2_PEOPLE AND NATURE

2_PEOPLE AND NATURE

1. Technical progress, which enables us to live a more comfortable life , leads to degradation of quality of environment we live in

2. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

   • The environment means the surrounding in which people, animals and plants develop and exist.
   • Ecology is the branch of biology investigating the relationships between living beings and their environment.

3. THE MOST SERIOUS ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS TODAY ARE

   • AIR POLLUTION
     • Is caused by gasses and fumes from traffic and fabrics which are released to the air. Fabrics produce large quantities of carbon dioxide, lead poisons and radioactive particles which get into the air. Other chemicals mix with the water in clouds to make acid rain which damages buildings, kill trees and pollutes the soil.
   • SOIL POLLUTION
     • The action of environmental contamination with man-made waste on land/soil. Soil is polluted by solid waste: paper, glass, metals, plastics as well as by chemicals contained in water, acid rains, pesticides and fertilizers. Industrial and city waste, which are dumped near lakes and rivers, pollute the soil and spoil the natural scenery. These cause the destruction of ecosystems, disappearance of many species of animals and plants, changes in weather, acid rain, the global warming, the destruction of tropical rainforests, the destruction of ozone layer. Technical progress, which enables us to live a more comfortable life, leads to the degradation of the quality of the environment in which we live.
   • WATER POLLUTION
     • Water pollution is any chemical, physical or biological change in the quality of water that has a harmful effect on any living thing that drinks or uses or lives in it. When humans drink polluted water it often has serious effects on their health. Chemical are not released just from factories but also from households. People use chemical laundry detergents or cleaning detergents, pesticides and fertilizers which are absorbed to the soil and pollute ground water. Water is polluted by ship traffic - solid waste and tankers´ accidents, when a large amount of oil is released into seas.
   • DESTRUCTIONS OF THE RAIN FORESTS
     • - AMAZON RAINFOREST provides half of the world’s production of oxygen, “lungs of the Earth” -
     • Rainforests keep water
     • Rainforests are destructed by acid rains, air pollution and people (firewood, building, getting more agricultural ground)
     • Losing of rainforests means difficulties with breathing, rising of global temperature , melting of icecaps at the North and South Poles, rising of the sea level which can cause floods and disappearing of some isles

4. ACTIVITIES WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN

   • RRR
     • Reuse – use again, e.g. bottles, plastic and paper bags or boxes
     • Reduce – the amount of your solid waste and one-time-used materials
     • Recycle – separate the waste, use recyclable materials
   • - join ecological activities in your town, school, e.g. cleaning the nature - separate and recycle the trash, use special dustbins (bio, paper, glass, plastic, metals; also in your school) - don’t waste water - use showers instead of baths, when you clean your teeth, etc.) - don’t waste electricity - switch off lights, TV set, radio, PC etc.) - recycle used batteries, fridges, electronics (TV, radios) - reduce the amount of rubbish by separating, recycling and reusing - reuse some things, e.g. plastic bottles, paper boxes, etc. - use bikes or public transport, underground - use unleaded petrol, use cars with catalytic convertor - avoid using washing powders and detergents with dangerous chemicals - don’t throw the trash in nature

5. RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES

   • elephants, pandas, whales, polar bears, bisons, wolves, foxes, eagles, frogs

6. MOST OF THIS DAMAGE IS NOT CAUSED BY NATURAL CATASTROPHES BUT BY MAN HIMSELF

   • Earthquakes Tsunami Tornado Flood Drought Avalanche Landslide Storm