Images" at Eco-Chick.
Karl
Benz is credited with the invention of the
modern automobile after building and selling the first
four-wheeled vehicle in 1893. He also designed and patented the
internal combustion flat engine, and the
Benz Patent Motonvagon became the first
commercially available automobile in 1888. As they say, the rest is
history, and motor vehicles now cover the earth and spew forth
pollution like a biblical
plague. The problem with automobiles
isn't limited air pollutio;::
the strain on energy resources and contaminants that are left behind such as antifreeze, grease, oil and metals. The environmental destruction left in the wake of the motor vehicle affects our water sources and the soil in which we grow our food. The motor vehicle is the single easiest way to turn one human being into a polluting machine.
The Power Plant- Invented by Thomas Edison
One of history's greatest and most celebrated minds, Thomas Edison, invented the first power plant in 1882. His invention of the incandescent light bulb three years previously had paved the way for electric power, causing him to form the Edison Electric Illuminating Company to build power stations in New York City. Pearl Street Station began generating electricity on September 4th of 1882, and ran on a single steam powered generator.
As the years passed, coal became a more common source of power, and by the 1920's pulverized coal was the norm. The use of coal as fuel for electric plants has a wide range of environmental implications, not the least of which starts with coal mining, which causes severe erosion and results in the leaching of toxic chemicals into nearby waterways. Of course, coal mining has been going on for centuries, but has greatly accelerated in the past century due to its use in coal-fired power plants. Two-thirds of sulfur dioxide, one-third of carbon dioxide and one-quarter of total nitrogen oxide emissions in the U.S. are produced by the burning of coal. Asthma, respiratory diseases, smog and acid rain are just a few of the coal industry's lovely side effects.
The Atomic Bomb- Developed by Leo Szilard
Though many credit Albert Einstein with this invention, the person responsible is in fact Leo Szilard, a Hungarian-American scientist who developed the idea of the nuclear chain reaction and created the Manhattan Project. Szilard did enlist the help of Einstein in writing a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraging the creation of a nuclear defense program, but that was the extent of Einstein's involvement. This was during World War II, when the Nazis were known to be working on similar technology. As the war went on, Szilard came to resent the way the military seized control of his invention and became deeply bitter about the use of the atomic bomb against civilians after Truman bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Though we haven't yet experienced its full effects, the atomic bomb is perhaps the single biggest man-made threat to the environment. A small nuclear war would cause a global environmental catastrophe. A nuclear blast would create black smoke, firestorms and radioactive particles that would completely devastate the entire globe, and the immediate effects would create climate anomalies that would last at least 10 years. Nuclear weapons are far more dangerous to the earth than global warming, and as we speak, India and Pakistan are quietly ramping back up their nuclear programs. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would kill millions and unleash catastrophic health and environmental problems.
CHOOSING A TOUR ROUTE
I have never been to Great Britain, but I am eager to go to London. I am studying the English language and it will be wonderful to see the heart of England.
London is a city full of sights, history and atmosphere. There are plenty of places to go. Where you are you'll find a bus and underground nearby. So you can reach any part of London easily and enjoy the ride.
I would begin as London began - with the Thames. Thames is London's Grand Canal. Tower Bridge and Westminster Bridge bracket London and to take ship on this stretch of water is to glissade down the centuries.
If you only have time for walking along the Thames, you'll take in London's last remaining galleried coaching inn, its best riverside walkway, its oldest market, the finest art pub in England, the recently discovered remains of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a lot of Dickens, lots of pubs and London's best skyline panorama.
о
ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS OF THE WORLD
I would like to tell you about Westminster Abbey, though I've never been to London, I consider it one of the most beautiful buildings of the world and hope some time to go to London and see it with my own eyes.
An architectural masterpiece of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, Westminster Abbey also presents a unique piece of British history. It has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066 and for numerous other Royal occasions. Today it is still a church dedicated to regular worship and to the celebration of great events in the life of the nation. Neither a Cathedral nor a church, Westminster Abbey is a "royal peculiar", subject only to the Sovereign.
The Abbey was consecrated December, 29, 1065. Its founder, King Edward, was too ill to be present and died a few days afterwards. Two hundred years later Henry III began rebuilding the Abbey.
Coronation Chair was made of oak for King Edward I. Since 1308 it has been used as the Coronation of every sovereign.
The beautiful Gothic Nave is the tallest in Britain with the grave of the Unknown Warrior and memorials to many statesmen, scientists and etc.
Westminster Abbey receives no financial assistance from the State. Its every day work depends upon voluntary donations and the fees charged to visitors.
THE MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT
The Museum of British Transport is in London. It tells the story of public transport in Britain.
In 1829, an Irishman (Shillibeer by name) started the first bus-service in London. His bus was very different to those you can see in London today. It was drawn by three horses and looked like a carriage. The first double-decker bus was built in 1851. But the upper deck didn't have a roof until about 1936. When it was raining the passengers were given raincoats.
In 1885, the first buses, driven by a petrol engine were used in London. The speed of the first petrol engine bus was 12 miles per hour.
The first trains, like the first buses, were drawn by horses. But they were not passenger trains. They were used in mines and factories to carry material from one place to another. The first steam train was used in an iron works in South Wales. It was built by Richard Trevithich, in 1804.
The first passenger railway in England (and in the world) was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. In 1829, the company offered a prize of 500 pounds for the best steam train. The prize was won by George Stephenson, with his famous train "The Rocket". It could travel 29 miles per hour, which was very fast at that time.
Lots of people were afraid of the railways and trains. They tried to stop their construction. But in 1842 people had to accept the railway. Queen Victoria, herself, traveled in a train from Slough to Paddington. A special railway carriage was built for her in 1869.
In 1938 a train ("Mallard") was built. It traveled at 126 miles per hour, and that was world record speed for a steam train. Nowadays this train can be seen in the Museum of Transport.
THE HISTORIC VOYAGE I WISH I HAD TAKEN PART IN
If it was possible I'd like to take part in Columbus expedition. His discovery of America was the event of great importance.
America was founded by Columbus in 1492. Columbus started this expedition because he wanted to persuade Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish king and queen, that the Earth is round. They refused to believe the fact, even when Columbus showed them an egg.
Before Columbus reached America, which he named after a man called American Vesuvius, he cried "Ceylon! Ceylon!" because he wanted to see India.
Columbus was mistaken in thinking he had reached India when actually he had not got even as far as Indiana.
Columbus, who "was as confused as anybody who has been at sea for a long time, called the first people he saw "Indians". It is not known what they called Columbus. The original Americans are still known as "Indians", while all immigrants from England, Ireland, Angora and Lichtenstein are referred to as "Americans".
Accompanied by his devoted followers, the Knights of Columbus, Columbus made several other voyages in search of India. Try as he might, however, he kept discovering America and finally returned to Spain to die.
AN AIRCRAFT OF THE 21st CENTURY
We are living in the time of high speeds. We are always in a hurry and suffer from the lack of time.
To my mind, future belongs to helicopters and small planes. The main problem is how to organize the air transport. The best example is the organization of domestic flights in the USA. This system is convenient for such large countries as the USA and Russia.
Domestic flights in the USA are organized on the principle of hubs and spokes, like a bicycle wheel which has a hub at the centre and lots of spokes radiating out from it in all directions. One such hub is Houston in Texas: flights to over 100 other airports radiate out in different directions from there and half of these are non-stop flights.
The hub and spokes network has made flights cheaper and means that even quite small places are connected to each other by a major airline or feeder service.
The same type of system does operate in other parts of the world: for example, you can fly from one part of Europe to another via Frankfurt or Paris or Amsterdam or London, but the difference in other parts of the world is that the fares are not any cheaper so there's no special advantage.
For our country such system will be very useful, it will connect quite small places with big cities and could replace railway and water transport that is mainly used now.
THE CITY OF BEAUTIFUL BRIDGES
New York City is an archipelago, a city of islands. The islands of New York are connected among themselves and to New Jersey by tunnels and by 65 bridges.
Only the Bronx lies on the mainland of the United States; Brooklyn and Queens comprise the western tip of Long Island; Manhattan and Staten Islands are true islands, surrounded by water. Liberty Island is the home of the Statue of Liberty; Ellis Island, now a museum, is the site of the legendary immigration station; Governor's Island, now used as a U.S.Coast Guard Station, was formerly a military fortification.
The most renowned of the sixty-two bridges spanning the water ways of New York is the Brooklyn Bridge. Completed in 1883 after the design of John A.Roebling and Washington Roebling, the bridge remains a marvel of engineering. A source of inspiration for artists and poets, the Brooklyn Bridge's walkway is often filled with strollers, joggers and cyclists enjoying the breezes and views of their city.