Exercise 4. Answer the questions.

Environment

The environment is everything that surrounds and affects the character and growth of living things. When talking about environmental problems, ecological issues cannot be separated from their effect on mankind, nor can human actions be separate from their effect on the ecology. The condition of life, our daily actions and the state of the global environment are interdependent.

Today the planet holds more than 6 billion people. For many people, the most alarming of all human attacks on the environment is the contamination of air, soil, and water from dumping. Evidence of dumping can be found everywhere, done by individuals and large corporations alike. It appears that humans are polluting at the expense of their own lives.

Without water life could not exist. We must use it carefully, but we think there's plenty оf it — in oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. We however forget that most of the water on Earth — 97 percent — is salt-water. Only about three percent is fresh.

The rapid reduction of forests around the globe appears to be one more urgent environmental problem. Forests absorb carbon dioxide from the air and supply oxygen. They are homes to fragile plants and fascinating creatures and they have provided people with fuel, food and shelter for centuries. But with the growth of human population, forests have been converted into farms, commercial enterprises, and industrial plants.

Human activity is altering the composition of the atmosphere in ways that could bring rapid changes in climate. Although naturally occurring greenhouse gases keep the Earth's surface warm by trapping infra-red radiation given of by the Sun, human activity is increasing the concentration of these gases, as well as adding new, more dangerous chemicals to the atmosphere. The most dangerous is the production of chemically synthesized chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used in cooling systems and aerosol spray cans. This gas is heating up the atmosphere as well as thinning the ozone layer.

April 22 — World Earth Day. We must save our planet, our home. We want it to be clean, green, and seen.

POST-TEXT ASSIGNMENTS

Exercise 4. Answer the questions.

1.How do you understand the word "environment"?

2. Do our daily actions influence the state of our ecology?

3. How many people live on the planet today?

4. What kinds of contamination are dangerous for people?

5. Why water pollution is so urgent problem?

6. Does the humankind have enough fresh water to supply it's needs?

7. What kind of problem is deforestation and why is it so alarming?

8. What chemicals are especially dangerous for the atmosphere?

9. How do you understand the appeal "Be clean, be green, be seen"?

10. When is the World Earth Day?

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