People live in a town environment; for others, their environment is The word environment means simply what is around us. Some
the countryside. But the air we breathe, the soil2 on which we stand
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THIS FRAGILE PLANET
and walk, the water we drink are all part of the environment.
vironmental problems that endanger people's lives. The most serious
Nowadays people understand how important it is to solve the en-
environmental problems are:
• pollution in its many forms (water pollution, air pollution,
clear pollution);
• noise from cars, buses, planes, etc.;
• destruction of wildlife and the beauty of the countryside;
• shortage of natural resources (metals, different kinds of fuel);
• the growth of population.
A. ...
“Water, water everywhere, not any drop to drink," said the sail-
or from Coleridge'st 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. Sea water today
is much more dangerous.
There is no ocean or sea which is not used as a dump. The Pa-
cific Ocean, especially, has suffered from nuclear pollution because
the French Government tested nuclear weapons there. Many seas are
used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. Britain dumps a lot
of its 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 peo-
ple drink this water, they can die too. It happens so because facto-
ries 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 can become poison which goes back into rivers and seas.
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