Toxic waste problem in the Belarusian capital

Minsk is a big industrial city with many enterprises and companies located on its territory. Some of them are chemically hazardous.

There are 36 units of that kind (including water pools and dairy factories) in the capital, and five more in Minsk region. Aside from that, there are three radiation dangerous facilities – the health center Sosny, the pharmaceutical company Belmedpreparaty and clinic №5. All these units are under strict control.

However, thousands of tons of toxic waste go to city dumps. There are four waste facilities outside Minsk. In terms of size, the Trostenetskaya dump is the biggest one.

The biggest dumps emit too many harmful substances and it is almost impossible to stop leakage beyond dumps' boundaries. Therefore, the pollution of underground waters and air escalates. Besides, no one controls trucks that bring wastes, often toxic and dangerous, from the capital every day.

Possibilities of hard wastes processing are out of the question. There is one small processing plant in Minsk outskirts Shabany. It could process only some type of wastes, but there are no facilities to sort out toxic wastes. The project to create a special dump for chemical wastes in the Minsk region was under discussion two years ago. Locals, however, rejected the plan.

The headquarters of civil defence coordinates the activities to secure chemical safety at Minsk enterprises. Special control devices are in place or would be installed in the near future at all potentially dangerous companies. New equipment allows controlling the radiation level and the concentration of chemical substances in the air, the direction and velocity of wind and poisonous clouds in case of an accident.

As for the most hazardous substances, even small reservoirs (55 litres of chlorine) are being strictly controlled. According to the head of the civil defence headquarters, the potentially dangerous facilities include the Minsk water supply plant (80 tons of chlorine), the Minsk meat plant (85 tons of ammonia), the Minsk motorcycle and bike producing plant (stores up to 60 tons of hydrochloric acid in 20 tons reservoirs). In case of a leakage at one of these plants, the territory of 1.5 to 8 kilometres could be contaminated.

Trucks loaded with chemically dangerous substances constantly drive through the capital. There are special instructions and routes for such vehicles to pass Minsk safely. All drivers have personal protection facilities. People living near these dangerous truck routes and heads of companies located close to them have been properly instructed as well.

The problem of toxic and other hazardous wastes escalates in Minsk. Although most Minsk-based enterprises use only half of the dangerous capacities, their facilities are outdated and threaten human life. New control devices, which are being installed, are switched off most of the time and are turned on only for general checks.

VIII. Ask questions in the form of a plan.

IX. Prepare to speak about toxic waste problem in Minsk.

PART 4.

Ecological Culture

I. Study the vocabulary notes before reading the text.

avidity – алчность, жадность

interrelation – взаимоотношение, взаимосвязь

sustainable development – устойчивое развитие

purification – очистка

awareness – осведомлённость, информированность

prohibition – запрещение, запрет

unrenewable resources – не возобновляемые ресурсы

ECOLOGICAL CULTURE OF CITIZENS

"Our planet produces enough for meeting the needs,

but not enough for satisfying the avidity of every man."

M. K. Gandhi

Ecological culture of the individual is a combination of intentional ecological knowledge and opinions on the interrelations between all forms of life and the environment, on the role and place in the nature of the man as bio-social living being. This culture requires a system of skills and habits, readiness and ability, high competence for producing material and intellectual welfare in conditions of sustainable ecological and social development. Ecological culture determines the rules of interaction between man and nature, both at the level of the individual and at the level of certain groups and communities, and the whole humankind.

Material ecological culture includes achievements of technology for providing ecological sustainability of the industrial production - equipment and devices for control on the environmental pollution, equipment for purification, low-waste and wasteless technologies, techniques for utilization of waters in revolutions, technologies for extracting of valuable components from waste waters, use of a secondary energy resources, waterless technological manufacture, etc. Material ecological culture comprises also artificial items - house devices, clothes, food, environment friendly and produced in accordance with ecological requirements, and arranging optimal environment for man’s life and development.

Intellectual ecological culture comprises: the system of ecological facts, terms, laws and regularities, general notions, theories, hypotheses and prognoses, combined in scientific picture of the world, on the base of which ecological and social sustainable development is performed, supporting the balance between humankind and nature for the future. Intellectual ecological culture includes views and beliefs, awareness and intention, as well as a system of ecological and social values (moral standards).

Individual ecological awareness is a set of tasks, principles and regulations and moral standards for supporting the order, which everyone must follow in his personal and social life, for ensuring the symmetry between humankind and nature.

Ecological responsibility is based on the strong conviction in objectiveness of the ecological rules and in absolute prohibition of breaking these rules. We can talk about the ecological responsibility, in case the ecological competence and culture become a regular part of individual and social life, in case the individual in all his activities takes into consideration the ecological laws and sustains the life on the Earth.

Culture and responsibility are the two correlated and interdependent sides (faces) of the entire individual (person), which interact in the form of factors, regulating person’s behaviour.

General principles, which organize substantial ecological and social life of humankind, are as follows:

- Feel respect and take care of the community of living organisms in nature;

- Improve the quality of human life;

- Save life and biological diversity on the Earth;

- Reduce to the lowest degree use of the unrenewable resources;

- Plan your life within the natural frames of the ecological sustainability of the environment;

- Change your personal approach and practices;

- Assist the human communities in taking care of the environment;

- Participate in and promote actions at national level for integration of environmental protection and sustainable development;

- Take part in global movements and initiatives.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What doesecological culture of the individual mean?