Pollution's serious effects on the environment have become more obvious in recent years. Most scientists agree that efforts are necessary to protect our environment from further harm.
As we know, the construction industry consumes a large quantity of energy and resources and creates a huge amount of pollution. So green buildings are in great need.
The environmental benefits of green buildings includes the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity(生物多样性)，improved air and water quality, less waste flowing into streams and the protection of natural resources. Green buildings can also result in lower operating costs because they typically use less energy and fewer materials and improve indoor air quality, improving the health of people who live there.
The process of building green houses includes technical and artistic planning with nature protection in mind. Building designs often reflect the surrounding environment and natural resources and use renewable building materials such as bamboo and straw. In addition, recycled resources found locally are used for green buildings, reducing the cost and air pollution associated with transporting materials long distances.
Care site selection is important to minimize human effects on the surrounding environment. For example, placing a structure in an area that allows it to take advantage of cool breezes and sunlight can reduce energy use and expenses. More energy and expenses are needed for large buildings as well? so it is important to build the small ones.
Green roofs are another feature of green houses that reduce energy use and costs. These roofs are partially or completely covered with plants? which helps to keep heating and cooling costs low? prevent water running off and deal with pollutants.
Other features of green buildings often include energy and water protection, recycling and waste reduction. In addition, renewable energy sources such as solar power, water power and wind power are used for heat and electricity, which greatly reduces costs and decreases the influence on the environment.
Imagine living on the edge of a vast desert, which is moving quietly closer to your village every day and covering your fields. The desert is on the move. This is called desertification.
Desertification occurs in regions close to an already existing desert. It generally arises from two related causes. The first is over-use of water in the area. There is not enough water in any case, and if it is not carefully used, disaster can follow. As time goes on, water shortages make farming more and more difficult. In some places, locals can remember local lakes and marshes which were once the homes for all kinds of fish and birds. They have been completely buried by the sand now. Farmers leave the land, and fields are replaced by deserts.
The second cause is misuse or over-use of the land. This means that the wrong crops are planted and need more water than is available. Ploughing large fields and removing bushes and trees means that the wind will blow away the soil. Once the soil is lost, it is hard to replace, and if there is rain, it has nowhere to go, and brings no benefit.
It is not only the farmers and villagers who suffer. Every spring, the skies over some of eastern cities, thousands of kilometers away from the deserts, can be darkened by sandstorms. Dust from deserts can have a great effect on weather systems. While desertification is perhaps being partly caused by global warming, these sandstorms can make global warming worse by adding to what is known as the greenhouse effect.
What can be done to slow down or stop the process of desertification? A great deal of work is already under way. Obviously first steps are to find new water sources. Tree planting can help, by providing barriers between desert and rich field. Some types of grass also hold the soil together, and stop the wind taking it. Without these efforts, it will be harder and harder to stop the world’s deserts in their tracks, and more and more farmers will give up and head for cities. The lesson to be learnt lies beneath the sand.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ban the Bag!
Standing in line at the grocery store last week, I watched the woman in front of me buy a tube of toothpaste. As the clerk placed her purchase in a plastic bag, I couldn’t help wondering how long it would take for that bag to end up in the trash. Then I noticed the big purse the woman was carrying and wondered why she had needed a plastic bag at all.
People have come to rely on plastic bags as everything from shopping bags for groceries to trash-can bags. Although plastic bags can be recycled, only about one percent of those used in the United States are. Instead, after helping people transport items from one place to another, most are thrown away. They end up in landfills, where it can take a plastic bag up to a thousand years to decay. Some bags end up elsewhere in the environment, sticking to trees and fences, blocking rivers and oceans, or floating along city sidewalks.
Plastic bags harm the environment in several ways. First, they break down into particles that pollute our soil and water. Because most plastic bags are made of polyethylene, a product derived from crude oil (原油) or natural gas, they waste nonrenewable resources. Plastic bags can also harm animals. Scientists estimate that more than one million sea animals, including whales, seabirds, and turtles, die each year from intaking or becoming stranded in plastic.
People all over the world are starting to recognize the problems associated with plastic bags. Countries such as China, South Africa, Switzerland, and Uganda are taking action and banning the bags. Other nations, including Italy and Ireland, have been trying to restrict the use of plastic bags by taxing them. In the United States more and more communities are ridding themselves of plastic bags. Now more and more people are also purchasing inexpensive, reusable bags and using them when they shop. If we all take this simple step, we can be a part of a “green” revolution.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
