After air, water, or land becomes polluted, it becomes more difficult, expensive, and sometimes impossible to clean up. Conservation is an important step towards creating a better, healthier, more sustainable environment, and it is important to remember that conservation does not just start with recycling. Here are ways in which you can do your part to make this world more environmentally friendly by living according the three R’s. http://envirohealthhouston.org/resources/RRR.htm
Every year, Americans throw away 50 billion food and drink cans, 27 billion glass bottles and jars, and 65 million plastic and metal jar and can covers. More than 30% of our waste is packaging materials. Where does it all go? Some 85% of our garbage is sent to a dump, or landfill, where it can take from 100 to 400 years for things like cloth and aluminum to decompose. Glass has been found in perfect condition after 4,000 years in the earth!
We are quickly running out of space. It's time to learn the three R's of the environment: reduce, reuse, recycle. Then practice what you preach: don't buy things you don't need or items that come in wasteful packaging or that cannot be recycled. Reuse and recycle whatever you can.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT Your assignment this week is to talk about The Three Rs of The Environment. There are SEVEN TOPICS below. You should pick one person to give a speech from a part of each topic. As an option, you can assign TWO people to the “In The News” topic, and then one person to the “Clean Coal” topic.
Reducing the amount of waste you produce is the best way to help the environment. There are lots of ways to do this. For example:
Buy products that don't have a lot of packaging. Some products are wrapped in many layers of plastic and paperboard even though they don't need to be. You can also look for things that are packed in materials that don't require a lot of energy or resources to produce. Some products will put that information right on their labels.
Instead of buying something you're not going to use very often, see if you can borrow it from someone you know.
Cars use up energy and cause pollution. Some ways to reduce the environmental damage caused by cars include carpooling with friends, walking, taking the bus, or riding your bike instead of driving.
Start a compost bin. Some people set aside a place in their yard where they can dispose of certain food and plant materials. Over time, the materials will break down through a natural process called decomposition. The compost is good for the soil in your yard and means that less garbage will go to the landfill.
You can reduce waste by using a computer! Many newspapers and magazines are online now. Instead of buying the paper versions, you can find them on the Internet. Also remember that you should print out only what you need. Everything you print that you don't really need is a waste of paper.
Save energy by turning off lights that you are not using.
Save water by turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth.
Lots of families receive a large amount of advertisements and other junk mail that they do not want. You can stop the mailings and reduce waste by writing to the following address and requesting that they take your name off of their distribution list:
Instead of throwing things away, try to find ways to use them again! For example:
Bring cloth sacks to the store with you instead of taking home new paper or plastic bags. You can use these sacks again and again. You'll be saving some trees!
Plastic containers and reusable lunch bags are great ways to take your lunch to school without creating waste.
Coffee cans, shoe boxes, margarine containers, and other types of containers people throw away can be used to store things or can become fun arts and crafts projects. Use your imagination!
Don't throw out clothes, toys, furniture, and other things that you don't want anymore. Somebody else can probably use them. You can bring them to a center that collects donations, give them to friends, or even have a yard sale.
Use all writing paper on both sides.
Use paper grocery bags to make book covers rather than buying new ones.
Use silverware and dishes instead of disposable plastic utensils and plates.
Many of the things we use every day, like paper bags, soda cans, and milk cartons, are made out of materials that can be recycled. Recycled items are put through a process that makes it possible to create new products out of the materials from the old ones.
In addition to recycling the things you buy, you can help the environment by buying products that contain recycled materials. Many brands of paper towels, garbage bags, greeting cards, and toilet paper, to name a few examples, will tell you on their labels if they are made from recycled materials.
In some towns you can leave your recyclables in bins outside your home, and a truck will come and collect them regularly. Other towns have recycling centers where you can drop off the materials you've collected. Things like paper and plastic grocery bags, and plastic and aluminum cans and bottles can often be brought to the grocery store for recycling. Whatever your system is, it's important to remember to rinse out and sort your recyclables!
Accidents happen, but when they destroy the delicate balance of nature or cause a large number of people to suffer, they become disasters. Here are some of the largest disasters that have been caused by human activity.
LoveCanal, a small town in upstate New York near Niagara Falls, was destroyed by waste from chemical plants. Beginning in 1947, chemical companies could legally dump their waste products into the canal. In the 1950s, families began to settle in the area without being told about the waste and the health problems it might cause. The area developed a foul smell, trees lost their bark, and leaves fell throughout the year. In the 1970s, scientists found that the drinking water contained excessive levels of 82 industrial chemicals, 7 of which were thought to cause cancer. The people of LoveCanal had an unusually high rate of cancer and birth defects. Eventually, many of the houses had to be abandoned. By the 1990s, the town had been cleaned up enough for families to begin moving back to the area.
On March 28, 1979, the worst accident in U.S. nuclear-reactor history occurred at the Three Mile Island power station, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. No one was killed, and very little radioactivity was released into the air when coolant (the fluid that keeps a machine cool) escaped from the reactor core due to a combination of mechanical failure and human error.
An explosion in the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, released a deadly gas called methyl isocyanate, which is used to make pesticides. The gas formed a cloud that killed 2,500 people; another 50,000-100,000 people became ill. Trees and plants in the area became yellow and brittle. The explosion was caused by a mechanical failure that was not noticed in time to stop it.
At 1:23 A.M. on Saturday, April 26, 1986, the reactor blew at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, ripping open the core, blowing the roof off the building, starting more than 30 fires, and allowing radioactive material to leak into the air. Some 31 people were killed and nearly 300 people were treated for radiation poisoning. Glaring violations of safety rules were at the bottom of this tragic event.
Exxon Valdez oil spill
March 1989, Alaska, U.S.
On March 24, 1989, 11.2 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound from the tanker Exxon Valdez when its hull hit a reef and tore open. The spill, which cost billions of dollars to clean up and killed millions of birds, fish, and other wildlife, was caused by human error and could have been avoided.
Many scientists believe human-caused pollution is making the world a warmer place, a process called global warming. Scientists also think pollution could contribute to a rise in the Earth’s surface temperature over the next 100 years. A warmer world could mean big trouble. Hotter temperatures are causing some ice at the North and South Poles to melt and the oceans to rise. The warmer climate is changing our weather patterns and could result in dangerous tornadoes and droughts.
Climatic modeling studies generally estimate that global temperatures will rise a few degrees Celsius in the next century. Such a warming is likely to raise sea levels by expanding ocean water and melting glaciers and the polar ice cap. Recent studies have predicted that changes in global temperatures will introduce new infectious diseases, cause species of animals to become extinct, intensify storms, and increase the likelihood of droughts and floods.
Greenhouse Effect
The Earth stays warm the same way a greenhouse does. Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen, act like the glass of a greenhouse: they let in the Sun’s light and warmth, but they keep the Earth’s heat from escaping. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Scientists think that if too many of these greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, from pollution, for example, the gases can trap too much heat, causing temperatures to rise.
Acid Rain
Acid rain occurs when rainwater is contaminated with pollutants like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. These gases come from fuels being burned at high temperatures, as in car exhausts. When acid rain falls, it can damage wildlife and erode buildings.
Depletion of the Ozone Layer
The ozone layer, a thin sheet of an invisible gas called ozone, surrounds Earth about 15 miles above its surface. Ozone protects us from the Sun’s harmful rays. In recent years, the amount of ozone in the atmosphere has decreased, probably due to human-made gases called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). As the ozone level decreases, the Sun’s rays become more dangerous to humans.
Pollution
Pollution is the contamination of air or water by harmful substances. One source of pollution is hazardous waste—anything thrown away that could be dangerous to the environment, such as paint and pesticides. These materials can seep into water supplies and contaminate them. http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0193169.html
China is, in many places, a very tranquil and gentle land. Every now and then I discover some new and fascinating thing that takes my breath away.
This page is about those kinds of things ...
