Provide English equivalents of the following Russian terms.

ECOLOGY AT A GLANCE

LESSON 1

Ecology is a global problem of today. What ecological issues trouble you personally?

How can you define the term 'ecology'? Discuss your definition with your groupmates. Consult dictionaries. Describe the role of ecology in modern global society.

Is the place you live in effected by industry? Describe the ecological problems of your region.

DISCUSSION

Read the following quotations and proverbs. Do you agree with each of them? Why? Why not? What do they mean to you personally? How do they relate to your own experience?

1) Nature is not a temple, but a workshop, and man's the workman in it. (Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons)

2) Before Man made us citizens, great Nature made us men. (James Russell Lowell, On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves)

3) Man is Nature's sole mistake! (W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida)

4) Nature will have her course.

5) Nature is the true law.

6) Nature is conquered by obeying her.

TEXT l

Read the text, define its main idea. Find the answers in the text to the following questions:

1. What measures suggested in the text could be introduced in Russia?

2. What ideas described in the text appeal to you? Be argumentative.

WHAT HAVE YOU, OR I, ACTUALLY DONE ABOUT IT?

I was sitting around with some friends recently when one of the party mentioned that she now has four dustbins. This caused some hilarity, but when she explained that one was for paper, one for glass, one for tins and the fourth for everything else, we were all stunned into silence. Here was someone actually taking action in the most direct way - not just reading about it and discussing it endlessly on the lines of'isn't it dreadful, but what can we do?' Of course, I don't know whether her council is one of the few enlightened ones who will actually be able to recycle the rubbish she is so painstakingly assembling - if they're not, she's probably bombarding them with letters making sure they soon are! And her plan is certainly worth it. In Britain it is estimated that up to half of our rubbish could be recycled - less than 10 per cent is.

We all know what to do: magazines, newspapers, radio and television have banged on endlessly at us all year, but I think many of us are sunk in what I call 'the diet book syndrome5. You buy the book, read it through once and sometimes convince yourself you've done something about your weight. You haven't, and neither have the vast majorities of consumers switched over to a way of life that will save the planet.

Over two million people (15% of those who voted) went and cast their vote for the Green Party in the European Elections last June. That's the highest percentage vote ever achieved by any Green Party in the world in a national poll. Stupendous, amazing, the greatest support the Party has ever had - but it makes you wonder why at least 15% of people in Britain aren't buying and acting Green in their everyday lives.

Harking back for a moment to my friend with her four rubbish bins. She wouldn't be considered anything out of the ordinary in many European countries. In Austria they automatically deliver two separate bins for each household, one for paper and one for bottles. And in New York State they have strict laws to encourage the separation of household rubbish.

In Germany one-sixth of all cleansing products sold are ecologically sound. Here we have Green products on the shelves and not enough people buying them. I am delighted to go into a shop and find one or two products by Ecover and others, but I would be even more pleased if I could choose between half a dozen sorts of ecologically sound washing powder, not thrilled to have found just one amongst all those still polluting the environment. Ecover, who are at the forefront of the ecological products movement, believe that their turnover this year will be around 10 million $. That's wonderful, but Lever Bros - who make many of the advertised brands - will have sales of around 270 million $.

We can all make a contribution to whether the planet lives or dies in all areas of our lives: what we eat, wear, how we live and our transport. Under a three-stage plan which is now under way in California, there are measures to promote car sharing, limitations on the ownership of cars and enforceable pressure on companies to switch to 'clean' cars. In this country it's been difficult enough to persuade people of the benefits of lead-free petrol and the best incentive the Government could come up with was to lop 10 p off the price in the last budget.

But then we can't really expect help from the Government - this is one revolution that has to be consumer-led, and it can be done. In Sweden consumers became aware of the dangers to their health and the environment from the dioxins produced by bleaching paper products. They protested so vociferously that they were able to force the manufacturers to change their processes so that today 95% of paper products in Sweden are made using chlorine-free pulp.

The growth of the number of outlets for organic food shows what people are looking for, but the Government isn't putting any money 6

into supporting or developing organic farming. Instead we are still pumping funds into supporting the market price of surplus food growth with fertilizers that an increasing number of consumers just don't want. Have you got a Green supermarket in your town? No, nor have I, but they have in Holland where attitudes to conservation are very different to ours.

It's not our education that needs changing on the ecological front - it's the ingrained attitudes that are so hard to break. Since World War I we have been the ultimate consumer generation and it is hard to go back to the pre-war attitudes that became unfashionable, and unnecessary, in the midst of such seeming plenty. 'Waste not, want not' doesn't just apply to your household rubbish, but to so many other things: washing out carrier bags and reusing them, saving paper bags, switching to products in glass instead of aluminum, switching off lights, turning down the heating.

So what are we going to do? Talk or act? We don't have time to debate while the earth is dying - either we get involved now by conserving all the energy we can, discriminating in favour of all ecologically sound products and giving back to the earth instead of just talking. Or we resign our own and our children's futu res right now. ("Вокруг света". Май 2004)

Explain the words, translate them into Russian. Quote the sentence in which they occur.

Hilarity, to be stunned into silence, to enlighten, painstakingly, to assemble, to bang on, the diet book syndrome, stupendous, to hark back for, cleansing products, ecologically sound, turnover, lead-free petrol, consumer-led, bleaching paper products, vociferously, organic farming, fertilizer, to pump funds into, ingrained attitudes, to resign one's future.

SCANNING

To do this exercise, glance at the text above for information, then, eyes up, give a response.

1. What did the author think about when one of the party explained why she had four dustbins?

2. What do these words mean: 'Here was someone actually taking action in the most direct way'?

3. What is meant by 'the diet book syndrome'?

4. What party was supported by 2 million people in the European Elections?

5. Why does the author say that the woman with her rubbish bins wouldn't be considered anything out of the ordinary? Give some facts to confirm your words.

6. Is there any difference between the turnover of the companies selling ecologically sound cleansing products and the amount of money gained by the companies still polluting the environment?

7. What measures are being taken in Sweden according to their processes in making paper products?

8. Have you got a Green supermarket in your city?

9. What other steps are suggested by the author to save the life on our planet?

10. How were the manufacturers in Sweden forced to change their processes in making paper products?

11. What does the saying 'Waste not, want not' mean?

12. Give the gist of the text.

Suggest a statistical questionnaire for a survey to study day-to-day waste disposal habits of Russian people.

TEXT 2

Read the text, define its main idea. Single out the most important sentence in each paragraph.

IF YOU DO NOT LITTER, OUR TOWN WILL GLITTER

Our society is consumer-oriented. People manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, exhausting the earth's resources.

We produce more and more waste. And the problem of pollution is aggravated by our 'throw-away' technology. Each year only Americans dispose of about Ю million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper, 50 million cans.

We are turning the world into a gigantic dump. Instead of repairing a radio set, for example, it is easier and cheaper to buy a new one and discard the old. It is no longer fashionable to re-use anything. Cities are surrounded by junkyards full of rusting automobiles. Cans and bottles have piled up.

Is their any hope that we can solve the pollution problem? Fortunately, solutions are in sight. Cars are flattened in a giant compressor that reduces a car to the size of a television set in a matter of minutes. Any left-over scrap metal is mixed with concrete and made into exceptionally strong bricks that are used in buildings and bridges.

To eliminate the problem of man-made pollution, to make our earth beautiful again, each of us must take some steps to clean up the environment. The latest idea is an 'ecology drive'. Students in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, for instance, collected tons of discarded bottles and cans and transported the junk to collection centres.

Everything can be recycled. The salvaged aluminium is used to make new cans, and the glass is melted down to make new bottles. ("The Bell Curve", April 2004)

Answer these questions to the text:

1. Why do they call our society 'consumer-oriented'?

2. What is meant by 'throw-away' technology?

3. What attracts people to this kind of technology?

4. What are the dangers of the situation in which the worked is turning into a dump?

5. Are there any measures that could stop the pollution?

6. What is 'an ecology drive'?

7. What can each of us do to control pollution?

8. Which of the words from the text could be considered special ecological terms?

CONVERSATION

Summarize the information from Text 1 and Text 2 in three or four paragraphs using the words below. (Make up a plan of your summary.)

To take action, to recycle the rubbish, consumer generation, to exhaust the earth's resources, to aggravate, 'throw-away' technology, to switch (over) to, to cast one's vote for, out of the ordinary, ecologically sound, to pollute the environment dangers to health, organic farming, ingrained attitudes, a gigantic dump, to discard, junkyards, scrap metal, to eliminate, ecology drive.

Did you know: The pile of rubbish at New York's Fresh Kills rubbish dump was so big it could be seen from out space! Comment on the fact.

Say why environmentalists state that recycling: • regenerates the environment?

• conserves the resources?

• reduces pollution and litter?

• reduces acid rain?

• reduces the need for landfill sites?

• cuts energy costs?

• generates jobs?

• engenders a sense of community pride?

• creates profitable industry? • provides funds for charity?

ТЕХТ 3

RENDERING

Here is a text for you to render and then to comment on. Use the given words and word combinations below:

СТРОЙМАТЕРИАЛЫ ИЗ БУМАЖНЫХ ОТХОДОВ

Кирпичи, панели для домов и другие материалы научились производить в Японии из... бумажных отходов. Суть технологии состоит в том, что бумажные отходы сначала измельчаются, затем перемешиваются с полиэтиленом, а полученная масса с помощью мощного пресса "вдавливается* практически в любые стройматериалы. По данным специалистов, получаемые таким образом материалы не уступают по прочности дереву, а некоторые из них могут использоваться даже при сооружении фундаментов зданий. ("Экологическая жизнь", март 2004)

Words and word combinations: to turn paper waste into housing panels, to consist in, to be comminuted and mixed with polyethylene, the resultant mass, to be compressed into construction materials, with the aid of, thus obtained materials, to be equal in strength to wood, foundations.

LESSON 2

TEXT 1

Give a summary of the text.

THE SECRETS OF NATURE

What alternations in our course are necessary? Experts disagree, but many believe that the key to our long-term survival lies in the widely ignored lessons of nature.

Consider these facts: undisturbed ecosystems persist for decades, centuries, even millions of years.

The rate of extinction in such ecosystems is low. Human society, on the other hand, now wipes out a vertebrate species every nine months and itself faces global extinction after only a relatively short stay on earth.

Why is it that nature persists while we deplete and destroy? The secret of nature is that survival hinges on a sustainable system - a system that perpetuates itself without destroying the very things that permit life to continue.

Nature capitalizes on four major strategies to meet this end.

The first is recycling. The global ecosystem is a consummate recycler. Water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and all other substances are used over and over.

The long-term future of humankind depends on following a similar direction.

Nature's second secret is the use of renewable resources - resources that renew themselves through natural biological or physical and chemical processes.

Wood, water and wind are examples. For millennia, humankind heated its homes with wood, reaped the riches of the biological world for food, and fashioned its goods from flax and other plant products. Only in the past 200 years has our allegiance to renewable resources wavered. Today, we depend heavily on a variety of nonrenewable substances: fuel, plastics and synthetic fabrics made from oil; metals and so on. Our new dependency, many think, is a dangerous trap. It cannot be sustained indefinitely. Our long-term future requires a greater dependency on resources in a form of self care.

Nature's third secret is conservation. An obese ostrich does not exist in nature. For the most part, organisms use what they need - no more, no less. Modern industrial societies, on the other hand, are often gluttonous, overeating, wastefully consuming and recklessly depleting. Ecologists warn us that we cannot do so forever with impunity.

The fourth secret of nature is population control. Through a variety of ways, populations of living things are kept from living beyond their means. Predators trim the prey populations. Diseases eliminate the weak and aged. Environmental conditions keep populations from exploding. For humans, technological advances, medicine and sanitation have removed many of the natural barriers for human population explosion. The upshot of the rapid human population expansion is often foul-smelling skies, filthy water and landscapes devoid of vegetation and animal life. The ecosystem is sacrificed to continue population growth. Most ecologists agree that we must learn to control our numbers to preserve the global ecosystem.

Such are the secrets of nature: recycling, renewable resources, conservation and population control. It is ironic that today we must go back to nature to relearn these forgotten lessons. If we are to survive for thousands of years to come, we must build a sustainable society, a society that lives in harmony with nature.

Not a society that seeks complete domination over all living things or destroys its renewable resource base. Building a sustainable society does not mean reverting to a primitive existence, it means using resources in a pattern laid down by nature.

TEXT 2

Read the following text and then discuss the problem. Here are some ideas for' and 'against' plastic which are summarized in note form. Enlarge on them, contribute, if possible, ideas of your own.

PLASTIC

When plastic was invented at the beginning of the 20thcentury, we could hardly have realized what a profound effect it would have on the future of the environment. The very virtues which make plastic so useful, namely strength and durability, are precisely what makes it such a problem. PLASTIC.

What is plastic?

Plastic is derived from oil, comes in a multitude of shapes and forms, and is used for a vast array of purposes. Being strong, light and flexible it is a symbol of our disposable society.

Plastics and environment.

Getting rid of plastics after usage (which is usually a very short term) is notoriously difficult. One option is dumping in ever increasing landfill sites, but most plastics will not biodegrade and once underground, will remain intact almost indefinitely. The second alternative is burning the waste plastic, but here there is the possibility of toxic emissions which could be highly poisonous. Neither method is at all satisfactory.

The myth of biodegradability.

Biodegradable plastic takes a very long time to break down and prevents the plastic from being recycled. It is environmentally unfriendly because it does not biodegrade into something useful - resources are still being lost So biodegradability is no longer the appropriate answer and is currently sourcing a polyethylene plastic bag that can be recycled - again and again and again. Recycling is the way forward.

Plastics recycling.

It makes far more sense to reduce our consumption and overcome problems associated with recycling, especially as plastic is made from oil which is a non-renewable resource. A major obstacle here is the wide variety of plastics which cannot be mixed and recycled successfully: collecting, sorting and reprocessing various types is very costly. But the technology does exist and the variety of uses for recycled plastics is growing all the time. And, of course, the energy and raw material required is only minimal compared with production using fresh raw materials.

The future.

Plastics recycling is a subject which concerns the European Commission. It will be introducing measures to force a dramatic increase in waste plastics recycling and industrialists believe it will aim to reduce the volume of plastics going to landfill by about 80%. Draft legislation is expected shortly, promoting and enforcing plastics recycling. In the meantime, lobby your local MP, protest at packaging, write to manufacturers, and make your voice heard - it's about time!

FOR	AGAINST
l. Plastic is safe, hygienic, cheap, compatible with our products and requires minimum packaging during transportation.	1. The world without plastics. People are misinformed about the current situation.
2. Plastic can be reused. No alternative to plastic.	2. The current uses for recycled plastic are few - plastic park benches, fence posts.
3. Reuse should be our first priority, recycling comes second and discard is the last resort.	3. There are currently no large plastic recycling schemes available to most people in this country.
4. The technology does exist and the variety of uses for recycled plastics is growing all the time.	4. The waste plastic cannot be burnt for fear of toxic fumes. Plastic should be used as little as possible as a disposable packaging material.
5. Providing the refill service is one of the most important procedures we carry out environmentally. Every time you refill a bottle, you are conserving resources.	5. There are items we cannot refill: those in tubs and tubes, for example.

Did you know: Every year around two million sea birds die after eating or being tangled up in thrown away plastic! Comment on the fact.

Roleplay

Dramatize a dialogue, in which you and your partners have to discuss the problems of waste disposal. Provide as much information as possible. You may use the following ideas.

• We are all throwing away far too much rubbish. Most of it ends up being buried or piled up in big heaps. It doesn't look nice and it isn't good for the planet.

• The way we treat the world around us can have huge effects on animals and wildlife. Everything from smoke from factory chimneys to the things we throw away can be a danger to animals and birds.

TEXT 3

RENDERING,

Here is a text for you to render and then to comment on. Use the given words and word combinations below:

ПРОБЛЕМА ОКРУЖАЮЩЕЙ СРЕДЫ И РАЗВИТИЕ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ ПОТРЕБНОСТЕЙ

Мировое развитие в начале XXI века характеризуется возрастающей актуальностью проблем, имеющих всемирное, общечеловеческое значение. Ускоренное развитие производительных сил, усиление физической и экономической интернационализации современного мира, наряду с масштабностью мировых политических процессов, породили целый комплекс органически связанных между собой глобальных факторов, затрагивающих в большой мере судьбы всего человечества.

В комплексе этих общемировых проблем важное место занимают проблема сохранения природной среды нашей планеты и рационального использования ее ресурсов, впервые в истории возникшая как объективная реальность.

Несколько десятилетий назад русский ученый Вернадский писал: "В XX веке впервые в истории Земли человек узнал и охватил всю биосферу, закончил географическую карту Земли, расселился по всей ее поверхности. Человечество своей жизнью стало единым целым."

Научно-технический прогресс вооружил человечество невиданными ранее средствами для покорения и использования сил природы. Однако в результате все более широкомасштабного воздействия общества на окружающую природу возникла опасность ее загрязнения и опустошения.

Современный экологический конфликт - это угроза истощения невозобновляемых ресурсов и загрязнения биосферы. По мере дальнейшего развития производительных сил все более настоятельной становится необходимость в проведении специальных мероприятий по минимизации стремительно растущей нагрузки на естественную среду со стороны экономических систем.

Глобальная индустриализация хозяйственной деятельности, рост народонаселения земного шара, беспрецедентная концентрация средств производства и людских масс в крупных городах влекут за собой увеличение нагрузки на окружающую среду и всю совокупность природных ресурсов. Возникший в итоге экологический конфликт становится общепризнанным фактором экономического и социального развития общества. Его последствия ощущаются буквально во всех звеньях и на всех уровнях народнохозяйственных систем.

("Экологическая жизнь", март 2004)

Words and word combinations: the world's development, the increasingly pressing nature of global problems, to be of concern for the whole mankind, the accelerated growth of the productive forces, to be combined with the global scale of world political processes, to generate a whole set of organically intertwined global factors, the shaping of mankind's future, a place of prominence, the preservation of the natural environment, to ensure

the rational use of resources, an objective reality, several decades ago, for the first time in the history of the Earth, to extend activities to, to complete the Earth's geographical map, the length and breadth of the globe, to become a single whole, to equip mankind with a previously unheard-of powerful means of harnessing and utilizing the forces of nature, the society's impact on the environment, to deplete the non-renewable resources of nature, an imperative, the rapid build-up of the pressure, the unprecedented concentration of the productive forces, the totality of the natural resources, to become a recognized factor, in all the links and levels of natural economies.

WRITING

Campaigns like 'Clean and Green' have their own slogans. Here are some of them. Write a text for one of local newspapers using one of them as a title.

• Remember - once is not enough!

• Vote green!

• There's no such place as away...

• Time for action!

• Think global...act local.

• No time to waste.

• No - to burning, burying and dumping waste at sea! Yes - to recycling!

• Matter is not created or destroyed, it is converted to a different state.

WATCHING VIDEO

BRITAIN INSIDE

RECYCLING PROSPERITY

While watching the film make notes of the sentences, in which the following words and word combinations are used.

- a consumer society

- to produce more efficiently and cheaply

- a throw-away society

- sustainable growth

- a land-fill site

- green-house gases

- incinerator

- to generate energy

- non-renewable raw materials

- valuable resources of oil

- oil shock

- drought

- a growing public awareness on environmental issues

- to alert the world to the dangers

- legislation

- enforcement measures

- significant fines

- environmentally friendly ingredients

- ferrous metals, copper, lead

- CFC

- to dismantle complex items of equipment

- constituent materials

- to maximize income

- crate

- the materials reclamation facility

- scarce resources

- to combat global warming

- motif-harness

2. After watching the film present the following problems in the report form based on the film information.

• A throw-away society of today.

• Recycling as a part of daily life.

• Green-house gases.

• The oil shock of 1976.

• Green parties in Europe.

• Public environmental awareness.

• Car recycling.

• Plastic recycling.

3. Which of the initiatives presented in the film could be introduced in Russia? Justify your choice.

TIME FOR FUN

ECO TEST

Are you eco friendly? Here is a test for you to find it out. Tick out the answer you think is the best option for each question.

1. What saves energy more effectively?

A. A TV turned off.

B. A TV with the sound turned down.

C. A TV on standby.

2. Whv should a fridge door always be kept closed?

A. To avoid banging your head on it. Ouch!

B. To keep the food cold.

C. The kitchen would get really chilly.

3. Why should you use a shower rather than a bath?

A. Baths take too long to fill up.

B. Bath water goes cold quicker.

C. Showers use less water.

4. You have a big stack of magazines that youVe already read. You need to get rid of them. What should you do to be eco friendly?

A. Find another use for them. Trade them with friends for magazines you haven't read.

B. Leave them where they are - they're not taking up that much space.

C. Give them to a charity shop.

5. Your old paper bucket has been takin g u p space for too long. You really need to get rid of it. choose an eco friendly wav of getting rid of it.

A. Hide in the wardrobe where mum can't see it!

B. Find another use for it. use it as a plant pot!

C. Use it to store things in.

6. You need to get rid of your old pile of clothes. What would be the most eco friendly wav of getting rid of them?

A. Throw them in the bin!

B. Reuse them! Give them to your kid cousin to wear.

С. Cut them up to use as rags.

LESSON 3

DISCUSSION.

Read the following quotations and proverbs. Do you agree with each of them? Why? Why not? What do they mean to you personally? How do they relate to your own experience?

1) Modern technology

owes ecology

an apology. Alan M. Eddison

2) The solution

to pollution

is hold your breath

until your death. Anon

3) In nature there are neither rewards nor punishment - there are consequences. (Robert С Ingersoll, Some Reasons Why)

Because of concern for, and interest in, the world in which we live ecological issues attract media attention. So terms which were previously used only by environmental scientists have become texts of everyday speech and the public debate over environmental issues is becoming increasingly technical. Here are some of them:

• greenhouse effect

• global warming

• acid rain

• deforestation

• desertification

• river pollution

• urbanization

• dumping

• biodegradability

• depletion of the ozone layer

• fossil fuel

• endangered species

• El Nino

Find definitions for each of the terms. Make up presentations of each of the points.

Read the text, define its main idea.

TEXT l

AIR POLLUTION

Air pollution has been recognised for several decades as being a major problem especially for developed nations with large industrial bases and highly developed infrastructures. Every year billions of tons of pollutants are released into the atmosphere, the sources ranging from electric power plants burning fossil fuels to the effects of sunlight on certain materials.

Among air pollutants emitted by natural sources, only the radioactive gas radon is recognised as a major health threat. The rest of the air pollutants released into the atmosphere are a direct result of man's activities and we have only ourselves to blame for producing life threatening pollutants. The following is a list of the major air pollutants and their causes:

• Carbon Monoxide...Some industrial processes, mainly motor vehicle exhaust

• Lead......Battery plants, lead smelters, motor vehicle exhaust

• Sulphur Dioxide......Sulphuric acid plants, mainly power generating plants burning fossil fuels

• Nitrogen Oxides......Motor vehicle exhaust, burning of fossil fuels, nitric acid plants, explosives, fertiliser plants

• Carbon Dioxide.....Any combustion source

• Photochemical oxidants...Formed in the atmosphere by the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons eg. Ozone

• Methane... Natural decomposition of organic matter (not considered dangerous, but has long term global implications eg. "greenhouse effect'')

• Non methane hydrocarbons......Industrial processes, solvent evaporation, fuel combusti on, exhausts, solid waste treatments

• Particulate matter......Motor vehicle exhaust, industrial processes, incineration, power generation, pollution reaction to gases in the atmosphere (may include carbon, nitrates, sulphates, and metal fragments/dusts)

The level is usually given in terms of atmospheric concentrations (micrograms of pollutants per cubic metre of air) or, for gases, in terms of parts per million, that is, number of pollutant molecules per million air molecules. Many come from directly identifiable sources; sulphur dioxide, for example, comes from electric power plants burning coal or oil.

Others are formed through the action of sunlight on previously emitted reactive materials (called precursors). For example, ozone, a dangerous pollutant in smog, is produced by the interaction of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides under the influence of sunlight. Ozone has also caused serious crop damage. On the other hand, the discovery in the 1980s that air pollutants such as fluorocarbons are causing a loss of ozone from the Earth's protective ozone layer has caused the phasing out of these materials. What are the main sources of Air Pollution?

The biggest and most obvious cause is the combustion of coal, oil, and petroL More than 8o96 of the sulphur dioxide, 50% of the nitrogen oxides, and 30 to 40% of the particulate matter emitted to the atmosphere are produced by fossil-fuel-fired electric power plants, industrial boilers, and residential furnaces. 80% of the carbon monoxide and 40% of the nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons come from vehicle exhaust emissions. Other major pollution sources include iron and steel mills; zinc, lead, and copper smelters; municipal incinerator s; oil refineries; cement plants; and nitric and sulphuric acid plants.

What are the effects of Air Pollution?

Certainly those who suffer from asthma or any respiratory complaint will notice the effects of increased air pollution whether it be near a city, an industrial area, or near a main road. For others the clues He in the flora and fauna around us.

The tall smokestacks used by industries and utilities do not remove pollutants but simply boost them higher into the atmosphere, thereby reducing their concentration at the site. These pollutants may then be transported over large distances and produce adverse effects in areas far from

the site of the original emission. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from western Europe are causing acid rain in Norway and Sweden.

The PH level, or relative acidity, of many freshwater lakes has been altered so dramatically by acid rain that entire fish populations have been destroyed. Sulphur dioxide emissions and the subsequent formation of sulphuric acid can also be responsible for the attack on limestone and marble at large distances from the source.

The increase in the burning of coal and oil has led to ever-increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide. The resulting "greenhouse effect" could lead to a warming trend that might affect the global climate and lead to a partial melting of the polar ice caps. Possibly an increase in cloud cover or absorption of excess carbon dioxide by the oceans (in the so-called carbon cycle) would check the greenhouse effect before it reached the stage of polar melting.

Nevertheless, many research reports released during the 1980s have indicated that the greenhouse effect is definitely under way and that the nations of the world should be taking immediate steps to deal with it. ("The Bell Curve". June 2004)

Provide English equivalents of the following Russian terms.

Загрязнение воздуха, развитые страны с мощной индустриальной базой, хорошо развитая инфраструктура, ископаемые ресурсы, результаты человеческой деятельности, автомобильные выхлопы, взрывчатые вещества, органическое разложение, частицы, сгорание топлива, концентрация в атмосфере, ущерб урожаю, отказаться от материалов, свинец, плавильня, печь для сжигания отходов, нефтеперегонный завод, респираторные заболевания, дымовая труба, коммунальное хозяйство, относительная кислотность, известняк, ледник.

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