Н. Г. Веселовская английский язык для специальностей землеустройство Иземельный кадастр
 Скачать 2.15 Mb.
|
|
17. Прочитайте и письменно переведите текст 15D: Text 15D Soil Degradation Among the land used for agriculture and forestry, soil is an important component. The intense and increased pressure on land leads to its degradation and pollution, which may result in a partial or complete loss of its productive capacity. Soil degradation can be described as a process by which one or more of the potential ecological functions of the soil are harmed. These functions relate to bio-mass production (nutrient, air and water supply, root support for plants) to filtering, buffering, storage and transformation (e.g., water, nutrient, pollutants). Soil degradation is defined as a process that lowers the current and/or future capacity of the soil to produce goods and services. Two categories of a soil degradation process are recognized, displacement of soil material (e.g., soil erosion by water forces or by wind forces) and soil deterioration covering chemical or physical -Soil degradation. Soil degradation is on the increase worldwide, especially in the countries within the tropics. Mismanagement of arable areas by farmers and grazing areas by livestock owners is one of the major causes of soil degradation. More sustainable management of lands would reduce environmental pressures. Conservation tillage, i.e. reduced or no tillage, is the key to sustainable arable land management as it protects the soil resources, increases the efficiency of water use and, of special importance in semi-arid areas, reduces the effects of droughts. Land/soil degradation can either be as a result of natural hazards or due to unsuitable land use and inappropriate land management practices. Natural hazards include land topography and climatic factors such as steep slopes, frequent floods and tornadoes, blowing of high velocity wind, rains of high intensity, strong leaching in humid regions and drought conditions in dry regions. Deforestation of fragile land, over cutting of vegetation, shifting cultivation, overgrazing, unbalanced fertilizer use and non-adoption of soil conservation management practices, over-pumping of ground water are some of the factors which comes under human intervention resulting in soil erosion. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) formulated a project proposal for Global Assessment of the Status of Human Induces Soil Degradation. This was achieved with the help of more than 200 soil scientists and environmental experts worldwide. The project also received active advice from the International Society of Soil Science. Regional cooperators were asked to delineate on a standard topographic base map units showing a certain homogeneity of physiography, climate, vegetation, geology, soil and land use. Within each delineated map unit, soil degradation, its relative extent within the unit and the type of human intervention that has resulted in soil degradation during the post-war period were also indicated. The regional results were then generalized and compiled as a world map. The program developed methodologies to create soil and terrain databases. The main objective of the program was to strengthen global awareness of policy-makers and decision makers of the danger resulting from inappropriate land and soil management. Lesson 16. EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN SOIL REMEDIATION
Combustion, ignition, explosion, implicit, attenuation, hamper, priority, contamination, chemical, remediation, highlight, pollution, constraint, probability, delay, representation, cleaning-up, multifunctio- nality.
Remediation strategy, pose no harm to humans, a growing awareness; chemical properties, planning constraint, dispersion of pollution, due to air emission, to restore multifunctionality, industrialized countries, increase in productivity, may hinder, specific developments, economic burden, environmental balance. 3. Прочитайте и переведите текст 16А: Text 16А Soil Pollution Soil pollution has become a priority in many industrialized countries after the inventory of various locations in which contamination was posing a risk to people and the environment. The effects of soil contamination are different:
The ultimate objective of the operations is to eliminate the risk to a man and the environment and to prevent the dispersion of pollution, that is to restore multifunctionality in the shortest possible time. Soil multifunctionality requires that the soil on the site after sanitation should pose no harm to humans, animals or plants, regardless of the use of the site, the type of soil, the type of pollutants and the local situation. This is a very demanding objective, totally driven by environmental quality considerations. There is, however, a growing awareness that other criteria should be included when assessing remediation strategies. One of the reasons is that the costs involved in multifunctional operations are no longer political defendable. -There is also a growing recognition that clean-up operations do not necessarily lead to a positive environmental balance. Soil remediation requires the use of resources (like energy and clean water) and may lead to a net transfer of contamination to other compartments (for instance, due to air emissions). Therefore, the single perspective implied by the multifunctionality may result into an approach which disregards many relevant concerns for soil remediation.
Properties, hinder, embrace, cover, purpose, merely, aim, characteristics, humper, simply, aim, objectives.
Directly, timely, private, unnecessarily, negative, said, public, positive, unregistered, untimely, systematic, indirectly, necessary, unsaid, registered, haphazard.
Загрязнение почвы, непосредственная подверженность, повышение производительности, растущая осведомленность, землепользование, восстановление почвы, самое короткое время, тяжелое экономическое бремя, источник риска, операции по очистке.
1. Расходы на восстановление не предполагают никакого повышения в производительности. 2. Почвенная многофункциональность требует очистки почвы. 3. Загрязнение почвы — источник риска для земляных работ. 4. Конечная цель операции — устранить риск человека и окружающей среды. 5. Очень важно предотвратить распространение загрязнения. 6. Невозможно ограничить функциональность почвы. 7. Баланс восстановления окружающей среды не может быть всегда положительным.
То interpret, to know, to apply, to assume, to pollute, to consider, to recognize, to combine, to evaluate, to assess, to value, to represent, to attach, to provide, to achieve, to depend, to treat, to improve, to assess, to pollute.
1. Requires, process, the, of, use, resources, remediation, natural. 2. Awareness, been, a, has, achieved, growing. 3. Multifunctionality, aimed, at, are, measures, these. 4. Computed, yearly, are, costs. 5. Clean-up, of, operations, Merit, the, based, are, evaluation, an, on, Environmental, Index. 6. Through, interviews, assessed, weights, are. 7. Approaches, some, are, fundamental, there.
1. The overall environmental balance ... remediation may not be always positive. 2. The application ... remediation techniques may significantly cut costs, although leave many sites polluted ... a considerable time. .3. These factors are the negative side ... the remediation. 4. ... clean-up polluted soil is necessary. 5. Remediation expenditures do not offer any increase ... productivity .Задайте к каждому предложению максимальное число вопросов: 1. Soil pollution is a source of risk. 2. The presence of polluted areas may delay some specific developments. 3. To eliminate the risk to a man is the ultimate aim of the operations. 4. One should assess remediation strategy. 5. Clean-up operations lead to a positive environmental balance.
1. Soil remediation can lead to a net transfer of contamination to other compartments. 2. The polluted areas must delay some specific developments. 3. Scientists can consider multifunctionality as the soil- related interpretation of sustainability. 4. This framework could show how to combine risk reduction. 5. In order to respond to the application need a more comprehensive evaluation framework must be considered.
Text 16В A Framework for Evaluation The decision on how to clean-up a site can be divided into several successive phases. The first decision is that of whether a polluted site needs to be cleaned up. If remediation is not necessary, then the investigations can be stopped. Otherwise, the investigations should be focused on the screening of the suitable remedial strategies. The criteria which will influence this last decision are:
This perspective is the closest to the original evaluation framework aiming at multifunctionality. The environmental merit perspective, stemming from a Life Cycle Inverftory approach, aims at minimizing the use of scarce commodities and the contamination of other compartments due to remedial activities. The costs perspective aims at minimizing the total costs in terms of net present value. The methodology aims at producing, for each cleaning-up option, a set of 3 indices: the amount of risk reduction achieved by the remediation; the environmen tal balance of the operations, and the costs involved. Risk reduction is based on the computation of the overall exposure of people, ecosystems and other targets (e.g., workers on the site during remediation) and at the comparison of the exposure levels with acceptability standards. Risks are computed during all phases of the operations, leading to a time-dependent profile of the risk attenuation process. By compating this to the risk profile of the status quo, the amount of risk reduction can be computed. Environmental merit is based on the computation of an additive index for multiple environmental consequences of soil remediation. The non-local positive and negative outcomes of soil cleanup are weighted and summed up leading to an indication of the environmental performance of the operations. These are compared again to the status quo. The index is here measured in Environmental Merit Units. Finally, the costs include all expenses involved in the operations, including asset costs. Costs are computed yearly for the full length of the operations. The Net Present Value is then used as an estimate of the total costs. Each cost item is the sum of the expected expenses in a given period plus a safety quantity to guarantee that the real costs will have only a limited probability of exceeding the computed costs. 16. Прочитайте текст 16C и раскройте содержание рассматриваемых в нем проблем: Text 16С Issues in Soil Remediation Multifunctionality has proven very difficult to achieve in practice. About 50 per cent of the clean-up soil does not meet the multifunction- aluity target and has to be used under additional constraints. 97 Achieving miltifunctionality may be hampered by the cost of the operations and by technical and feasibility constraints. Technology for soil remediation is developing very quickly with a shift from radical, hard solutions (such as excavate-pump-and-treat) to biological techniques which, for instance, exploit natural attenuation phenomena. However, the costs issues are still a mayor constraint to soil remediation. High costs have become both politically indefensible, and economically unfeasible. Facing sheer expenditures, companies have often applied a wait-and-see attitude, delaying the operations as much as Possible often exploiting the ambiguities of the guideline and the possibility of some discretionary interpretation of the law. The main issue raised by the private sector is that the multifunctionality objective systematically disregards efficiency and effectiveness considerations. Most companies do know what the future use of contaminated sites will be, and thus question the general principle that all sites should be cleaned- UP to the same extent. An industrial area may need less strict measures than a residential one. In addition, the application of soft, but long, 4 Becc лоbcкал remediation techniques may significantly cut costs, although may delay the soil usage and leave many sites polluted for a considerable time. Although the cost-related matters are clear, the multifunctionality objective may also raise some environmental concerns. Scientists consider multifunctionality as the soil-related interpretation of sustainabil- ity. An implicit, and almost universal, assumption is that by cleaning- up a polluted site (or rehabilitating any degraded area) there is a net environmental benefit. Growing evidence has been provided that suggests that this assumption should be challenged and that the overall environmental balance of remediation may not be always positive. By considering the full cycle of the remediation process, it can be recognized that the process requires the use of natural resources like energy and clean water, and may result into a transfer of pollution to other environments, for instance by creating air pollution, water pollution and waste. The soil remediation thus raises two types of environmental concerns:
17. Прочитайте и письменно переведите текст 16D: Text 16D The Environmental Merit Perspective The rationale of the Environmental Merit Perspective is that cleanup operations determine environmental costs and benefits beyond those encompassed by the risk assessment. A clean-up operation may result into the use of scarce resources, such as energy, transfer the pollution to other compartments, such as emissions to surface water during operations, and to secondary effects, like the emission of greenhouse gases due to combustion of fossil fuels. These consequences cannot be grasped by neither the risk analysis, nor by the traditional financial assessment carried out before remediation. This cost assessment usually does not include valuation of environmental goods, and thus internalization of the values of environmental resources. The evaluation of clean-up operations in terms of environmental merit is based on an Environmental Merit Index (EMI). The environmental merit perspective aims at quantifying the clean- ing-up options along these evaluation criteria. These results of environmental performances are based on the comparison of alternatives. Since these criteria largely represent independent concerns for the cleaning- up operations, the approach through additive value functions can be applied. The overall environmental quality of a remedial option is a weighted combination of the different performances. Intuitively, weights represent the relative importance of one attribute compared to another. The higher the weight attached to an aspect, the more the aspect drives the evaluation. Weights are assessed through interviews. Precise question answer protocols are used to ensure that the respondent provides weights which are a true representation of his/her decision strategy. There are fundamental questions raised by this approach to environmental merit:
The use of an Environmental Merit Index shows that the environmental balance of soil cleaning-up cannot be assumed to be positive in all cases. Instead, it should be considered as an objective of the cleaning-up operations to be achieved by carefully designing remedial activities.SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS Text 1. Land and Land Resources The definition of land used to be: "a physical entity in terms of its topography and spatial nature". This is often associated with an economic value, expressed in price per hectare at ownership transfer. The broader, integrative view takes into account the physio-biotic and socio-economic resources of the physical entity as well. Land is a delineable area of the earth's terrestrial surface. It encompasses all attributes of the biosphere immediately above or below this surface including those of the near-surface climate, the soil and terrain forms. Land also includes such surface hydrology as shallow lakes, rivers, marches, and swamps. It involves the near-surface sedimentary layers and associated groundwater reserve, the plant and animal populations, the human settlement pattern and physical results of such past and present human activities as terracing, water storage or drainage structures, roads, buildings, etc. The definition of a natural land unit is distinctive from an administrative unit of land which can be of any size (individual holding, municipality, province, state, etc.). It normally encompasses a number of natural units or parts of them. The components of the natural land unit can be termed land resources, including physical, bionic, environmental, infrastructural, social and economic components, inasmuch as they are fixed to the land unit. Included in the land resources are surface and near-surface freshwater resources. Part of these moves through successive land units, but then the local flow characteristics can be considered as part of the land unit. Only the freshwater harnesses in major reservoirs outside the natural land unit, or pumped from rivers at upstream sites, can be considered as a separate resource. Such underground geological resources as oil, gas, ores, precious metals and deeper geohydrological resources normally bear no relation to the surface topography. That's why they are excluded from the group of components of the natural land unit. But it is recognized that some countries consider them as part of individual land ownership. So they have rights to exploit or sell them. Text 2. Definition of Cadastre A cadastre may be defined as a record of interests in land, encompassing both the nature and extent of these interests. An interest in land may include any uniquely recognized relationship among men with regard to the use, enjoyment, and preservation of the land. These relationships form the nature of the property institutions. They define men's relationship to the community and to the land. The reality of the properly object consists of both the land and these relationships. The word "cadastre" is derived from the medieval Greek term "katastichon", meaning notebook according to the French etymologist Blondheim. In the Latin, the term gradually evolved to "captastrum", or register of territorial taxation units into which Roman provinces were divided. Cadastral arrangements had led to the earliest agricultural settlements along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and along the Nile. With the departure from the normandic culture and the development of these first agrarian communities there arose the need for a system of recording territoriial rights and privileges to the land. Similar developments in land record systems can be traced in ancient China. Both the Greeks and Romans created land survey and land record systems primarily in support of land taxation policies. Based upon similar tax needs, and perhaps the most famous of all the early efforts, was the Domesday Book of Norman England. In the remarkably short period of one year (1085—1086), a comprehensive survey was made of all land holdings within the domain of William the Conqueror. Similarly Louis VI provided for the first measurement and assessment of the French lands in 1115. The origins of the modern cadastre concept are found in the development of the cadastral systems of the Continental Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Like the earlier efforts, these were fundamentally designed for taxation or fiscal purposes. The cadastre mapping program conducted between 1720 and 1723 was one of the earliest efforts to establish a fiscal cadastre. Later, the program was expanded when Emperor Joseph II ordered a cadastral survey for the entire territory encompassed by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. This survey was made over a period of 4 years and resulted in plans and descriptions of all individual land parcels in the monarchy. Some scholars have suggested that these eighteenth and nineteenth century European efforts to develop land taxation or fiscal cadastres were motivated by the economic principals. They held that the earth is the basis of all riches and that the revenues for the maintenance of the community should be derived from taxing the land. This concept was widely accepted, and most state revenues came to be obtained by "levying a ground tax, ultimately based on the taxable revenue of the separate ground parcels, and buildings, subdivided according to their different use such as agriculture grounds, meadows, orchards, woods, houses, factories, workshops, etc." This "land tax" concept evolved over time into complex differential tax assessment systems, based in part upon differing land uses. These complex systems required land parcel information arrangements capable of supporting them. Scientists have argued that almost all the early European cadastres were established in response to this need for fiscal information. Text 3. Environmental and Natural Resources Natural resources, in the context of "land" as defined above, are taken to be those components of land units that are of direct economic use for human population groups living in the area, or expected to move into the area: near-surface climatic conditions; soil and terrain conditions; freshwater conditions; and vegetational and animal conditions in so far as they provide produce. To a large degree, these resources can be quantified in economic terms. This can be done irrespective of their location (intrinsic value), or in relation to their proximity to human settlements (situational value). Environmental resources are taken to be those components of the land that have an intrinsic value of their own, or are of value for the longer-term sustainability of the use of the land by human populations, either in local or regional and global. They include biodiversity of plant and animal populations; scenic, educational or research value of landscapes; protective value of vegetation in relation to soil and water resources; the functions of the vegetation as a regulator of the local and regional climate and of the composition of the atmosphere; water and soil conditions as regulators of nutrient cycles, as influencing human health and as a long-term buffer against extreme weather events; occurrence of human or animal diseases. Environmental resources are to a large degree "non-tangible" in strictly economic terms. In the framework of an integrated approach to land use planning, the distinction is somewhat artificial, as environmental resources are part of the set of natural resources. However, it still serves to group the tangible from the non-tangible coqaponents, and the directly beneficial at local level from the indirectly beneficial components of human life support systems. Accepting the broad definition of land as including "human settlement patterns", a third important set of resources has to be taken into consideration. The set of social or human resources should be defined in terms of density of population groups, their occupational activities, land rights, sources of income, the standard of living of house-holds, etc. Text 4. Land Use Planning and Physical Planning Physical planning is the designing of the optimal physical infrastructure of an administrative land unit, such as transport facilities — roads, railways, airports, harbours, industrial plants and storage of produce; mining and power generation, and facilities for towns and other human settlements — in anticipation of population increase and socio-eco- nomic development, and taking into account the outcome of land use zoning and planning. It has both rural and urban development aspects, though the latter usually predominates. Physical planning is normally carried out by the state, or by local government organizations for the general good of the community. The purpose is to pay more attention to the development of an area as well as individuals. Physical planning has two main functions: to develop a rational infrastructure, and to restrain the excesses of individuals in the interests of the community as a whole. This latter function usually leads to physical planning being associated with a system of laws and regulations. Land use planning should be a decision-making process that facilitates the allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits. It is based on the socio-economic conditions and expected developments of the population in and around a natural land unit. These are matched through a multiple goal analysis and assessment of the intrinsic value of the various environmental and natural resources of the land unit. The result is an indication of a preferred future land use, or combination of uses. Through a negotiation process with all stockholders, the outcome is decision on the concrete allocation of land for specific uses (or non-uses) through legal and administrative measures, which will lead eventually to implementation of the plan. Land use planning is mainly related to rural areas, concentrating on the use of the land in the broadest agricultural context as crop production, animal husbandry, forest management, inland fisheries, safeguarding of protective vegetation and biodiversity values. However, urban areas are also included where they directly impinge on rural areas, through expansion of building construction into valuable agricultural land and the consequent modification of land uses in the adjoining rural areas. Text 5. Planning and Management Land resources planning is the process of options evaluation and subsequent decision-making which precedes implementation of a decision or plan. Land resources management, in its narrow sense is the actual practice of using the land by the local human population. It should be sustainable by all means. In a broader sense land resources management is the implementation of land use planning as agreed between and with the direct participation of stockholders. It is achieved through political decisions; legal, administrative and institutional execution; demarcation on the ground; inspection and control of adherence to the decisions. It also solves land tenure issues; settles water rights; issues concessions for plant and animal extractions (timber, fuel, wood, coal and peat, non- wood products, hunting). Land resource management should also promote the role of women and other disadvantaged groups in agriculture and rural development in the area, and the safeguarding of traditional rights of early indigenous peoples. Sustainable land use planning is the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resource. It is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable, and socially acceptable. Text 6. Zoning and Resource Management Domains The term "zoning" is one of the products of land resources planning. It is used in a number of national approaches. It therefore warrants a definition. For many years zoning has been used for ensuring land use control in urban areas. More recently it has also become associated with delineation of rural ecological units. In the urban planning sphere the word is commonly used in a prescriptive sense; for example, the allocation of urban land for specific uses such as housing, light industry, recreation, horticulture or animal big-industry, in each case with the appropriate legal restrictions to land markets. In the original agroecologic zoning concept the word denotes an earlier stage of rural planning. It is a subdivision of the rural lands on the basis of such physical and biological characteristics as climate, soils, terrain forms, land cover, and the water resources. It is also used as a tool for agricultural land use planning. At regional inter-country level, it was one of the tools to assess the potential human population supporting capacity of a country. This is inasmuch as it depends on the producing capacity of the land at different levels of input and technology, discounting industrial, trade or mining activities. In some cases the term "zoning" means a delineation of areas of rural lands, which could be marked for one or another use, or non-use, based on identical physio-biotic conditions and prevailing socio-economic infrastructure. The resulting inputs can be defined as Resource Management Domains, RMDs, determined as areas within a broad physio-bi- otic zone that have at present the same socio-economic conditions. The above zoning does not include legal or administrative decisions on future land use, which is the subject of land use allocation. It consists of a series of processes that take place after the zoning de facto. Important procedures will involve political decisions connected with choosing between alternative options presented in a plan after negotiation with all stockholders; identification of land rights and solving any resulting conflicts; legal, administrative and institutional execution; demarcation on the ground; and effective control of adherence to the decision taken. Text 7. Frail Ecosystem of the Earth We can see bottomless blue sky, green forests and meadows, we can hear birds' singing, breathe by fresh air, swim in the rivers and seas, and drink water and use it. We perceive all this as natural phenomenon and think that it will be so for ever. But we are mistaken. Our planer is very polluted today. There are a lot of real planets in the Universe. But are there any planets which can exist in the deep space with such ecological conditions as we have it now? Such possibility is quite a hypothetic and minimal matter. If the Earth is not unique, it is absolutely a "single masterpiece" of the nature. We should remember that ecosystem of the Earth is very fragile. Main ecosystems of our planet — mountains, forests, deserts, seas and oceans — are still relatively pure nature. As large percentage of people live in big cities, it is a focus of their activities. They can turn the Earth into the big contaminated dump. One should remember that environmental health is of great importance for all people in the world. That's why whole mankind must be responsible for the pure ecology. Text 8. Formation of the Solar System First of all I should remind you how the Solar system was formed. Approximately 4.6 billion years ago one of the great number of vortical gas-dust clouds became dense. It gradually turned into the Solar system. Inside this cloud ball-shaped rotatory clot has been formed. It consisted of gas (hydrogen and helium) and space dust, and was still cold at that time. It was the future Sun. As gravitation was increased less clots of the same cloud were forming around it. They were future planets, asteroids and comets. One of the orbits of these planets, asteroids and comets were found nearer to the Sun, another orbits were situated further from it. One orbits were built from the large clots of interstarry matter, another were built from the less clots. At first it had no importance. But under gravitation influence the Sun and planets became more and more dense. As a rule the degree of density depends upon its initial mass. The more the clots of the matter compressed, the more they heated inside. Joining the hydrogen the carbon was turned into the methane, the nitrogen — into the ammonia, the oxygen — into the water. Space cold was on the surface of all planets. That's why all combinations were in ice condition. Gasiform layer of hydrogen and helium was placed above the solid part. Pressure and temperature inside the Sun achieved such a point in the centre of it when thermo-nuclear reaction had begun. The Sun brought to a great heat converted into the star approximately 4 billion years ago. Now it sends to the space not only such wave emanation as sunlight, heat, gamma and X-rays, but solar wind — streams of high- energy particles of matter (protons and electrons). Text 9. Jupiter, Saturn and Other Planets The mass of even such big planets as Jupiter and Saturn was not enough to achieve such a point when thermo-nuclear reaction could start. These planets were suffered greatly from the streams of thermal energy of the Sun and Solar wind. Cold surface of protoplanets was heated, hydrogen and helium clouds arose above them, and icy mas- sives of water, methane and ammonia melted and evaporated. Driving by the Solar wind these gases went to the space. These process depended upon the distance of their orbits from the Sun. As gravitation fields were weakened the nearest planets to the Sun were evaporated and dispersed in the space. Today Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun. It is not relatively big heavenly body with a metal core, but it has a weak magnet field. It has no atmosphere practically and its surface is covered by stony species. At the day-time they are heated by the Sun up to 420 —430 °C. That's why there is no water and life is impossible. Venus is situated further fromlhe Sun. Its size and dense is like our planet. It has the same iron core, but as Venus resolves on its axis slowly there is no magnet field. It has kept quite powerful atmosphere. Such structure creates powerful greenhouse gases and temperature is equal to 470 °C. that's why it is impossible to live there. Our neighbour Mars has metal core which is not big. It resolves on its axis, but pressure is very low and there is no water. In some places temperature is equal to -125 °C. Text 10. Long Formation of the Earth Ecosystem After long geological evolution of the Earth the life has appeared on it. The seas and oceans are of crucial importance in the biological evolution of the Earth. Atoms of different chemical elements interacted with each other have formed new more complex inorganic combinations. So 3.5 billion years ago a new stage of geological history of the Earth started. Together with chemical evolution biological evolution began. No one planet of the Solar system has known such evolution. The composition of the Earth atmosphere has got by that time exclusively favourable characteristics for the further development. Having such atmosphere the Earth has got quite enough thermal energy of the Sun. About 40 % of it the Earth reflects for the space. Due to the greenhouse gases there is quite a suitable temperature on the Earth. So step by step the unique ecological system was created on the Earth. The big iron core and quick resolving on the Earth axis create quite a strong magnet field. That's why solar protons and electrons do not hurt the Earth. Due to the magnet field and considerable weight the Earth has kept powerful layer of the atmosphere heat regime on the surface and availability of the liquid water. Water is undoubtful condition of the origin of life and evolution of the alive organisms. For 2 billion years number of different kinds of plants and animals has achieved approximately 10 millions. Arisen biosphere on the Earth gradually became an integral part of the ecosystem taking part in geological cycle of energy and substance. Alive organisms are active composition of many biochemical cycles including water, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, iron and other chemical elements. They are converted from inorganic form into organic one and then are returned into inorganic phase again. The ecosystem of the Earth supports itself due to other cycles of the substance which are not connected with functioning of the biosphere. The whole complex of closely related biological and non-biological cycles forms difficult ecological system which regulates itself if it is in the relative balance. But its stability is very frail and vulnerable. Repeated planet catastrophes are undoubtful evidence of it. By the reason of these catastrophes there are powerful eruptions of volcanoes and fall of large cosmic bodies on the Earth. As a result of such catastrophes from 50 to 96 % of the land biota has been lost. But gradually they are appearing again and continueing to develop. Text 11. Aggressive Homo Sapiens A new stage in the development of the Earth began after appearance of the photosynthesing plants. Such geological displacement was caused by relatively simple alive organisms which had no mind. But a man is a highly organized creature who has powerful intelligence. He can greatly influence the ecosystem of the Earth. Old ancestors of such creature — homonoids — were born approximately 3 million years ago in accordance with different estimations. The Neanderthal men were appeared 200 thousand years ago, and up-to-date Homo sapiens were appeared only 40 thousand years ago. In geology even 3 million years can be within chronological error, but 40 thousand years are only one millionth part of the Earth's age. Even during this short geological moment people had time to hurt thoroughly the balance of the Earth's ecosystem. First of all growth of Homo sapiens population was not balanced from the very beginning of the history of mankind. They had enough food to exist. After development of the implements (especially after industrial revolution) a man could have possibility to propagate itself infinitely. Only 2 thousand years ago there were 300 million of people, and today there are 6,3 billion of people in the world. In spite of any soil-climatic, geological, biological and other conditions people live everywhere on the Earth. They can influence nature due to their intelligence. People do not try to adopt to the natural surroundings, but they try to change nature and "submit" it. Such adoption has an aggressive character There is not any habited continent where one can't see fuming factories and plants. People deteriorate the whole nature. We should remember that natural resources are limited. Text 12. "Unkind" Track of Homo Sapiens At present people have adopted for their needs about half of the ground: 26 % — for pastures, 22 % — for croplands and forests, rest 2 — 3% to build dwellings, industrial units, for transport and service sphere. Nearly half of the rivers have been shallowed and contaminated. More than 60 % of the largest water ways have been crossed by dams or other engineer facilities. As a result new lakes are appeared and ecological situation near reservoirs and river mouths is changed. People have deteriorated or destroyed many places of flora and fauna. Many kinds of animals and plants have been disappearing on the Earth. The World Ocean has also suffered.» People left their "unkind" track having fished out 2/3 of animals which live in the sea and disturbed ecology of other inhabitants of the sea. Only during the XXth century half of all coastal mangrove forests and the tenth part of the coral reefs were destroyed and had gone never to return. In Western Europe lake fish around the polluted production centres is depopulated. Sulphur dioxide and different combinations of nitrogen oxidize drops of water gathering in clouds. Such oxidize water falls as rain, smog or snow and poisons the soil, reservoirs, and forests. All animals lose their life practically in such places. At last about waste products. Only the tenth part of extracted natural raw material is used, the rest part is sent to the dumps. As for organic wastes mankind produces more than 2 000 of such kind of wastes comparing with all other biosphere. Mankind has come closely to the ecological deadlock. From the second part of the XXth century crisis of all ecological system of the planet has been increasing. It has many reasons. Ecological track of Homo sapiens influences environment negatively. Technical progress has created a lot of methods to pollute the Earth atmosphere. Among them there are different stationary installations, transforming solid and liquid fuel into thermal and electric energy. They are transport vehicles (cars and planes) and agriculture with its cattle breeding and cropping rotten wastes. They are also industrial processes in metallurgy, chemical industry, etc. Ecological pure production is the only way out. Text 13. Depressing Perspectives For the last two centuries ponderable "investment" has been made by people to disbalance ecological conditions. Last century the volume of waste increased for 18 times achieved 198 mln tons and now it is equal to 6 billion tons. As a consequence temperature rate increased to such level that the XXth century was found the warmest one in the last millennium. Snow cover has decreased for 10 % since 1960s. For some last decades the thickness of ice in the Arctic Ocean has decreased for 1 meter. As a result of it level of the World Ocean has increased twice for the last 100 years. Now rise in temperature is observing everywhere. It can't be considered as usual natural cycle. This process has uneven character. Rise in temperature in Northern latitude is passing more quickly than in tropics. As a result winter temperature will arise considerably in Alaska, North Canada, North Asia and Tibet, but in summer it will be hotter in the Central Asia. Such distribution in rise of temperature will cause changing air stream dynamics and redistribution of precipitation. These changes will give birth to tornadoes, floods, droughts, forest fires. In the XXth century more than 10 million people lost their life in such catastrophes, economic damage caused by them was enormous. And this is only beginning. Further rise in temperature threatens to eternal frost in the North of Siberia, in the Kola peninsular and in Polar regions of North America. All buildings in Murmansk, Vorkuta, Norilsk, Magadan have been built on the frost ground. It means that foundations under all houses will be drifted on the waves. Such signs have already been noted in Norilsk. Besides, huge accumulation of methane kept under the test of eternal frost will begin to percolate. It will cause greenhouse gases. Such phenomena have already been noted in some places of Siberia as methane begins to percolate in the atmosphere. The result is more greenhouse gases and rise in temperature will be increasing in the nearest future on the whole planet. Natural calamity will have place on the Southern Mediterranean coast, on the West coast of Africa, India, all coastal countries of Southeast Asia. Million hectares of land will be found under the water. The coming 30 years will be of crucial importance. Many scientists let us know beforehand that such catastrophes can have place in the middle of this century, not in the indefinite future. If this prognose is true we have little time to find any way out of a situation. There is no other alternative. We should help future generation. We have only three or five decades. Text 14. How to Escape a Catastrophe A mankind has already reached a deadlock. With every coming day it is more and more difficult to find a way out of the impasse. Outstanding mathematician and ecologist academician N.N.Moiseev lets us know beforehand that biosphere is a complex nonlinear system and it can lose its stability. As a result, irreversible transition to some quazist- able condition will begin. It's quite possible, that in such new conditions biosphere parameters will not be suitable for the life of the people any more. That's why one must know that it will be impossible to live on such contaminated Earth. How long can the mankind balance in such a situation? The British Royal Society and the American National Academy of Sciences are the most authoritative and competent organizations in this field. They declare jointly: "Future of our planet hangs by a thread. Stable development can be reached only in such a case, if irreversible degradation of the planet is stopped in time. This most important problem should be decided in the next 30 years, not lat^r." As rise in temperature is increasing constantly every coming year expenditures on the protective measures are enormous. We should build protective facilities against increasing level of high gale-force waves. The sum of money for this measure can be accounted more than 1 billion dollars. Floods, fires, droughts and other natural calamities every year cause losses more than for 42 billion dollars. Now we have transition of the biosphere from the natural evolution into the unnatural one. It is caused by aggressive interference of a man. It's in our mankind's interest to reorganize biosphere and it should be done radically. Some people are going to do nothing, they hope on the off-chance. Such hope will not be justified. It is a fatal error. But another part of the mankind understands the seriousness of the overhanging danger. Some of them try to find guilty persons with different methods organizing disturbances and breaking shop windows. But it is in vain, a useless matter. The most important is to take care of nature and to understand that "we" and "everything else" are equitable passengers of the space ship which is named "the Earth". The scientific technological progress should be directed to the fight against ecological crisis which has been caused by the achievements of science and technology. Without this process of civilization it is impossible to overcome the global catastrophe. The specific weight of the extractive industry should be diminished as it pollutes soil and subsoil water. Aero and auto vehicles should be transformed into the liquid ecological pure fuel. Chemical industry should be minimized to avoid contamination with its products and wastes of atmosphere, water, and soil. These problems are too difficult to solve but they are very important and decisive for the further fates of the mankind. Ecological damage should be minimized. First of all it is a problem of the people who live in the highly developed countries. It is a great examination of Homo sapiens how to survive and prove that he is the cleverest creature on the Earth. It is time to participate actively in the process of nature sanitation and to save the Earth eco- sphere from the degradation and disappointment. Text 15. The Problem of Assessing the Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastroph |