Protection of the environment
Planet Earth
is 4600 million years old. It is difficult for us to think about such an
enormous length of time, but if we simplify it into an understandable idea, we
can compare the planet Earth to a person of forty-six years of age. Nothing is
known about the first seven years of this person's life; and very little
information exists about the middle period; we know that it was only at the age
of forty-two that Earth began to flower. Dinosaurs and great reptiles did not
appear until one year ago, when the planet was forty five. In the middle of
last week men-like apes became ape-like men. Modern Man has been around for
four hours. The Industrial Revolution began just a minute ago. During those
sixty seconds of biological time, Modern Man has made a rubbish tip of Earth.
He has increased his numbers to terrible proportions, has caused the death of
hundreds of species of animals, has robbed and destroyed the planet in his
search for fuels; now he stands, like a violent, spoilt child, delighted at the
speed of his rise to power, on the edge of the final mass destruction and of
killing all the life which exists in the solar system.
The Earth is
our home but much of it is dirty and dying. Rapid industrial development caused
a lot of ecological problems. They are: air pollution, water pollution, growth
of population and shortage of mineral resources.
Air becomes
polluted in many ways. Cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, factories and plants
send burnt gases into the air. The production of electricity causes not only
air pollution but acid rains and global warming. Because of acid rains the
Earth looses twenty million acres of tropical rainforests every year. This
means the extinction of thousands of species that live there, for example
tigers. Only 67 thousand tigers remain. Tigers are hunted and killed for their
body parts, which are used in oriental medicines. The ozone layer is destroyed
too and the dangerous rays get through the atmosphere causing skin cancer and
other diseases.
Seventy
percent of the Earth is covered by oceans. Oceans are vital for the life on
Earth. They provide homes for millions of plants and animals provide people
with food and help regulate the climate. But now they are a big dumping ground
for tons of toxic waste. Most big cities pour their waste into seas and rivers.
For a long time people did not realize the danger. The first alarm came from Japan:
sixty people died because they have eaten polluted fish. The Baltic Sea is a
special case. Because it is such a small sea, it becomes dirty very easily. 250
rivers run into the Baltic. There are hundreds of factories on these rivers and
millions of people live along them. Seven industrial countries surround the
Baltic. Once we have polluted the sea, it is very difficult to clean it.
Fortunately all the countries realized the problems and co-operated to solve
ecological problems. I would like to dwell on practical measures which must be
taken in order to improve the ecological situation: the factories and plants
must be removed from cities; green zones must be created; pollution control
systems must be introduced; purifying systems for cleaning and trapping harmful
substances must be widely used; almost everything is recyclable today –
recycling is a great way to reduce waste.
We need clean
air to breathe and pure water to drink. We need also food that is safe to eat
and housing to shelter us. We can't get all these things by ourselves. We live
in community so we can solve our problems only working together. Russia
is co-operating in the field of environmental protection with the USA,
Canada, Norway, Finland and other countries. A lot of public organizations
have been established. One of them is Green Peace which was formed in 1971 with
its Head-quarters in Amsterdam. The area of operation is 25 countries
world-wide. Its objectives are to protect wild life and atmosphere, to prevent
disposal of toxic waste and nuclear tests.
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