocean. There is widespread pollution of coastal waters, whales and dolphins are hunted to nearly extinction, and many fishing areas are depleted. Thor Heyerdahl, a famous scientist and explorer, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. They made a voyage of 4,000 kilometres. They saw 4,000 kilometres of polluted ocean. Over 5 million tons of oil products pollute the ocean each year. About 2 million tons of these products come from cars. First the oil products go into the atmosphere and pollute it. From the atmosphere the oil products go into the oceans. Big rivers carry into the ocean a lot of the waste from industry and agriculture. Pollution means death to the ocean. It kills fish and plants.

     Another most important environmental problem is the shortage of clean water. Clean drinking water is a basic human need. But industrial pollution has made many sources of water undrinkable. Rivers, lakes and seas have become poisonous. Many ships sail in the ocean: water-fishing ships, ships carrying people, some carrying oil. If a ship loses some of the oil in the water or trash from the ships is put into the ocean, the water becomes dirty. Another problem is sewage systems. The sewage from many houses of a big city pollutes rivers and lakes and may even make them die.

    Many fish are dying in the sea, others are getting contaminated. Fishermen catch contaminated fish which may be sold and people may get sick from eating them.

     The worst problem is in the area around the Aral Sea. Cotton grown in the region needed much water, and the sea level has fallen by 14 yards. This destroyed fishing industry and led to  damage in soils, crops and wildlife.

     Lake Baikal is one of the world’s largest and most beautiful lakes. Russians call it Holy Sea. It contains a rich variety of animals and plants, including 1,300 rare species that do not exist anywhere else in the world. However, they are being destroyed by industrial wastes which some factories still pour into the lake every day.

      A few years ago people thought that the supply of fresh water was limitless. Now clean water is scarce, and we begin to respect this resource. We must protect the clean water that remains for our children and grandchildren.

Nuclear Power

     Nuclear power is cheap, clean and safe, if people try to make it safer and observe all the prevention measures.

     Nuclear weapons could destroy the world. Nuclear weapon tests increase the amount of radiation in the atmosphere, water, soil. Nuclear power produces high-level radioactive waste which can be dangerous for thousands of years.

     People’s careless interaction with it caused environmental disasters. The most terrible disaster happened in April 1986 in Chernobyl. As a result of the explosion in Chernobyl nuclear power station about 18 % of the territory of Belarus and the Ukraine were polluted with radioactive substances. Great damage has been done to the agriculture, forests and people’s health. That is why the environmental safety of nuclear and hydroelectric power stations is of great importance.

Extinction of animals and plants

     Wildlife is something that man cannot construct. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. There are many species of animals that may disappear from the Earth within the next few years. They will die out and become extinct if man couldn’t help.

     For some species it is already late. The American passenger pigeon, the blue whale, the panda, the California grizzly bears, elephants, jungle cats, Asian rhinoceros are on the brink of extinction now. Many animals have gone forever, because their habitats have been destroyed at an alarming rate: 340 miles a day. These are the rainforests which are in Central and South America, Africa, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and Madagascar. While rainforests are disappearing, so are animals and birds which live there.

     Some animals are hunted too much. Some others lose their natural nesting areas and cannot reproduce or breed. Others cannot adapt to new conditions. People cannot realize how much animals suffer. The truth is that we use animals or parts of animals for jewellery, clothes, cosmetics. A lot of expensive jewellery are made from ivory, from the horns of elephants and rhinos. Specialists think that only 2 million elephants live on the planet today. Every 10 minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect disappears. If nothing is done about it, over 1 million of species will disappear in 20 years from now.

     Fortunately, there are people who are trying to do something about it. In 1961, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was founded – a small group of people who wanted to raise some money to save animals and plants. Today it is a large international organization. It has created or given support to National Parks in 5 continents. If more people give more money, perhaps the WWF will be able to protect the natural world.

Rubbish

Every year each family in Great Britain creates one ton of rubbish. Every day you take your rubbish out. What happens to that rubbish? It pollutes water and land.

       Piles of old cars, old refrigerators, old boxes, glass jars, cans are not very pleasant to look at. If you throw one plastic bottle, it will litter the Earth forever. That’s why we must not throw litter on the ground. It is not only ugly, but it can be harmful to wildlife and people. Small animals can get hurt on sharp cans or broken bottles. Plastic bottles can’t be recycled and plastic won’t even degrate. So we must try not to buy drinks and food packed in plastic.

       There is no need to throw away things we do not want or cannot use any more. We can change many things back into what they were made of and use them again. We must also learn not to litter. We all know the sign: “Do not litter”. But not everyone does what the sign says.

Greenhouse effect and changing of the climate

     The Earth has been getting hotter because we pollute the atmosphere with different harmful substances which is the result of daily use of  industrial and household products, such as refrigerators, air conditioners, cleaning chemicals, food packaging, etc. These substances cause greenhouse effect and destroying of ozone layer.

     As a result of greenhouse effect the Earth is getting hotter and hotter. The temperature rises gradually   and in 100 years the Earth will be hotter about 4 degrees Centigrade. This will lead to melting of snow in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Because the ice has been melting, the level of the sea is slowly rising. A giant iceberg broke away from Antarctic. It was 152 km. long and 35 km. wide. Now it is 10 km. shorter, because it is melting. Scientists say that in the year 2050 some parts of Great Britain may be under the sea. The climate of the Earth is getting warmer and this, in turn, affects the balance of nature.

Solving ecology problems

• Factories can clean their smoke.
• Cars and planes can be made so that their fumes do not pollute the environment.
• The dirty water from factories can be made clean. Sewage can be changed so that water is clean enough to use it again.
• The mountains can be covered with forests again if the cutting of trees is done with care. We must plant again where we have cut.
• There is no need to throw away things we do not need or do not want to use any more. We can recycle them and use again. Old newspapers can become new paper. Give your used clothes to organizations to help the needy.
• We can also learn not to litter. Don’t dump litter in the seas, rivers or on the beaches.

       When you hike leave the place clean. Always put rubbish in a rubbish bin.

• The energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate TV set for three hours. If you throw an aluminum can out it will litter the Earth up to 500 years. If you throw glass bottle you will litter the Earth for ever.

• It takes 500,000 trees just to make the newspapers we read every Sunday. Save your family newspapers. Most paper thrown away in the office has printing on one side. So you can use the blank side for writing or drawing.
• Save water. If there is a leaky tap in your house fix it. It is better to water the garden in the coolest part of the day. If you water the garden in the middle of the day most of the water evaporates before it gets to the roots.
• Save electric power. Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Turn off the computer or TV when you don’t use it.
• Close the door carefully when you enter or leave a building. Insulate your homes.
• Get full use of pencils and plastic pens before discarding.
• Place bird houses in your yard. Leave scraps or other food for birds. Don’t disturb nesting sites. Watch but don’t disturb wild animals.
•  Never break trees and plants. Plant  trees to create homes for birds, squirrels, other small animals. Don’t cut wild flowers.
• Industry must be transferred to low and non-waste technologies.
• Pollution control systems must be developed.
• Green zones must be created.