Noun clauses. Connectors.

5.1. Read the text and say what are the major environmental concerns in

modern world. What are the characteristics of each type of the

problem?

BUILDING-UP YOUR VOCABULARY

A Challenge to All Mankind

There is growing evidence that man’s unrestrained and undi­rected manipulation of the natural world at today’s expanding geometric rate can only bring disaster. Either we reduce the scale of our intervention, or we manage it so the cumulative impact is tolerable, even beneficial to man and society.

Everyone with a deep concern for the future of the world has a vital role to play in meeting the environmental chal­lenge. An inescapable reality of that challenge is the need to consider all elements, both natural and manmade: population as well as resources, poverty as well as pollution.

For, in the final analysis, any solution is contingent on creating vastly improved living conditions for all people. At this juncture of human history, we must affirm the physical unity and interdependence of the biosphere’s diverse elements, and realize that we hold the planet in trust for future genera­tions.

We need to achieve an international and communal sense of urgency that we can translate into dynamic global action.

Fresh (= unsalted) water in an unfrozen state comprises less than one per cent of earth’s water supply. Lakes and rivers are polluted faster than natural processes can cleanse them. Furthermore, this constant and finite resource – which is along with air and food provides the base for all living creatures – is unevenly distributed around the world. And man is using so much of this precious commodity that many nations are heading for serious trouble. To keep up with an accelerating demand, we are increasingly drawing on (= using) our fresh water ‘capital’ – groundwater.

Overfishing has depleted the number of fish in the oceans.

Air pollution knows no boundaries: poison in the air over Europe will later be poison in the air over Asia and North America. Contamination with carbon dioxide, lead, cadmium or fluoride emissions shows up first and most dramatically in the atmosphere over big cities, though it is not solely a big city problem. Unlike water pollution which can be removed before water is used, air pollution must be attacked at the source to keep our air breathable. The destruction of the ozone layer is leading to climatic changes and what is known as the greenhouse effect.

Amount of land each person has to feed himself is shrinking rapidly, and half the earth’s populations is already hungry. Paradoxically, nations with chronic food shortages have the largest farm populations. The limiting factor to growing more food is not labour, but supply of productive soil. Only about two per cent of the earth’s surface is used to grow crops; the rest is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry – or covered with water or ice. Besides, the pesticides, fertilizers and irrigation techniques applied to produce more food are polluting the pure water and productive land we need to survive. Poor waste disposal adds to this pollution.

The destruction of the rainforests is causing widespread ecological problems.