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The poisoning of the world's land, air, and water is the fastest-spreading disease of civilisation. It probably produces fewer headlines than wars, earthquakes and floods but it is potentially one of history's greatest dangers to human life on earth. If present trends continue for the next several decades, our planet will become uninhabitable. Overpopulation, pollution and energy consumption have created such planet-wide problems as massive deforestation, ozone depletion, acid rains and the global warming that is believed to be coursed by the greenhouse effect. The seas are in danger. They are filled with poison: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The Mediterranean is already nearly dead; the North Sea is following. The Aral Sea is on the brink of extinction. If nothing is done about it, one day nothing will be able to live in the seas.Every10 minutes one kind of animal, plant or insect dies out for ever .Industrial enter-prises emit tons of harmful substances. These emissions have disastrous consequences for our planet. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rains An even greater environmental threat are nuclear power stations. We all know how tragic the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are. People are beginning to realise that environment problems are not somebody else's. They join and support various international organisation and green parties. If governments wake up to what is happening-perhaps we'll be able to avoid the disaster that threatens the natural world and all of us with it. |
