Environmental pollution

MAN AND ENVIRONMENT

Human progress has reached the stage of intense exploration of nuclear and solar energy, the world Ocean and outer space. It is evident now, however, that often man is adversely affecting the environment and his activity is sometimes fraught with fatal consequences.

It is becoming increasingly clear that man cannot and must not use his tremendous power so carelessly, infinitely interfere in nature and radically try to change it, without taking into account possible negative effects of his economic activity. The more material wealth people create, the more they realize that they cannot but be concerned about how the biosphere is changing as a result of productive activity. Current ecological research shows that man, when overconcerned with technicism, far from turning deserts into oceans, can turn oases into deserts, threatening to destroy everything on earth, if he continues exerting mostly uncontrolled impact of the biosphere.

In the nineteenth century and even in the first half of the twentieth century, material production did not require taking into account the consequences which man’s interference in nature may have in the distant future, whereas, in the second half of the twentieth century such a consideration became vitally important. Thus, the conclusion is that man should carefully study the impact of his activity on various components of the surrounding nature. It is not only possible but necessary to transform the wild natural environment, which often has a disastrous effect on man (earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, floods, droughts, magnetic and solar storms, as well as radioactivity, cosmic radiation, etc.) into a safe environment suitable for man meeting his needs. This means that the ecological problem is not simply the problem of environmental pollution and other adverse effects of man’s economic activity, but the problem of turning man’s uncontrolled impact on nature into a purposeful and planned interaction with the latter.

Today, however, man’s impact has reached such proportions that the biosphere’s resources can no longer compensate for society’s harmful influence on the environment. The world’s famous biologists warn that the present situation is fraught with the extinction of animals and plants on a scale much greater than both their natural and man-caused extinction during the preceding millions of years. If this massive biological depletion of the Earth’s resources goes on uncontrolled for several decades to come, the world environment will change irreversibly. All this means that at present there has arisen a pressing necessity to change the character of the interaction between man and nature.

What are the major aspects and ways of solving this most complicated problem – the restoration of the unity between man and nature?

The majority of Western ideologists regard the ecological problem as one of the insoluble global problems of our time. Some of them even say that human civilization will inevitably perish as a result of industrial, urban, vehicular, and demographic pollution of the environment and the depletion of non-renewable natural resources.

On the other hand, many Western scientists often reduce the whole environmental problem only to pollution. The solution of the environmental problem is interpreted rather as the protection of nature primarily against pollution caused by economic and demographic growth than as the optimization of the interaction between nature and society ensuring mankind’s social and economic progress.

The problem “Man and the Biosphere” can and must be solved by the efforts of all countries.

Man’s destruction of the environment is not new, of course. Even in Neolithic time fire, often described as man’s first tool, was used directly against the fauna, for it made possible large killings, even when hunting implements were still very simple. In spite of these rather “impressive” results, early man could more or less ignore his own damage to the environment. With his small numbers he did not fully occupy the earth, and so, having damaged it in one area, he could always find a new region where he could make a fresh start. Today the situation has changed greatly in many ways. It is no longer possible to escape from the effects of our own destruction of the environment by moving to new regions.

Thus we see that the earth is not indestructible and inexhaustible, as we so long thought, but highly vulnerable to the destructive impact of man. The citizenry must recognize that the earth environment is a wonderful, beautiful, and complex system of interrelated parts, easily damaged by man’s thoughtless attacks upon it.

Tasks:

1. Make up a list of words and phrases that can be used speaking about man and environment.

2. What facts and arguments does the author put forward in order to show

a) that man cannot and must not try to change nature radically;

b) that man should carefully study the impact of his activity on various components of the surrounding nature;

c) that man’s influence on the environment has reached gigantic proportions;

d) that the earth is highly vulnerable to the destructive impact of man.

3. Express your attitude to each of the following statements:

a) Man is adversely affecting the environment. Does it rest on man to determine “the environment’s fate”?

b) Man should not interfere in nature and try to change it. Should man, first of all, take into consideration possible negative impacts of his activity?

c) Nature often has a disastrous effect on man. Does it depend on man’s unlimited interference in nature?

d) At present there has arisen a pressing necessity to change the character of the interaction between man and nature. If so, what ways of alternation of these interrelations can you propose?

e) The ecological problem is one of the insoluble global problems of our time. What major aspects of solving this complicated problem can you suggest? Is it possible to convert this problem into a solvable one?

TEXT 3

THE ECOSYSTEM

One way of viewing the environment is an ecosystem, a relatively stable community of organisms that have established interlocking relationships and exchanges with one another in their natural habitat. Our planet is a vessel in the void of the universe, a closed system with finite resources that, if destroyed or depleted, cannot be replaced. Life exists only in the biosphere, a thin skin of air, soil and water on the surface of our planet. The earth’s biosphere has served us well: we have multiplied to over 5 billion people and expanded to all corners of the globe. Ecologists stress that survival depends on our ability to maintain a precarious balance among the living and nonliving components of the biosphere. They fear that pollution of the environment and the depletion of the earth’s natural resources are jeopardizing the very environment that is the basis for human life.

The reciprocal ties binding human beings and their physical environment are provide by the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The human tragedy is pale deserts haunted by starving people, infant bellies swollen of want, and dead cattle. People in Africa live on the interfaces of deserts and arable land and are threatened by hunger. The overworking of marginal lands for crops, grazing and firewood has resulted in “desert creep”. The introduction of Western techniques, such as irrigation, deep plowing and chemical fertilizers, has served to compound the region’s problem. Irrigated land becomes waterlogged, accumulates too much salt, and ends up useless. And wells dug in arid regions lead people and cattle to congregate in their vicinity, resulting in overgrazing and trampling of the earth by cattle. A vicious circle comes into being whereby people intensify their exploration of the land to compensate for desert creep, only to complicate their problems as the misuse in turn feeds new desert expansion. In a dry or drought year, the desert of Chad advances 125 miles, rather than the usual rate of 6 to 12 miles a year.

In vast stretches of Africa, deserts are spreading in expanding patches where animals have overgrazed and people have felled too many trees. Experts on desert control find that laying lines of stones to trap moisture, planting trees as windbreaks and bushes to stabilize sand dunes and slopes, and building animal pens out of growing bushes instead of chopped wood retard the process. The biggest challenge is not a technical one, but one of “political will” in coming to terms with cultural and social organizations operating in the arid lands. About 43 percent of Africa’s arable lands face the risk of turning to deserts in the years ahead. Ecologists emphasize that human beings must become more sensitive to the manifest and latent consequences of their actions in order to avoid this type of damage to the ecosystem. Each species is seen as playing a role essential to harmony and well-being of the entire community of living organisms. All people and nations are part of a global network, deftly enmeshed in one shared ecosystem.

Some theorists come to quite different conclusions. They point out that the foreign debt of the forty-four sub-Saharan countries was higher. This growing indebtedness exerted pressure on African governments to promote cash crops for export rather than food crops for their people. The money provided by Western aid agencies was diverted to highly visible projects, such as roads, port facilities, airports and office buildings, while small African farmers were neglected. Assistance is often rendered to African governments that are favourable to the donor nations, in the process stabilizing pro-Western regimes.

Environmental problems derive not so much from the limited supply of finite resources as from an unequal distribution of the world’s resources.

Tasks:

1. Make up a list of words and phrases that can be used when revealing the essence of the ecosystem.

2. Complete the following statements and develop the idea adding some more aspects to be considered.

a) Our planet is a vessel in the void of the universe, a closed system …

b) Pollution of the environment and the depletion of the earth’s natural resources …

c) The introduction of Western techniques has served to compound the region’s problem …

d) About 43 percent of Africa’s arable lands face the risk of …

e) Environmental problems derive not so much from the limited supply of finite resources as from …

3. Express your attitude to the following statements:

a) Ecologists stress that survival depends on our ability to maintain a precarious balance among the living and non-living components of the biosphere. Do you share the ecologists’ opinion? What can the loss of this balance result in?

b) All people and nations are part of a global network, deftly enmeshed in one shared ecosystem. Can it be so that some ecologists have overemphasized the harmony and balance to be found in nature?

4. Discuss in groups the topic “Life in harmony is a way of solving environmental problems”.

TEXT 4

ECOLOGY IS A PRIORITY

The ecological problem is one of the pressing problems of our days. It is closely linked to the problems of economic growth, progress in science and technology, natural resources, energy and food supplies.

The pollution of the environment, the destruction of ecosystems, the destruction of many species of plants and animals have now reached threatening proportions. An increasing influence on nature and the application of new technological processes may cause catastrophic results. Negative anthropogenic influences threaten to disrupt nature’s basic cycles and to undermine the self-regenerating capacities of the biosphere and of its individual components. By comparison with the beginning of the twentieth century the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased dozens of times. As a result of the formation of a layer of carbon dioxide around the Earth the threat of unfavourable changes has arisen that may transform our blue planet into an enormous greenhouse, with possible catastrophic effects. Those include changes in its energy balance and a gradual increase in temperature that will transform fertile regions into arid ones, raise the level of water in the oceans (through the melting of polar and drifting ice) and produce a flooding of great numbers of coastal lands and cities. The threat of a disruption in the oxygen balance has arisen through the destruction of the ozone screen in the lower stratosphere as a result of the flights of supersonic aircraft. Pollution of the ocean has increased at a rate that threatens to make it global.

All this exerts a substantial adverse influence on the health of individuals, including pathological changes in heredity, genetically determined forms of vulnerability to serious and chronic diseases.

Tasks:

1. Find English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

- круговорот веществ в природе

- самовосстановление

- углекислый газ

- парник

- озоновый слой

- засушливый район

- стратосфера

- оказывать влияние на кого-либо

- наследственность

- плодородный

- сверхзвуковой самолет

2. Render the following text into English:

Взаимоотношения организма с окружающей его живой и неживой природой немецкий биолог Э. Геккель в 1870 году назвал экологией (от греческого слова «ойкос» – дом, убежище и «логос» – наука). Так стала называться наука об условиях существования живых организмов. Экология изучает влияние на различные виды организмов отдельных элементов среды, а также их комплексов. Экология накапливает факты, изучает, анализирует их и объясняет существование в природе связей и закономерностей. Эти знания важны для понимания изменений, происходящих в природе под влиянием деятельности человека. Сейчас ни одна отрасль человеческих знаний, хозяйства не может правильно развиваться без знания экологических законов и закономерностей. Нарушение какого-нибудь одного звена экологической цепи может привести к самым неожиданным изменениям в природе.

(«Энциклопедический словарь юного натуралиста»)

TEXT 5

FIGHTING ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION

The atmosphere is not just the air breathed by people, animals and plants. It is also a gaseous substance enveloping the earth, protecting it from abrupt changes in temperature (without the atmosphere daily variations in the temperature on the planet would reach 200 ْ C) and protecting all living things from harmful solar and cosmic radiation. Scientists distinguish between natural and artificial sources of atmospheric pollution.

Natural pollution of the atmosphere occurs when rock is weathered, dust storms take place, forest fires occur as a result of lightning, and sea salt is washed ashore. The atmosphere always contains aeroplankton (bacteria, including those causing disease), fungi spores, plant pollen, etc.

Artificial pollution of the atmosphere is characteristic mostly of cities and industrial districts. Cities and suburbs contain numerous industrial enterprises, automobiles and heating systems which pollute the atmosphere and negatively influence the local climate. Industry pollutes the atmosphere by emission of harmful gases and industrial dust. Thermal electronic plants, metallurgical and chemical factories, oil refineries, cement and other works are sources of air pollution. The number of automobiles is rapidly increasing. It is estimated that one car burns up the amount of fresh air needed for 100 adults to breathe. At the same time it emits the same amount of fumes into the atmosphere.

The problem of radioactive pollution of the atmosphere arose in 1945 after the atomic bombs had been dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then atomic weapons have become much more powerful and have been stockpiled in large quantities. When the atom bomb explodes, an extremely high level of radiation covers an enormous area for a long period of time as the radioactive particles are dispersed. From the atmosphere the radioactive products fall on the earth polluting the soil, water bodies and living organisms. Finally dispersed dust is carried many thousands of kilometres away and causes global radioactive pollution of the atmosphere.

Improvement in city planning is of great importance in keeping the air clean. Factories are now usually built beyond city limits. Special zones must be established between housing estates and industrial enterprises protecting the population from smoke, gases, dust, noise and unpleasant odours.

Plant life cleans the air in the cities of harmful components. Trees play the role of biological filters absorbing gas contaminants from the air while particles of dust settle on their leaves and branches. However, it is not enough in itself. The most promising way to solve the problem of clean air is to build purification plants, improve technology to make exhaust fumes less toxic or use electric automobiles.

Tasks:

1. Match the words with their definitions:

1) gaseous a) a substance that pollutes another substance, the air, water

2) aeroplankton b) having the nature of, or in the form of gas

3) plant pollen c) the usual microscopic animal and plant life found in the air

4) to emit exhaust fumes d) to dispel, to spread about

5) to disperse e) to discharge / to let out heavy strong-smelling air

6) contaminant f) fine dust on the male part of a flower that causes other

flowers to produce seeds when it is carried to them

2. Answer the following questions:

What does the essence of the atmosphere consist in?

What are the two major sources of atmospheric pollution?

What is the difference between them?

When did the problem of radioactive pollution of atmosphere arise?

What should and can be done to keep the air clean?

TEXT 6

PROTECTING THE SOIL AGAINST POLLUTION

I. Why is it of paramount importance to preserve the soil cover? Does soil contamination depend on us? What substances contribute much to soil pollution?

II. Read the text.

The most wide spread substances polluting the soil from the atmosphere are nitric and sulphur oxides. They enter the soil together with precipitation, raise soil acidity and significantly lower fertility. High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil around industrial enterprises deplete the local flora, with more sensitive species disappearing. The soil may be polluted when fertilizers or pesticides are incorrectly used, and also by the waste of livestock breeding complexes. The main measure and a cardinal solution to the problem is to improve technology so that waste is not released into the environment. Sometimes various chemical substances are introduced into the soil to neutralize the effect of soil pollutants, and so on.

The rational use of land resources includes not only the conservation measures but also actual use of the land. It is very important that plough-land be protected against inefficient use for civil and industrial construction, against dumping against with builders’ refuse, and urban and village dumps.

All land users shall systematically implement a set of agrotechnical, land improvement and anti-erosion measures aimed at preserving the soil cover, maintaining the most favourable soil moisture regime and soil fertility with due account for local conditions.

III. Complete the utterances and add a few words of your own about some other aspects to be considered.

a) The most widespread substances polluting the soil from the atmosphere are …

b) The main measure and a cardinal solution to the problem of soil pollution is …

c) All land users shall systematically implement …

IV. Express your attitude to each of the following statements:

a) High concentration of heavy metals in the soil around industrial enterprises deplete the local flora, with more sensitive species disappearing. How can this disastrous impact on the humanity be traced?

b) The rational use of land resources includes not only the conservation measures but also actual use of the land. How can you define the importance of rational land use?

c) A set of agrotechnical, land improvement and anti-erosion measures are aimed at preserving the soil cover, maintaining the most favourable soil moisture regime and soil fertility. Whose responsibility is to put such sets of improvements and measures into practice?

V. Discuss in groups some ways of protecting the soil against pollution.

TEXT 7

WATER POLLUTION

I. What associations appear in your mind on hearing the phrase water pollution? What are the causes of water pollution? What are the sore results of aquatic contamination?

II. Read the text.

Ever since man progressed from hunting to an agricultural society, with the corresponding development of stable communities, the phenomenon of water pollution has been his constant companion. Is a body of water polluted when it directly affects man, or should it be classified as polluted when the ecological structure is first upset? The hydrosphere is a dynamic system containing physiochemical and biological equilibria, and there is no doubt that a normally active waterway has a large capacity to assimilate wastes. Before contamination becomes noticeable however, eqilibria are changed and the ecological structure may be seriously affected. Some examples of water systems where the effects of pollution have become or are becoming increasingly apparent are the Adriatic, Baltic and Mediterranean seas, the Thames, Rhine and Seine rivers, and the Great Lakes in America and Canada.

All rivers, lakes and underground waters are to be protected from depletion and pollution as water supply resources, a source of energy and a means of treatment. Rivers and lakes are also used as transport routes, fisheries, hunting areas and recreation sites.

It is obvious that the exploration of water resources is extremely varied at the present time. It should be added that the scope of water resources exploration is growing rapidly due to population growth, fast development of industry and expansion of irrigated land area. A sharp increase in water consumption on the planet may lead to a water shortage in the near future. In view of this, measures are being worked out to increase water resources and rationally exploit them. These are two ways to redistribute river water by means of reservoirs and through canals.

Supplies of underground waters are considerable, and, therefore, their rational use help compensate for moisture shortage.

III. What are the facts and arguments that the author puts forward in order to show:

a) that the phenomenon of water pollution is closely linked with human activities;

b) that the increase in water pollution can have disastrous consequences;

c) that water supply resources need protection.

IV. Express your attitude to each of the following statements and add an argument to explain why you think so.

a) The hydrosphere is a dynamic system containing physiochemical and biological equilibria. How do human activities result in the loss of balance in nature?

b) There are some examples of water systems where the effects of pollution have become apparent. How does this issue manifest itself in your country? How can you account for the annihilation of the largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Baikal?

c) All rivers, lakes and underground waters are to be protected from depletion and pollution. What practical tips of advice can you suggest to decrease water contamination?

V. Discuss in groups the issue “Eradication of water systems is a serious threat to every living soul on Earth”. Pay special attention to the following question: Is it possible to save water resources today or is it already too late?

Section 2: Texts for individual reports

TEXT 1

ECOLOGY: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Ecology had no firm beginnings. It evolved from the natural history of the Greeks, particularly Theophrastus, a friend and associate of Aristotle. He first described the interrelationships between organisms and between organisms and their nonliving environment. Later foundations for modern ecology were laid in the early work of plant and animal physiologists.

In the early and mid-1900s two groups of botanists, one in Europe and the other in America, studied plant communities from two different points of view. The European botanists concerned themselves with the study of the composition, structure, and distribution of plant communities. The American botanists studied the development of plant communities, or succession. Both plant and animal ecology developed separately until American biologists emphasized the interrelation of both plant and animal communities as a biotic whole.

During the same period interest in population dynamics developed. The study of population dynamics received special impetus in the early 19th century, after Thomas Malthus called attention to the conflict between expanding populations and the capability of the earth to supply food. R. Pearl (1920), A.J. Lotka (1925), and V. Volterra (1926) developed mathematical foundations for the study of populations, and these studies led to experiments on the interaction of predators and prey, competitive relationships between species, and the regulation of populations. Investigations of the influence of behaviour on populations was stimulated by the recognition in 1920 of territoriality in nesting birds. Concepts of instinctive and aggressive behaviour were developed by K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen, and the role of social behaviour in the regulation of populations was explored by V.C. Wynne-Edwards.

While some ecologists were studying the dynamics of communities and populations, others were concerned with energy-budgets. In 1920, August Thienemann, a German freshwater biologist, introduced the concept of trophic, or feeding, levels, by which the energy of food is transferred through a series of organisms, from green plants (the producers) up to several levels of animals (the consumers). An English animal ecologist, C.E. Elton (1927), further developed this approach with the concept of ecological niches and pyramids of numbers. Two American freshwater biologists, E. Birge and C. Juday, in the 1930s, in measuring the energy budgets of lakes, developed the idea of primary production, i.e., the rate at which food energy is generated, or fixed, by photosynthesis. Modern ecology came of age in 1942 with the development, by R.L. Lindeman of the United States, of the trophic-dynamic concept of ecology, which details the flow of energy through the ecosystem. Quantified field studies of energy flow through ecosystems were further developed by Eugene and Howard Odum of the United States; similar early work on the cycling of nutrients was done by J.D. Ovington of England and Australia.

The study of both energy flow and nutrient cycling was stimulated by the development of new techniques—radioisotopes, microcalorimetry, computer science, and applied mathematics—that enabled ecologists to label, trace, and measure the movement of particular nutrients and energy through the ecosystems. These modern methods encouraged a new stage in the development of ecology—systems ecology, which is concerned with the structure and function of ecosystems.

Until the late 20th century ecology lacked a strong conceptual base. Modern ecology, however, is now focussed on the concept of the ecosystem, a functional unit consisting of interacting organisms and all aspects of the environment in any specific area. It contains both the nonliving (abiotic) and living (biotic) components through which nutrients are cycled and energy flows. To accomplish this cycling and flow, ecosystems must possess a number of structured interrelationships between soil, water, and nutrients, on the one hand, and producers, consumers, and decomposers on the other. Ecosystems function by maintaining a flow of energy and a cycling of materials through a series of steps of eating and being eaten, of utilization and conversion, called the food chain. Ecosystems tend toward maturity, or stability, and in doing so they pass from a less complex to a more complex state. This directional change is called succession. Whenever an ecosystem is used, and that exploitation is maintained—as when a pond is kept clear of encroaching plants or a woodland is grazed by domestic cattle—the maturity of the ecosystem is effectively postponed. The major functional unit of the ecosystem is the population. It occupies a certain functional niche, related to its role in energy flow and nutrient cycling. Both the environment and the amount of energy fixation in any given ecosystem are limited. When a population reaches the limits imposed by the ecosystem, its numbers must stabilize or, failing this, decline from disease, starvation, strife, low reproduction, or other behavioral and physiological reactions. Changes and fluctuations in the environment represent selective pressure upon the population to which it must adjust. The ecosystem has historical aspects: the present is related to the past and the future to the present. Thus the ecosystem is the one concept that unifies plant and animal ecology, population dynamics, behaviour, and evolution.

TEXT 2

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Environmental pollution is the addition of any substance or form of energy (e.g., heat, sound, radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than the environment can accommodate it by dispersion, breakdown, recycling, or storage in some harmless form.

A pollutant need not be harmful in itself. Carbon dioxide, for example, is a normal component of the atmosphere and a by-product of respiration that is found in all animal tissues; yet in a concentrated form it can kill animals. Human sewage can be a useful fertilizer, but when concentrated too highly it becomes a serious pollutant, menacing health and causing the depletion of oxygen in bodies of water. By contrast, radioactivity in any quantity is harmful to life, despite the fact that it occurs normally in the environment as so-called background radiation.

Pollution has accompanied mankind ever since groups of people first congregated and remained for a long time in any one place. Primitive human settlements can be recognized by their pollutants—shell mounds and rubble heaps. But pollution was not a serious problem as long as there was enough space available for each individual or group. With the establishment of permanent human settlements by great numbers of people, however, pollution became a problem and has remained one ever since. Cities of ancient times were often noxious places, fouled by human wastes and debris. In the Middle Ages, unsanitary urban conditions favoured the outbreak of population-decimating epidemics. During the 19th century, water and air pollution and the accumulation of solid wastes were largely the problems of only a few large cities. But, with the rise of advanced technology and with the rapid spread of industrialization and the concomitant increase in human populations to unprecedented levels, pollution has become a universal problem.

The various kinds of pollution are most conveniently considered under three headings: air, water, and land.

TEXT 3

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