Проблемы экологии

Ecological Problems

The Earth is our Home. We all know it exactly. But nevertheless we’ve done a lot of harm to it. Today the contradictions between Man and Nature are acquiring a dramatic character. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about tremendous mass of dust and other harmful substances. People of many cities suffer from smog.

Answer the following questions:

• What are the most serious environ-
• mental problems now?
• People are in danger, aren’t they?

Give words with similar meanings

• amazing, people, die out, nature around us, make, vital problems, forecast,frightening,unhealthy food, rubbish, everywhere, damage, gases,litter,
• to get rid of, to make, the packaging,to save,terrible.

What makes the ocean and sea waters dangerous nowadays?

. I am the Pacific Ocean. But I can speak for the whole water resources of the planet. You people are surprised that our water is not blue but brown with rubbish floating in it, while at that very time millions of tons of oil are released into the sea every year. You can’t even imagine how many seabirds and animals die because of it. It must de dangerous to human beings to.

Our water covers about 70 percent of the Earth surface. We hold up 97 percent of the world’s water. But we are not as big and as deep as you might think. The Oceans are only a thin coating for our planet Earth. Except ocean water you have also other water resources such as rivers, lakes, ponds and so on. And I must say that they all need your help and protection.

Why have many species of birds and animals disappeared?

The Pregolya River.

Are many rivers and lakes poisoned?

Many rivers and lakes are poisoned. 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.If people drink this water they can die too.

Lake Baikal.

.

More than twenty years ago a pulp-and-paper factory was built on the shore of the lake, though scientists disapproved of the project. They warned that the purification system was imperfect, but the factory continued to function. As a result, about 1500 million cubic meters of industrial waste water have been discharged into the waters. More than 50 percent of the world’s purest water has been ruined. The whole ecological system of the lake changed greatly. Growth rates of Baikal fishes and seals have slowed down, some organisms found in no other place but the Baikal Lake are disappearing. Trees are dying from the dust and gas blows out of the factory It’s high time to think about the principles of man-nature relations and solve the problem of the lake protection.

The Baltic Sea.

The sea waters are dangerous. The sea is also used as a dump.

Where does air pollution mostly come from?

I must say that not only oceans, rivers and lakes are polluted nowadays. According to the towns’ sanitary – epidemiological station some 685 000 tons of harmful substances – nearly two tons per person are discharged every year into the air in industrial cities. When different plants such as cocking or iron-and-steel plants, for example, works, it becomes even harder to breathe in the city.

Transport is one of the main offender in noise and air pollution. Million of different kinds of machines throw into air their dirty gas.

And those ozone holes. This is also the result of human doings. The ozone layer in the atmosphere protects the Earth from the dangerous ultraviolet rays of the Sun. But it is destroyed by the stuff that aerosol sprays and refrigerators contain. People will have to take measures because the dangerous rays get through the atmosphere, causing skin cancer and other diseases.

Radiation has become a subject to control of its possible effects on health.

The industrial development has become so great now and the influence on the nature is so harmful, that the problem of protecting nature is becoming vital. If people don’t find the way to do it, life itself will soon come to end.

Global warming

World temperatures are currently rising every year. This so called global warming is caused by the buildup of gases and water vapor in the atmosphere. These gases form a layer that reflects the heat back to Earth, rather than allowing it to escape into the outer atmosphere. As the planet warms up, the water in the oceans will take up more space and water locked up in glaciers and the polar ice caps will start to melt. This could cause sea levels to rise and many habitats will disappear under water.

Acid rains

Acid rains fall when poisonous gases from power stations and vehicle exhausts mix with oxygen and moisture in the air. These gases become part of the water cycle and may be carried a long way by the wind before they fall as acid rain, or snow. Acid rains poison and kill wildlife in lakes, rivers, and forests, and damage the surrounding plant life. The problem could be controlled by reducing vehicle emissions and limiting the gases released from power stations.

Are forests disappearing all over the world?

Most of the pollution in big cities comes from cars,

doesn’t it?

When our grandparents were children, they saw a lot of elks, foxes, hares and wild bears in the woods near their homes. As for me, only too or three times I was lucky enough to see a hare running across a field. We, human, suffer because of our polluted land, air and water. Animals suffer even more. Farmers use poisonous chemicals on the fields, hares eat poisoned vegetation and die. So foxes have no food and also disappear. Many small hares perish during the harvest time because of the combine-harvesters… Foxes and elks are in the greatest danger of extinction from poachers.

Our woods are so dirty! Everywhere we can see bottles, plastic things, old shoes. The wood serves as our trash can. It is so awful.

What should we remember if we want to have a healthy life in future?

It is interesting to know that …

• Modern humans have lived on Earth for about 300.000 years, but it took until 1960 for the population to reach 3 billion. However, in just 40 years, that figure has doubled – and by the year 2050 it is predicted that as many as 10 billion people may inhabit the Earth.
• Since life first appeared on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago, many living things have become extinct These have included the eruption of volcanoes as well as meteorite showers hitting the Earth. In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington devastated nearby forests and killed 2 million birds, fish and mammals.
• Despite continuing research and discoveries, the natural world is still full of mysteries and unsolved puzzles. Scientists are still unsure why animal life suddenly flourished about 550 million years ago, more than 3 billion years after life itself appeared. This relatively short period, called “Cambrian explosion” produced a vast range of new species in the world’s seas.

Listen to the text Say if the statements are true or false .

• Ann is out. Her mother is taking a phone message from Andrew
• Andrew and his friends are going to arrange a picnic in the park.
• There will be a “clean-up day” in a small park behind the school next weekend.
• They need a poster reminding people about youth problems.
• Maybe people will see the clean park and the poster and will avoid dropping litter.
• Andrew will be glad to see Alex and Jess next weekend.

Work in pairs. Look at the pictures and choose one of them.

• Imagine what the characters are saying to each other.
• Write a short dialogue.
• Act your dialogue.

Conclusion.

• Keep your towns, cities, and countryside
• clean.
• Save water, gas,energy.
• Don’t turn the planet into a pile of rubbish.
• Hometask: упр.53.стр.54(пересказ).
• упр.20, стр.57(письменно)