Don't kill the World

You can be animal,

It is easy.

You can be God,

It’s easy too.

You must be a man,

But it is so difficult.

People have always polluted their surroundings, but until now pollution was not such a serious problem. People lived in uncrowded rural areas and did not have pollution – causing machines. With the development of crowded industrial cities which put huge amounts of pollutions into small areas, the problem has become more important. Automobiles and other new inventions make pollution steadily worse. Since the late 1960’s people have become alarmed with the danger of pollution. Air, water and soil are necessary for existence of all living things. But polluted air can cause illness, and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. On polluted soil, food can not be grown. In addition environmental pollution spoils the natural beauty of our planet. Pollution is as complicated as serious problem. Nowadays people understand how important it is to solve the environmental problems that endanger people’s lives. The most serious environmental problems are:

pollution in its many forms {water pollution, air pollution, nuclear pollution};

noise from cars, buses, planes, etc.;

destruction of wildlife and countryside beauty;

shortage of natural resources (metals, different kinds of fuel);

the growth of population.

Water Pollution

“Water, water everywhere, not any drop to drink,” said the sailor from Coleridge’s poem describing to a friend how awful it was to be without drinking water on a ship in the middle of the ocean. It is strange to think that the water around his ship was probably quite safe to drink. It was salty – but not polluted. The sea waters today are much more dangerous. There is no ocean or sea which is not used as a dump. The Pacific Ocean, especially, has suffered from nuclear pollution because the French Government tests nuclear weapons there. Many seas are used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. Britain alone dumps 250,000 tons of industrial waste straight into the North Sea. This poisons and kills fish and sea animals. “Nuclear-poisoned” fish can be eaten by people. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. Fish and reptiles can’t live in them. There is not enough oxygen in the water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die. If people drink this water they can die too. It happens so because factories and plants produce a lot of waste and pour it into rivers. So they poison the water. Factories use clean water. After the water is used it becomes poison which goes back into rivers, lakes and seas.

Air Pollution

When the Americans decided to clean up the Statue of Liberty in 1986, the first thing they had to do was to make a hole in her nose and take away the acid rain that had collected inside. The polluted air of New-York had mixed with the rain and damaged the Statue greatly. And you certainly know that most of the pollution in big cities comes from cars and buses. More and more often people are told not to be in direct sunlight, because ultraviolet radiation from the sun can cause skin cancer. Normally the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects us from such radiation can get to the earth. Many scientists think that these holes are the result of air pollution. Nuclear power stations can go wrong and cause nuclear pollution. This happened in Windscale in Britain, in the Three Mile Island in the USA, Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union and Semey in Kazakhstan. Nuclear pollution cannot be seen but its effects can be terrible. To make air clean again we need good filters at nuclear power stations, at factories and plants and also in cars and buses. Both clean air and clean water are necessary for our health. If people want to survive they must solve these problems quickly. Man is beginning to understand that his environment is not just his own town of country, but the whole earth. That’s why people all over the world think and speak so much about ecology. Nowadays we face many ecological problems and we must protect our environment. The importance of the environment has finely been realized by many people. The organization of international environmental congresses is evidence of this. Many countries have been trying to find solutions to their environmental pollution. Unfortunately the practical implementation of these solutions is not as easy as in theory. The cause of environmental disturbance can be summarized as the development of industry and life standards. Most of the agents of environmental pollution have been produced by developed countries. They have to develop strategies for the safe disposal of industrial wastes. However this requires additional funds and reduces the productivity of the industry concerned. Urgent solutions must be found; otherwise our environment will be deteriorated further as time passes.

Pesticides

Pesticides are chemical agents used against pests. They are sprayed on plants or plant products to kill pests. Of course the death of the pest is intended during this action. Eradication of the pest may be achieved but the food chain is harmed due to this destruction. Another effect of pesticides appears after rain. The sprayed pesticides are washed from larger plants by rain and are carried into streams and rivers. The sedimentation of these agents in lakes and ponds causes the death of aquatic organisms and as a result the natural balance is damaged. Among the continental lakes of the globe the Aral Sea occupied the fourth place in the area. We have to stress-occupied. Today the Aral is perishing. This badly affects the population of the area, which includes several regions of the Central Asian Republics and the Kzyl Orda region of Kazakhstan. In some places the Aral has moved a hundred kilometers from the former coasts. The sea level has sunk 18 meters, the area has decreased more than one third, the volume of water – 60%. The average salinity has increased two and a half times, which brought about the death of fish – as a fishery area the sea has completely lost its importance. According to same preliminary estimates wind lifts from the bare sea bid and the scatters to a distance of 400-500 km tens of millions tones of caustic. Salts that threaten to ruin the agricultural oases for which water is drawn. There is an average 520 kg fall of sand and salt per hectare of the Aral lands. The ecological catastrophe led to the growth of the sickness rate dangerous demographic situation, unemployment and poverty of the people, living in that area. The Aral Sea in Central Asia is a typical example of the effects of pesticides. Chemical agents were carried into the lake for many years. Pesticides accumulated at the shore and bottom of lake. Today the Aral lake has dried up and the pesticide residues are causing enormous health problems in the environment.

Rubbish

Lakes and rivers are often polluted drains from town and factories empty into them, into the water. The chemicals poison the water. Wildlife cannot easily survive in it. Ocean – going tankers sometimes empty thankfuls of oily water into the sea. When this happens great patches of oil are left floating on the sea’s surface. Electricity for our home is made in buildings called power plants. Power plants usually use coal, oil or gas to make nuclear energy, uranium is needed. And uranium is radioactive, which means it gives off rays which are very dangerous to any living thing. Some people are worried that the radioactivity might escape and poison living things. Because this rubbish remains dangerous for thousands of years, we need to be especially careful about what we do with it.

Poison-beware

Stand next to a car in a traffic jam, and you may see clouds of dirty gas. This is one way the air gets so dirty or polluted. Some of the fumes are poisonous and can do a lot of harm to animals, plants and people. Even the rain is not pure water it might seem to be. Some of the air pollution reaches about level. When rain clouds are formed, the poison is mixed with drops of rain. And down comes what is called acid rain. Farmers very often spray chemicals on their land. There chemicals kill pests. But what the farmer doesn’t see is the damage that the chemicals do to other things. The pests or weeds are killed. But so are many other harmless small creatures that might have been taken as food by birds. The chemicals can be washed by rain into nearby streams or lakes. The fish in the water can be poisoned. Scientists are working all the time on chemicals which don’t harm wild life, but there are still some being used that are harmful.

Reduction of pollution

Air is polluted by gases released from different sources such as from the combustion of coal and oil to provide energy. For instance, coal is used as a heat energy source in some countries. It is also used in thermic power plants to obtain electrical energy. The hazardous effects of these pollutants can be reduced by their filtration and regulation in use. The best way of avoiding environmental pollution is the use of alternative safe energy sources such as wind power, solar energy and natural gases. Water is polluted by industrial wastes. Factories should take responsibility for the purification of their wastes before they release them into the water. Where the problem is sewage, treatment plants can be used where bacteria break down the sewage. The solid waste dumped on land can be recycled. The usable materials can be eliminated from waste and reprocessed again and again. I want to tell you about nuclear pollution. Kazakhstan is a nuclear-free country, but as a heritage of the former USSR it has 3 nuclear testing grounds. The largest on is Semipalatinsk testing ground. On August 29, 1949 the first nuclear explosion in the USSR was set off on the Semipalatinsk testing ground. Until 1963 tests were conducted mainly on the surface and in the atmosphere. The consequences of these tests shocked even cynics and the tests were carried out underground. In all 456 tests with a total explosive power of 17420 kit were blasted in Semipalatinsk. October 19, 1989 was the last date a test was carried out in this nuclear testing site. The ancient steppe, its way of life, numerous animals and plants, all became hostages of the warfare of the powerful forces. During the second half of the 80-s along with other processes that took place in various spheres of the changing society there was the surge for freedom. In 1988 an uprising with the demand to shut down the testing site grew into the international movement “Nevada-Semey” led by the well-known poet and public figure Olzhas Suleimenov. “Nevada-Semey” movement enlightened people send won the support and sympathy of the people all over the world. Meeting demonstrations, letters, appeals to governments, collections of thousands of signatures, picketing at the testing sites. At last the old system was forced to give away. The testing site is closed, but its trace still remains on our land. The region has the highest level of cancer diseases, changes in the genetic structure of people and animals, the shortest life span and the highest mortality rate. There are different opinions on the solving the present situation in the area, but one is clear: it is necessary to evaluate the ecological and moral damage of the nature and health. Kazakhstan cannot solve this problem single-handed. What is more – it wouldn’t be in the interest of Kazakhstan alone. It is an issue of global importance. I think that I have showed you only some ecological problem. We can see that we, only we can help our planet. You know, that the Earth is our planet. We have much natural recourses, which we must take care and pass them to our children. I want to tell you about ecology problem of my native town. Burabay, the name of one of the most picturesque corners of Kazakhstan, the land of wonderful songs and poetical legends. One gathers in impression that someone who said that it is better to see a place once than to hear of it a hundred times meant no other but this land. Nature has created here a fanciful world of colours, forms and sounds. There are many legends about Burabay. Now not only legends handed down from generation, but also excavations made by Kazakhstan archaeologists tell us that Sinegorye (Land of Blue Mountains) was inhabited by hunters, experienced stock-breeders and crop-growers, the Skythians mined gold here. Every stone, every forest path in area of Burabay is associated with some tradition. If you look into the distance at the outlines of the Blue Mountains, you will seem to see a giant who fell asleep amidst the forests. Yes, that is the mountain of the Sleeping Batyr. Height of that mountain, if to count up to the point of the helmet, is 836 meters. If you look from the Akylbai Pass in another direction, it