The words to be studied in 1.4:

to prevent предотвращать; предупреждать

heavy industry тяжёлая промышленность

fossil fuel ископаемое топливо

substance вещество

power plant электростанция

garbage мусор; бытовые отходы

coal уголь

vehicle транспортное средство; автомобиль

renewable energy возобновляемый источник энергии

disease болезнь

sanitation оздоровление; улучшение санитарных условий; санитария

particle частица

composition структура, состав

indoor air pollution загрязнение воздуха внутри помещения

outdoor air pollution наружное загрязнение воздуха

CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emission выброс углекислого газа

Exercise 1. Here you can see the jumbled definition of pollution. Put the parts into the order:

Pollution – is, generally, …

1) produces undesirable environmental and health effects

2) the presence of a substance in the environment

3) prevents the functioning of natural processes and

4) that because of its chemical composition or quantity

Exercise 2. What kinds of pollution do you know? Try to remember as many as you can. Pictures (Figures 4-9) can give you some ideas:

Figure 4 Figure 5

Figure 6 Figure 7

Figure 8 Figure 9

Exercise 3. Read Pollution Facts. Fill in the gaps with suitable words, and then compare your answer with your groupmates:

Fossil fuels, developed countries, indoor air pollution, air and water, China, water pollution, industrial revolution, renewable energy, excessive levels, oil spills.

Pollution Facts

1. … pollutions are two the most talked about forms of pollution.

2. The rapid environmental pollution of our planet started with the … .

3. … power plants are the main reason for excessive air pollution in many parts of the world.

4. Indoor air pollution is even bigger problem than the outdoor air pollution because according to the data from the World Health Organization … has caused more deaths than outdoor air pollution.

5. More than 15,000 people in the world die each day because of … .

6. … is the key in stopping environmental pollution, together with developing environmental conscience that is. As long as fossil fuels remain dominant sources of energy we will not be able to stop the ever-growing pollution that is happening almost everywhere in our planet.

7. Air pollution is particularly serious issue in …'s cities such as Beijing and Shanghai but some US cities like Pittsburgh and Los Angeles are also struggling with … of air pollution.

8. The pollution is usually much worse in developing countries compared to … , mostly because these countries lack basic funds to tackle (struggle) pollution.

9. Huge … like the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill are among the worst types of pollution on our planet, particularly because their negative effects last for very long time.

Exercise 4. Read the text:

Main Sources of Pollution and General Health of Our Planet

Pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems but still many people do not take pollution problem seriously as they should be. Many people still think that we can dump our garbage all over the planet without any consequences which is not true. Since the start of industrial revolution we have been continuously heavily polluting our planet, caring only for economic development, and not caring at all for the health of environment we live in. Such lack of ecological conscience has caused severe pollution across the whole planet. Levels of air, sea, and water pollution are extremely high, and are constantly growing because industry isn’t letting go.

The main sources of pollution are definitely industry and vehicles. Heavy industries based on fossil fuels are especially dangerous for our environment, and if we take a look at China and India for instance we can see that rapid economic development actually has rather high environmental price. Heavy pollution not only makes our environment ugly but is also the source of many respiratory and waterborne diseases across the south-east Asia that are taking many human lives year after year.

The world biggest polluter is China but the United States are not far behind. These two countries release majority of world’s total CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere that not only causes pollution but also gives more impact to climate change problem. The main sources of pollution are dirty fuels such as coal that are releasing harmful gases and particles into our air and our atmosphere. Sadly air pollution is only one form of global pollution and there are many other forms of pollution happening on our planet.

People not only care little about the air they breathe but also about water they drink. Water is so precious to our survival and people are still doing so little to protect water resources around the globe. In many parts of the world, especially India and China, water is in some places well below the levels required for safe drinking, with many people dying from different waterborne diseases and lack of basic sanitation.

Our sea is also heavily polluted. Each day we are dumping new garbage into our oceans; luckily oceans are so huge that we are not able to see the actual damage that we are doing to them which is very likely much bigger than we think it is.

Pollution is basically a form of environmental destruction. Harmful gases and particles, different types of garbage and waste that is dumped each day into our environment is destroying inheritance that Mother Nature left us. The only question that remains is how much more of this abuse can our planet take?

Exercise 5. Write down a detailed plan of the text Main Sources of Pollution and General Health of Our Planet. You may start like that:

1) Pollution is a big problem.

a) Pollution started with the industrial revolution.

b) …

2) …

Exercise 6. Use your plan and tell about pollution (up to 150 words).

Unit 1.5 Is It Really Changing?