Environmental protection Environmental protection is

Environmental protection

• Environmental protection is one of the main problems of nowadays. echnological progress improves people life, but at the same time it causes numerous problems that were unimaginable in the past centuries. If we don’t find the way out, our planet will die. Big cities face the environmental catastrophe. For example, air pollution is caused by increasing number of cars, heavy traffic causes a lot of air pollution, too.

• Having more buses would improve public transport in cities and there would be fewer cars in the streets. I think people should go on foot more often or use bicycles. Furthermore, we can see much litter in the cities. As a result of it industrial centers today look more like garbage dumps. We mustn’t drop litter because it looks and smells horrible. If the authorities put bin on every street corner, people wouldn’t drop litter so _much.

• We also should try not to buy prepackaged food. The packaging creates a lot of rubbish. The necessity to employ all the inhabitants of the city leads to building new factories that produce not only consumer goods, but wastes and smog as well. Chemicals from factories contaminate atmosphere. Governments can solve this problem by passing laws to stop factories from polluting air and water. It also should force factories to put filters on chimneys.

• If they did these, our cities would be healthier places to live in. Pollution of water creates a problem of water deficit. In fact, over half of the people in the world have to live with water shortages everyday. There are solutions to this problem. We can save the water from our baths and use it for the garden. This would help to keep many litters of water especially in the summer. Governments could stop water companies from wasting water supplies because of leaking pipes.

• Many cities have successfully saved water by repairing pipes. Another source of global danger is an acid rain. It falls as a result of poisonous chemicals from power stations and cars mixing with the moisture in clouds. This toxic mixture then falls as rain which kills trees, plants and pollutes the ground. There are ways to reduce acid rain. Firstly, power stations should stop releasing so much pollution into the air.

• Secondly, car drivers should use leadfree petrol. Thirdly, we should use less electricity, and finally, we should try to use public transport instead of cars. Moreover, disappearing of many endangered species of animals. Millions of species have already left from our planet; thousand of others will escape tomorrow. I think we need to teach hunters that it’s wrong to kill animals.

• Each a worm and a bird has each place in an ecological chain. There is one moral aspect. When we kill animals we damage something in our souls. Today we kill birds; tomorrow we will kill each other. What is more, destroying forests-lungs of our planet. They were called so because they produce oxygen, which is one of our basic needs.

• If we collected and recycled paper, there would be more forests around. To sum up, if pollution of land, air and water continues, the damage caused by all these to nature may become irreversible. Serious actions must be taken now to avoid disaster. Logging companies are cutting down rainforests destroying wildlife. But if they planted new trees, rainforest wouldn’t disappear.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson

• - Is the problem of environmental protection urgent today? • - Yes, the problem of protecting the nature is of primary importance today. Through their daily activities people pollute and contaminate land, water and air. If it continues the damage may become irreversible. It is known far and wide that pollution has ac companied mankind ever since groups of people first assembled and remained for a long time in one place. But pollution was not a serious problem as long as there was enough space available for each individual or group.

With the establishment of permanent human settlements pollution became a problem and has remained one ever since. With the rise of advanced technology, the rapid spread of industrialization and the increase of human populations pollution has become a universal problem. The price for rapid industrial development is very high: natural resources are exhausted, the ecological balance of the planet is disturbed.

• - How is the environmental protection problem solved today? • - In recent years the pollution problems have received great publicity. The environmental movement associated with no political party has gained widespread trust and support. Environmental activists stress that the problem is caused by industrial pollution and the automobile. The media's begun to campaign against the ugliness of billboards, tin cans and trash.

The protection of natural resources and wildlife is becoming a political programme in every country. Numerous anti-pollution acts passed in different countries led to considerable improvements in environment. In many countries purifying systems for treatment of industrial waters have been installed, measures have been taken to protect rivers and seas from oil waters.

• - Is acid rain damaging to nature? • - One of the climatic effects of air pollution is acid rain. It is damaging to water, forest, and soil resources. It is blamed for the disappearance of fish from many lakes, for the widespread death of forests in European mountains, and for damaging tree growth in the United States and Canada. Acid rain has been reported in areas as far apart as Sweden and Canada, and in parts of the United States from New England to Texas.

• - Does radioactive contamination of environment worry people? • - People also concern over the dangers resulting from massive releases of radioactive materials from nuclear weapons, which, if used on a major scale, could seriously endanger all of humanity. Another concern is accidents at nuclear power plants. In 1978 a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania suffered a severe accident leading to partial meltdown of its radioactive core.

• In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev suffered a fire and partial meltdown, resulting in a major release of radioactive particles. Much of northern and eastern Europe experienced heavy nuclear fallout. The runoff from broken-down tanks is the source of organic pollutants. Indus tries located along waterways downstream contribute a number of chemical pollutants, some of which are toxic. One form of pollution that is characteristic of industrial societies is noise.

• - What can people do to stop pollution? • - Attempts to control pollution, initiated during the 1950 s, resulted in the successful elimination of such sources of pollution as industrial effluents and the outdoor burning of trash and debris. The task of cleaning up air pollution, though difficult, is not believed to be impossible. Use of fuels that are low in pollutants; more complete burning of fossil fuels; and the shift to less polluting forms of power generation, such as solar energy in place of fossil fuels - all are methods that can be used for controlling pollution.

• Many large cities have taken measures to decrease the level of urban noise; the problem has received much attention with the ad vent of supersonic jet aeroplanes. In 1971 the U. S. Congress voted down appropriations to support the development of supersonic transport (SST) planes. Atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs was stopped in different countries to prevent radioactive contamination of the atmosphere. In 1990 the British government committed itself to a 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emission by the year 2005.

• - What are the main problems of today? • - Cleaning up air pollution is one of the main problems of to day. Urban air pollution continues to expand as a result of the in creased number of motor vehicles. Exhaust fumes from the engines of automobiles contain a number of polluting substances. Tokyo has such a serious air-pollution problem that oxygen is supplied to policemen who direct traffic at busy intersections. Milan, Ankara, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires face similar problems.

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