nbsp      The statistics shows that men have polluted the air, sea and land; used most of the Earth's oil, gas and coal; completely killed more than 500 kinds of animals, birds and plants; made and used atomic bombs; grown in numbers from 1 billion (in 1830) to nearly 6 billion today. It's a disaster and it's still happening. But not all the news is bad. You can imagine what happens to a living thing if its environment is polluted or changed in a harmful way.
       There are several problems concerning the environment: water pollution, air pollution, land pollution and defence of animals.
       The first problem is water pollution in the country. Most big cities pour their waste into seas and rivers.
       We love rain. Rain helps our plants to grow big and strong. But sometimes the rainwater is not as clean as it could be. Man-made chemicals get into the air and mix with the rainwater, making acid rain. The acid water runs into rivers and lakes. The rivers and lakes become so acid that fish cannot live there.
       We like to go to the river, lake or sea to swim. But if there are chemicals in the water, it is not safe enough for swimming. If the water is polluted, it can make us sick.
       The second problem is air pollution. When there are too many harmful things in the air, it is polluted.
       People and animals need clean air with plenty of oxygen in it. Oxygen is added to the air by plants. So you understand how important it is to have a lot of trees, bushes and grass.
       Fume from the chimneys of factories, gases which are in refrigerators and sprays pollute the air. They damage the ozone layer that covers the earth. This layer of gas protects us from the dangerous rays of the sun. There are now holes in the ozone layer because there are too many gases in the air. One is over the North Pole and the second over the South Pole, over Antarctica. It is very dangerous for people as it can make them sick. Some people pollute the air by smoking. Too much smoke in the air can hurt our lungs.
       The wind blows a lot of the air pollution out to sea. Sometimes the rain helps to clean the air, but sometimes the rain water mixes with the gases in the air. Then the air pollution also becomes land and water pollution?
       Air and water pollution is one of the problems millions of people are worried about today.
       The planet Earth is our common home. Everything is connected on the earth. If something goes wrong in some part of the world, everybody suffers. People's activities can make the environment unhealthy.
       People are producing too many gases and because of that the earth is getting hotter. These gases hold heat. Plants and trees help to take gases, such as carbon dioxide, from the air, but we have now destroyed too many trees. There are not enough trees and plants to do this job.
       Because the earth is getting hotter, the ice is melting. Because the ice is melting, the level of the sea is slowly rising.
       Another problem of land pollution is making large piles of trash. Trash is made of boxes, bags, paper, cans, plastics, clothing and bottles. It is also made up of old food called garbage.
       Some trash gets burned. When plastics and some other man-made things are burned, gases are given off. Too much of these gases can make people and animals sick.
       There will not be as much trash if we learn to use things over and over again. One way to do this is by changing some old thing into a new one. Then it is used again. It is not thrown away.
       Another problem of land pollution is using too many chemicals to grow vegetables and fruit. Too many chemicals in the ground can harm the soil. If our vegetables, fruit and meat are grown without chemicals, they will be safer for us to eat.
       One of the serious problems is elimination of species all around the world. There are five billion people in the world and they live in all different corners of it. They live on the snow and ice of the Poles and in the tropical jungles on the equator. They have climbed the highest mountains and walked on the sea bed. Some of them have even been the earth and visited the moon. Their life depends on the world around them.
       The human species is the most numerous and the most powerful of all the animals on the earth.Many animals and birds on the Earth are disappearing nowadays. Many of them are in danger of becom¬ing extinct. This is because man hunts them, destroys and pollutes their habitat. Pollution and destruction change the balance of nature.
       I would like to tell you about animals in danger of extinction.
       The blue whale is the largest animal which has ever lived. It is three times heavier than the biggest dinosaur. Once there were over 200000 of these creatures living in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, since the seventeenth century they have been hunted for their oil and meat. In fact, so many of them were killed that by 1963 their population had been reduced to just 1000. Today it is even less than that. This animal is protected by international law, but it is still being hunted. Many people believe that it will soon be extinct.
       The African elephant is the world's largest land animal. In 1970 there were about 3.3 million of them living in the wild. Since then enormous numbers of them have been killed for their tusks, which are used to make ornaments and jewellery. Today there are fewer than one million of these animals left. Even though they are now protected, they are still being hunted. Between 50000 and 150000 of them are killed every year. Hunting is not the only human activity which puts them in danger. Many of them are also losing their natural habitat as forests are cut down and grasslands are cleared.
       There is only one way to save wild animals and wild habitats — conservation. That means protecting animals in danger by law, opening more national parks, building fewer new roads, planting more new forests, cutting pollution. If this doesn't happen, many wild animals will soon have just one habitat — the Zoo.
       Most scientists carrying research on climate change agree that human activities are causing an increase in "greenhouse gases" in the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, global temperatures are rising. The most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, which is released when we burn fossil fuels, such as oil, gas or coal. Heating our homes, generating electricity in power stations and driving our cars all contribute to climate change.
       We can avoid the worst impacts of climate change by starting to reduce carbon dioxide emissions now. Some forms of energy, such as renewables, are carbon free. Hydro-electricity is a familiar form of renewable energy. Solar power, which can involve placing photovoltaic cells on roofs, and other suitable locations, is far less developed. Solar power is currently expensive, but the costs are dropping rapidly. Britain has excellent wind energy resources, which can be exploited through offshore windfarms as well as turbines located on hilltops.
       Cutting energy use is the key to reducing carbon emissions, and could have a big effect on our lives.
       Another problem concerning ecology is the defence of animals. There are different organizations in the world protecting their rights. For example, there is a terrorist organization advocating violence. Two extreme groups, the Animal Rights Militia and the Justice Department, make lists of targets and threaten those who are guilty, as they believe, of violating animals' rights. A website of the ALF says: "The Earth is not dying, it is being killed. And those that are killing it have names and addresses. What are you doing for animals and Earth tonight?"
       Today, many scientists and world leaders realize that the Earth is in danger. It's really very simple. Either we stop killing the Earth or we will kill ourselves