Публикация на тему "Экология"

Е.Р. Милованова

COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF THE ECOLOGICAL SITUATION IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE USA

Научные руководители:

учитель англ.яз. высшей категории Е.С. Шиханова

учитель англ.яз. высшей категории Е.В. Железнова

Nature is everything that exists in the world around us plants and animals/ earth and rocks, air and water, climate and weather. Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. [1. C.101] But with the development of civilization man's interference in nature began to increase. The result of man's careless interaction with nature is the pollution of air, soil and the world's ocean, natural resource depletion, destruction of the ozone layer.

As the human population continues to explode, finite natural resources, such as fossil fuels, fresh water, arable land, coral reefs and frontier forests, continue to plummet, which is placing competitive stress on the basic life sustaining resources and leading to a diminished quality of life.

Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The by-products of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables on.

Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Air pollution occurs when the air contains gases, dust, fumes or odour in harmful amounts. That is, amounts which could be harmful to the health or comfort of humans and animals or which could cause damage to plants and materials. Vast forests are cut and burn in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance.

Climate change is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, responsible for rising seas, raging storms, searing heat, ferocious fires, severe drought, and punishing floods. It threatens our health, communities, economy, and national security. The Earth’s climate is changing, affecting ecosystems and presenting resource managers with increased uncertainty and risk for achieving their goals. Some observations that support these trends include consistently higher temperatures and more extreme precipitation events, rising sea levels, and increasing ocean acidity. [2. C.155]

As a result, some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up. Freshwater ecosystems have lost a greater proportion of their species and habitat than ecosystems on land or in the oceans; in addition, they are probably in greater danger of further losses from dams, pollution, overfishing, and other threats.

Beyond the risks associated with nuclear power and radioactive waste, the threat of nuclear weapons looms large. The spread of nuclear technology and nuclear weapons is a threat for national security and the safety of the entire planet. [3]

Despite slumping production and the implementation of several environmental protection programs the ecological situation in Russia still remains serious, while environmental pollution is still high. Those environmental ills have been developing for years and years and have been further exacerbated with the problems of the past few years.

In dozens of Russian cities the average level of annual pollution exceeds sanitary standards. In most reservoirs the quality of potable water does not meet regulatory requirements. Soil productivity is falling while soil erosion is growing throughout the country. Forest strips that protect fields and streams are diminishing, and rare species are becoming extinct.[4. C.1]

The number of the most polluted cities in Russia is big. Among them are Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Chita, Volzhsk and others. In Magnitogorsk, a cocktail of chemicals in the air is causing birth defects tumors, malignant blood diseases and diabetes. Water pollution is a serious problem in Russia, and 75% of surface water and 50% of all water in Russia is now polluted. This has caused health issues in many cities as well as in the countryside, as only 8% of wastewater is fully treated prior to being returned to waterways. Industrial and chemical waste is often dumped into waterways, including hydrogen sulfide, which has been linked to the large-scale death of fish in the Black and Caspian seas. Lake Baikal was previously a target of environmental pollution from paper plants, but cleanup efforts since then have greatly reduced the ecological strain on the lake. In recent years, officials have identified many of Russia's rivers as carriers of waterborne diseases. Officials have warned of increasing outbreaks of sewage-related diseases - including cholera, salmonella, typhoid fever, dysentery, and viral hepatitis - in many other Russian rivers. Citizens have been instructed to boil all water before use it. In some areas, clean water is so scarce that water is imported from other regions. [5]

As for the USA, the ecological situation is much better. Over the past several decades, the United States has made considerable progress in reducing the amount of pollutants discharged from identifiable point sources such as municipal effluent pipes. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s, the United States Congress enacted a series of Clean Air Acts which significantly strengthened regulation of air pollution. Individual U.S. states, some European nations and eventually the European Union followed these initiatives. The Clean Air Act sets numerical limits on the concentrations of a basic group of air pollutants and provide reporting and enforcement mechanisms.

They are working to clean up toxic hotspots including major industrial polluters as well as dirty diesel transportation hubs. Their goal is for all children to be able to play outside without fear of asthma attacks or stunted lung growth - and for all communities to enjoy safe and healthy air quality, eliminating the race and income gaps in access to clean air. [6. C.2]

The creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 1970 was a response to the evident problems of industrial emissions and public health, and subsequent Congressional legislation aimed at reducing pollution. In the more than 40 years since, new and more complex problems have emerged as a result of population growth, urban development, and the globalization of industry. Over the past four decades, USEPA has evolved to address environmental problems in a number of ways. The following discussion describes a progression of five major regulatory and management approaches that transpired over this period of time.

EPA’s evolution through the decades.

1. The starting point was end-of-pipe regulations that limited or banned pollutants.

2. Regulations were enhanced by scientific assessment and management of risks to human health.

3. New solutions focused on reducing and/or eliminating the sources of pollution and promoting environmentally conscious design.

4. Environmental stewardship and innovative problem-solving became critical elements in overall environmental management.

5. Systems thinking is now helping decision makers achieve an integrated understanding of the consequences of their actions in terms of resilience and sustainability. [7. C.75]

Now let us compare the pollution levels in these two countries.

To sum up, the ecological situation in the US is better than in Russia. Every year, the number of green college programs — and the number of students enrolled in them — rises, as careers in environmental policy, sustainability, law, and management become more common.

The most important thing is a great number of ecological organizations, which were found to protect the air, land, and water from the forces of pollution and corporate greed. They encourage people all over the world to join their organizations, to take actions and to donate money. The most popular of them are Sierra Club, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund, Earth First, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council. Their priorities include:

• Curbing Global Warming and Creating the Clean Energy Future

• Reviving the World's Oceans

• Defending Endangered Wildlife and Wild Places

• Protecting Health by Preventing Pollution

• Ensuring Safe and Sufficient Water

• Fostering Sustainable Communities

Citizen science is already contributing to science and natural resource and environmental management and policymaking. Every year, tens of thousands of volunteers take to the forests, grasslands, wetlands, coasts, lakes, streams, and even their own backyards to provide high-quality, usable scientific information. [8. C. 18]

In short, tackling environmental problems today is more difficult because the nature of the "problems" has changed: where such problems were once primarily scientific and technocratic in nature, they are now almost exclusively problems of politics.

1. Английский язык Х класс: учеб. для общеобразоват. учреждений и шк. с углубл. изучением англ. яз. / Афанасьева О.В., Михеева И.В. М.: Просвещение, 2010. 222с

2. Thomas E. Lovejoy Climate Changе // Department of Biology, Stanford University. Conservation Biology for All. Oxford University Press 2010

3. Charley Cameron The World’s 6 Most Pressing Environmental Issues // Электронный ресурс Интернет:

http://inhabitat.com/why-we-need-earth-day-7-most-pressing-environmental-problems-we-need-to-solve/

1. Dr. Alexey Yablokov Environmental Problems and Projections in Russia // The All-Russian Special Conference for the Protection of Human Rights. January 21, 2001, Moscow

2. Электронный ресурс Интернет: TED Case Studies: Russia Air Pollution http://www1.american.edu/ted/russair.htm

3. Susan H. Julius, Jordan M. West, Daniel Nover, Rachel Hauser, David S. Schimel, Anthony C. Janetos, Margaret K. Walsh, Peter Backlund. Climate Change and U.S. Natural Resources: Advancing the Nation’s Capability to Adapt // Issues in Ecology. The Ecological Society of America. 2013. №18 p.2 Alan D. Hecht & Joseph Fiksel

4. Solving the problems we face: the United States Environmental Protection Agency, sustainability, and the challenges of the twenty-first century // Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy Spring 2015 | Volume 11 | Issue 1 p.75-89

5. Duncan C. McKinley, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Heidi L. Ballard, Rick Bonney, Hutch Brown, Daniel M. Evans, Rebecca A. French, Julia K. Parrish, Tina B. Phillips, Sean F. Ryan, Lea A. Shanley, Jennifer L. Shirk, Kristine F. Stepenuck, Jake F. Weltzin, Andrea Wiggins, Owen D. Boyle, Russell D. Briggs, Stuart F. Chapin III, David A. Hewitt, Peter W. Preuss, and Michael A. Soukup. Investing in Citizen Science Can Improve Natural Resource Management and Environmental Protection // Issues in Ecology. The Ecological Society of America. 2015. №19 p.18