23._GLOBAL_PROBLEMS

GLOBAL PROBLEMS

People pollute the planet we live on. They use the Word as a waste bin. The pollution takes many forms. It is caused by industry, motors, consumption and modern agriculture.

* AIR / WATER / SOIL POLLUTION

- one big problem is pollution; there is really no place in the World that is not somehow polluted

- the air, water and soil are affected by human activities

- air quality is spoiled by emissions from cars and factories and by burning coal and oil

- the problem is that when we breathe polluted air we are ill much more often

- animals and plants suffer from various diseases and some kinds are dying out

air pollution

- air becomes polluted when fumes poison the air

- air pollution causes illnesses in people each year

- the visible pollution is obvious, but invisible poisons in the air do damage too

water pollution

- water becomes polluted when waste poisons water

- life on the Earth depends on a supply of clear water, all organisms need to drink and there is less and less

drinkable water on the Earth.

- sometimes there is an oil accident at sea, which causes many birds and fish to die

soil (land) pollution

- air becomes polluted when waste materials poison the ground, some poisons leak into underground water

- factories produce large quantities of toxic waste (carbon dioxide, lead poisons, radioactive matter) -> some of

them in combination with water make acid rains that kill trees and make soil infertile (neúrodná)

The consumption causes more wastes and scraps. People send them to the dumps. The waste soaks through the land to the water. The land and water contain poisons from the wastes.

The motors produce a lot of exhaust fumes which we have to breathe; they also cause the ozone hole. And it means that we are not protected from UV rays which cause cancer and other illnesses.

The modern agriculture uses special chemicals for better growing of plants. The land is full of nitrogen oxide and plants growing there are poisoned.

Rainforests are in danger, People cut them down to provide land, paper, wood, minerals, etc,. But rainforests are like umbrellas. There live millions of animals and flowers under the trees, and they are destroyed too. It means a lot of them will become extinct very early.

Wildlife becomes destroyed too. Plenty of animals are killed for different reasons. For example for scientific research, because of their fur or skin, some of them are in danger because their environments are in danger.

common causes of damage

- smoke from factories

- car exhaust fumes

- dumping (=throwing away) industrial waste in seas and rivers

- aerosol cans (sprays): some of these contain chemicals which can damage the ozone layer

* ACID RAIN AND ITS EFFECT ON PLANTS, WATER, BUILDINGS

acid air

- it is rain that contains large amounts of harmful chemicals as a result of burning substances such as coal and oil

- the industry send the emissions into the air. There then mix with water. They are carried for hundreds of kilometres by the. The gases fall back to earth through rain. Such rain is called "acid rain" and kills trees and animals.