Water and air pollution

Water and air pollution is a very serious threat to our environment. This is the result of human activities: releasing poisonous chemicals, car fumes (the number of cars on our planet has doubled in the course of the last 30 years), throwing litter, oil spills. Polluted air and water affect people's health. About 1.4 billion people have no access to safe drinking water. Polluted water also causes water animals to die.

Global warming

For millions of years, layers of gases have kept the Earth warm enough so that people, plants, and animals can live here. But some scientists are now concerned that the Earth' surface will warm up too much — to dangerous degree. This is called global warming. Factories, cars, and other things are making lots of new gases. Even when we use electricity we help to put greenhouse gases into the air. These gases are trapping more-and more of the sun's heat. If it gets too hot, weather all over the globe will change. Warm places will be too hot to live inland cold places will become warm. Polar icecaps could melt, which would make the sea level unusually high and could result in flooding.

Exercise 3. Look through the texts again and say what according to the texts is:

1. the cause / causes of damage to soils

2. the role of forests

3. the effect of water pollution

4. the cause of floods in the near future

5. the cause of global warming.

Exercise 4. Discuss the following questions:

1. Do you think these problems affect you? Why?/Why not?

2. Who is responsible for these problems? Do you think you are?

3. Which of the problems mentioned in the texts is the most important for people?

4. Which of them would you like to deal with first if you could? Why?

Exercise 5. Choose the best Russian equivalent for each of these phrases.