Rozwój cywilizacji jako zagrożenie dla środowiska naturalnego na wybranych przykładach w Polsce I Wielkiej Brytanii

Our world is changing rapidly. The progress of our civilization made in last two hundred years is enormous. There are changes in every part of life, in science, industry, agriculture, medicine, culture and the way of life. However, we are still facing a lot of problems which have not been solved yet. Many of them refer to our environment. People have a huge influence on air, soil, water, animals and the other elements of the environment. Unfortunately, only few people understand that we are an integral part of it and need to protect it if we want to exist. Human race is so powerful that it can destroy life on the earth not only by using nuclear weapons but also by irreversible damages made to the environment. The biggest threats are: holes in the ozone layer, greenhouse effect, pollution, radioactive waste, acid rains, deforestation.
Nowadays, every newspaper, radio or TV gives us a lot of news connected with environment degradation. We often hear about greenhouse effect, deforestation, pollution and ozone hole. Our planet is full of dust and dirt. People have built a lot of factories, power plants and many other things which pollute the air. Each year a large amount of carbon dioxide and many other harmful gases are released into the atmosphere. They cause acid rains, pollution and greenhouse effect.

Global warming is especially caused by carbon dioxide which raises the temperature of air. In the north the weather might be much wetter, while in the south there could be much drier conditions. That means extensive flooding in the north, while parts of the agriculturally productive south will turn into desert.

Sulfur dioxide and other gases, which are emitted by coal power plants, cause acid rains.
There is a lot of pollution especially in big cities. Pollution, or in other words, contamination of air, water or soil, in most countries is mainly caused by the increase of civilization as well as by industrializing.

One of the most important ecological problems is the hole in the ozone layer. It becomes bigger and bigger because people use sprays which damage it. Other thing which makes this hole bigger is pollution coming from car fumes and big factories.
Next big problem is deforestation. Each year people cut down big areas of rain forests which produce one third of oxygen and they are home for a large number of animals.

Even soil is being polluted. People produce so much waste and they do not sort garbage so dumping grounds are still growing. Farmers use fertilizers and pesticides which are harmful to the environment.
Despite the fact that many governments try to do their best to protect the Earth and many organizations arise to make all the human beings pay attention to the worldwide environmental problem, there is so much for everyone to do.
We can protect our environment in many different ways.

First of all, we should sort all garbage: bottles, paper, tins and other rubbish and then put them into special containers. From there they are taken for recycling. It reduces the area of dumping grounds and saves materials like paper, glass, different metals.
Next, we should stop using sprays which damage the ozone layer and we should not drop chemicals which flow with water into rivers and poison them making the water unusuable for people and animals.

We must try to use less electricity. Most people do not realize that by turning the light on they make the air and water more polluted. That is because the power plants, especially coal-fired one's, emit to the atmosphere a lot of harmful gases.
Another useful thing, which could be good not only for our lungs, is to limit using cars. Instead of cars, which emit toxic fumes, we may use other means of transport like buses, trains, underground, which are much more economical and do not pollute the air as much as cars. We should also use only unleaded petrol. We should walk or ride a bike more often.
One of the easiest ways to protect the environment is to sell products in reusable packaging, like glass bottles. Using plastic bottles leads to Earth's degradation.

One of the most important problems of present times are the ozone holes. They appear in places where there is a lack of ozone and they are caused by CFC's - substances which are added to many sprays, they are emitted by refrigerators etc. That is the reason why we should buy 'ozone-friendly' products, which we can recognize by a special label on the product.

Rain forests – they are not in our nearest vicinity, but the problem of deforestation of the rain forests in South America affects us in a very specific way. The rain forests are called the lungs of the Earth, they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen in a process called photosynthesis. If we people do not stop cutting down trees, the global warming process will be faster. What we ought to do is to recycle paper and plant more trees. What’s more, the governments should put more control on cutting down trees.
Of course, despite the fact some people know these problems and they make effort to help our planet to survive, most people are not aware of the need to protect the environment and it is very difficult to encourage them to undertake any activities to save our world. They must remember not only about themselves but also about all the generations that will come after them.

Every year private houses and industry need more and more energy. That is why people first built coal power plants and later gas power plants. Power plants using fossil fuel like coal, gas or oil fuel emit into the atmosphere a lot of toxic gases, especially carbon dioxide.
In the second half of this century the scientists developed nuclear power plants. However, people started to worry if the nuclear power plants are the best source of energy.

I think that nuclear power plants have some advantages. They do not produce so much gases and black smoke. They are efficient and nuclear energy is relatively cheap. These are the most important things that make this source of energy better than coal energy.
Unfortunately, nuclear power plants are dangerous because there is always a risk of deadly meltdown. It has happened before and it might happen again. Everybody remembers what happened in Chernobyl. But new nuclear power plants are much safer than the ones built in the 70-ties. The risk of explosion of new nuclear power stations is very low.
The question is whether Poland should have nuclear power plants. I think that we should have this source of energy but unfortunately, most Polish people disagree with this opinion. The truth is that there are nuclear power plants all around Poland, therefore our country will be polluted if any accident happens in any of these power plants that surround Poland.

Some people say that the future belongs to solar power. I agree that solar energy is clean, not making any pollution but in Poland we can use this source of energy only during a few months. So I believe that we should try to find some new sources of energy.
In different countries there are different principles about the ways of producing electric energy.
In general, the principles depend on power sources the countries have but there are also some financial reasons or environmental limitations.
Sometimes the citizens can have an influence on what kind of power plant should be built. For example in Poland the people did not allow to build an atomic power plant. The question is whether they were right.

It will be easier to answer it if we compare two countries, Poland and Great Britain.
In 1998 the electricity production in Great Britain was 343 billion kWh. In Poland it was 143 billion kWh. Now in Great Britain nearly 70% of it comes from fossil fuel, over 28% from nuclear energy and about 3.5% from other sources.
In Poland nearly 98% of electricity comes from fossil fuel and 2.5% from other sources. Poland does not produce any electricity from nuclear energy while on average in the world 17% and in France nearly 75% of electricity comes from nuclear sources.
It has a big effect on our environment.

In 1998 Poland emitted:
* sulfur dioxide -1897 thousand tons
* nitrogen dioxide - 991 thousand tons
* carbon dioxide – 338095 thousand tons
* dust - 871 thousand tons
The total emission of the main pollution in Poland is one the highest among European countries.
Considering all these facts, I am for having a nuclear power plant in Poland