Pollution Water, Air and Soil Contamination

Pollution is an environmental concern for people throughout the world. One university study suggests that pollutants in the water, air, and soil cause up to 40 percent of the premature deaths in the world's population. The majority of these deaths occur in developing countries. Infants and young children are the most susceptible to waterborne diseases.

Water in many third world countries is contaminated with toxic chemicals, also known as toxins. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.1 billion people have little or no access to clean water. In many of these regions the water that is used for drinking, cooking, and washing is the same water that is used for dumping sewage and hazardous waste. Most developing countries cannot afford water treatment facilities. Approximately 80% of infectious diseases in the world are caused by contaminated water. Open stoves cause lung cancer in many parts of the world.

Air pollution is a growing problem throughout the world. Indoor air pollution is one of the leading causes of lung cancer. Families in developing countries use open stoves for cooking and heating their homes. These homes do not have proper ventilation. The smoke, which is full of chemicals and carcinogens, gets trapped inside where families eat and sleep. Outdoor pollution also causes disease and illness, especially in industrial cities such as Beijing, China, where cancer is the leading cause of death. China relies heavily on coal, which is considered the dirtiest source of energy.

According to the European Union, only 1% of urban dwellers in China breathe clean air on an average day. Neighboring countries including Japan and Korea receive much of China's pollution in the form of acid rain. This pollution results mainly from the coal powered factories, which produce inexpensive goods for North American and European consumers. Outdoor air pollution is also a concern in many wealthy countries. Those who live and work in urban centers such as Los Angeles or Toronto experience many warm days beneath a layer of smog.

16 of the world's most polluted cities are in China.

Exercise 2. Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

a.	A study into pollution and children’s lungs was the largest ever.	T / F
b.	Researchers monitored different children for 30 years.	T / F
c.	The survey found almost half of children studied had lung damage.	T / F
d.	Living near a busy road doubles the chances of lung damage.	T / F
e.	Researchers tested the children’s lungs on a monthly basis.	T / F

E xercise 3. ROLE PLAY: CLASSROOM DEBATE: Team up with classmates into groups of three. Discuss your role and what to say before the role play begins.

Role A – Road environmentalist You are anti car and an anti vehicle person. You think everyone should go on public transport e.g. the metro, bus, trolleybus or tram.

Role B – A 4x4 school run driver You take your kids to school every day. You clog up the roads every morning. Your vehicle does very little mileage to the gallon/few kilometers to the litre. You hate small cars.

Role C– An oil company owner You believe all studies into road pollution are rubbish. If people stopped using cars, the world economy would collapse. No one could get to work. Billions of people would lose their jobs.

Exercise 4. Discuss on the given topic. How green are you?

a. What do you do with rubbish in your household?

b. Are you economical about using water and electricity? Why? Why not?

c. How would you feel if you had to walk or cycle everywhere?

d. What do you think about being a vegetarian?

e. What’s your opinion of people who were real fur coats?

E xercise 5 . Listen to the text and put the words in the column on the right into the gaps. [Part III p. 166], [5]