Environment

Our planet Earth is only a tiny part of the universe, but nowadays it's the only place where we can live.
People have lived on our planet for many years. They lived and live on different continents, in different
countries. People depend on their planet, the sun, animals and plants around them. Environment is
everything in the world around us that surround and affects all life on earth, including the air, food,
water, plants, animals and other.

Environment is the place where we live. Since ancient time nature has served man, being the source of
his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that
natural riches were unlimited. But man's interference in nature began to increase with the development
of civilization. Our ecology becomes worse and worse with every new day. Many species of animals
and birds are disappearing nowadays. People destruct wildlife, cut down trees to make furniture. They
forget that people can't live without trees and plants, because they fill air with oxygen.

There are a lot of ecological problems. The most serious ecological problems are: noise from cars and
buses; destruction of wildlife and countryside beauty; shortage of natural resources; the growth of
population; pollution in its many forms. Water is everywhere, but there is no ocean or sea which is not
used as a dump. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles can't live in them. People
can't drink this water. So we have to clean the water environment. Another problem is air pollution. Air
pollution influents the health of people. For example: ultraviolet radiation from the sun can cause skin
cancer. Normally the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects us from such radiation, but if there are
holes in the ozone layer ultraviolet radiation can get to the earth. Many scientists think that these holes
are the result of air pollution. Also we have problem with nuclear pollution. Nuclear pollution cannot be
seen but its effect can be terrible. To make air clear clean again we need good filters at nuclear power
stations, at factories, in cars and buses.

Another problem is growth of population. They don't have enough places to live. They need more water,
more food. So it is the reason of the shortage of the natural resources. It is very difficult to solve this
problem. Also one of the most serious problems is greenhouse effect. It works like this: sunlight gives
us heat. Some of the heat warms the atmosphere and some of the heat goes back into space.
Nowadays the heat can't go into space. That's why winter and summer temperatures in many places
have become higher. If the temperature continues growing up the snow on the mountains and ice will
melt, so the most of the earth will be under water. So every person has to understand how important it
is to solve these problems, which endanger people's life.
Ecological Problems
Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people
lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with
the development of civilization man's interference in nature began to increase. Large cities with
thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The by-products of their
activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables on.

Every year world industry pollutes the ahmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other
harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burn in fire. Their
disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and
plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.The pollution of air and the world's ocean,
destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man's careless interaction with nature, a sign of the
ecological crises.The most horrible ecological disaster befell Ukraine and its people after the Chernobyl
tragedy in April 1986. About 18 percent of the territory of Byelarus were also polluted with radioactive
substances. A great damage has been done to the agriculture, forests and people's health. The
consequences of this explosion at the atomic power-station are tragic for the Ukrainian, Byelarussian
and other nations.

Environmental protection is of a universal concern. That is v/hy serious measures to create a system of
ecological security should be taken. Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many
as 159 countries - members of the UNO - have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous
conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems facing ecologically poor regions
including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. An
international environmental research centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international
organisation Greenpeace is also doing much to preserve the environment. But these are omy the initial
steps and they must be carried onward to protect nature, to save life on the planet not only for the sake
of the present but also for the future generations.

Environmental protection
The planet Earth is only a tiny part of the universe, but it's the only place where human beings can
live.People always polluted their surroundings. But until now pollution was not such a serious problem.
People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution – caused by machines. With the
development of crowded industrial cities, which created huge amounts of pollutants, the problem has
become more important. Today our planet is in serious danger. Acid rains, global warming, air and
water pollution, and overpopulation are the problems that threaten human life on Earth. Our forests are
disappearing because they are cut down or burnt. If this trend continues, one day we won't have
enough oxygen to breathe.
The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear wastes, chemical fertilizers
and pesticides. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following its fate. The Aral
Sea is about to disappear. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the
seas.Every ten minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out forever. If nothing is done about it,
one million species that are alive today may soon become extinct.Air pollution is another serious
problem. In Cairo just breathing the air is dangerous – equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a
day. The same holds true for many Russian cites.

Factories emit tons of harmful chemicals. These emissions have disastrous consequences for our
planet. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rains.

And even greater threat are nuclear power stations. We all know how tragic the consequences of the
Chernobyl disaster are.

Fortunately, it's not too late to solve these problems. We have the time, the money and even the
technology to make our planet a better, cleaner and safer place. We can plant trees and create parks
for endangered species. We can recycle litter. Individuals and groups of people can work together to
persuade enterprises to stop polluting activities.

Water Pollution
Water pollution is one of the famous and one of the largest problems in our world. People in Africa
cannot drink clean water; their children die because a big part of our water has been polluted. Children
in Kenya often have to go many kilometers to collect drinking water. At all over 2 million people don't
have clean water. And we do not know how it will be in future.

But the pollute water killed animals and plants too. There is no ocean or sea, which is not used as a
dump. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. This poisons and kills fish and
sea animals. "Nuclear-poisoned" fish can be eaten by people.

Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles cannot live in them. There is not enough
oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink
this water they can die too. It happens so because factories produce a lot of waste and pour it into
rivers. So they poison water.

But we MUST keep our planet and water of our planet clean. If we want to live, we should guard our
clean water and do not pollute them because we could live without food about a month but without
water we could die in 4-5 days. Let's keep our water clean!