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ECOLOGICAL AND POLLUTION PROBLEMS
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, 7 05.03.2009 .
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, 2008
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PART 1. The newspaper and magazine articles for work at the lesson......... 5
PART 2. The newspaper and magazine articles for reading at home............8
PART 3. The texts for rendering.. ......20
ۅ...23
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PART 1
Exercise 1. Read and memorize the words:
| biodegradable | sulfur | ||
| decompose | demand | , | |
| to occur | sewage | ||
| an ecosystem | fertilizers | ||
| dioxin | pesticides | ||
| to accumulate | to deplete | ||
| life-threatening | exhaust gases | ||
| environment | . | fungi(pl.) fungus(s.) | , |
| contamination | algae(pl.), alga(s.) | ||
| combustion | microorganism | ||
| fossil fuels | . | tissue | |
| impurities | erosion | ||
| to build up | sterile | ||
| nitrogen | oxygen | ||
| gasoline | to evolve | ||
| hydrocarbon | hazardous |
Exercise 2. Read and translate the texts:
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A) Pollution
Pollution, contamination of Earths environment with materials that interfere with human health, the quality of life, or the natural functioning of ecosystems (living organisms and their physical surroundings). Although some environmental pollution is a result of natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, most is caused by human activities.
There are two main categories of polluting materials, or pollutants. Biodegradable pollutantsare materials, such as sewage, that rapidly decompose by natural processes. These pollutants become a problem when added to the environment faster than they can decompose (see Sewage Disposal). Non-degradable pollutants are materials that either do not decompose or decompose slowly in the natural environment. Once contamination occurs, it is difficult or impossible to remove these pollutants from the environment.
Non-degradable compounds such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and radioactive materials can reach dangerous levels of accumulation as they are passed up the food chain into the bodies of progressively larger animals. For example, molecules of toxic compounds may collect on the surface of aquatic plants without doing much damage to the plants. A small fish that grazes on these plants accumulates a high concentration of the toxin. Larger fish or other carnivores that eat the small fish will accumulate even greater, and possibly life-threatening, concentrations of the compound. This process is known as bio-accumulation.
B) Types of Pollution
Pollution exists in many forms and affects many different aspects of Earths environment.
The effects of these pollutants may be immediate or delayed. Primary effects of pollution occur immediately after contamination occurs, such as the death of marine plants and wildlife after an oil spill at sea. Secondary effects may be delayed or may persist in the environment into the future, perhaps going unnoticed for many years. DDT, a non-degradable compound, seldom poisons birds immediately, but gradually accumulates in their bodies
C) Air Pollution
Human contamination of Earths atmosphere can take many forms and has existed since humans first began to use fire for agriculture, heating, and cooking
Urban air pollution is commonly known as smog. The dark London is generally a smoky mixture of carbon monoxide and organic compounds from incomplete combustion (burning) of fossil fuels such as coal, and sulfur dioxide from impurities in the fuels. As the smog ages and reacts with oxygen, organic and sulfuric acids condense as droplets, increasing the haze. Smog developed into a major health hazard by the 20th century
The second type of smog, photochemical smog, began reducing air quality over large cities like Los Angeles in the 1930s. This smog is caused by combustion in car, truck, and airplane engines, which produce nitrogen oxides and release hydrocarbons from unburned fuels. Sunlight causes the nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons to combine and turn oxygen into ozone, a chemical agent that attacks rubber, injures plants, and irritates lungs. The hydrocarbons are oxidized into materials that condense and form a visible haze.
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Eventually most pollutants are washed out of the air by rain, snow, fog, or mist, but only after traveling large distances, sometimes across continents. As pollutants build up in the atmosphere, sulfur and nitrogen oxides are converted into acids that mix with rain. This acid rain falls in lakes and on forests, where it can lead to the death of fish and plants, and damage entire ecosystems
D) Water Pollution
The demand for fresh water rises continuously as the worlds population grows. From 1940 to 1990 withdrawals of fresh water from rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and other sources increased fourfold. Of the water consumed in the United States in 1995, 39 percent was used for irrigation, 39 percent was used for electric power generation, and 12 percent was used for other utilities; industry and mining used 7 percent, and the rest was used for agricultural livestock and commercial purposes.
Sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides are the main causes of water pollution.
Water runoff, a non-point source of pollution, carries fertilizing chemicals such as phosphates and nitrates from agricultural fields and yards into lakes, streams, and rivers. These combine with the phosphates and nitrates from sewage to speed the growth of algae, a type of plantlike organism. The water body may then become choked with decaying algae, which severely depletes the oxygen supply. This process can cause the death of fish and other aquatic life.
E) Soil Pollution
Soil is a mixture of mineral, plant, and animal materials that forms during a long process that may take thousands of years. It is necessary for most plant growth and is essential for all agricultural production. Soil pollution is a buildup of toxic chemical compounds, salts, pathogens (disease-causing organisms), or radioactive materials that can affect plant and animal life.
Unhealthy soil management methods have seriously degraded soil quality, caused soil pollution, and enhanced erosion. Treating the soil with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides interferes with the natural processes occurring within the soil and destroys useful organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. This process kills even beneficial microorganisms and leaves the soil sterile and dependent upon fertilizer to support plant growth. This results in heavy fertilizer use and increases polluted runoff into lakes and streams.
F) Noise Pollution
Unwanted sound, or noise, such as that produced by airplanes, traffic, or industrial machinery, is considered a form of pollution. Noise pollution is at its worst in densely populated areas. It can cause hearing loss, stress, high blood pressure, sleep loss, distraction, and lost productivity.
Sounds are produced by objects that vibrate at a rate that the ear can detect. This rate is called frequency and is measured in hertz, or vibrations per second. While high-frequency sounds tend to be more hazardous and more annoying to hearing than low-frequency sounds, most noise pollution damage is related to the intensity of the sound, or the amount of energy it has. Measured in decibels, noise intensity can range from zero, the quietest sound the human ear can detect, to over 160 decibels. The intensity of a nearby jet taking off is about 110 decibels. The threshold for pain, tissue damage, and potential hearing loss in humans is 120 decibels. Long-lasting, high-intensity sounds are the most damaging to hearing and produce the most stress in humans.
Solutions to noise pollution include adding insulation and sound-proofing to doors, walls, and ceilings; using ear protection, particularly in industrial working areas; planting vegetation to absorb and screen out noise pollution; and zoning urban areas to maintain a separation between residential areas and zones of excessive noise.
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G) Pollution Cleanup and Prevention
In the United States, the serious effort against local and regional air pollution began with the Clean Air Act of 1970, which was amended in 1977 and 1990.
In an effort to enforce pollution standards, pollution control authorities measure both the amounts of pollutants present in the atmosphere and the amounts entering it from certain sources.
Pollution is controlled in two ways: 1) with end-of-the-pipe devices that capture pollutants already created and 2) by limiting the quantity of pollutants produced in the first place. End-of-the-pipe devices include catalytic converters in automobiles and various kinds of filters and scrubbers in industrial plants. In a catalytic converter, exhaust gases pass over small beads coated with metals that promote reactions changing harmful substances into less harmful ones. When end-of-the-pipe devices first began to be used, they dramatically reduced pollution at a relatively low cost.
As pollution efforts evolve, keeping the air clean will depend much more on preventing pollution than on curing it. Gasoline, for instance, has been reformulated several times to achieve cleaner burning. Various manufacturing processes have been redesigned so that less waste is produced. Car manufacturers are experimenting with automobiles that run on electricity or on cleaner-burning fuels. Buildings are being designed to take advantage of sun in winter and shade and breezes in summer to reduce the need for artificial heating and cooling, which are usually powered by the burning of fossil fuels.
The choices people make in their daily lives can have a significant impact on the state of the air. Using public transport instead of driving, for instance, reduces pollution by limiting the number of pollution-emitting automobiles on the road. For example, people can use underground instead of cars.
Indoor pollution control must be accomplished building by building or even room by room. Proper ventilation mimics natural outdoor air currents, reducing levels of indoor air pollutants by continually circulating fresh air. After improving ventilation, the most effective single step is probably banning smoking in public rooms.
On the global scale, pollution control standards are the result of complex negotiations among nations.
H) The Ozone Hole
The Ozone layer: Up in the sky above the air we breathe, theres a layer of gas called ozone. It helps us by blocking out rays from the sun that can harm our skin, & by letting the rays that are good for us come through. Were lucky to have the ozone to protect us!
Whats happening: New the ozone layer is being damaged by gases that people have made. The gases are called CFCs, & halons. They are used in refrigerators, fire extinguishers, air conditioners, plastic foam, aerosol- sprays, cleaning solvents, packing materials.
How it happens: The CFCs float out to the top of the atmosphere, where the layer of ozone is, & eat up the ozone just like little Pac-Men.
The Ozone layer protects the Earth from ultraviolet rays. It is 40 km thick, but now it is destroyed. The process of the ozone layer destruction is caused by the industrial use of chemicals (CFCs chloro-fluorocarbons) used in refrigerators.
It is destroyed all over the globe but especially fast above Antarctica.
The results can be drastic increase of skin cancer, cataracts, reduction of immune system responses.
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This problem is overlasting. It cant be solved in some years. CFCs can remain in the air for hundred years.
I) The Greenhouse Effect
A greenhouse: A greenhouse is a building made of glass where you can grow flowers & other plants that need a lot of warmth.
How it works: The sun shines in through the glass & warms the greenhouse, & the roof & the walls keep the heat from getting out.
Our greenhouse: The Earth is surrounded by a blanket of invisible gases (with names like carbon dioxide) that act just like a greenhouse. The sun shines in, & the blanket of gases traps the heat like a roof, keeping it close to the planet. Thats good we cant live without warmth.
Whats going on: Factories, electric power plants, & cars are making a lot of new gases. Even trees, when they are cut down, give off the gases! These new gases are trapping more & more of the suns heat. This is called the greenhouse effect, or global warming.
What can happen: If the earths temperature gets hotter by just a few degrees, it could change the weather all over the planet in big ways. Places that are warm would become too hot to live in, & places that are cold would become warm. The places that grow most of our food could get too hot to grow crops anymore.
Every kid can help stop the greenhouse effect by using less energy, protecting and planting trees & by recycling so factories dont need to work as hard making things.
Turn off the light when you leave the room
In the daytime sit closer to the window instead of turning on the light
Turn off the TV or stereo & other appliances when you are not using them
Exercise 3. Give definitions to the following:
pollution soil
bio-degradable pollutants exhaust gases
non-degradable pollutants fossil fuels
Exercise 3. Find synonyms for the following words.
contamination petrol
to build up dangerous
to happen to degrade
Exercise 4. Answer the questions.
1. What types of pollution do you know?
2. What are the two main categories of polluting materials?
3. What non-degradable pollutants do you know? Why are these pollutants dangerous for animals? for humans?
4. When did contamination of the Earths atmosphere by the man begin?
5. What are two types of air pollution?
6. What purposes is water used for?
7. What are the main water pollutants? How do they affect aquatic life?
8. What is the cause of soil pollution? Is there any connection between water and soil pollution?
9. How does noise pollution influence humans health? What are solutions to the problem?
10. In what ways can pollution be controlled?
11. How can outdoor pollution be prevented?
12. What can be done by people to reduce indoor pollution? How can the problem be solved on the global scale?
Exercise 5. Translate the sentences into English.
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PART 2
TEXT 1
