World Problems of Ecology

By Monic Verde

Until recently the planet was a large world in which human activities and the nature were in balance. Acid rain, global 1) w_rming, ozone reduction, widespread 2) de_ertification and 3) spec_es 4) los_: we have to face them now. Ecology and economy are very closely connected. First economy influenced the state of our environment. Now we have to face degradation of 5) _oils, water, 6) atmos_here and forests. Millions of trees are dying in Germany's Black Forest and thousands of lakes in Sweden are so 7) acidi_ that nothing can live in them. In Scotland farmers complain that acid rains kill their fish.

The 1) _________ Sea has one of the 2) ______ coastlines in the world. Ten million tons of oil, industrial wastes, and 3) ______ are pumped into the sea every year. It causes diseases like typhoid, 4) ______, hepatitis and cholera. Most of rivers carry pesticides and 5) ______ wastes. Many industries 6) _____ waste products, which can be difficult or dangerous to dispose of. Many countries have no storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel. The 7) ________ for ways to dispose of radioactive wastes goes on.

In 1982 seventeen countries 1) (take, took part) in the United Nations environmental programme. The World Commission on Environmental Development 2) (seted, was set) up in 1983 by the United Nations. Its aim 3) (was been, was) to examine the environment and development problems on the planet and to formulate realistic proposals to solve them. Now some chemicals are banned and some must 4) (be controlled, to control). In several countries 5) (there is, there are) frequent analysis of the water around the coasts. The time 6) (has come, has came) for the governments and their people to take responsibility for the policies that cause the environmental damage.

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From the Guardian

26.07.2009

The Damaged Environment – How Long Will It Last?

By Terry Deary

Man has influenced the environment in three very different ways: a dramatic 1) res_aping of the landscape to create efficient agriculture and 2) u_ban life; a major interference in the biogeochemical 3) c_cles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and metals changing the physics and chemistry of the environment through increased 4) n_trient flows, acidification, global 5) w_rming, and 6) incr_ased UV radiation; thousands of chemicals, foreign to the planet and its life forms, have been used extensively in the environment, some of them deliberately to 7) poi_on life.

The pollution chain is the 1) _________ that pollutants take from production into the 2) ________ over air and water. 3) _______chemicals are easily taken up by life forms, they are bio-available, they may accumulate in 4) _________ and tissues, stay in the food 5) __________ as they migrate from prey to predator, even from the mother to the 6) _________. Many of 7) ________also end up in man.

Chemicals 1) (have, has) special effects on ecosystems. An ecosystem might be completely disrupted if one key species is badly damaged, and prey-predator relationships 2) (had been changing, are changed). Typically ecosystems hit by pollution 3) (losed, lose) diversity and biomass. At the same time environments that are less diverse, both as landscapes and as ecosystems are 4) (vulnerabler, more vulnerable) to environmental impacts. Compared to the 1950's and 1960's, when the threat from chemical pollution was first grasped seriously, much 5) (were happened, has happened). Many chemicals have been banned and new chemicals 6) (have been designed, has desining) so they do not accumulate in ecosystems. But old chemicals still leak from the society into the environment, and new threats are continuously discovered.

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From the Korrespondent

16.08.2003