Acid Rains

Every year more and more plants and animals disappear forever. Strangely, it is the most intelligent but most thoughtless animal that is causing most of the problems – man. Nature is very carefully balanced and if this balance is disturbed, animals can disappear alarmingly fast. Every day, thousands of species of animals draw closer to extinction.

In many lakes fish are dying. Fishermen are worried because every year there are fewer fish and some lakes have no fish at all. Scientists are beginning to get worried too. What is killing the fish?

The problem is acid rain. Acid rain is a kind of air pollution. It is caused by factories that burn coal, oil and gas. These factories send smoke high into the air. The wind often carries the smoke far from the factories. Some of the harmful substances in the smoke may come down with the rain hundreds of miles away.

The rain in many places isn't natural and clean any more. It's full of acid
chemicals. When it falls in lakes, it changes them too. The lakes become more acidic. Acid water is like vinegar or lemon juice. It hurts when it gets in your eyes. It also kills the plants and animals that usually live in lake water. That is why the fish are dying in lakes.

But dead fish may be just the beginning of the problem. Scientists are finding other effects of acid rain. In some large areas trees are dying. Not just one tree here and there, but whole forests. At first scientists couldn’t understand why. There were no bugs or diseases in these trees. The weather was not dry. But now they think that the rain was the cause. Acid rain is making the earth more acidic in these areas. Some kinds of trees cannot live in the soil that is very acidic.

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The Ozone Layer

The ozone layer is a thin layer of gas about 25 to 40 kilometres above the Earth's surface. The ozone protects us from the sun's radiation. In the 1980s scientists discovered 'holes' in the ozone layer.

The causes include more carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the use of CFCs
(chlorofluorocarbons).

The holes in the ozone layer might become bigger. Some scientists believe the average temperature of the Earth will increase by between 1.5˚ С and 4˚ C. There will be more droughts and we will change the way we grow our food.

The forests will die. The polar ice will melt and the sea levels might rise by a metre. There will be floods and some big cities might disappear. Some scientists think many thousands of people might die.

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The Environment and Pollution	\|	Heavy Metals as Toxicants in Big Cities

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