Ecological Problems

The planet Earth is only a small part of the universe, but it's the only place where human beings can live. People always polluted the environment. But until now pollution was not such a serious problem. Many years ago people lived in a great harmony with nature. Industry was not highly developed. People lived in small rural areas and did not have pollution caused by machines. But now we are living in a time of rapid scientific and technological progress. Large cities with thousands of plants and factories appear all over the world today. The products of their activity pollute the air which we breathe, the water which we drink, and the land on which we grow grains, vegetables and fruit.

Today our planet is in serious danger. Acid rains, global warming, air and water pollution and destruction of the ozone layer are serious problems.

Our forests are disappearing because people cut them down or burn them. The forests are also dying from acid rains. If it continues one day we won't have enough oxygen to breathe.

The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Mediterranean Sea is almost dead; the North Sea is the following. The Aral Sea is on the verge of extinction. 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 disappear.

Air pollution is another serious problem. Cars, factories and plants emit tons of different chemicals into the air every day. These emissions have a bad influence on our planet. They cause “greenhouse effect” and “acid rains”. The fumes also destroy the ozone layer which protects the Earth from the dangerous light of the Sun. Large “holes” appear in the ozone layer round the Earth.

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 the atmosphere.

Vocabulary:

environment – довкілля poison – отрута

ecological problems – екологічні проблеми wastes – відходи

danger – небезпека fume – дим

air pollution – забруднення повітря to emit – виділяти

acid rain – кислотний дощ influence – вплив

global warming – глобальне потепління on the verge of extinction –

ozone layer – озоновий шар на межі зникнення

I. Translate into Ukrainian:

159 countries - members of the United Nations Organization - have set up environmental protection agencies. Many conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems connected with ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental research centre was set up on Lake Baikal.

The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to save the environment. Greenpeace is known for its direct actions and has been described as the most visible environmental organization in the world.