Environment
We can live on this planet thanks to basic components, which are necessary for human existence - air,
water, soil and the sun. But the paradox is that we are polluting these most important things. Pollution is one of the main problems of our age. We
must think of the quality of our air, water and soil more than any time before, because the environmental problems affect all countries around the
world. Good relations between man and nature are important not only for us but even for animals and plants. Throughout recent decades, certain species
of animals have vanished or became rare.
There are the problems of seas and oceans, pollution of air, changes in the atmosphere's
ozone layer and concentration of carbon dioxide. Water is a substance without which we couldn't survive but we pollute streams, rivers and seas with
old cans, oil, rubbish and different kinds of chemicals. We breathe air with smoke from cars and with bacteria and it harm our health. Dislocated
ozone layer is also a big threat to our survival because it protects the planet from the direct glare of the sun. It falters out much of the sun's
ultraviolet radiation. This radiation is responsible for sunburn, snow blindness, eye damage, skin cancer and so on. Man has become his own worst
enemy. Several chemicals used in or produced by industry accelerate the speed of ozone decomposition. The presence of the ozone layer is so important
that small changes in its concentration could have dramatic effects on life on the earth. The stuff that destroys the ozone layer is for example FCSs,
which are used in refrigeration technology.
We must feel more responsibility for the air, water and soil; people must preserve and
restore the quality of our environment. Our good relation to nature is one of our most important duties. Our chance to live depends on it.
The
air and water pollution is also a big danger for the Czech capital - Prague. There are many factories without modern equipment. Also the main streets
and motorways are going through the city and the traffic on these streets is certainly very busy, especially during the day there are lots of cars,
buses and trucks there. There are even doctors who say that it is a health hazard to live in Prague. This situation isn’t so terrible in suburbs or
in the housing estates, but in some parts near the center or in some industrial parts of the capital the living conditions are very bad.
The greenhouse effect is caused by accumulation of certain gases in the Earth's atmosphere. Primarily
burning fossil fuels generates these gases - carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and others. The result of their accumulation in the upper
atmosphere is that they act like a layer and stop the heat reflected from the Earth's surface, which would otherwise disappear into space. The
concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is responsible for about half of the greenhouse effect. If nothing is done, within a few decades the world will
be unlike anything in human memory. The climate will change drastically, worldwide rainfall could shift dramatically creating monsoons in some areas,
oceans currents and temperature will change too. Plant and animal populations will find themselves in such climatic and environmental conditions to
which they cannot be adapted. The level of seas will rise up by 4.5 feet by the year 2035. They will flood several countries in the Pacific and large
areas on all other continents. The water from melting snow and ice will cause a lot of erosions too. It is necessary to reduce gas emissions, to use
other resources of energy, not to buy plastic but recycled materials etc.
Before 1900 rainforests covered 14% of the
world's surface. Today they cover only 7%. The reason for this is simple. They have been cut down to provide land, paper, timber, medicines, minerals
and fuel. But not only trees are disappearing. Every rainforest also contains millions of animals, insects and flowers and these are destroyed too. If
man continues to cut down rainforests, more than one million species of plants and animals will become extinct by the year 2030.
At the
moment, 94% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels. One possibility is nuclear energy - but after the Chernobyl disaster in
1986, many people think nuclear power isn't safe and they are for "green" solutions: wind energy, solar energy, wave energy from the sea or
geothermal energy from hot rocks under the ground
Acid rain is one of the most serious pollution
problems. Factories let out gases and chemicals into the air, there they mix together and are carried for hundreds of miles by the wind. And finally
they fall back to the earth with falling raindrops. This acid rain kills fishes and trees. It also slowly destroys buildings and bridges.
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