"AIR POLLUTION. One of the biggest problems is air pollution. The air is needful for life – not only for humans, but also for animals and plants. But it’s very polluted, especially in large cities and in areas with concentrated industrial production. People should try to use alternative sources of energy, such as solar, water, wind and geothermal, or at least to burn smokeless fuels. There are more ways to reduce air pollution caused by road traffic. First of them is to support public transportation. Another way is to encourage tree planting, because trees absorb carbon dioxide. All new cars should have catalyc converters and we should use unleaded petrol.

WATER POLLUTION. But there are still factories that don’t pollute only the air, but also the ground and water. Water is the substance which man cannot survive without, but it’s polluted by waste of chemicals industries, heavy metals, chemicals used in agriculture, waste of ships and acid rains.

ACID RAIN. Acid rain is another point I’d like to speak about. Gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are produced by power stations and cars. The gases dissolve in rainwater, and this makes the acid rain, which damages rivers and trees.

TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS. But in some parts of the world trees are not killed by pollution, but by people. The great rainforests are being destroyed for firewood and building materials. But trees are vitally important for our life because they are lungs of our planet – they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and give out oxygen in return.

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT is the gradual warming of the Earth because heat cannot escape to space. It is caused by pollution in the air with dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons. The greenhouse effect can cause climate changes. Scientists all around the world agree that the Earth is getting warmer. They think that some places are already 2°C hotter that they were 50 years ago, and the temperatures will go up another 5°C in the next hundred years. This means that the ice at the North and South Poles will melt and the sea level will rise by as much as one metre.

THE OZONE LAYER. Another problem is destroying the ozone layer. The ozone layer is very important, because it protects us from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Recently has been found that there are holes in it caused by use of some chemicals. Ozonedamaging gases such as freons are used in aerosols, air conditioning and refrigeration, but they should no longer be used.

ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS. There are some organizations which actively works to protect the environment from harm. The most famous is Greenpeace, which fights against pollution and the use of nuclear energy in industry and protects oceans, forests and endangered species. Another famous organization is for example Sea Shephard, which tries to save the whales, but in contrast to Greenpeace they often use violence. There is the Green Party in the Czech Republic, which wants to regulate activities that harm the environment."