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Our Earth is 4,600 million years old. If we condense this inconceivable time-span into an understandable concept, we can liken Earth to a person of 46 years of age. It is only at the age of 42 did the Earth began to flower. Mammals arrived only eight months ago. In the middle of last week, men-like apes evolved into ape-like men and at the weekend the last ice age enveloped the earth. Modern man has been around for four hours. During the last hour Man discovered agriculture. The industrial revolution began a minute ago. During those sixty seconds of biological time. Modern man has made a rubbish tip of paradise. He had multiplied his numbers to plaque proportions. He had caused the extinction of 500 species of animals. He had ransacked the planet for fuels and now stands like a brutish infant, gloating over the decay and pollution. The humanity now is on the brink of the war to end all wars. With the help of modern technology a man is effectively destroying this oasis of life in the solar system.

Nowadays everybody is not aware of the ecological problems that humanity faces. But of all the environmental  problems facing our planet today the most pressing is global warming, better known as the green house effect. In the last 200 years the temperature of the earth has risen by 1°C and is going to rise a further 3-5 °C in the next 60 years. The main reason for that is carbon dioxide (CO2), which allows the sun's rays to reach the earth, but prevents heal escaping back through the atmosphere. This will eventually melt the polar ice caps, leading to a rise in sea levels and flooding and extensive droughts in countries like Africa. Crop cultivation therefore would become impossible. The two possible ways to combat the disaster are the energy efficiency and saving the remaining rain forests.

To my mind it's not enough to put our hands in our pockets to help provide aid for the victims of flood and drought. We need to learn from the mistakes of the past and at least to slow down the pace at which we are destroying our environment. We all can contribute, not necessarily in financial terms, to a better world.

I'm absolutely sure that it's the choices we make about our own life styles that are having an impact on our beautiful planet. For better or worse the choice is ours.

The first thing I would probably do is put pressure on local authorities to provide more bottle-tanks and can-banks. It's really a waste of sand and glass and aluminum. It's a shame that nobody recycles scrap metal, scrap paper or reuses Champaign and medicine bottles. I think it's a must for our school to start a paper-collecting scheme. We should persuade a paper merchant to put one of his skips on a side agreed with a school council and then advertise a competition among the students. The winners might be awarded with books made from the recycled paper or taken on an excursion to the recycling plant.

The students might be persuaded to buy recycled stationary, thus helping to save trees, as recycled paper uses half the water and energy of normal paper to make. Special ecological education should be introduced at schools. Since childhood children must be taught to reuse envelopes with labels, made from recycled paper. I hope they will soon be available in most of the shops.

In fact there are hundreds of little things that an ecologically conscious person can do. No matter how small is the gesture, it all adds to a better quality of life for you and your future children. Say, you can take more showers, fewer baths and keep the taps turned off to avoid water leakage. It's no use overfilling the kettle if you're having tea for two. To keep the water clean it is necessary to use less washing up liquids that contain phosphates, harmful to fish if they get into the river. It's vital to use bleaches and acid detergents sparingly to cut back on water pollution.

When we go shopping we should take our own plastic shopping bags instead of collecting or buying realms of plastic bags at the check out. It's relevant to remember that plastic is almost impossible to recycle. But if you have to, choose those that are thought to be environmentally friendly because they are biodegradable and break down. But the best option is the paper one.

I personally try to avoid over-packaged products. They clog up the environment with waste. But generally I buy fruit and vegetables loose, not pre-packed in plastic, as foam plastic contains ozone-harming CFCs.

As every civilized person I can hardly do without sprays, soap, washing powders etc. Unfortunately, they are still doing aerosols and sprays containing ozone destroying CFCs1. Most old brand aerosols from supermarkets or pump-action dispensers are safe buys.

I also try to use fewer batteries in my Walkman or CD player. Every teenager should keep in mind that batteries contain toxic chemicals, and we buy millions of them a year. Burned, they pollute the air; buried, they poison the land. A good idea is to buy rechargeable ones.

To my mind nowadays more and more people are getting ecologically wise. They stop spending fortunes on pesticides; some of the chemical contents are banned. Gardeners stop spraying lethal chemicals at greenfly and try biological control agents. Instead of weedkillers, some of which are a danger to bees, birds and garden plants, they try to weed by hand or use a hoe. Farmers grow their own produce organically, without synthetic fertilizers. Compost leaf moulds are very widely used. My friends, for example, keep a hedgehog in the country kitchen garden. It's really a double take, as it helps them to fight slugs and snails and secondly their children are brought up in the spirit of love and respect to Nature.

And to finish with I'd like to say that one day I hope to buy a car that would run on lead free petrol. I promise to drive smoothly, as sudden acceleration increases exhaust fumes and braking wastes petrol. In a word, when there is a way to save the oases of life there is always a way to do it.