10. The environment protection

New words and word-combinations to be remembered:

environment навколишнє середовище

protection захист

air pollution забруднення повітря

to exhaust виснажувати

chemical хімічна речовина

fertilizers хімічні добрива

to receive great publicity отримати широкий суспільний резонанс

pollution забруднення

acid rain кислотний дощ

to threaten загрожувати

to gain widespread trust and support отримати всебічну довіру і підтримку

strict суворий

to ban забороняти

Industrial dumping of wastes звалище промислових відходів

The conservation movement — the protection of natural resources and wildlife — was first formulated and implemented as a political program in the United States. That this happened relatively early, during Theodore Roosevelt's administration (1901-1909), meant that later generations of Americans could still enjoy their country's natural wonders.

It was very difficult for many Americans to believe that their nation with its enormous forests, thousands of lakes, rivers and vast wilderness areas could have the problems which many smaller and more crowded nations faced.

Starting in the early 1960s, however, Americans finally realized that this was not true, that the United States were in danger of destroying many of national treasures. What was happening to Lake Erie is a good example. City and industrial wastes, chemicals, and fertilizers were endangering the once enormous stocks of fish. Suddenly, it seemed, the lake was almost "dead", and the millions who used its sandy beaches and fished its waters were shocked that this could have happened.

At the same time, other problems began to receive great publicity. Environmental activists stressed the problems caused by industrial pollution and the automobiles. Long-established environmental groups such as the Sierra Club warned that acid rain threatened many American forests. The media started to campaign against the ugliness of billboards, tin cans and trash in "America the Beautiful".

This surge of attention led to a substantial number of laws in the 1960s and 70s, and to the establishment of several federal agencies. Because the environmental movement in the United States has never been associated with one political party or group, it has been able to gain widespread trust and support. ^

Some federal laws led to many specific improvements in the environment. For example, DDT was banned in 1972, catalytic converters and unleaded gas were introduced nation-wide in 1975, and chlorofluorocarbon, the gas used in many spray cans, was forbidden in 1978. The Federal Drug and Food Administration's standards for food and medicines are among the strictest in the world.

All of the states, of course, have implemented their own laws, some, for instance, having banned throw-away bottles and cans, forbidden the use of phosphates in soaps, and passed strong laws against the industrial dumping of wastes. By 1986, forty states and more than 80 cities and communities had passed some type of law to restrict smoking in public or at work. Likewise, all federal government departments and agencies must restrict smoking in most office areas. In 1965 the law passed by Congress required warnings on cigarette packages, a measure that was adopted in other countries only years later.

Public attention to the problems of pollution has now become part of American life. Even the familiar Coca Cola can has been affected. Today, by law, these cans must be made so that the rings on top can't be thrown away.

Answer the following questions:

1. Is the protection of natural resources a political program in the USA?

2. What problems did Americans face?

3. What problems began to receive great publicity?

4. Did the environmental movement in the United States gain widespread trust and support.

5. What laws led to many specific improvements in the environment?

6. Has public attention to the problems of pollution become part of American life?

CANADA