- •Введение
- •Introductory
- •Unit I. The Environmental Crisis as International problem number one
- •Text A. The world is calling for changes.
- •Text C. The destruction of the ozone layer and consequences
- •Text D. The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole.
- •Unit 2. Global warming as number two international problem.
- •Text A. The Ozone Layer and the greenhouse effect
- •Text B. The greenhouse effect
- •Text C. To stop the greenhouse effect
- •Text D. The green house gases
- •Unit 3. Some well known and new engineering ways to solve the problem “Turning heat down”
- •Text 1. The description of the problem as a whole.
- •Text B. Acid rain. Chemical aspect.
- •Text C. Acid rain as an international problem number three.
- •Text D. Some effective engineering protection environmental methods. Proposals and opinions.
- •Unit 4. The Destruction of Animal Environment as international problem number four.
- •Text A . Everything and all is in close interaction in Nature
- •Text B. The main causes of species extinction
- •Text C. Dinosaurs lived many years ago
- •Text D. Is there only one way to save wild habitat?
- •Text E. Species protection
- •Text F. A Life Well Lived. (One more method of animal protection)
- •Unit 5. Earth is the Water planet
- •Text A. Some facts from the history of the ocean study
- •Text B. Ocean pollution as number five international problem.
- •Unit 6 .The throw – away societies – number six international problem
- •Text A. Among the others Britain as the throw-away society
- •Text B. Litter is a problem in our cities
- •Text C. Pollution is spoiling the air you breathe
- •Unit 7. Interaction of human factor and environmental processes. Influence and consequences.
- •Text A. Nobody had believed it was possible
- •Text B . Too little, too late.
- •Text C. Luckily, I had been wearing my seatbelt
- •Text A. The Purposes of science
- •Text B. Predictions in science
- •Unit 9. People have been dealing with Engineering Protection in Ecology for years. Findings. Doubts. Solutions. Blue dreams. Scientific researches in this sphere – number seven international problem.
- •Text A. Not blown with the Wind
- •Text B. The Car of the Future
- •Text C. Colloid chemistry – a forward of achievements in Engineering Protection of environment
- •Text D. Non harmful, or alive Chemistry in practice of the present day
- •Text E. Economical aspect of the problem. The Russian tin market
- •Text A. Heat Supply. Gas Supply. Fuel Supply.
- •Text B. Engineering Prediction of Heat Consumption
- •Text C. Energy policy as an integral part of the state and regional plans.
- •Text D. Power Supply of Saint-Petersburg from position of Energy Safety.
- •Text E. Priority Trends of Development of Fuel and Energy Complex Until 2010
- •Text F. The point of the problem in short
- •Содержание
Text D. Some effective engineering protection environmental methods. Proposals and opinions.
The second and far more potent way to reduce C02 emissions is to get more work out of fossil fuels, to burn them more efficiently. Efficiency improvements could cut C02 emissions dramatically. A World Resources Institute study concluded11 that developed countries could halve fossil-fuel usage by implementing new conservation and efficiency initiatives.
Increased energy-efficiency would help a lot by minimizing such environmental problems as urban smog and acid rain. Developing new efficiency and renewable technologies will do little good, however, unless they can be widely used in poor countries. To stop global warming, the industrially developed rich countries may have to help them create a sustainable energy future. This effort will take money - lots of it.
The scientists suggest that we redefine security in ecological, not military terms, and spend the enormous military budget on environmental defense. Global warming is the common enemy. The globe needs tree-planters more than soldiers.
"Plant a tree, cool the globe." That's the slogan of Global Relief, a reforestation program launched by the American Forestry Association (AFA). As trees grow, they recycle CO: a fast-growing tree can "fix" as much as 48 pounds of C02 each year. A tree's ability to shade buildings, especially in urban concrete16 jungles, can save 15 times that amount indirectly in avoided energy costs. A 667,000-square-mile tract (an area bigger than Alaska) would remove about 15 per cent of the world's annual C02 emissions. Even if a program of this scope could be implemented, stabilizing the climate would still require big cuts in fossil-fuel use. Planting trees is a stopgap, not a panacea.
Stopping deforestation is another vital task. When a tree burns or decays it releases the carbon it has absorbed over its entire lifetime. The deforestation of tropical rainforests - now ongoing at a race of 50 acres per minute - accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's C02 emissions. The United Nations Noel Brown says that developed countries should relieve Third World countries of the $1.3-trillion debt18 that is the reason for much of this destruction: "Swapping that debt for rainforest preservation would be an investment in the future of the planet."
A century from now historians may conclude that the threat of global warming was the best thing that ever happened to the environment. Humanity has an enormous investment in a stable climate, and global warming gives us a compelling, selfish economic stimulus to change patterns of energy use that have proved so harmful to Earth's beauty and biodiversity. But will global warming galvanize us? Can mankind mobilize human energy and creativity in defense of Earth?
If the answer is "Yes", we will solve many other environmental problems - everything from acid rain to urban smog. If it is "No", these problems will accumulate until they overwhelm the biosphere. From an ecological perspective, only two outcomes are possible: a big win... or an even bigger loss.
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