Text 1. The problem of environmental protection

Active vocabulary to remember

Environmental protection is the main problem facing humanity nowa­days. The image of a sick planet has become firmly established in the public mind lately. Ten years ago the word “ecology” hardly meant anything for the majority of people, but today we can't help bearing it in our minds. It has happened because of the growing effect of the rapid industrial development of the natural world which has negative features of its own. As a matter of fact the state of environment has greatly worsened of late.

There is no doubt that soil, water and air are contaminated with toxic wastes. Over the past few years we have been constantly speaking about ozone holes, droughts, high level of radiation, about food contaminated with chem­icals. Scientists in many countries are very much concerned about drastic changes in weather patterns. The worst drought, the mildest winter and the most devastating hurricanes have become typical in those parts of the world where they used to be a rare occurrence. Weather patterns have been chang­ing recently due to the global warming-up process and its major reason – the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is created by carbon dioxide emis­sions, released by industrial facilities and a constantly increasing number of cars. Thus it is of vital importance that the world should start cutting down the release of gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect. What is the reason for people getting so much worried about the state of environment? The answer to this question is fairly simple. The thing is the deterioration of the environment is telling heavily on people. They are paying for this with their health. And it is obvious what all people need is a healthy environment.

To solve this burning problem it is necessary for people to combine ef­forts, to raise safety standards at all industrial facilities, to adequately process by-products of industry, to set up an international space laboratory to monitor the state of environment and set up an international centre for emergency environmental assistance. All these measures will help us in solving these important problems and prevent us from dangerous illnesses and diseases.

Practice:

1. Answer the following questions:

1) Why is environmental protection considered to be the main problem facing humanity nowa­days?

2) What are the most important ecological risks for today?

3) What is the greenhouse effect?

4) What are the vital important operations that the world should start?

5) What is the reason for people getting so much worried about the state of environment?