Environment and Ecology

*Environment means surroundings in which people, animals and plants develop and exist

*Ecology is the branch of biology investigating relationships between living beings and their
environment

The most serious global problems:

Ozone layer and ozone hole
Pollution of air, water and soil
Weather changes including famine, droughts, floods, fires
Natural disasters
Homelessness and immigration
Destruction of tropical rain forests

Poverty and crime

Air, water and soil:

They represent the basic life-sustaining needs.

We need to breathe, drink and eat to exist.

People are the greatest polluters of our environment produce much waste

Factories release exhausts as CO, lead poisons, NO

Greenhouse effect (global problem)
Too many cars lots of exhaust fumes
global warming
Lack of space for disposing waste

Destruction of forests to build houses or factories

- They are reservoirs of oxygen and homes of many species of animals

- Wood is used as firewood, building material, for making furniture

- Concequences: soil is washed away by the rain and blown away by the wind
nothing can be grown there and
animals lose their homes

Farmers pollute soil they use pesticides to kill certain insects and fertilizers to have better
harvest

Building dams causes floods and disappearance of many animals and plants

Nature as a polluter:

Volcanoes produce too much dust and ash and damage life around

Floods contaminate soil and destroy lives destroy infrastructures, city, town, lifes
Tornado, huricane and avalanche

Ozone layer:
Ozone hole:
It protects us from UV rays which can cause:
Its caused by:
blindness,
chemicals released into
skin cancer,
atmosphere by people
they can break down our immune system
natural disasters as floods,
fires, volcanoes infectious diseases

Disruption if the process of

photosynthesis
How to contribute to protection of our environment:

1. plant small trees

2. separate the waste in order to help in reusing, reducing and recycling
3. use cars only if necessary and prefer local transport
4. use just those detergents which are environmentaly friendly
5. turn off all the devices if we dont use them
6. switch off the light if leaving the room
7. prefer using showers to bath
8. trap rain water for watering our gardens
9. have a compost site to make our own compost and not to use fertilizers
10. not to use drinking water for washing up and for having showers or for flushing toilets
11. use water-saving taps
12. use solar panels to produce electricity and to heat our houses