THE ENVIROMENTAL ISSUES

Soil pollution is mainly caused by agriculture. Pesticides can cause death of worms and other important organisms, also they remain in the soil for a long time.

Tropical rainforests are being burned and cut down because people need more land for agriculture. Also, the deforestation is happening because of palm oil, which is almost in every food, cosmetics and so on. We need to stop this, because rainforests and forests are the lungs of the earth. Also, many plants and animals will become extinct. Without trees carbon dioxide levels will increase, because they absorb them in process called photosynthesis.

Many ecological organizations take care of our nature. The most known environmental organization is Greenpeace. This international organization fights against pollution, often by organizing various actions for example Save the Arctic campaign. Everyone can do something for our environment. For example, we can sort waste, recycle more, use glass bottles instead of plastic ones, make our surrounding clean or save energy.

Of course, we can’t blame humans for everything. There are several natural disasters caused by mother nature herself.

In our country we can notice quite often the floods. Floods are generally caused by long heavy rains or when a lot of snow melt in the spring and water run down from mountains. This water flood towns, roads and their surrounding. The floods damage houses, bridges, roads and kill people and animals who don´t run away.
Wildfires are uncontrolled wild spreading. Wind helps to extend the fire. The reason of fires could be long-standing drought, high temperatures or lightning strike.
The movement of the tectonic plates cause earthquakes and explosions of volcanoes. During the earthquake, the land is crashing and shaking. Buildings are falling, and everybody is in danger. In the Czech Republic there are weak earthquakes for example in Ostrava region. They are caused by mining activities. The volcanoes produce a lot of dust, smoke, magma and lava which pours out and burns everything what is in the land´s surface. Earthquake under the ocean can cause a big tidal wave which floods the coast and we call it tsunami.
Hurricanes and tornadoes are caused by pressure changes in the atmosphere. We can meet with this phenomenon often in area of Caribbean Sea. The speed of hurricane can reach up to 119 km/hour. It´s very strong wind destroying everything on the way. Tornado is violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud. Tornados can be in several shapes and sizes.
Thunderstorm consists of lightning and its acoustic effect known as thunder. It is usually accompanied by strong wind, heavy rain and sometimes snow, sleet, hail or nothing of these.

There are 4 seasons in a year. Spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring means the new beginning, because seeds take root, vegetation begins to grow and bloom. First flowers appear, and the weather is getting warmer. That is why the snow is melting. In spring there are sometimes floods, and the weather is changing a lot. Spring starts on the 20th of March and ends on 21st of June. Summer starts on the 21st of June and ends on 23rd of September. The temperature increases and it’s the hottest part of the year. Usually there are many storms, fires and drought. But still it’s the best season judging by kid’s opinion. Why? They have 2 months long holidays. At the beginning of the autumn there is Indian summer, when the weather is like in summer. After the Indian summer the temperature starts to lower. Animals prepare to upcoming cold weather (storing food or migrating) also leaves fall down and their colour is changing. Autumn is the most colourful season. It is also the time of the harvest. Winter starts on 21st of December. Animals are enjoying their winter sleep, and everything looks peaceful. Temperature is low and when it reaches 0 or less degrees, it starts to snow. Usually in winter we do winter sports such as skiing, we build a snowman and enjoy the sledging. After the winter comes spring and the cycle of seasons starts again.