Population and the Environment
1. As the century begins, natural resources are under increasing pressure, constituting a threat to public health and development. Water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss of forests, air and water pollution, and degradation of coastlines afflict many areas. Most developed countries currently consume more resources, than they can regenerate. At the same time most developing countries with rapid population growth face the urgent need to improve their standards of living.The link between population growth and the environmental impact seems obvious at first glance: more people consume more resources, damage more of the earth and generate more waste. This simple reasoning is true as far as it goes, but the larger picture of the link is more complex. A very small proportion of the population consumes the majority of the world's resources. The richest fifth consumes 86% of all goods and services. An average American's environmental impact is 30 to 50 times that of the average citizen of a developing country such as India. Pei capita consumption -in all industrialised countries is permanently growing.
2. Human action has transformed between one-third and one-half
on the entire land surface on the earth. We have lost more than one-
quarter of the planet's birds and two-thirds of major fisheries are fully
exploited, over-exploited or depleted. We live in the period of the
greatest extinction of plant and animal species since the extinction of
the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Two of every three species
are estimated to be in decline. In contrast to the previous extinctions
which were due to the change in climate and sea level, the last one has
begun because of humanity's gross misuse of the earth's resources.
3. It should be mentioned that worldwide about three-quaters of
all current population growth is urban. As cities grow ever larger, their
impact on the environment grows exponentially. Millions people move
from country side to the city to seek a better place to live, but they
often find that their lives become more difficult. In many cities 25% to
30% of the urban population live in poor shanty towns or squatter
settlements or they live on the streets. Of Rio de Janeiro's 10.6 million
residents, for example, 4 mln live in squatter settlements and shanty
towns. Nevertheless, cities in the developing countries continue to
attract more and more people. Cities occupy only 2% of the world's
land surface, but city populations have a disproporn'onal impact on
the environment. For example, London requires roughly 60 times its
land area to supply its 9 mln residents with food and forest products.
Because commerce and trade have spread dramatically in recent years,
city residents consume resources not just from the surrounding areas
but, increasingly, from around the world. Urban areas also export their
wastes and pollutants, affecting environmental and health conditions
far from the cities themselves. The UN coined the term megacities in
the 1970s to describe cities with 10 million or more residents. Currently,
there are 19 megacities, of which 15 are in developing countries. By
2015 the number of megacities will grow to 23.
4. Technological advances can mitigate some of the population growth and market mechanisms raise prices for some diminishing il ources, triggering substitution, conservation, recycling and technical innovations so as to prevent depletion. If natural resources v were valued in the same way that manufactured assets are valued, it pight help economists learn to use them more effectively and to conserve mem in order to assure continued use in future. But market systems often subsidise industries such as logging, mining and grazing without tallying environmental costs. There is no doubt that unchecked consumption and rapid population growth are likely to overwhelm technological improvements in affecting the environment
5. It is necessary to balance the requirements of growing abpulation with the necessity of conserving earth's natural assets. improving living standards without destroying the environment is global challenge. While the population growth has" slowed, the absolute number of people continues to increase - by about 1 billion slavery 13 years. As population and demand for natural resources continue to grow environmental limits will become increasingly apparent. Slowing population growth would help improve living standards and would provide time to solve sustainabitity problems. Without practicing sustainable development humanity faces a deteriorating environment and may even invite ecological disaster.
Comprehension
1. What is the link between the population growth and the environmental impact?
2. What can you say about the level of consumption in the different countries of the world? Is it possible to say that it is almost the same?
3.What are the causes behind the essential decline in the
biodiversity?
3. What part of all current population on the earth is urban?
4. Can technological advances overwhelm growing consumption
and rapid population growth in affecting the environment?
5. What basic requirements should be met to provide sustainable
development?
Ex. 1. in the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis 6nd the word от phrase that best fits the meaning given. Which word(s) mean(s)...
1.deficit(l)
2.changing into worse condition (1)
3.being extremely tired, exhausted, without energy (1)
4.the useless materials, substances, от parts that are left after you
use something (1)
5.the situation when an animal (plant) no longer exist (2)
6.reduction in the amount (2)
7.use something in the wrong way (3)
8.an area where very poor people live in badly built houses made
from sheets of wood, metal, or other thin materials (3)
9.settlements where people live without permission and without
paying for it (3)
10.reduce harmful effect of something (4)
11.cutting down trees for wood (4)
12.the process of getting coal or metal ores from underground (4)
13.a kind of animal husbandry in which animals are grazed on
specially aimed for that land (4)
14.make something happen (4)
15.replacing of something (4)
16.matching (4)
17.decline in the amount of something or the number of things (4)
18.defeat (4)
19.state how much something worth (4)
20.difficult task (5)
21.prevent something to be destroyed (5)
22.deal with (5)
23.becoming worse (5)
Ex. 2. Give a definition, synonym, or description of each of the words or phrases below. This exercise can be done orally or in writing.
1. urgent need (1)
2.at first glance (I)
3.to be due to (2)
4.misuse of the earth's resources (2)
5.a disproportional impact on the environment (3)
6.coin the term (3)
7.technological advances (4)
8.there is no doubt (4)
Paragraph 1
1. The world could support only 2 billion people if the entire world
consumed at the rate Americans and Western Europeans do.
2. Although at first glance it seems that more people consume
more resources, but on the other hand one should take into
consideration the inequality in the access to goods and services in the different parts of the world.
3. There is obvious link between population growth and the
environmental impact.
4. A very small proportion of population growth consumes the
majority of the world's resources.
Paragraph 2
1. Human action has transformed between one-third and one-
half on the entire land surface.
2. We live in the period of greatest extinction of plant and animal
species.
3. The extinction of plant and animal species has been caused by
humanity's gross misuse of the earth's resources.
4.Two of every three species are estimated to be in decline.
Paragraph 3
1. Technological advances can mitigate some of the impact of
population growth.
2. There is no chance that the impact of unchecked consumption
and rapid growth of population on the environment will be
overwhelmed by technological improvements.
3. If natural resources were valued inthe same way that manufectured
assets are valued, it might help to save the environment
4. The role of market system in protection of the environment is
very controversial: on the one hand market mechanisms raise
prices for some diminishing resources, trigging substitution,
recycling and technical innovations, on the other subsidise
industries causing apparent damage to the environment not
taking into account environmental costs.
Paragraph 4
1. As population and demand for natural resources continue to
grow environmental limits are getting increasingly apparent.
2. It is necessary to balance the requirements of growing
population with the necessity of conserving earth's resources.
3. Slowing population growth would provide time to solve
sustainability problems.
4. As the population grows, improving living standards without
destroying the environment is a global challenge.
Ex. 3. Fill in the gaps using words from the box.
1. In the past decade in every environmental sector, conditions have either failed to ..., or they are worsening.
2. The ... has been growing faster than food supplies.
3.Human activities are pushing many thousands of plant and
animal species into ....
4.Growing human numbers,... expansion, and resource exploitation
do not bode well for the future.
5.Less population growth will provide time to solve ... problems.
Traffic and Air Pollution
1. Cars are wonderful, aren't they? They free us from here and
now, they open up escape routes into holiday weekends, and they
turn the difficulties of a journey into the pleasures of a trip. Sure, they
have their downside - pollution, noise, the odd pile-up - but no
amount of environmental damage can ever take the sweetness out of
a ride down a country lane, with wind in your hair and power at your
feet. However, a continuous increase in die number of cars leads to
serious congestion and escalate pollution caused by cars.
Governments build new roads trying to improve the situation but this
means that they cut down trees and destroy more of the countryside.
2. The car is one of the biggest polluters today. Exhaust fumes
from cars are the main cause of bad air quality, which can make people
feel ill and have difficulty breathing. The problem is especially bad in some cities, where on days, when there is not much wind; a brown layer smog (mixture of fog and smoke) hangs in the air. The relatively inefficient combustion of fuel in a car engine cause many hydrocarbon fragments to be left unburned. These fragments (mainly methane and other alkynes) help to form smog and are believed to be carcinogenic. The incomplete combustion of fuel produces also carbon monoxide (CO). It is poisonous and at moderate concentrations can cause drowsiness and impair mental and physical alertness. Carbon monoxide emissions largely come from cars exhaust. Nitrogen oxides (NOK) are formed within the cylinders of an engine during fuel combustion. They are major components of smog and it is particularly difficult to deal with them in the engine. If more air is introduced into the cylinder to bum the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons efficiently, the temperature is raised and more nitrogen oxides are formed.
3. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides in vehicle exhausts combine with one another in sunlight to produce ozone. The ground level ozone is a major air pollutant. The photochemical smog js worst in traffic-congested cities on hot, dry summer days, whereas sulphur based smog occurs on cold, damp winter days. Photochemical smog is especially common when the vehicle engines are old and poorly maintained, as often occurs in developing countries. In some overpopulated cities such as Mexico-City and San Paulo almost all children suffer from coughs and wheezing, different forms of allergies. This is mainly due to the effects of ozone and other motor vehicle pollutants.
Poor air quality can have a damaging effect on the lungs of children. High level of air pollution increases the risk of retarded lung development determining their breathing capacity and health for the rest of their life.
4. Air in large cities contains a great deal of dust - suspended in air minute solid particles. Some of them are toxic and can contain lead. Lead comes from petrol in which lead compounds are added to raise its octane number and hence also the performance of the engine. The lead is emitted in tiny particles, which take a long time to settle and, if breathed in, can accumulate in the body and cause lead poisoning. Human being cannot excrete lead, so it accumulates lead in the body. Even in tiny concentrations (25 milligrams per litre), it can cause headaches, abdominal pains, and general tiredness. Today more and more cars are made to run on unleaded gasoline.
5. The toxic emissions from car exhausts can be reduced I' considerably by installing catalytic converters on the engines. Other strategy to solve the problem involved the use of electric cars powered by storage batteries. However, the storage batteries | currently available and on me near horizon have very limited capacity andrequire frequent charging. One inherent difficulty with a storage . -battery is that the supply of reactant is limited. When these reactants e consumed, the battery must be recharged. A different kind of battery, called a fuel cell, is one in which the reactants are continuously supplied from an external source. The best-known fuel cell is the H2O2 unit used by NASA to provide electric power the space shuttle. In this fuel cell, electric current is produced as electrons flow from H2 (the reducing agent) to O2 (the oxidizing agent). Application of this unit to motor cars encounters a lot of the difficulties in storing hydrogen. New research, however, indicates that gasoline might serve as a good source of H2 in an H2O2 fuel cell for cars. The new developments make H2|O2 fuel cells for automobiles much more likely in the 21st century. Experimental models have already been produced in Germany. Their use seems to have considerable promise, and it is growing up gradually.
Comprehension
1. What dangerous substances do car exhausts contain?
2. What process is CO produced by?
3.What part do car emissions play in formation of ground level ozone?
4.What can be done to reduce air pollution caused by cars?
Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis find the word or the phrase that best fits the meaning given. Which word(s) means (mean)...
1.disadvantage (1)
2.the condition of being so crowded with traffic that normal
movement in area is impossible (1)
3.road accident in which a lot of cars hit each other (1)
4.carriage for moving goods or passengers (1)
5.not to be able to breath easily (2)
6. to be charged again (5)
Ex. 2. Give a definition, synonym or description of each of the words or word combinations.
1. to accelerate (1)
2.congestion (1)
3.inefficient (2)
4.exhaust (2)
5.accumulated (4)
6.unleaded (4)
7.to reduce (5)
8.space shuttle (5)
9.fuel cell (5)
10. catalytic converters (5)
Paragraph 1
1. The car is the biggest polluter.
2.The number of cars is increasing every year and this leads to
increasing air pollution.
3.Exhaust fumes are the main cause of bad health problems.
Paragraph 2
1. Many dangerous substances, CO, NOX, lead are contained
in car emissions; ground level ozone can be produced m sunlight from their components.
2. The action of sunlight on a mixture of NOX and volatile organic
compounds is bad due to the formation of ground level ozone.
3. Photochemical smog is a complex chemical mixture but its
most important component is ground level ozone.
Paragraph 3
Write sentence that will best reflect the main idea of the paragraph.
Paragraph 4
Write sentence that will best reflect the main idea of the paragraph
TEXTS FOR HOME—READING
CHARLES DARWIN
Gharles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England. In those days schools did not teach science as they do today. Twelve-year old Darwin, who wanted to spend his time out of doors collecting plants and watching animals, had to stay inside and learn how to write poetry. He was very bad at it — so bad, in fact, that his father once wrote him angrily — "You care for nothing, butshooting dogs and rat-catching and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all our family".
Charles's father then decided that he should be a doctor and sent him to a medical school. But it soon became ob- obvious that young Darwin was not at all interested in medicine. So his father tried to make-a clergyman out of him and sent him to the University of Cambridge. Still Darwin couldn't make himself care for anything but hunting and natural history. As soon as he graduated, one of Darwin's professors, a scientist, who understood him better than his father urged him to apply for the job of naturalist aboard of the H. M. S. Beagle. The ship was to make
a voyage around the world, surveying trade routes and looking for ways to improve
trade for British merchants in the far-off corners of the earth. The captain was willing to give up part of his own cabin to any young man who would go without pay as naturalist. Today no one rememremembers how much the Beagle helped British merchants. The information the trip yielded about trade was far less impor- important than the knowledge that was to change people's way of thinking. It was during his trip on the Eeagle that Darwin first began to, develop his theory of evolution. Everywhere he sailed he collected facts about rocks, plants the old idea that each species had been separately created. The more he wandered and observed, the more he began to realize there was only one possible answer to the puzzle. If all these species of plants and animals had developed from common ancestors, then it was.easy to understand their similarities and differences, At some
time, Darwin thought, the common ancestors of both the island and mainland species must have travelled from the mainkand to the inlands. Later, all the species in both places, through slow changes, became different from each other. After the Beagle returned to England, Darwin began his first notebook on the origin of species. During the next twenty years he filled notebook after notebook with still more facts that he and others discovered about the world of living things. These facts all led to one conclusion, that all living things are descended from common ancestors.
Darwin proved the truth of evolution, the descent with change of one species
from another. Where others before him have failed, Darwin succeeded in convincing the world that he was right about evolution. He succeeded for two reasons. He collected an enormous number of facts and put them together so that they told the whole story. And he not only declared that evolution occured but he also explained how it worked and what caused it. This he called the theory of natural selection. Nearly a hundred years have passed since Darwin's great book, "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection", was published. People have found out new facts about evolution, and especially about inheritance. These facts have made more precise our ideas of how natural selection works. This does not mean the theory was wrong. On the contrary, a true theory is alive; like everything else in the world it changes and grows. Only a dead, useless theory stays the same down to the last detail.
TIMIRYAZEV
Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev was born on May 22, 1843 in St. Petersburg. He got his initial schooling at home . His mother was an excellent linguist and taught her children French and English which they spoke fluently. In later life Timiryazev, then a mature scientist, spoke on many occasions before audiences of French and English scientists, reading his papers in their own language and surprising his hearers by the beauty of his style and the wealth of his vocabulary. When Timiryazev reached the age of 15 his father was dismissed from his post because of his anti-monarchy views. From then on Timiryazev was -obliged to earn his own living by translating from English into Russian first newspaper articles and later books by such famous English writers as Charles Dickens and George Elliot, in 1860 he entered the St. Petersburg University. At the University he became more and more imbued with the ideas of revolutionary, democracy and enthusiastic patriotism advocated by N. G. Chernyshevsky, A. I. Herzen, N. A. Dobrolyubov. Timiryazev's views on botany and general biology were formed under the influence of eminent Russian scientists I. N. Beketov and D. I. Mendeleev. Timiryazev began to study individual biology problems during his student days. In the competition held in 1864 he was awarded a gold medal for his scientific work. He studied Darwin's book, which then was not available in Russian translation, and read a paper on it at the meeting of the students' science circle, directed by Beketov. This paper served as material for his work "Darwin's book, its Critics and Commenta- Commentators published in 1864. Having graduated from the University Timiryazev became a teacher at the biology department in Petrovsky Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.
This offer entirely suited the scientist's wishes. Work at the Academy meant the opportunity not only to investigate personally highly important theoretical and practical problems relating to the increase of crop yields but also to impart scientific knowledge to the younger generation. During the whole of his work Timiryazev never ceased his research in agronomy, in vegetable physiology and in the history of science; at the same time he carried on an enormous amount of work in popularizing science. As an experimentor Timiryazev concentrated on aerial alimentations of plants, i.e. the processes by which the green leaves of plants assimilate solar energy and carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and the formation of complex organic combinations in the cells of the leaf. This phenomenon afterwards became known in science as photosynthesis. He proved that animate, nature is subject to the law of conservation and transformation of energy. His research clearly showed as he himself said, "the cosmic role of the plant". In the process of photosynthesis plant absorbs the energy of solar rays that fall on the earth. This energy is then transmitted together with vegetable food to the bodies of animals and men. It is also preserved in coal, oil, peat and other fuels and is used to set in motion all the powerful technique created by man. He called the plant the intermediary between sun and life on our planet. "The green leaf, or, to be more precise, the microscopic green grain of' chlorophyll, is the focus, the point in the world to which solar energy flows on one side while all the manifestation of life on earth take their source on the other side. "The plant is the intermediary between sky and earth. It is a real Prometheus, stealing fire from heavens"—wrote Timiryazev.
I. P. PAVLOV
If you visit the Pavlov Biological Station at Pavlov near Leningrad, you will see a very interesting monument there. It is a monument to the dog. The dog as you know played a very important part in all Pavlov's experiments on the activity of the higher nervous system. In the name of science and humanity, Pavlov wanted to thank the dog; so this monument was put up. Then if you go to see Pavlov's study the room in which the great scientist worked for so many years, you will notice another dog, a toy one, standing on the bookcase. This toy dog has a very interesting history. It comes from Cambridge, England, where there is one of the oldest Universities in the world. On the 18th of July 1912, a group of students stopped before the window of a toyshop in Cambridge and looked at the toy dogs there. "There is the thing we want", said one of them, and he pointed to a big white dog in the shop window. They entered the shop and asked for this toy to be packed. Soon they came out with a parcel containing the big white dog. Then, laughing and talking, they hurried to the laboratory of their physiology professor and showed the dog to him. The professor did not understand what it was all about until Archibald Hill, now one of the greatest physiologists in the world told him about their plan. It was this. They knew that the next day some foreign scientists were to come to Cambridge. Among these was Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, the great Russian experimenter and physiologist.
So the students wanted to present Pavlov with a toy dog. "Where did you get
the idea from" — asked the professor. "I think it's an excellent one". "I got it from the grandson of Charles Darwin, who is now a student here", answered Hill. "When Darwin got his doctor's degree at Cambridge, the students of that time gave him a toy monkey. That was how they showed that they supported his theory of the origin of man. Now we shall honour Pavlov in the same way?” The next day was a great holiday of Cambridge. Thousands of people came to see the foreign scientists receive their diplomas. The students watched the ceremony from the gallery. When the Speaker had made his speech, which was in Latin, the chancellor gave the doctors their diplomas one by one and they sat down at the great table on the platform.
Now it was Pavlov's turn. As he was moving slowly forward under the gallery, the students let the dog fall right down into his arms. He looked up, saw all the young, smiling faces above him and immediately understood what they meant. The students knew him too. It was one of the happiest moments in his life. As this was taking place, aft old professor on the other side of the hall said to his neighbour: "Look, the students are giving Pavlov a toy dog. Did you see Darwin get his diploma? Do you remember him standing there with a toy monkey in his arms nearly forty years ago? History repeats itself, doesn't it?" Ivan Petrovich Pavlov set out to find out how the food made the stomach juice flow. Did it work through chemicals, or nerves, or what? Was this flow of juices influenced by what a person ate, how the food looked and tasted, by the person's thoughts? Doctors, Pavlov realized, had to know the answers to these questions if they were going to make people healthier or even save their lives. Here is what Pavlov did: he anesthetized a dog — that is, he gave it some medicine that would keep it from feeling any pain.
He made an opening in the outside wall of the dog's abdomen. Then he took a part of the dog's stomach and made a pouch of it. This pouch had all the nerves and blood vessels that the rest of the stomach had- Pavlov made a separate opening in the pouch that led out through the hole in the abdominal wall. Then Pavlov fed the dog. As soon as food got into its mouth, juice began to pour into the stomach. Some juice also poured into the pouch, and the scientist collected it in a little bottle through the opening in the abdominal wall. This experiment was one more proof that food itself starts its own digestion going. Pavlov showed that the presence of food in the mouth started nerve impulses that went to the brain and then to the cells of the stomach, then secreted or poured out juices. When he cut the vagus nerves, which bring impulses from the brain to the stomach, the dog's mouth could be stuffed with food yet no juices would be secreted in the stomach. Just as you don't have to think in order to breathe, you don't have to think to digest. You can drink a glass of hot milk before you go to bed, and it will be digested long before morning. It is digested while you are asleep. We call such an activity of the body, which involves nerves and happens automatically, a reflex. When food enters the mouth, a nerve impulse goes to the medulla. This is then "reflected" back by the nerves to the stomach. When the impulse reaches the stomach, the muscles contract and the cells secrete their juices. Physically and chemically, digestion has started. Pavlov also showed that the sight, the smell, even the thought of food couldтstart the reflexes going and the stomach secreting. At the thought of a nice thick steak, you could really say: "My stomach waters". This kind of reflex Pavlov called a conditional reflex.
Ecological Problems
Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the source of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilization man's interference in nature began to increase.
Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today. The byproducts of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables on.
Every year world industry pollutes the ahmosphere with about 1000 million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burn in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.
The pollution of air and the world's ocean, destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man's careless interaction with nature, a sign of the ecological crises.
The most horrible ecological disaster befell Ukraine and its people after the Chernobyl tragedy in April 1986. About 18 percent of the territory of Belarus were also polluted with radioactive substances. A great damage has been done to the agriculture, forests and people's health. The consequences of this explosion at the atomic power-station are tragic for the Ukrainian, Bylarussian and other nations.
Environmental protection is of a universal concern. That is why serious measures to create a system of ecological security should be taken.
Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries — members of the UNO — have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss problems facing ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. An international environmental research centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to preserve the environment.
But these are only the initial steps and they must be carried onward to protect nature, to save life on the planet not only for the sake of the present but also for the future generations.