Environment

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Environment

Civilisation has brought people many advantages but its products pollute and damage our environment in which we live. Britain has been protecting the environment against pollution from industry and other sources for more than a century, while in Czech republic we are only at the beginning. Pollution affects air, water, land and plants.

Problems

Air pollution is the biggest problem in large cities and in areas with concentrated industrial production. Emission range from smoke, dust and smells to car lorry exhaust. Smoke contains sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, which are produced by coal-fired power stations. These substances can cause major changes in the environment that can lead to climate changes. Acids and oxidants fall in the form of rain - acid rains or snow onto trees and gradually kill them.

Trees are important for our life because they are lungs of our planet. They absorb carbon dioxide from the air and giveour oxygen in return. In some parts of the world such as Asia and South America, trees are not threatened by pollution, but by people. The great rain forests are being destroyed for firewood and building materials. Tropical forests provide 50 per cent of the world production of oxygen. It we lose them, it will be difficult may be impossible to breathing. With more carbon dioxide in the air the temperature will rise, the ice caps at the North and South Poles will melt, and the sea level raises that result flooding of many coastal cities.

The ozone layers are a layer of gas high above the surface of the earth that helps protect it from sun's ultraviolet radiation, which can damage our skins and cause cancer. Scientists discovered holes in the ozone layer, used substances called CFCs - it is used in refrigerators, aerosol cans and in the manufacture of some plastic products. Some companies now make aerosol cans and in the manufacture of some plastic products. Some companies now make aerosols that do not contain CFCs, and they are often named ozone friendly.

Soil can be contaminate as a result of industrial waste - some poison leak into the underground water - that is very dangerous because we drink it.

Noises causes considerable problems for many people: lack of concentration

defective hearing

stress

Litter, dust and rubbish in the streets also threaten the environment. Everybody knows that is wrong to litter but many people still do it.

Animal and plants protection:

is effected by humans' activities. Some animals are protected (bats, badgers, others (otters, some species of birds - such as owl) are breed in captivity and than they live in the wild so they have the best chance to survive.

Water is the substance which man cannot survive without. But water is polluted by waste of chemicals industries, heavy metals, acid rains, chemicals used in agriculture (fertilisers), by waste of ships and detergents.

How can we solve the problem of air pollution? First of all people should try to use energy, such as solar, water, geothermal or perhaps tidal energy.