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A REAL CHANCE FOR PLANET EARTH. Inspiring Action | Greenpeace International. Chief Seattle, North American Indian, 1858.
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Chief Seattle, North American Indian, 1858 • “This we know. The earth does not belong to Man. Man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
The Earth is 4,600 million years old but try to imagine for a moment that it’s only 46 years old. Life began in the seas four years ago. Dinosaurs appeared and disappeared only last year. Modern Man arrived four hours ago. One hour ago he learned how to farm. One minute ago machines and industry began. In the last 60 seconds man has: 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; grown in numbers from 1 billion to 6 billion today.
FRIENDS OF THE EARTH • The Green movement began in the 1960s when groups of people started protesting against pollution, the destruction of wildlife and other effects of irresponsible human behavior worldwide. Since then more and more people have joined this movement. There have been created environmental organizations all over the world such as Friends of the Earth, Ocean Aid, Worldwide Fund for Nature, Greenpeace etc. • Greenpeace is one of the largest and most visible organizations in the world. They fight for a clean and safe world and are very radical and persistent. Their slogan is ‘whatever it takes’. They try to find solutions to the problems our planet is faced with: • - deforestation • - water and air pollution • - litter • - global warming • - acid rain
DEFORESTATION • According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forests already have been destroyed. Up to 90 percent of West Africa’s coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900. Brazil and Indonesia, which contain the world’s two largest surviving regions of rain forest, are being stripped at an alarming rate by logging, fires, and land-clearing for agriculture and cattle-grazing. • Among the obvious consequences of deforestation is the loss of living space. Seventy percent of the Earth’s land animals and plants reside in forests. But the harm doesn’t stop there. Rain forests help generate rainfall in drought-prone countries elsewhere. • Deforestation may have catastrophic global effects as well. Trees are natural consumers of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases whose buildup in the atmosphere contributes to global warming.
GLOBAL WARMING • The world is getting warmer. If you enjoy warm weather you may think that this is good news but it is not. This warming process is often called the greenhouse effect. On the one hand, the ozone layer is becoming thinner and thinner allowing harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun to pass through the atmosphere. On the other hand, as we all know, most of the heat received from the sun is sent back. But, if there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere it will trap too much heat, and the earth’s atmosphere will become too hot.
ACID RAIN • Poisonous gases and other chemicals pour into the atmosphere every day. These are waste products from our power stations, factories and cars. Two of these waste gases, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, collect in the atmosphere. They mix with the moisture in the air to become sulfuric acid and nitric acid. These acids are absorbed by rain clouds and fall to the ground again as acid rain. Acid rain clouds can drift hundreds of miles before falling as rain. This rain can cause serious damage. It kills trees and destroys many wildlife habitats.
THE WASTE MAKERS • Can you imagine how much garbage we create all over the world each day? In factories, offices, hotels and restaurants, as well as in our homes, we produce tons of garbage. The poorer countries of the world produce the smallest amounts of garbage. In countries where there are many industries, more land is needed for garbage sites. Some of our garbage can be used again. But where can we put the rest? No one wants a garbage dump next door!
BREAKING THE FOOD CHAIN • The plants and animals that provide food for each other are members of a food chain. It is a series of living things which are considered as being linked because each thing feeds on the one below in the series. If this chain is broken, every animal in it will suffer and the ecosystem is damaged. • What do you think it happens when the farmer poisons the mice? A mouse that is weakened by the poison is easy prey for an owl. The owl that eats a poisoned mouse eventually dies from the poison. The farmer’s cat eats another poisoned mouse and dies. The farmer is pleased to be rid of the mice. But he has killed two animals which would have helped him. Owls and cats would have helped the farmer to keep down farm pests.
NUCLEAR POWER • Nuclear energy is useful. We can make electricity from radioactive material in nuclear power stations. In hospitals, radioactivity can help to cure some diseases. In some industries, people use radioactive processes to measure and test materials. Radioactive material produces waste, which may be in the form of gases, liquids, or solids. This waste can’t simply be thrown away like other waste. It is dangerous because it continues to emit radiation. Some of it, called high-level waste, will be radioactive for thousands of years. Low-level waste is less radioactive, but scientists do not agree on how dangerous it is.
WATER POLLUTION • Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater.All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging either to individual species and populations but also to the natural biological communities. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful constituents. • Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily. • The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals. While many of the chemicals and substances that are regulated may be naturally occurring the concentrationis often the key in determining what is a natural component of water, and what is a contaminant.Many of the chemical substances are toxic.
SOLUTIONS Here are a number of useful tips on what everybody can do to protect our fragile earth: • - plant trees • - try to save paper; buy and use recycled paper • - save as much water as possible • - support campaigns to save forests • - don’t leave on electric lights, TV, if you are not using them • - buy fresh food that does not need a lot of packaging • - buy food and vegetables from farmers who do not use chemicals • - avoid buying plastics whenever possible • - buy ozone-friendly hair sprays and deodorants • - use bottles more than once • - walk or ride your bike rather than drive to work • - find out more about conservation issues and Green organisations in your area.
FUN TIME • PAUL: Paper, cardboards, plastic bags, pieces of string, bottles, cans….. FATHER: Stop talking rubbish, Paul! • Better living with Plastic There was a young elephant called Tapstick Who told friends of his notion fantastic: “Since our ivory tusks Attract hunters to us, It’s time to grow tusks made of plastic!”
Laszlo Roxana Stanciu Adela Clasa a XII/a B Profesorîndrumător : Mărginean Mariana
