Ecology
About two hundred years ago people lived in harmony with nature, because industry wasn’t much developed. But progress doesn’t come to a standstill. Considerable advances were made by people in different areas of science. However there exists the dark side of the picture. Now industrially developed states can’t ignore the problem of environmental protection. The ecocide is increasing constantly. The contradictions between man and nature are dramatic. The man aim in the policy of environmental protection is development of technology to control atmospheric and water pollution, the study of man’s influence on climate, biological and genetic consequences of pollution, protection of rare and vanishing plants and animals and protection nature as a whole.
The land pollution results from the use of chemicals and pesticides. Many countries try to achieve clearer air. Total emissions and average concentration of harmful substances in the air can be reduced by installation of special equipment. The destruction of the ozone layer is also a very important problem. The climate becomes warmer. Many scientists think that it is so because of the greenhouse effect. Sunlight gives us heat. Some of the heat warms the atmosphere and some of the heat goes back into space. During the last one hundred years people have produced a lot of carbon dioxide. This gas in the atmosphere works like glass in a greenhouse. It lets heat get in, but it doesn’t let much heat get out.
Ecology is the science of how living things are related to their environment. Many people all over the world are concerned about ecology today. The word “ecology” came from the Greek which means “home”. This idea of “home” includes the whole planet of ours. We must protect our planet from littering, air pollution, water pollution, destruction of natural resources.
If you drop a litter - you pollute. That is how global catastrophe begins. Something very small can make a problem. And nobody will manage to overcome it. It is bigger than the Earth, it is bigger even than the Universe. Here a man is like a piece in a sultry, pine desert. Alone can do nothing, even 5 of us can do nothing. The problem must be realized by everybody. Only with the great power we can overcame a catastrophe. Air pollution is the result of man’s use of chemicals and is common hazard in both industrial and developing countries. Acid rain results from the release into the atmosphere of sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide. Electrical plants, industrial boilers, and autos are among chief sources of this emissions. Acid rain is killing vast stretches of forests in Canada, the USA and central and northern Europe. Acid rain in the USA is connected with cleaning the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Also nuclear power stations can go wrong and cause nuclear pollution. This happened in Wndscale in Britain, in Three Mile Island in the USA and in Chernobyl. There is no ocean or sea which is not used as a dump. The Pacific ocean, especially, has suffered from nuclear pollution. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles can’t live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. It is also dangerous for people.
There are about 9 000 000 square km. of forest in the world. This is a lot of different trees. But they disappear fast. In our usual life we use wood products as paper, cardboard, we use different kinds of furniture and in other ways. A great amount of forest are cut down every year for different uses and a lot of forests are so badly damaged that they will hardly be able to recover. The huge forests help to control the worlds weather, to produce much oxygen in the air.
Popular movements that try to protect nature are common all over the world now. An international movement ‘Greenpeace” has achieved much success. There is so called ecotourism which is directed towards exotic natural environments and especially intended to support conservation efforts.
Yellowstone in the USA is the first and most famous national park. It includes large areas of Montana, Hymning and Idaho. It became the world’s first national park in 1872. The valley of the Yellowstone river has beautifully colours rocks and three large waterfalls. In the valley you can came across moose, large deer or buffalo. Great grizzly bears live in the high mountains. How can we keep our Earth clean?
Don’t buy drinks in plastic bottles. These bottles can’t be recycled and plastic won’t even degrade. If you throw this bottle it will still litter the Earth for ever. Only buy water in aluminium cans or glass bottles, milk and juice in cartoons. These substances can be recycled.
It takes 500 000 trees just to make the newspapers we read every Sunday. Save your family newspapers. Most paper can be recycled. Save water.
The electric power stations burn coal to produce the energy that keeps your lights on. That burning coal gives off gases, that acid rains. So, save electric power. Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
Don’t cut wild flowers. In England since the 2nd World War 22 wild flower species have disappeared for ever.
English writer John Galsworthy said: “if you don’t think about the future you will not have it.