Problems of Population

Pollution is to mean solar daylight, likely, the greatest paradox that faces reality. There is a saying in English that it is an ill bird that fouls its receive nest. And homophile beings ar, collectively speaking, fouling their nest at the increasing rate. It is an alarming picture. We be polluting the product line, which we compulsion to breathe, the primer from which we derive how invariably our food, and the water system systems from which w, of form, derive the water we necessity to set expose, to drink, and for opposite purposes.So unless the elements that surround us in that location be three elements earth, air and water ar being progressively corruptd by the activities of man, by industrial activities, for the most part. And befoulment, of course, pick outs no frontiers. One region that pollutes result export its defilement to opposites. The radioactivity, for example, that was generated by the catastrophe at Chernobyl four age ago, four o r five historic period ago, was carried in c blastings across Europe, and some of these hot c earsplittings, something which pass on been polluted in this track, truly produced rains which fell on part of England and Wales.And we had a problem with the cattle which, of course, argon ply on the grass, which had been rained on, by this polluted water, so we had problems in a sm totally way, point in England as a conduce of the Chernobyl disaster. But Chernobyl is only unitary repetitive among m any(prenominal). Its a dramatic and alarming n adept of what is spillage on in all societies, all advanced industrial societies, non ripe in ace. Its common to all, its a common problem for all of us and in fact, in a sense, it keeps us beyond all our ideologies. We must(prenominal)(prenominal), in fact, font at this in a entirely neutral, totally objective way, non for the blaming of unrivaled, whiz frugal transcription or another.Its something which is, as I say, f rowning both ends. Its in reality a function of advanced economic systems, of advanced, technologi shrieky advanced countries. Its basi omeny the force of the industrialization which began in England, of course, in the eighteenth century and in to a higher place all, its a result of the increasing use of and dependency upon fossil fuels primarily, of course, coal and oil colour for both industry and conveyance. Modern industry, modern civilizations ar run almost entirely on oil, mainly upon oil, to a less(prenominal)(prenominal) extent also, of course, on coke coal.But oil, it is which rather literally oils the wheels of industry throughout the world. And the desire for oil, the lead for oil, the craving for oil, the guzzling of oil is unitary of the great phenomena of the 20th century. We k forthwith, of course, that oil is decreasing, the stocks of it atomic number 18 decreasing inevitably and that someday, since they be finite, they bequeath run out altogether, e xcept that day hasnt, of course, arrived yet and new- do reserves argon found from beat to time, to enable us to go on in the akin old ways.But the problems be increasing. roughly day we shall ready to find means of acid by means of inventing some new strain of transport which isnt dependent on oil, perhaps, upon electricity or something, like that, be amaze electrical energy itself is oil-dependent to some extent. We shall hurt to be settle less and less oil dependent, whereas, in fact, in the last hundred years or so, weve become more and more oil-dependent.First, addiction on oil is something, this rapidly diminish resource is one of our major problems, and we bank all of us, I think, that the scientists allow for be able to find divergenative sources of energy, solar energy, water, water power from the oceans, so to say, and it is derived from sea power and the building of dams. This entrust take the place, we hope, on the oil- plagued and coal-fired power send w hich we depend on so ofttimes straightaway and, of course, n primal all our transport is fuelled by oil or by its derivative petrol. We shall bring forth to do something to the highest degree that.Therell be required a technological revolution. We hope well acquire one, at any rate, which go away bring about a new way of invigoration which is less pollutant, less polluting, less dangerous to our environment. permit us enumerate a detailed bit at the picture today. We atomic number 18 all aw ar of this in allege to satisfy our almost boundless make for oil today we send coarse tankers to transport it from one dry land, where it is to be found, where it is bony up from the ground, to many another(prenominal) countries, of course, that have no oil of their own at all, they have to import it.And indeed, of course, the issued tankers sometimes sink and sometimes have collisions, and vast spillages occur, cause oil slicks which are sometimes miles and miles coarse. As a result of these oil slicks, which gradually come towards the coast, we have a poisoning of slant life and sea birds, and this makes the beaches unfit for both the local residents or for holiday-makers to use. And its a nasty sight, a tragic sight.The sea birds, for example, are covered in thick obscure oil, and they have no chance of excerption unless mass quite a little get to them early and cloudless their bodies, clean their wings of this oil. So the great exist to natural life weve been endangering the other creatures of Earth in our esurience for more and more oil. And the cost, the economic cost of cleaning up these oil slicks is great and, of course, fines that are implementd upon owners of tankers from which oil is spilt, plainly the fines themselves are derisory, they are not near heavy enough.Many tanker captains deliberately level off finish out the holes of their vessels in foreign ports loss the foul mess for other bulk to clean up, and the fines th ey net, if they are caught, which is not perpetually the case, are literally peanuts. And then there are carbon emissions from our factories and from the traffic. The emissions from the exhausts of cars and other vehicles on the roads are considerablely accountable for the atmospheric taint from which we are hurt these days.These emissions cause acid rain which, when it move upon the ground, is perverting to plant life, and to some extent, to fleshly life too. We are told by those who are supposed to know about these things that the atmospheric temperature throughout the world, the average temperature is rising precise slightly, and the result of this is so-called global warming, which is only by 1 or 2 degrees, perhaps not even as much as 2 degrees will be the so-called greenhouse center.This croup be described in the spare-time activity way the ice at the punt caps, the North rod and the South Pole, will begin to melt as a result of this global warming and create the level of the oceans to rise, and this, in unloosen, will inundate low-lying coastal areas in unlike part of the world, thereby, of course, not only causing disaster to throng who live there, except also depriving man of some of the defacement the earth which he assumes to develop his food on.And as merely results will be, this happens, that the climate in many parts of the globe will change, whitethornbe, of course, some parts will become warmer and may be better from that point of view, save others undoubtedly will suffer. We flockt know in total whether this will be a good or a hopeless thing, provided we shouldnt just assume blindly that all will be well. We must try and plan and look on the benighted side in a sense. We must assume the worst we must take the worst case analysis, as its called in England.Its really quite a moot point today whether mankind will perish by flood or by heat up, whether itll be flooded out of existence or fried out of existence. F or many decades afterward the Second World War, once the touch bomb had been invented, mountain were afraid above all of a nu clear(p) war. Nuclear war was what it was feared, would cut across out mankind because, if there were wr and nuclear weapons were apply, and rockets with the nuclear warheads nukes as the Ameri displaces call them were apply, then theres little hope for mankind, therell be no victor in much(prenominal) a war.E actuallybody would be vanquished and, of course, the pollution would occur as a result, as well as the devastation would probably, or could easily brush out mankind, or if not wipe out mankind, then make lives, all life that was left unbearable, as to be almost not worth cerebration about, not worth contemplating. There is, of course, an ever horrifying doomsday scenario, from which its to be really gloomy about this sort of thing. This is the contingency of the Sun baking us all, frying us all.I havent spoken about the opening of flood fr om melting of the ice caps at the two Poles, hardly theres this other possible action which is opening up now as a result of mans activity in quad and on earth, of course. Some of the hydrocarbons that we arc into the atmosphere, especially those from the aerosol cans together, it is believed, with the rockets that we launch into space cause holes to appear, large holes to appear in the ozone layer above the Poles, above the Pole caps.And it is this layer, and this alone, incidentally, this ozone layer which prevents us all and which protects us, in fact, from the ill takingss of the ultraviolet rays tending(p) off by the sun. Were there no ozone layer, f course, life would not be life as we know it. It would not be sustainable, and for our type of life it would be too hopeless, the rays, ultraviolet rays would harm us. We know this is so, when we go sunbathing we give caution not to expose our bodies too much to the effect of the sunrays. As if all this were not enough, we p ollute our water in assorted other ways.We pollute it not only, that is to say, with oil slicks, spillages of one source or another. In many places, and certainly this is consecutive in England, and probably true in other countries, Im sure, its true in many continental countries on the Mediterranean coast, for example, in many places untreated sewage is discharged directly into the sea, instead of being treated and used on the land, as would seem to be possible, of course. grimace by side with this, we use colossal quantities of chemical fertilizers in our agriculture.Some of these fertilizers seep waste into the downstairsground water shelves and aquifers and finds its way into the river system together with chemicals discharged by factories, which are often sited near rivers and lakes, of course, straight into the river or the sea. We are polluting our waters with chemicals, with oil and with untreated sewage. And, of course, the oceans are commodious, of course, they cove r more of the earth surface than land, as we all know, scarce they cant endlessly prove a kind of flushing system, purification system for modern civilizations.The harmful chemicals which are deposited in one way or another into our rivers, our seas, our lakes and our oceans, get into particularly harmful metals, such as lead and compact disk get into the food chain and the water supply. And, of course, we are absolutely dependent on food, on safe food and water which is fit to drink. However, we mustnt be too gloomy about this, the mankind is competent not only of dirtying, of messing up the planet, it is also capable of cleaning it up, if he applies himself rationally to this problem.Many rivers have in recent years been cleaned up, that is to say, do a lot cleaner and the topic is clean as long as they would wish and they certainly have been meliorate immensely, the Thames in London is an example of this. seek which have not been seen in the river Thames for decades are no w reappearing there now. Of course, many of them are put in deliberately as the river is restocked. But the fish which would not have stood a chance of surviving in the Thames a few years ago are now able to arrive in that environment, which is very encouraging, of course.There is another do of pollution Id like to speak of briefly. It is not quite so harmful to the gay hotfoot as a whole, precisely it is certainly deleterious, has a deleterious effect on the environment. It is one another environmental problem we have to deal with. This is the, what I call, intervention pollution. This can come from various sources, for example, aircraft with the loud engines. These engines can be made quieter, and there is much effort going into making them less noisy all the time, but they are still tremendously break offive in their effects.Anybody who lives near an airport knows what a terrible noise these planes can make after they take off or when they are landing. Some great deal c an vary to this, but not everybody can. It is not true that if you live near a noisy place, youll correct to it. I know from personal make out that a noisy traffic can have a continuously speculative effect on ones health, because it disturbs ones sleep, keeps one awaken and keeps one in a anxious(p) state. Some mountain adapt to it, but many people, quite a large minority of people never adapt to noisy conditions.And the traffic noise and the house of cards aircraft noise are the worst offenders in this respect. Its not only, of course, aircraft or road vehicles which cause a noise, but other things, such as the well-known ghetto blasters, as they call these, they are very loud high fidelity systems, or loudspeaker systems that they have in pubs and other places of entertainment. These are played at full blast, hence the name blasters, and they are very harmful to peoples health. In the long run they can affect run intoing.There is no doubt about it, scientists have shown that five-year-old people who are habitually opened to very loud noises, to this deafening loud medicine, will in a course of years suffer an impairment in their hearing and can, in some cases, become deaf, which is a heavy price to pay for listening to loud rock music or something else of the kind. They can enjoy just as well at a lower volume surely, but the bearing today is to play these things as loud as possible, without regard for those roughly who, perhaps, dont involve to hear these things.Its not uncommon for people in our country to play their electronic transistors in their cars and then to open the car windowpane and the sound comes out, and everybody hears whether they want to or not. I usually dont want to hear it. This is an despicable thing to do to ones fellow creatures to impose a sudden noise on them if, so to say, they dont want to hear. Its antisocial, to say the very to the lowest degree of it. It annoys me intensely.And some shops where they care hi-fi equipment will have that equipment, will have some music playacting usually, usually junk music, I call it, playing very loud and such you can hear from the street. Why should I be, why should I be punished, as if my ears be afflicted with the sounds of music I dont wish to hear, which I dont regard in any way artistic or aesthetic, just because some other people are thoughtless, too thoughtless to turn the sound down. So we have created a problem, perhaps, of a nuisance. The uniform thing happens, of course, to transistors.Young people sometimes take a transistor with them, say, to a beach in the country and even in the town, and play it loud. And so all people are compel to listen to, are forced to hear it. This shouldnt be possible in fact, on our railways, Im not sure about the buses, and other forms of public transport, certainly on our railways, its illegal, its technically illegal to play a transistor. Its dead acceptable to play one of these players, one of these person alized hi-fis which you wear, you just have earphones, walkmans, but not to play a transistor.Weve created hummer-free zones in our cities to rid ourselves of some of the pollution. Now, of course, we are not allowed to burn coal on our fires in most areas in England. In the country you still can have this kind of smoke, but in the towns one is not allowed to have an open fire which burns coal. One has to have a special smoke-free fuel, and this, of course, has reduced the pollution and the fog and the smoke in the towns enormously. And even in my life-time Ive noticed a huge difference in this respect.When I was a young man, it was common in November, particularly at the end of the year, to experience terrible fogs pea-soupers we used to call them. And that was a mixture, of course, of industrial smoke, of smoke from all the chimneys in the houses and fog, and it really did look green, and the description of pea-soupers is very appropriate. It did look greenish, a horrible col our. It choked you, of course, and you got black deposits in your nose and so on. It was foul. People used to walk around with handkerchiefs and scarves wrapped around their noses and their eyes.They got into your eyes, as well, and its really quite dreadful. Weve managed to scale that problem by the introduction of smokeless zones, I think some time in the late 1950s or early 60s. We could and should do something about the noise that were creating, that is creating a nuisance for us. In a similar way, we could, in fact, impose restrictions on people. We have started in a small way but we need to go a lot further in this respect. So all these problems, these problems of pollution are man-made problems.It is we, the human race who have caused these problems by failure to measure the extent of the damage were doing to our environment by mismanagement, even when we do know the effects, we dont ever take measures to secure a clean and safe environment. But we know now more and more o f the matter, how very fine balanced the ecology of our world is and that if we go on as we are doing, we might, well, disrupt it and alter it irreversibly, and to the detriment of all, all the human race. Weve got to be extremely careful how were wretched in this respect.There is, as we say, only one spaceship earth we have only one planet, we are all in the same spaceship, all in the same boat, as we say. And we could perish unless we alter our attitudes, alter our industrial methods and ruthlessly punish those who are responsible for polluting parts of our Earth. And if we dont, I can quite truthfully say that the littoral zone of time are running out for mankind. *Sort some of the underlined vocabulary under the following headings (to have at least 5 items for each) a.words and phrases that show the attitude of people to environmental issues b. the hottest environmental problems we are go about c. the dramatic consequences of mans activities d. reasons for / causes of /sourc es of pollution and other ecological problems e. ways of traffic with these problems words and phrases that show the attitude of people to environmental issues the hottest environmental problems we are face the dramatic consequences of mans activities reasons for / causes of /sources of pollution and other ecological problems ways of dealing with these problems