12.2 What has been done in many countries to improve the situation?

• Clean Air Acts UK US Canada NewZealand. An environmental law governing the emission of air pollutants from human sources into the atmosphere. It may also refer to the regulation of indoor air quality (air quality within and around buildings and structures) for the protection of human health.  Governmental imposition of clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans.

• Kyoto Protocol - an international agreement reached in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan to address the problems of climate change. It commits 38 industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

They should:

• promote the awareness of citizens through education and propaganda

• sustainable development

• encourding the usage of alternative forms of energy

• Decentralise energy supply systems: Legislate that new buildings in industrial nations should be CO2-free, with a power station in the basement.

• Stop allowing most airlines to escape paying fuel duty.

• Raise taxes on fuel-heavy cars

• New laws committing governments to reducing CO2 every year by a fixed amount are needed

12.3 Could you name some other environmental threats?

Acid Rain, Deforestation, rain forest destruction, Ozone Depletion, Toxic Waste, Radioactive Contamination, drop of crop production and food supply, Noise Pollution, biodiversity loss, tsunami, melting glaciers,

13.1 What is your opinion on the use of nuclear power?

Banned. Alternative forms of energy instead. Hazardous. Contamination. No guarantee they are stable.

13.2 Do you think alternative forms of energy should be encouraged? Which ones?

Solar energy: Energy from the natural sunlight is captured through a solar panel. Silicon absorbs sunlight and then changes it into electrical energy. But: can only be reaped during daytime + only 50% of energy received by a panel can be converted into electricity.

Kinetic energy of wind. The blades of a windmill spin, which in turn power a generator. Investment cost is high, no short-term benefits

Water. Hydroelectricity is generated by damming-запруживание rivers and using the potential energy of the stored water. Affordable.

Hydrogen. Electric current is passed through water to separate hydrogen from oxygen. The resulting gas, Hydrogen, is then stored in tanks. Used in the car industry: eco-friendly and safer than gasoline.

Geo-thermal (earth’s heat). Heat from under the ground is used to generate steam which in turn is used to run turbine. E.g. from volcano.

Bio-fuel refers to fuels made from plants or animals, e.g. ethanol from plants, or methane from animal excrement.

13.3 What do Environmental activists do?

• increase in the awareness among people about various issues concerning the effect, human activities have had on the environment through public rallies, marathons, sit-ins etc.

• provide employment to people passionate about environmental conservation (depends on donations)

• get the government to put in legislation concerning environmental problems

14.1 What are advantages and disadvantages of industrial development?

+ Industrialisation has the potential to help achieve a variety of social objectives such as employment, poverty eradication, gender equality, labour standards, and greater access to education and healthcare.

- At the same time, industrial processes can have negative environmental impacts, causing climate change, loss of natural resources, air and water pollution and extinction of species. These threaten the global environment as well as economic and social welfare.

14.2 What is global warming?

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about 0.8 °C with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades.

It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, which increases the temperature.

14.3 Why do environmental problems require the cooperation of all nations?

Today we are confronted with grave env-al problems which call for full international cooperation. The first reason is that environmental issues are not confined to one single country. Problems such as freshwater crisis, ozone depletion and acceleration of species extinction have negative impacts on most countries. Therefore, solving these problems is a great responsibility which should be shared by all nations and demands concerted efforts. Besides, tackling environmental problems is far beyond one or two countries' competences. Take the global warming which may cause serious consequences to human beings in the future for instance, it is impossible to pick out one country which can solve this problem solely by itself. Practical problems of international cooperation. The most likely one is that differing attitudes and approaches in countries could possibly lead to inefficiency in solving these problems. However, instead, countries should make efforts to break the ice and so reach a consensus.