Let's talk about environment

Computers project that between now and the year of 2030 we are going to have an increase of the average temperature between 1.5 - 4.5 degrees C. Sea levels would rise by several metres, flooding coastal areas and ruining vast tracks of farmland. Huge areas would be infertile and become uninhabitable. Water contamination could lead to shortages of safe drinking water. It looks like the end of civilization on the Earth.

Every year the world's industry pollutes the atmosphere with millions of tons of dust and other harmful substances. The seas and rivers are poisoned with industrial waste. People who live in big cities are badly affected by harmful discharge from plants and city transport and by the increasing noise level which is bad for human health.

Among the most urgent problems are depletion of the ozone layer, acid rains and global warming. Another serious environmental problem is the disappearance of forests. There are a lot of places on our planet that need immediate help. The nuclear accident of Chernobyl has seriously aggravated the ecological situation in Belarus. About 18 per cent of the country's soil is unfit for farming and some districts in the south-east of the country are dangerous to live in. So nature protection should become everybody's concern.

I believe that environmental disasters can be avoided if people broaden ecological education and every person understands that the beauty of nature is extremely fragile. In my opinion, people must obey the unwritten rules of nature. Governments must take serous actions against pollution. Many countries reduce air pollution making plants and factories fit affective filters on chimneys and car exhausts. They try to use natural recourses more economically. Green zones around big cities are protected and extended.

As well as I know most people in America and Europe are ecologically-conscious and they do many things to help the environment. For

example, they have so-called "Clean Air Day". Its aim is to encourage people to walk, bike, ride public transit, thereby reducing the use of personal cars. Carpooling is an arrangement among car owners by which each of them takes a turn driving the others to and from a designed place. So less gas is burnt and less emissions are discharged into the atmosphere. In many countries people work together on the program of sustainable development called "Local Agenda 21", which was set up in 1992.

There are many things people can do at home to help nature. They could waste less water by fixing leaky pipes, turning off the tap while brushing their teeth, taking showers instead of baths. People should remember that paper is not garbage and it can be recycled. By recycling of one ton of newspapers we save 17 trees. People should buy in bulk so that to eliminate the trash from extra-packaging, they should bike more and use public transport.

I strongly believe that we must consume less, recycle more, conserve wildlife and nature, act according to the dictum "think locally, think globally, act locally". If we don't realize that we are responsible for what's happening around us, we will never feel secure about the future of the world we live in.