Environment protection
For millions of years, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere have
been in balance on the Earth. These four parts make up what we call the earth´s environment.
Atmosphere- all the gases that make up the air including the weather systems, the greenhouse
gases and the ozone layer.
Lithosphere – all the rocks in and on the Earth
Hydrosphere- all the water in the seas, rivers, lakes and soils.
Biosphere – all the living organisms on the Earth, including viruses and bacteria right up to plants
and animals (humans included)
Since humans first walked on the Earth´s surface, they have been changing the balance of the
environment in their favour. The number of people is growing each year making our environmental
problems worse. There are over six billion people in the world. The population of the world is rising
very quickly, and it´s not slowing down. This is mostly due to modern medicine and farming
methods, which have reduced the number of people dying from disease and hunger. This is great
for all of us humans, but it means we´re having a bigger effect on the environment we live in with
increasing demands on the environment. When the Eart´s population was smaller, the effects of
human activity were usually small and local. Nowadays though, our actions can have a far more
widespread effect.
Our rapidly increasing population demand a higher standard of living, so we use more raw
materials and we also use more energy for the manufacturing processes. This all means we are
taking more and more resources from the environment of which we might one day run out. It also
means we are producing more waste.And unless this waste is properly handled, more harmful
pollution will be caused. This affects water, land and air.
Water. Sewage and toxic chemicals from industry can pollute lakes, rivers and oceans, affecting
the plants and animals that rely on them for survival. And the chemicals used on land (e.g.
fertilisers) can be washed into water.
Land.We use toxic chemicals for farming (e.g. pesticides and herbicides). We also bury nuclear
waste underground, and we dump a lot of household waste in landfill sites.
Air. Smoke and gases released into the atmosphere can pollute the air (carbon dioxide, methane,
oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide) For example, sulfur dioxide can cause acid rain. Scientists also
think that particles of soot produced when fossil fuels are burnt can stop sunlight reaching the
Earth. The particles reflect sunlight back into space, or help to produce more clouds that do the
same thing. In some areas, studies have found that nearly 25% less sunlight has been reaching the
surface compared to 50years ago. This effect is known as global dimming. (Some scientist don´t
believe that global dimming is really happening though, and blame the findings on inaccurate
recording equipment).
Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen which are produced by burning fossil
fuels. The sulfur dioxide comes from sulfur impurities in the fossil fuels. However, the nitrogen
oxides are created from a reaction between the nitrogen and oxygen in the air, caused by the heat
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of the burning. When these gases mix with clouds they form dilute sulfuric acid and dilute nitric
acid. This then falls as acid rain. Power stations and internal combustion engines in cars are the
main causes of acid rain. Acid rain causes lakes to become acidic and many plants and animals die as
a result. Acid rain kills trees and damages limestone buildings and ruins stone statues. It also
makes metal corrode.
Oxides of notrogen also cause photochemical smog.It is a type of air pollution caused by sunlight
acting on oxides of nitrogen. These oxides combine with oxygen in the air to produce ozone O3.
Ozone can cause breathing difficulties, headaches and tiredness.
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment by individuals, organizations
or governments for the benefit of the natural environment and (or) humans. Due to the pressures
of population and our technology the environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. This
has been recognized and governments began placing restraints on activities that caused
environmental degradation. Since the 1960s activism by the environmental movement has created
awareness of the various environmental issues. There is not a full agreement on the extent of the
environmental impact of human activity and protection measures are occasionally criticized.
This is a list of environmental issues related to environmental protection. (in alphabetical order)
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Climate change — Global warming • Global dimming • Fossil fuels • Sea level rise •
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Greenhouse gas • Ocean acidification
Conservation — Species extinction • Pollinator decline • Coral bleaching • Invasive species •
Poaching • Endangered species
Energy — Energy conservation • Renewable energy • Efficient energy use •

Environmental health — Air quality • Asthma • Electromagnetic fields • Electromagnetic
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radiation and health • Indoor air quality • Lead poisoning • Sick Building Syndrome
Genetic engineering — Genetic pollution • Genetically modified food controversies

Intensive farming — Overgrazing • Irrigation • Monoculture • Environmental effects of
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meat production • Slash and burn • Pesticide drift
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Land degradation — Land pollution • Desertification

Soil — Soil conservation • Soil erosion • Soil contamination • Soil salination
Land use — Urban sprawl • Habitat destruction

Nanotechnology — Nanotoxicology
Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout • Nuclear power • Nuclear weapons • Nuclear and

radiation accidents • Nuclear safety • High-level radioactive waste management.
Overpopulation — Burial • Water crisis • Overpopulation in companion animals
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Ozone depletion — CFC
Pollution — Light pollution • Noise pollution • Visual pollution
Water pollution — Acid rain • Eutrophication • Marine pollution • Ocean dumping • Oil spills
Urban runoff • Water crisis •Wastewater • Fish kill • Algal bloom • Mercury in fish
Air pollution — Smog • Tropospheric ozone • Indoor air quality • Volatile organic compounds •
Particulate matter • Sulphur oxide
 Resource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources
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Consumerism — Consumer capitalism • Planned obsolescence • Over-consumption
Fishing — Blast fishing • Bottom trawling • Cyanide fishing • Ghost nets • Illegal, unreported
and unregulated fishing • Overfishing • Whaling
Logging — Clearcutting • Deforestation • Illegal logging
Mining — Acid mine drainage • Mountaintop removal mining
 Toxins — Chlorofluorocarbons • DDT • Dioxin • Toxic heavy metals • Herbicides • Pesticides
• Toxic waste • PCB • Bioaccumulation

Waste — E-waste • Litter • Waste disposal incidents • Marine debris • Medical waste •
Landfill • Leachate • Recycling • Incineration
Sustainable development
Human activities can damage the environment. And some of the damage we do cannot easily be
repaired. We are also placing greater pressure on our planet´s limited resources,(e.g. oil is a nonrenewable resource, so it will eventually run out). This means that we need to plan carefully to
make sure that our activities today don´t mess things up for the future generations- this is the
idea behind sustainable development.
Sustainable development meets the needs of today´s population without harming the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.
This isn´t easy- it needs detailed thought at every level to make it happen. E.g. governments
around the world will need to make careful plans. But so will the people in charge at a regional level.
Recycling is an example of sustainable development. It is a way in which we can start to reduce our
impact on future generations. But there are lots of other ways too- managing forests sustainably
and introducing fishing quotas.
A national park is a reserve of natural land / protected area declared or owned by a government,
set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, animal and environmental protection and restricted
from most development. The first one established, in 1872, was the United States' Yellowstone
National Park. The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park,
which was established in 1974. There are about 7000 national parks worldwide.
There are four national parks in the Czech Republic:Šumava National Park and UNESCO
Biosphere Reserve , Krkonoše National Park - KRNAP, Biosphere Reserve , National Park Podyjí ,
České Švýcarsko National Park and 25 Protected Landscape Areas
There are 15 National Parks in the UK, with 10 in England, 3 in Wales and 2 in Scotland.
An Endangered Species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because
it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.
Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal
protection like Pandas. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct,
without gaining public notice.
Examples: The Siberian Tiger is a subspecies of tiger that is critically endangered; three
subspecies of tiger are already extinct. The most endangered asiatic top predator, the dhole is on
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the edge of extinction. Europe's most endangered mammal is Iberian Lynx, California Condor, Sea
otter, Panda, mountain gorilla, Red Wolf , European eel
NUCLEAR POWER
People have always needed energy. Until about 1800 the principal fuel was wood, its energy derived from
solar energy stored in plants during their lifetimes. Since the Industrial Revolution, people have depended on
fossil fuels- coal, petroleum and natural gas- also derived from stored solar energy. In the 1940s another
form of energy appears- nuclear energy, which is released during nuclear reactions.( splitting or fusing of
atomic nuclei)
In December 1942 at the University of Chicago, the Italian physisist Enrico Fermi succeeded in producing
the first nuclear chain reaction. The first large-scale nuclear reactors were built in 1944 at Hanford,
Washington, for the production of nuclear weapon material, i.e. plutonium. The fuel was natural uranium
metal. The power produced during the reaction was not used.
Since then a variety of reactor types have been built throughout the world for the production of electric
power- light-water and heavy-water reactors, propulsion reactors (used in naval vessels, submarines and
icebreakers), research reactors and breeder reactors.
In 1953 U.S.President Dwight D.Eisenhower announced the USA „Atoms for Peace“ program. People then
believed in the future of cheap and plentiful energy. They hoped that nuclear power would replace fossil
fuels, reduce air pollutions and lower the cost of electricity. The public in general was optimistic about this
new energy source, seeing the program as a realization of hopes for the transition of nuclear power from
wartime to peaceful uses.
Nevertheless, after this initial euphoria, soon afterwards many people all over the world started to
oppose nuclear power. Public concern about the acceptability of nuclear power arises from several reasons:
The first is the danger of a leak of radiation present at various stages of the nuclear cycle, this danger
being enormously high in the event of a catastrophic accident such as Chernobyl Accident in 1986.
The second is the problem of the storage of the burnt fuel. The highly radioactive waste remains
biologically hazardous for thousands of years and though buried far underground it scares mainly people
living near such waste disposal sites.
The third is the fact that nuclear fuels- uranium-235 and plutonium-239 are the material from which
nuclear weapons are made and could be used illegally for the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, high construction costs, strict building and operating regulations, and high cost for waste
disposal make nuclear power plants much more expensive to build and operate than plants that burn fossil
fuels. Therefore in many countries the nuclear electric plants are being shutdown.
What is the situation in nuclear power production at present ?
The biggest number of nuclear reactors is in the U.S.A. – 104. There are only four other states owning
nuclear electric plants in America- Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Australia is totally „nuclearless“
and there are only two reactors in Africa (both in South African Republic). On the other hand a real „nuclear
power“ is Asia where the number of nuclear reactors is growing. China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and
Pakistan have nuclear electric plants and many others are being built in this region. In Iran a new reactor is
under construction , which frightens countries in the West.
In Europe many countries are reducing their nuclear power but not all of them. The former Soviet
republics still develop their nuclear programs. Great Britain with its 35 and France with 59 reactors remain
nuclear powers. Germany promised to close its nuclear electric plants by 2020 but it does not sound realistic.
The future of nuclear power is clear. The need of energy will increase. The supplies of fossil fuel are
limited. Can the alternative sources of energy, like solar, wind, tidal, geothermal cover the need ? Hardly.
Will the mankind be able to do without nuclear energy? I don´t think so. Nuclear energy will have to serve
people until a new, revolutionary, absolutely safe source of energy is discovered. And it might take very long.
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