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Környezetvédelem a szűkebb környezetünkben: Mit tehetünk környezetünkért vagy

a természet megóvásáért?
There has been more and more damage to the environment since the increase of the world’s
population and industry. I have heard of air, water and soil pollution.
In general, the larger the city the higher the degree of air pollution, which is caused mainly by
factories or by fumes from cars and from other means of transport. Even rivers are dirtier in a
city than in the country. All types of pollution can be very dangerous for plants and animals as
well as for human health. This is why we must avoid polluting our environment in any way.
Acid rain is also caused by air pollution. Vehicle pollution mainly in urban areas can be
dangerous.

Floods are caused by cutting down trees. Grass and undergrowth and shrubs aren’t able to
hold humidity. Rain is joined by melted snow water and evaporation is also slow. If people
cut down woods there is a big amount of water, which runs down quickly and there is nothing
that can slow down the speed of it. Soil is also washed away so people cannot plant in the
usual way. The other reason for floods is global warming. Ice in North Pole melts so another
large of water appears in the seas and ocean. Air becomes humid so more rain falls. The other
consequence of warming up is that seasons are changing all the time. There are heavy rains
and a lot of snow where there didn’t use to be. (like snow in Florida). There was the winter
flood in the east part of Hungary in 2001 and 2002. The water was not only cold but it ruined
a lot of houses.
In the summer of 2002 there were serious floods all over Europe. France, Germany, the Czech
Republic and Hungary suffered the biggest damages from the floods. Some people even died.
Polluted rivers flow into the oceans and seas so they poison wild life plants and animals. So
species die out. Originally waters of rivers, oceans and seas clean themselves but if a lot of
alga appears on the surface of the water it is not able to do so. There are disasters on waters,
too.
Ships and boats are wrecked and they may sink. If tankers sink, oil gets into the water and
disaster can happen in a few days. Oil can get on and among the feather of birds, on the skin
of seals and whales and other animals. These living creatures aren’t able to fly or swim and
not able to escape if it’s needed. Oil can get into their stomachs.
Different chemicals have damaged the ozone layer. Since mainly the 1950s people have used
more and more oil and natural gas. Since the 1970s and 1990s we use 60 percent more energy.
So all of these factures cause the green-house effect, which have led to an increase in
temperature levels. Cutting down forests also „helps” the problem. Humid jungles absorbed
carbon-dioxide and produce oxygen. Developed countries realized the danger. So they started
to develop rules on protecting the environment.
Because of the very hot, dry summers fires often occur in different places like fields, woods
and in bushes. These can occur not only relatively small areas but also in huge territories.
Fire-brigades rush to the spot; they try to put out fire with water or appropriate chemicals as
soon as possible. Helicopters are often in action. They spray the inoculators from above. If
there is strong wind it makes the work more difficult. It often takes days or even weeks to put
out fires and of course rains help.
An economic reactor exploded in Chernobyl in 1986 spreading a radioactive cloud of dust
mainly in Europe. This has been the most dangerous event in the history of nuclear power
production. Since then there have been more and more demonstrations against nuclear power.
The Greens are people who try to protect environment either with legal and illegal actions.
They are known to have tied themselves onto e.g. rails, which is really illegal and very
dangerous. But they also table bills in Parliament.
Volcanoes sometimes erupt without any reason. Although, the environment regenerates itself
with it, they destroy spacious forests and spread volcanic ash all around. In fact, there mostly
used to happen several times. Lots of cinema films created about famous volcanoes erupting
like Etna, Vesuvius, and St. Helen. Earthquakes are caused by seismic waves.

Environmental protection
Pollution is caused by various pollutants.
Nowadays the environmental protection became one of the main problems. Due to the
development of technical knowledge, we are used to using more and more synthetically
materials. Often we want only to make our life easier, but we don’t think of the kickback. We
can find for example a fridge in every flat, using them leads to “holes” in the ozone layer and
the increase of the average temperature in the whole world.
We are used to the comfortable life, but many articles and gadgets cause pollution and destroy
our health. In the city, the children can’t play in the parks because they are dirty. In some
countries people are not allowed to drink the running water, because it is polluted by sewage,
chemicals and oil-spill. The air is full of toxic air pollutants, such as dust, smoke, exhaust
fumes of vehicles, carbon monoxide, etc.
However, in a technical way, we could filter these dangerous poison gases, we continue
polluting our Earth.
In the agriculture, we use too much chemical fertilizers, and we don’t think about that we eat
it and animals too.
Not only the continents but the seas and oceans hide some risks. More and more tankers
transport oil from one continent to the other one. During the transportation, the tanker can
spring a leak and their content can cover the surface of the water. Fish can’t get enough
oxygen and the wings of birds are covered with oil, and therefore they can not fly.
People destroy the rain-forests for making more paper-based articles, they only think of profit
and they don’t deal with new plantations.

There are more and more steps being taken in our country to enable everyday people to be
environmentally friendly. The state itself tries to persuade citizens to recycle. If you pay for
having your rubbish taken away, you have to pay less if there is less rubbish in your dustbin.
When these dustbins were introduced it was strange to use them but nowadays it is and
everyday event.

In Hungary there are different colors of dustbins at more and more local housing estate. We
should collect our rubbishes separately e.g. glasses, paper, plastic, dangerous litters etc.
Certainly you mustn’t throw away any litters where you are warned by noticing no dumping!”
The first thing I can do is that I don’t litter the streets, but try to put the rubbish into the
dustbin. Hopefully, I find one when I need it. Our household could also select waste. There’s
a selective waste collection in the area where I live. I also pay attention to buying products
which have been recycled and I always ask the shop assistants not to put the products into
plastic bags for me. I rather put them into a box or a carrier bag.

We’ve been using some light bulbs in our flat since their prices were payable. In addition to
it, my dad always warns us not to leave the light switched on if we aren’t in the room. At my
workplace we have some air-conditioners but we only use them if needed because of their
consumption (so as to save more energy). Unfortunately, I have a bad habit from which I try
to give up. I can’t help turning on both my PC and my TV. However, I also know that no one
is able to watch both of them at the same time.

Környezetvédelem – hasznos szavak

During the last hundred years we have done great DAMAGE to the ENVIRONMENT.
There’s a large CHEMICAL FACTORY in our town which has POLLUTED the river three
times already.
The government is very worried about the POLLUTION of our rivers.
A lot of HOUSEHOLD WASTE like bottles and newspapers can be RECYCLED and used
again.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS are furious with the American government for delaying measures
which will reduce GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.
There are lots of things we can do to PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
damage – kár              
environment – környezet                    
chemical factory – vegyianyag gyár
to pollute – szennyez
pollution – szennyezés
household waste – háztartási hulladék
to recycle – újrahasznosítani
environmentalist – környezetvédő
greenhouse – üvegház
to protect - véd
gas emission – gáz kibocsájtás
HOW WE DAMAGE OUR ENVIRONMENT
The government is introducing strict new rules on the dumping of TOXIC WASTE by
industry.
Farmers CONTRIBUTE TO ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE by spraying crops with
PESTICIDES.
EMISSIONS from factories in northern Germany AFFECT the environment in large parts of
Scandinavia.
Tropical rainforests have always helped to keep the environment in balance but recent
DEFORESTATION means they no longer absorb as much carbon dioxide as they used to.
EXHAUST FUME from cars and other vehicles causes a great deal of damage to the
environment.
toxic waste  - mérgező hulladék
to contribute to sth – hozzájárul vmihez
environmental damage – környezeti kár
pesticide – növényvédőszer, permetezőszer
emission – kibocsájtás
to affect sth – hatással van vmire
deforestation – erdőírtás
exhaust fume – kipufogó gáz
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
Make sure your car runs on UNLEADED PETROL and your home uses sources of
RENEWABLE ENERGY.
Use PUBLIC TRANSPORT instead of taking your car.
Take glass, paper and plastic to a RECYCLING POINT and your empty bottles to a
BOTTLE BANK.
Buy ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY products whenever possible.
unleaded petrol – ólommentes üzemanyag
renewable energy – megújuló energia
public transport – tömegközlekedés
recycling point – újrahasznosítható anyagokat gyűjtő sziget
bottle bank – üres üveg gyűjtőhely
environmentally friendly – környezetbarát