You can be animal,

It is easy.

You can be God,

It’s easy too.

You must be a man,

But it is so difficult.

People have always polluted their surroundings, but until now pollution was not such a serious problem. People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution – causing machines. With the development of crowded industrial cities which put huge amounts of pollutions into small areas, the problem has become more important. Automobiles and other new inventions make pollution steadily worse. Since the late 1960’s people have become alarmed with the danger of pollution. Air, water and soil are necessary for existence of all living things. But polluted air can cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. On polluted soil, food can not be grown. In addition environmental pollution spoils the natural beauty of our planet. Pollution is as complicated as serious problem. Nowadays people understand how important it is to solve the environmental problems that endanger people’s lives. The most serious environmental problems are:

·  pollution in its many forms {water pollution, air pollution, nuclear pollution};

·  noise from cars, buses, planes, etc.;

·  destruction of wildlife and countryside beauty;

·  shortage of natural resources (metals, different kinds of fuel);

the growth of population.

Water Pollution

“Water, water everywhere, not any drop to drink,” said the sailor from Coleridge’s poem describing to a friend how awful it was to be without drinking water on a ship in the middle of the ocean. It is strange to think that the water around his ship was probably quite safe to drink. It was salty – but not polluted. The sea waters today are much more dangerous.  There is no ocean or sea which is not used as a dump. The Pacific Ocean, especially, has suffered from nuclear pollution because the French Government tests nuclear weapons there. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. Britain alone dumps 250,000 tons of industrial waste straight into the North Sea. This poisons and kills fish and sea animals. “Nuclear-poisoned” fish can be eaten by people. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles can’t live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink this water they can die too. It happens so because factories and plants produce a lot of waste and pour it into rivers. So they poison the water. Factories use clean water. After the water is used it becomes poison which goes back into rivers, lakes and seas.       

Air Pollution

When the Americans decided to clean up the Statue of Liberty in 1986, the first thing they had to do was to make a hole in her nose and take away the acid rain that had collected inside. The polluted air of New-York had mixed with the rain and damaged the Statue greatly. And you certainly know that most of the pollution in big cities comes from cars and buses. More and more often people are told not to be in direct sunlight, because ultraviolet radiation from the sun can cause skin cancer. Normally the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects us from such radiation can get to the earth. Many scientists think that these holes are the result of air pollution. Nuclear power stations can go wrong and cause nuclear pollution. This happened in Windscale in Britain, in the Three Mile Island in the USA, Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union and Semey in Kazakhstan. Nuclear pollution cannot be seen but its effects can be terrible. To make air clean again we need good filters at nuclear power stations, at factories and plants and also in cars and buses. Both clean air and clean water are necessary for our health. If people want to survive they must solve these problems quickly. Man is beginning to understand that his environment is not just his own town of country, but the whole earth. That’s why people all over the world think and speak so much about ecology.  Nowadays we face many ecological problems and we must protect our environment. The importance of the environment has finely been realized by many people. The organization of international environmental congresses is evidence of this. Many countries have been trying to find solutions to their environmental pollution. Unfortunately the practical implementation of these solutions is not as easy as in theory. The cause of environmental disturbance can be summarized as the development of industry and life standards. Most of the agents of environmental pollution have been produced by developed countries. They have to develop strategies for the safe disposal of industrial wastes. However this requires additional funds and reduces the productivity of the industry concerned. Urgent solutions must be found; otherwise our environment will be deteriorated further as time passes.

Pesticides

Pesticides are chemical agents used against pests. They are sprayed on plants or plant products to kill pests. Of course the death of the pest is intended during this action. Eradication of the pest may be achieved but the food chain is harmed due to this destruction. Another effect of pesticides appears after rain. The sprayed pesticides are washed from larger plants by rain and are carried into streams and rivers. The sedimentation of these agents in lakes and ponds causes the death of aquatic organisms and as a result the natural balance is damaged.  Among the continental lakes of the globe the Aral Sea occupied the fourth place in the area. We have to stress-occupied. Today the Aral is perishing. This badly affects the population of the area, which includes several regions of the Central Asian Republics and the Kzyl Orda region of Kazakhstan. ............